UA Crossbay I

This theatre was my first job when I was 18 yrs old in 1990. The managers were awful and never let me out of “the box” to use the bathroom. We had to wear those black pants/black UA vest/nametag/whiteshirt/black bowtie outfits.

PKoch, I checked into it and the theatre was the Loews Gates and then I checked with an older area resident who who said the same thing that I said in that it stopped showing movies on the night of the blackout and was empty for a short while and then became a church. I remember these facts because I worked in the area at the time and went by it on a regular basis.

Thanks J.D.! No, I had not relized that it was a theater. I’ll need to add that one to my list. So, Bond’s turned it into a clothing store and then it became a disco? I remember the Clash performing way back when, though I didn’t get to go. I did, of course, dance there and there were three memorable features of the club: A musical staircase, (each landing made a note when you went up or down the stairs), dancing fountains on the stage, and huge inflatables that were blown up above while you danced underneath. I remember them being silver and were in the shapes of huge people.

Thanks, J.D.

And there was a Sikh-bashing incident after 9/11, by some morons who assumed that someone wearing a turban must be an Arab.

I guess there’s always some tension when neighborhoods change.

Probably too many Indians there now for anyone to bash.

South Ozone Park and Richmond Hill are still vibrant and full of life, but now filled with a new wave of Indian and Latino immigrants.

In responce to PKoch. You must remember that the devastation in Bushwick was caused by the residence (not all) on the night of the big black-out in July of 1977. The Loews on Broadway was still showing movies until the lights went out. The patrons were escorted out of the theatre, they closed the door and never came back. Yes the stories are true. When the sun came up the next day what I saw reminded me of streets in Europe during WW II after a large bombing raid and to this day, the neighborhoods there and around there haven’t come back to where they were the day before the balckout.

I travel a fair amount and when I see the devastation in Detroit and North Philadelphia, Bridgeport, Cleveland, etc….it makes New York’s turn around that much more amazing. It’s very jarring to see neighborhoods that were vibrant and full of life, now vacant and menacing and devoid of hope. I hope that we never let our city go down that path again! I for one, will not flee. I will stay and fight!

PKoch, My new neighborhood (South Ozone) was mostly made up of refugees from East New York, City Line, Brownsville and Bushwick in Brooklyn as those areas lost their middle class residents. My family was one of the few from the Bronx, but we all shared the same fears and desires to live in a safe and non-flamable environment. I’m very happy that the people who chose to stay in those neighborhoods were able to turn it around and reap the rewards.

My family moved to New Jersey in the late 80’s (their jobs relocated) and I made the big move to Manhattan in 89 and I’ve been here ever since. I was a part of the gentrification of Chelsea and 6 months ago we bought a new condo in the Financial District and I’m thrilled to be a part of a brand new “old” neighborhood. It’s very exciting to see a neighborhood growing almost on a daily basis. There’s always something new going on. But some of my best memories though will always be in Queens!

Everything is making a comeback! My parents fled The Bronx in 1970. We went back to the old hood last summer and were amazed at how nice everything was. In the 80’s almost everything stood vacant and burned. There were empty trash strewn lots and abandoned buildings with the ocassional occupied one. While there are many things I miss about the old gritty New York of the past, the reality was, my home in Queens was safe and idyllic. When I had enough of the “grit” of Times Square, I could leave and go home. I’m very happy that the vast majority of New Yorkers today have neighborhoods that they feel safe in. That, more than anything else, has fueled New York’s resurgence and why we have more people living here today than at any time in our history.

Thanks for these details, LuisV and J.D. Except for the near-exception of the Oasis Theater in Ridgewood, near the border with Maspeth, becoming a roller rink and concert venue, I hadn’t thought in terms of movie theaters surviving as dance palaces.

“the old "ask a random adult to get us into an R-rated movie” trick" : I remember reading about that in Reader’s Digest in late 1968 or early 1969 when the G M R X system got started. I think the title of the article was, “GMRX : An Alternative To Movie Censorship ?”

Unfortunately (or not), I was too young to get into discos during the disco era. Besides the Palladium, I didn’t realize so many clubs were former theaters, but it makes sense. I often went to the old Webster Hall theater (which I guess was for stage or vaudeville rather than movies) in its 80s incarnation as the Ritz.

I agree with your characterization of the neighborhoods, too. I used to go to Jamaica to use the big library, but I wouldn’t hang around the area after dark. Ozone Park always seemed safe. I recall my parents and other grownups often complaining about crime, but they would let us go to theaters like the Crossbay by ourselves at a very young age. In fact, they were more concerned about what we might be seeing than about our safety. We did the old “ask a random adult to get us into an R-rated movie” trick fairly often at the Crossbay.

Thanks for the insights on Ozone Park and South Ozone Park, vs. Jamaica, in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, LuisV.

J.D., I never knew there was a post-Star Wars re-release of “Barbarella”. Makes sense, though. More power to your teen-aged libido.

I think this coming Sunday December 16th 2007 is the 30-year anniversary of the opening of the film “Saturday Night Fever”.