Lane Theatre
168 New Dorp Lane,
Staten Island,
NY
10306
168 New Dorp Lane,
Staten Island,
NY
10306
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 110 comments
Ah that marquee, they seem to have kept it pretty much intact.
Missing now, or covered up, is the hardware for attaching the letters.
As a teenager I spent many a cold winter evening changing that marquee.
As Mr. Moses told me when i was hired, “the marquee must be changed every time we change movies, which is usually three times a week,
no matter what the weather"
Yes sir Mr. Moses, I am on it.
1.8 million for sale $10,000 a month to lease
I walked by the Lane Theater this morning and the roll gate was up. Someone was inside doing something. It’s listed with a new realtor who doesn’t show a name, only the phone number 718-234-0052, on a sign attached to the building. The Lane has been for sale since 2002.
Still for sale, but with a different realtor. Just a phone number, no realty company listed on the sign.
If you could see closely the design and patterns of the walls immediately adjacent to the proscenium and the ceiling, you would see that they bear a striking resemblance to the design and patterns of the Auburn Schine Theater, a once-remarkable outer space atmospheric from John Eberson. It was almost as if Eberson “practiced” on the walls of the Lane before taking the designs to the full stage of the Auburn.
The Lane theater is still for sale, with a different realtor. It’s back to being listed with Century 21. No info on their websites http://www.c21papp.com/ and http://www.domsold.com/ regarding the theater.
Don’t know how much things have changed in the past year, but the possibility of a revival house might not be that far-fetched. Stapleton Heights (I think) basically along/near Van Duzer St. has become more artsy. With the right promotion, it might be feasible. Parking near the theater does suck, but it is fairly accessable by public transit, with the bus that runs from the ferry to New Dorp Lane, bus routes on both Hylan Blvd. and Richmond Rd., and the train.
I’m not really a businessman, so I don’t know enough about a project like this. I just wanted to point out the possibility.
Still asking $1.8M! Figured with the real estate slump they’d drop the price by 25% to to $1.35M. And even that would be way too high.
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168 New Dorp Lane, Staten Island, NY (The south side of New Dorp Lane between 8th & 9th Streets)
Commercial Buildings,Development/Conversion Sites,Outer Boroughs
The Lane Theater: formerly a historic 550 seat movie theater. The Lane offers 1,000 square feet of 1 story prime New Dorp Lane retail space. The space then opens up into 6,000 square feet of 3 story high open space, offering many possibilities for development/use. Located on one of the island’s premier commercial strips. Walking distance from the New Dorp train station & municipal parking. Marquee & ceiling land marked by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Property will be delivered vacant. Asking Price: $1,800,000
There’s a concert venue out here in Patchogue and the town took the liberty of placing signs marked “no theater parking” in many of the lots. However, people still park there. The place is an old vaudeville house.
gustave i hate to be a pessimest but i think you are whistling past the graveyard , as they used to say. another thing sounding the death knell , in addition to the buildings' condition as vito described , is the severe lack of parking in the area. there is a municipal lot , but you must pay to park there . new dorp lane has meters and the surrounding residential streets , where each house has 2,3 or 4 cars , is very limited.
Then, maybe it can be done. I now live on Long Island, but my family wants to move to S.I. Every so often I visit Staten Island, and my family once had a store there. I would pass and think this would be a great place for concerts or old movies.
Last time I visited, which was about a year ago, the building had begun to deteriate, some walls in the upper balcony area and lower lobby had some crumbling, also there was a terrible stench, pidgeons have made it home now. there is no orchestra seats and the booth is gone. As Lost Memory has pointed out, I recall a few years ago a provision in the deed which prohibits showing of movies, perhaps that can be overturned. It will take a lot of money, and with movie attendance on the decline, even for classic films, It may be a struggle to find investors. Howver it does have a better shot than the poor ole Paramount had.
What can be done to bring it back? Does anyone know?
Four recent(June 2006) photographs I took of the Lane Theater:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/188047075/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/188047319/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/188047628/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/188047907/
Asking $1.8 Million! No one will buy it at that price and the property taxes are $19000/year.
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The Lane is for sale – again. This time a different realty company’s sign is attached to the marquee. The landmarked interior makes the Lane a difficult sell.
I remember seeing “The Return Of The Living Dead” at the Lane in 1985.
i have to agree that an art house would not last on s.i. Before the UA 14 closed they tried booking a few art or foreign films . I went to a couple of screenings and you could count the patrons on one hand. The high rents that dfc spoke of would be tough to meet for any business opening there. Also , i was in the area last saturday , it was practically a ghost town. I recall years ago it would take a half hour to drive down new dorp lane on a weekend due to high traffic…
I don’t think Staten Island can support an ‘art house’ type movie theater. Even in Manhattan the smaller ‘art’ and ‘revival’ houses are mostly gone. The DVD has replaced those kinds of movie houses. What’s hurting New Dorp Lane are the high property taxes on the commercial buildings. Landlords have to raise their rents to cover increased costs.
Garth, I heard someone was looking for partners to open the Lane for
independent (art house)film showings. Too bad about New Dorp Lane, I hope it does not go the way of Stapelton.
i passed by over the weekend, new signs have been posted pushing for a sale of the premise. i would like to mention to vito , the glass doors visible behind the front gate look like the same ones from when it was a functioning theatre. i wouldn’t be too hopeful of a sale, after noticeing that many of the other businesses in the area are either closed or moving to a new location….
Robert, I remember UA ran the Paramount for a while but don’t recall the Lane under that banner. I was woking for UA at the Syosset on Long Island at that time. I hadn’t worked the Lane after 1965 buy I suppose anything is possible.
In this 1969 ad the Lane is listed as a UA?
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Thank you MTota, So all the projection equipment is gone. Sad, I cut my teeth as a projectionist in that booth. Pigeons seem to like old movie theatres, the Paramount was full of them as well, they had made a home in the projection booth. As to the stage, no the Lane never had wing space, or a stage for that matter. It was a very limited space, When we installed a slightly wider screen for CinemaScope the exits prohibited us from doing any reconstruction of the proscenium, we removed the traveler curtain and went as wide as we could. Just so I may visualise the old booth, when you reached the top of the stairs was there a small bathroom just to the left, with a large generator next to it? As you turn left at the stairs you reached a small room which was the rewind room, followed by the main booth and then a door at the end which lead to the air conditioning storage room.
Vito,
Yes, I did walk up to the booth. It was converted into an office..I imagine from the night club days. It is there that I saw the pigeons living in the ceiling. It also seemed apparent that some kids broke in and vandalized…broken walls etc.
Yes, there was a small stage there, but actually this space is not suitable for plays. There isn’t any wing space and one cannot extend beyond the exits in the front..so there isn’t much space for plays…but it would be perfect for a revial house/cafe..I would certainly be a part of any committee as well..
Believe it or not..the last movie I saw there was Gone With the Wind in the mid-90’s…it was a revival lhouse for a short time