Queens Theatre
219-36 Jamaica Avenue,
Queens Village,
NY
11428
219-36 Jamaica Avenue,
Queens Village,
NY
11428
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 164 comments
Thanks for the update Tinseltoes. I see you’ve been going through a number of theatres pointing out that where they’re using Google Maps, the locations are incorrect. It’s too bad WE can’t update those locations.
Seems to me that the introductory description at the top of the page should be changed to more specifically identify the Queens Theatre’s location as being on Jamaica Avenue at Springfield Boulevard, rather than near the Cross Island Parkway. I know we have the address listed, but the change would allow folks to orient themselves a bit better if thinking about a drive by the old place.
Glad that you got to see the photos techman.
tlsloews-I live not too far from the Queens Theatre and pass by it often, however, I’d like to remember it like in the picture posted on 1/18/2007.
Techman,there is a photo posted by youngnyer 1/18/2007 and a 1986 photo posted by kenmc Apr 8,2009,click on them to see them,have a good day.
Yes Techman,it is posted somewhere on this page.
Did they ever finish the conversion to a church. There was still construction on the facade when I was in the area at the end of the year.
tlsloews – You must be looking at an OLD picture. Although the theatre is still there as a church, the entire marquee has been removed and the whole front “modernized”.
Nice marquee on the Queens Theatre.
Techman: I would be glad to hear any memorable trivia etc you have of him! He was a great guy. He passed away in 1994. The theaters were his life.
I just posted in the Glen Oaks thread asking YOU if your father’s name was Bernard. I knew him well, we worked together for a few years at the Century’s Prospect be I left around 1980 (I think) to work at the RKO Alden in Jamaica that they turned into a quad. The projectionist there was old and didn’t want to run platters. The funny thing is that not too long after we switched, they multiplexed the Prospect.
Does anyone remember a manager called “Mr. D”? Bernie?He rotated around Century Theaters as a Manager and substitute DM for 30 years…
Not I, being a Nassau County person, but did do a number of weddings at Antuns.
“How Biblical, all the people in the fiery furnace (aka former theatre) a la Shadrack, Mishak and Abendigo.
posted by rvb on Jan 16, 2011 at 4:52pm”
-LOL-
However, in all seriousness, it’s VERY sad to see the butcher job they’re doing on the front of the theatre.
Did anyone go to JHS 109? They used to have the graduation ceremonies at the Queens Theatre. I still have 16mm movies from the 1955 graduation ceremony. Back then, Antun’s was still a VERY fancy restaurant.
How Biblical, all the people in the fiery furnace (aka former theatre) a la Shadrack, Mishak and Abendigo.
Maybe they have different occupancy laws for a church. The laws in this city are VERY strange. In newer projection booths they no longer require fire drop shutters when a theatre is multiplexed if filed under the “new code”. They must figure people burn differently depending on what “code” the theatre is operating under.-LOL
The balcony at the Queens went on forever. I remember one time walking up toward the screen and looking back and upward. My impression was that more than half of the seats in the theatre were in that vast balcony. Having said that, I can’t imagine why the church which is supposed to be moving into the place has removed the fire escapes. Their web site boasts that they have acquired this property which has thus and so many of seats (the bulk of which are in the balcony). So how can they operate the balcony without the fire escapes? Work seems to have come to a halt on this property. And, are they expecting all the people to come by public transportaion? There is a lot with the LIRR and a number of bus lines but parking on Jamaica Avenue and Springfield Boulevard is limited. Let’s face it, one of the reasons the Queens didn’t succeed as a concert venue was PARKING!!!!
Warren, I noticed at the beginning of this thread you said that the Queens was similar to the Prospect. The Queens was much narrower than the Prospect and the balcony of the Queens practically covered the orchestra. The Prospect was a larger theatre and was much wider. In the Queens, if you didn’t sit down, you couldn’t see the top of the screen in the last row of the orchestra.
but the ornamental bit with the most character, the face from up top…gone. The rest…neh. DOnt forget a rendering isnt always indicative of the finished product.
Ive seen it only from the outside. Ive caught glimpses from the street, its been a few weeks since Ive seen in.
Again I havent seen work there in several weeks.
This will be the 2nd location of the rapidly growing All Nations Apostolic Tabernacle Church, which has outgrown its original home in Jamaica. Their website is http://www.allnationsapostolic.org/
(Click on “one church, two buildings” for a rendering of the renovated building).
The rendering shows that they will be keeping most of the original ornamentation, although now painted white. A new marquee with the upcurve in the middle is reminiscent of some marquees of the 1920s.
No indication on what kind of interior modifications will be done – has anyone been inside to see if it’s actually being gutted, or what the condition was prior to renovation? They indicated a fall 2010 opening, which obviously has passed, but it will probably be opening before too long.
This is the link to the Facebook Group for Rego-Forest Preservation Council:
View link
whats the link on FB please?
heyhey NFHer…
I am, at the moment, cameraless. Sorry.
And Ill be right there on FB ;–)
Also, please join the Rego-Forest Preservation Council group on Facebook that I organized. We are hoping to save theaters and all historically distinctive buildings on the order of the Queens Theater. My blog is http://regoforestpreservation.blogspot.com I am the Chair & mostly cover Rego Park and Forest Hills hence its names, but see the larger picture of Queens is significant to cover as well.
Thank you for the update! It will be very disheartening to see the ornamentation gone from the historic terra cotta facade. Why do people destroy works of art? It boils down to being unappreciative and greedy, and in some cases, not educated. It is amazing how many church groups say they’re restoring some of our theaters, and the community believes them and ends up with a completely different product. Take what the Rock Church did to the Elmwood Theatre in Elmhurst on Queens Blvd, for example….They chiseled and paved over all the ornate glazed terra cotta detail with synthetic stucco (styrofoam) and betrayed the community. They told the media it is being restored. A pity! Please take photos of the Queens Theatre if you can. Thank you!