AMC Roosevelt Field 8
630 Old Country Road,
Garden City,
NY
11530
630 Old Country Road,
Garden City,
NY
11530
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 91 comments
old CENTURY theaters still in use in NY …
Roosevelt field,fantasy,meadows,green acres,
Cineplex odeon finished the expansion long before LOEWS was in the picture
The seating is
1. 424 SDDS(8)/SR
2. 419 dts/SDDS(8)/DS
3. 296 SDDS(8)/SR
4. 219 DS
5. 171 DS
6. 250 DS
7. 183 SDDS(8)/DS
8. 259 SDDS(8)/DS
After Cineplex Odeon took over RKO Century is 1987, Cineplex sold the complex to Loews Theatres. Cineplex Odeon didn’t ran the theatre too long.
Loews had to finish the renovations of 4 plex expansion. The other Century Theatre still ran by AMC is the Fantasy in Rockville Centre
Went here a number of times in the 60s/early 70s when it was a single large house incl. AFTER THE FOX, MAROONED and THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE.
Oh yeah, played hookie one day and my pal and I went to SLEUTH.
Those were the days……..
This AMC Loews Theatres is probally the last of the Century Theatres from the late 1950’s and 1960’s that is still in use. It’s sister theatre (from the Century days), the Loews Cineplex Route 17 Triplex (which had the “RKO Century’s Paramus Theatre” instead of the Cineplex Odeon logo on it’s building to the very end) has been closed since Janunary 12, 2006, and demolished by May of this year.
I worked here from 96 – 2000 it was a loews theatre and did not change until the merge with AMC in 2006. I worked for loews since 1992 and this was a loews theatre the entire time until we merged with cineplex at which time it changed the name to Loews Cineplex (still under loews management ) there was also a time in there during the 90’s maybe around 97 or 98 when we were called Sony ( but sony and loews were sister company’s ) so again all the same management. Loews ( upper ) management did not survive the last merge with AMC in 2006.
Century twinned it and later when they were aquired by RKO, it was made into a quad. Later Cineplex Odeon made it an eight-plex" (RobertR, intro)
A couple of clarifications: During the early-to-mid 1980s, this theater was a triplex. RKO Century then turned it into a quad in ‘85 or '86. By '89 it was expanded again to an eightplex, at which time it was operated by Loews not Cineplex Odeon.
By the time Loews merged with Cineplex Odeon in 1998, this theatre was already a 8-plex.
Here is the updated operating order:
CENTURY
ALMI CENTURY
RKO Century Warner (1981-1987)
Cineplex Odeon (1987-1998)
Loews Cineplex (Still as Cineplex Odeon) (1998-2006)
AMC Loews (Still with Cineplex Odeon or Loews Cineplex logos) (2006-P)
Century twinned it and later when they were aquired by RKO, it was made into a quad. Later Cineplex Odeon made it an eight-plex" (RobertR, intro)
A couple of clarifications: During the early-to-mid 1980s, this theater was a triplex. RKO Century then turned it into a quad in ‘85 or '86. By '89 it was expanded again to an eightplex, at which time it was operated by Loews not Cineplex Odeon.
By the time Loews merged with Cineplex Odeon in 1998, this theatre was already a 8-plex.
Here is the updated operating order:
CENTURY
ALMI CENTURY
RKO Century Warner (1981-1987)
Cineplex Odeon (1987-1998)
Loews Cineplex (Still as Cineplex Odeon) (1998-2006)
AMC Loews (Still with Cineplex Odeon or Loews Cineplex logos) (2006-P)
70mm
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The name of the area is very evocative.Go to abandoned and little known airfields.com and see where the name came from.The pictures and from the air shots are interesting.Some things of great importance happened there before the mall came on the scene.
I like this theatre, they can really expand more, It has an open environment, but I haven’t gone recently.
When I worked here they had security, now they have armed security. Be careful if you attend this place with younger kids, better to see mat.
This theatre under went a major makeover in about 98 maybe 3 yrs after the raceway opened, all new seats, carpet, wallpaper, retro fitted the kitchen and on and on.
There is only so much management can do when customers are constantly kicking holes in the walls and ripping seats with their pocket knifes, grafetti on the walls inside and out, gang problems and so on.
Loews did not let this one go because of the raceway it was just the opposite, Loews had always called the Raceway and Roosevelt Field their “Crown Jewels” big grossing theatres.
They are not in any comptition with each other as they are booked very differently and clean up with 18 screens.
The crowd (Yourger trouble makers) have no respect for this theatre and tear it up all the time, everytime they fix it they tear it down.
This theatre was a loews theatre, and also operated under the name of Sony
this is how it went
CENTURY
ALMI CENTURY
RKO CENTURY WARNER
CINEPLEX ODEON \
LOEWS/CINEPLEX
this theater never operated as a loews
Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando in 1968 on a Universal Premiere Presentation
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“Century twinned it and later when they were aquired by RKO, it was made into a quad. Later Cineplex Odeon made it an eight-plex” (RobertR, intro)
A couple of clarifications: During the early-to-mid 1980s, this theater was a triplex. RKO Century then turned it into a quad in ‘85 or '86. By '89 it was expanded again to an eightplex, at which time it was operated by Loews not Cineplex Odeon.
Fritz played here in the 70's
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The last time I was at Roosevelt Field was during the summer of 2002 and the place was majorly depressing. Ok, so that was three years ago so I hope things have changed. It’s just that back in the 80’s, that mall was like Long Island’s Times Square without the seediness and such. It was a real cultural hub. It was a genuinely exciting place to be and it was maintained beautifully. Seeing it three years ago was very upsetting. Like I said, I hope it’s better now.
But RobertR, I have a serious question for you: what in God’s name would make you go see “Guess Who”? I’m a HUGE Bernie Mac fan but I still wouldn’t pay nearly $10 bucks to see this in a theater. I’ll wait for cable….
This mall and theater always one of the busyest in the country
I went here on Saturday night to catch “Guess Who”. I have to say the place was very clean, bathrooms, lobby and auditorium. I was in #5 which is one of the smaller auditoriums. The sound was fine, but my only complaint was the picture seemed dark. The bulb may have been past it’s hours or the mirror needed to be aligned.
Well, the last time I was at Roosevelt Field was in the summer of 2002 and I was appalled at the condition. The parking lots were incredibly littered, they got rid of the neat spouting fountain in the open area outside of where JC Penney’s and Sterns used to be to put in (OH GOD!) a stupid train ride and a useless carousel to get more money, and just the whole place looked tired. This was THE mall in Nassau county back in the 80’s and early 90’s and after the MAJOR renovation, it was truly spectacular. Even in 1998 or so, it was still fantastic. When I worked there in the late 80’s when it was still a single level mall, Roosevelt Field was the standard by which all other malls were compared, usually unfavorably. So, it might’ve improved since 2002 but back then, whoa! It was becoming a trashy dump, IMO.
And that goes double for the theater. I’ve written above about how great it was. But since the multiplex opened where the raceway was, they’ve let the theater go downhill big time.
How is Roosevelt Field becoming shabby? After the major renovation and expansion they had about 4-5 years ago, the mall is bigger and cleaner than ever (especially considering how close it is to Hempstead).
This is another example of the minute there is competition, they let the older house go to hell. The dumb thing is they are both owned by Loews Cineplex and both get a good share of A pictures.
I remember this theater going way back. It was a large single screen theater when I was a kid in the 70’s. It was VERY similar to the Century’s Valley Stream theater at Green Acres. In the mid 80’s they made it into a triplex. Due to it’s size, each theater was very nice and big. Then in the late 80’s, they carved up the balcony sections even more and made a few more theaters. This was in the early 90’s. The movie theater was very nice. Well maintained. The last time I was there was in the summer of 2002 and I was shocked to see how shoddy the place had become. Dirty, dirty, dirty and very run down. I assumed it was because of the newer theater down where the raceway had been.
In actuality, Roosevelt Field Mall as a whole has become majorly shabby of late. It’s not the same great mall that I remember growing up.