Sunrise Multiplex Cinemas
750 W. Sunrise Highway,
Valley Stream,
NY
11581
750 W. Sunrise Highway,
Valley Stream,
NY
11581
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This is so cool! I grew up 6 houses away from the Drive-in/ Sunrise Cinemas in Rosedale. I just finished a book that discusses how I used what I learned as a kid sneaking into Sunrise Cinemas to sneak into 12/12/12 and other huge concerts all around the country and beyond. It’s called Confessions of a Sneak-In Artist. I’ll keep you posted on when it comes out. You can find more information about the book under Confessions of a Sneak-In Artist or Kenny Carr on Facebook.
Here’s an excerpt:
I grew up on a dead end street six houses away from a drive-in movie theater. A giant, solid eight foot metal fence at the end of my block surrounded the theater grounds. The older kids on the block would always have a hole dug somewhere under the fence so they could sneak in. Like tunnels out of a P.O.W. camp, it was constantly being found by security and had to be moved often. From an early age I prided myself on always knowing where the hole was located. I spent summer nights on the swings in front of the screen watching classic movies like Star Wars, Grease, Jaws and Bruce Lee triple features.
When I was eight, the drive-in was demolished and turned into a six theater multiplex. Throughout all phases of the demolition and construction of the new theater, the site was our playground. As the theater was being built we felt, as it was with the drive-in, that it was in some way ours. We knew that place from top to bottom, like the back of our hands. We knew it better than anybody. We even took pride in how nice the construction of the building had turned out. If it wasn’t ours then whose was it?
I remember there were about ten of us that went to the first showing of the first movie to ever play there. We all bought tickets and sat in the seats along the back row of the theater for Star Trek, the Original Motion Picture*. It was 1979. I was eight and a half. It was the worst movie I had seen up to that point in my young life and I was pissed. We had been looking forward to that experience for months. The two dollars we each spent on a ticket would have gone a long way at our corner store back in those days. Someone had to pay. It was after mulling it over, munching out on some snacks on the steps of our corner store on Hook Creek Boulevard that I decided I would never pay for another movie in my theater again.
Over the next couple of years, I spent countless hours honing my skills at sneaking into the movies. I learned what worked and what didn’t. I learned how to trust my instincts and how to move on them. There were a few of us that would do it a lot more than others. We must have snuck in to see Airplane at least a hundred times. Each time we would get a different joke or see something we hadn’t seen before and point it out to each other laughing hysterically. While most of my friends were involved in some form of organized sport, I sat through Follow That Bird (at an age when that was just not cool) just to be able to say that I snuck into every movie playing at, what was by that time, my thirteen theater multiplex.
You know the expression, “Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten.”? Everything I need to know about sneaking in I learned in those years at the Sunrise Cinemas.
*Roller Boogie was technically the first, but it only played on the weekends in one of the six theaters while they finished up construction.
Here’s more about Confessions of a Sneak-In Artist:
I grew up next door to a thirteen movie theater multiplex. As a kid I developed and perfected techniques for sneaking into the movies. As an adult I have used those skills and techniques to sneak into the biggest concerts held at some of the world’s most secure venues at will, or more accurately, by will. In Confessions of a Sneak-in Artist, I not only explore how I got into many of these events in great detail and what is required for others to do the same, but why those events meant so much to me in the first place and why I felt compelled to be there.
Confessions of a Sneak-in Artist is an informative collection of eleven engaging and amusing interrelated vignettes that read like the highlights of a really cool memoir. Each story is chockfull of sage like wisdom on the subject of sneaking in and pop culture references, but what seemed like a fun, funny ride gets flipped upside down near the end when a traumatic event is revealed. The reader is given the last piece to what they didn’t even know was a puzzle, enabling them to see the book’s bigger picture and underlying message of hope. This new information forces the curious reader to reexamine the timeline of events and the hopscotched chronological order in which the stories are told and want to read it again keeping that revelation in mind.
The 12/12/12 Concert for Sandy relief was pretty much everyone’s rock n’ roll fantasy. The world tuned in and were blown away by passionate performances by what Mick Jagger called from the stage, “…the largest collection of old English musicians ever assembled in Madison Square Garden”. The money poured in and went right towards helping the people that really needed it. The concert also marked the crowning achievement of my sneaking in career. Because of my personal connection to Long Beach, New York, a town destroyed by the Hurricane that was being helped and honored that night, and for the reasons why it was no longer my home, it was an emotional night for me. There was no way I could have afforded a ticket to that show, but there was no way I could have missed it. I felt I deserved to be there more than most of the people who were there because they had more money than I did. Long Beach had been my family’s home since 1990.
What I want everyone to know, simply, is that what I have done can be done and that they can do it too if they really want to. Where there is a will there is a way. Everyone has the ability to focus, channel their energy and use it to somehow, anyhow, make it happen. I have snuck into hundreds of events. It’s not luck. It is technique. In this book I explore numerous ways my techniques have worked for me and how they could work to help anyone do the same.
Thanks for the posts and for checking out mine! I love reading posts from the ushers from back when we used to do our thing! I’m very interested in learning more about how Sumner Redstone started his empire from “my theater”! Someone once told me it was the drive-in they used in Grease. Anybody know anything about that? No mention of the flea markets in the back? Anybody remember the only armed guard at the multiplex in the early to mid Eighties? We called him Stiff. He had a fused spine or something that made it so he couldn’t turn his head without turning his whole body. He was my arch nemesis! I’d love to get his perspective on things back then. Hopefully there’s no hard feelings! It was all in fun!
MarkieS the old drive in is listed. Do a lookup by city – Valley Stream and it’s there.
News story on local tv channels today about armed robberies taking place in the parking lot the past few days.
why is there no listing on this website for the old Sunrise Drive In which stood on this site?
why is there no listing on this website for the old Sunrise Drive In which stood on this site?
This link to this 1991 NY Times article is the most in depth I’ve read about the shootings. (apologies if it’s linked above and I missed it) I enjoy that it seems to convey that National Amusements put the metal detectors in out of public pressure than of their own choice. A lot of times I hear people talking about the metal detectors they make it seem like it was a choice when in fact it sounds as though it was necessary to allay the fears after the shooting.
View link
I went to this theater a lot during the 1980s. The first show price was $2.50. Sometimes I’d take a day off from work, jump on the Belt Parkway from my home in Canarsie and be there in less than 20 minutes. Among the films I saw were John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” “Conan the Barbarian,” “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” etc. I took my son to see Disney’s “Oliver and Company” there.
I remember seeing “Hellraiser” there. The film was near the end of its run and it was playing in the theater on the extreme right. There were no ushers nearby since they all hung out in the lobby which was about half a block away. I was the only one in the theater seeing this horror film and being alone really unnerved me. I started thinking that someone could’ve come behind me and cut my throat. And nobody would know…Watching this rather disturbing film by myself in this rather large theater with no one else in close proximity was a rather nervewracking experience.
Around this time the surrounding area was going completely downhill and there was a well-publicised shoot-out duirng a showing of
“G-dfather III.” Metal detectors were installed in the theater.
And I haven’t been back since.
Sumner Redstone! It all started right here when this place was a drive-in. Sumner Redstone is one of the most powerful media moguls of the late 20th century. In his capacity as owner and chief executive officer of Viacom, Inc., Redstone lords over Hollywood’s Paramount Pictures television and motion picture factory; a handful of cable TV networks including MTV, The Movie Channel, Showtime, Nickelodeon, VH1; and several radio and TV stations. It was tough being the technician here, so many types of old projection equipment. However, it is history, so it was worth it.
Wow…like jjt posted above, I too have memories of seeing one of my “first” movies in a theater which was Raiders of the Lost Ark! I recall seeing E.T. the first time here as well!
Some of my movie going memories at the Sunrise are “not so fond”. Two incidents, both HORROR movies (oddly enough):
My parents made the mistake of taking me & my sisters to see ‘Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors’ on the Saturday night of the weekend it opened…the theater was oversold (or people obviously snuck in) as people were standing in the back of the theater! A big fight broke out between a white & black women as the latter was “kicking” the others' chair..this was within a year of the “Howard Beach” incident some of you NYers might remember, so things got from bad to WORSE…when the mostly “black” crowd started yelling obscenties at the white woman & a bunch of them chanting “Howard Beach!, Howard Beach!, Howard Beach!” as the women got in each others faces & argued…I was SCARED!!!!…took about 15-20 minutes for things to calm down, but by then the crowd was “hyped” up & the mostly young crowd was pretty rowdy after that…I wanted to LEAVE!…
The 2nd time during a screening of Halloween 4…in which my father cussed 2 guys out sitting in the back of the theater that would NOT shut up through the 1st 10 minutes of the movie!!!!…they quieted down to a dull whisper for maybe 5 minutes, only to crank back up to FULL volume after that time! My father got fed up & we left & saw another movie in the multiplex despite paying to see Halloween 4!
I remember those seats being EXTRA sensitive to anyone walking by or even gently tapping the back of your seat! It was HORRIBLE! I wish my later bad experiences at Sunrise didn’t overshadow my early good ones!
I was an Usher (and then Head Usher – no jokes) who also did many other jobs there in the early to mid 80s, including security detail, popping popcorn, managing the lines and changing the marquee.
At first it was a great High School and College job – but the pay was dismal. In fact, most of my best friends come from working there.
I had left before the metal detectors and the later problems, but with such a large influx of people every weekend, there were always serious issues at hand. On a high traffic Saturday night we could have several blockbuster movies selling out and the only place to
put people while they waited was that big box of a lobby.
If you were there in the early 80’s then you were sure to have heard myself and couple of others yelling “Please move up! Please step up!” until eventually someone in the line would start mooing, then some joker in the front would drop a rope and the whole mass of
people would crowd forward with nowhere to go.
The worst large event I remember there was a semi-riot for a “Friday the 13th” evening show, where the drop the rope trick occurred after people got impatient waiting for us to clean up the trashed theatre. The ushers taking tickets had to jump into the telephone alcove to save themselves and mayhem ensued. Once done, there were almost no
pictures left on the wall and people were trying to stand in the back of the theatre since so many people snuck in during the melee.
The “sneak in” problem got so bad that we ended up using walkie talkies to do counter-surveillance on guys passing off ticket stubs and opening the back doors. We had also developed a long list of nicknames for the regular sneak ins.
There were also many fights, between ushers and people sneaking in or between patrons – and a few of those I was a part of ended up with us finding a dropped weapon. That’s when I decided to move on.
I did love going to movies at Sunrise – believe the first thing I saw there was either “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or “Arthur.” When I worked there, “ET” came and went back THREE TIMES and was almost always a packed show – and a pain to work with the high kid ratio. (I used to get stuck with Saturday and Sunday openings since I was only 16 at the time.)
The most annoying film to work may have been “Reds” which was more than 3 hours long, so the midnight show got out way after 2AM. Also, the high senior citizen contingent for that one led the “Candy Girls” (yes, not politically correct, but what they were called then) to follow many orders with “Yes, I know – EXTRA butter, NO ice.”
While as others relate in these comments there were some serious race issues going on in the area at the time, the people that worked together at Sunrise there were a completely mixed group and for the most part got along very well. Any problems were personality based as far as I know. Plenty of parties, weekend clubbing and meetups at the Cinemas summer mornings where people would jump in cars and head to the beach.
Thanks for that thoughtful and heartfelt post. I grew up in the “not so desirable neighborhood” of Laurelton, Queens from age 9 through my first couple of years in college and have great memories of this theatre and others in the surrounding areas – I also have great memories of living on my block of 231st Street between Franny Lew and 137th Ave. Througout my stay in Laurelton, it was I who was in the minority, being a caucasian of mixed latino descent. I, too, get a bit indignant when folks bring “race” into the equation when speaking of how this theatre and the surrounding area have become less than desireable. Even when they don’t mention race, you know what the inference is. I feel lucky to have grown up where I did, for it was a warm and cheerful neighborhood where I was never made to feel unwanted or an outsider. Indeed, it was a very tightly knit community where parents organized block parties each and every year that EVERYONE actively participated in and thoroughly enjoyed. Even in the schoolyard of PS 156, “race” was never thrown in my face… Sure there were fights and scrapes, but nothing that hadn’t been happening in countless communities all across this City for ages. We were all just neighbors, pals, classmates, whatever. My fondest memories of family and childhood go back to that wonderful tree-lined neighborhood.
I was just 12 years old when it happened. The year was 1990.I lost a good friend. His name was Tremaine Hall. He was the victim of the Sunise Movie theatre Shooting that took place Christmas Weekend in 1990. Like other kids in our age group, Sunrise was an easy way to have fun and meet up with other teens. Yes I resided in the “less than desirable” surrounding neighborhood that you talk about. To me it almost sounds as if you’re implying that the residents of the mostly African-American neighborhoods, caused the depreciation of Value in your beloved theatre. Tremaine was killed watching a Mafia Movie. The Irony is Tremaine was Killed watching the Godfather, and not some Urban rap movie that you made reference to. If it was the latter, Tremaine may have been crucified for watching a movie that contributed to the theatre’s beginning and end. Tremaine was only 15 when he was brutally shot by some unruly teens. He was an innocent bystander. With the drive of his parents and local politicians, the theatre has installed Metal Detectors. Please Dont blame Tremaine, the “not so desirable neighborhood”, or the “riot” for not going back. Blame it on your prejudices. This is America. A melting pot of people. Sorry that your segregated theatre fantasy will not be showing there..
P.S. the further Irony is that I am a 29 y/o African American Female who was raised in Jamaica Queens. I am employed as a Police Officer for Nassau County.
I went back for the first time in ten years, still metal detectors, still use 1980 type signs, new refreshment stand, theatre still long and narrow. Dolby Digital sound only in theatres 1, 8, 9 and 13. DTs digital in theatre 10 and REAL D in screen 10. They now have cupholders. The other screens are Dolby SR analog sound.
Late 1995 when they put all screens Dolby. The only good screens are 1, 8, 9 and 10.
The capacities are
1. 682 SR+EX
2. 342 SR
3. 306 SR
4. 337 SR
5. 283 SR
6. 283 SR
7. 327 SR
8. 682 SR+EX
9. 682 SR+EX
10. 583 REAL D dts
11. 241 SR
12. 282 SR
13. 359 SR+D
14. 359 SR
Don’t be fooled because the small one 300 seats, but the theatre are long since they were divided in half, with the exception of screens 13 and 14.
The large houses usually show big blockbusters or urban films. For example, Screens 8 and 9 had This Christmas which seat 700 each
The theatre is down hill, you have to go through metal detectors and the only good screens are 1, 8, 9 and 10. The others the screens are small and long and noarrow 300 seats houses.
Here’s a standalone ad for the Sunrise Cinemas that ran in Newsday on 12/9/80:
Sixplex Ad
Sorry for the blurriness of the image. I saw every one of the movies playing here except for “The Competition”. The phone # listed in the ad still works.
I wasn’t there for the shooting, but recall vividly from newspaper/TV accounts that a bunch of teens from Nassau/Queens pretty much opened fire on the crowd, injuring a few folks and killing one.
Another story from back in the day from when I was a teen…I was at the adjacent Green Acres Mall with a friend just killing time in the arcade before going to see Nightmare on Elm Street 4 at the Sunrise Multiplex. We started to play the old USA-Russia hockey game, when an all-out massive fight broke out between rival African-American and Latino gangs and spilled right into the arcade. I remember it clear as day. My friend and I both hid under our video game the whole time, scared as sh*t. After the movie I remember thinking that no Freddy movie seemed as frightening as that one, though I suppose it was brought on by the pre-show action rush at the mall.
Anybody have pictures of this theater?
Can anyone bring light to the 1990 godfather three shooting at Sunrise theater?
Can anyone bring light to the 1990 godfather three shooting at Sunrise theater?
Can anyone bring light to the 1990 godfather three shooting at Sunrise theater?
Can anyone bring light to the 1990 godfather three shooting at Sunrise theater?
That was a tough time, we had to increase security to handle crowd control which had gotten out of control, there were so many people that the lobby had filled up, so we formed additional holding areas outside the front doors. When we opened the doors the people stormed in breaking a few doors and windows. The next night we had police dogs in the lobby and added additional screens to handle the crowd. The Godfather shooting was caused by someone cutting in line at the concession stand, Imagine that? I am not sure how business there is now, although from what I understand it is still a popular theatre.
I haven’t been involved in the Long Island theatres since 1987
Vito: since you worked there during the period that I saw a lot of movies there, do you remember the riot that took place during “Krush Groove”? In my opinion, that was the beginning of the end of this place. As popular as it was, I know a lot of people who began to have second thoughts about going there. After the shooting during “The Godfather, Part III”, I absolutely refused to go there ever again and never did. Even before that, it was the theater of last resort.
How is it doing these days? I cannot imagine that its like it was during the early 80’s.
I worked as a projectionist at Sunrise Feb 1984 thru Nov 1987. As Ed posted it was a very busy theatre then. We were mentioned in the trade magazine Boxoffice as the busiest theatre in the country. Some films were so popular, on weekends we would interlock (project the same print on two or more screens at the same time) on three screens for a total seating capacity of 1900 seats per show. Back then, five of the twelve auditoriums had 700 seats each. We expanded to fourteen screens while I was there. Three of the auditoriums have 70mm capability and during the 80s we often had two or three 70mm prints running. It was great reading the above posts, It was a great experience working there.
The opening date was December 7th, 1979 with Star Trek: The Motion Picture the sole feature presentation as CConnolly described above. I was in attendance that night. The first of many, many nights my close freinds and I spent in one (some nights even more) of it’s ever expanding # of auditoriums. We had our favorite seats almost every time out (dead center of the 4th row) and saw just about everything here through the early ‘80’s from Star Trek to Roller Boogie to One Trick Pony to Airplane to Altered States to Excalibur to History of the World Part One to Stir Crazy to Chuck Norris flicks, slasher-flicks and Bruce Lee re-releases. I remember going to opening night of the Sean Connery flick Outland (a sci-fi remake of High Noon) and having to settle for 1st row seats due to being one of the last in the capacity crowd to arrive. That movie (and one or two others I can’t recall exactly) was presented in some sort of new sound system (not Sensurround) that required about six huge speakers placed on the floor of the theater right under the screen (and about 6 feet away from our seats) that nearly blasted us out of the theater!
There is a photo in the Cinema Treasures book that features the very large sign that stands near the curb of Sunrise Highway advertising the attractions at the theater and I figured out that I had seen every single title up on the marquee! And by the time of this photo, I believe the complex had been expanded to 8 auditoriums… and one was playing a double feature! We were definitely movie hounds back in those days. Easily going out to one movie theater or another once or twice a week.
As I recall the expansion of auditoriums here, they initially started dividing the outer theaters first (those being farthest to either the left or right of the lobby area which was dead center in the complex. At some point, just about all but the 2 center theaters had been divided and then, eventually, the building was physically expanded for a couple of extra screens.
One last note… a lot of teen agers seemed to show up to this theater just as much to play the arcade games that were situated in the lobby as to see the movies themselves. I seem to recall that some of the early hints of “trouble” in this theater originated with disputes between the rowdies that often crowded out the smaller children who wanted to play those games while Mom and Dad waited on the ticket-holders' line.
Wait… I lied…. Just one final related memory… the image of the old Sunrise Drive-In just before it was razed to make way for this theater remains indelibly etched in my mind… with a chain link fence surrounding the stripped down base of its hulking screen where someone had scrawled in white spray paint large enough to be seen from the passing cars on Sunrise Highway, “Goodbye Cruel World!”