Loew's Triboro Theatre

Benjamin— Abbott and Costello’s final film, “Dance with Me Henry,” opened on 26 December 1956, so it might have been that film you saw. The juvenile roles in it were played by Gigi Perreau and Rusty Hamer.

I grew up on 41st St. between Astoria blvd. & 25th Ave.
I used to attend the Loews Saturday matinees and once a year they would raffle 2 bikes (girl/boy). My friend “Steve” won the boy’s bike 2 years in a row. What are the odds on that? There used to be another Theater on Steinway & 25th Ave named “Olympia”. I saw a lot of movies there also. It later turned into a porn theater. The parents on my block would march in front on Saturday mornings with protest signs. That theater was eventually gutted for a clothing & electronics store. Yes, a clothing & electronics store. I don’t know what type of business occupies the space now. Right now the most unique theater is in Suffern, NY. (Layfette theater) which still has the original decor and shows big screen classics, including silent films accompanied by a live pipe organ on Saturday mornings for only $6.00. Search for details online.

I am a bit younger than you guys (42) but still remember the great times we had going to the Loew’s Triboro. Seeing movies from the early 70’s like “5 Fingers Of Death”, “Mark Of The Devil”, “The Chosen Survivors” etc, in that big theatre always brings back great childhood memories. People my age always talk about it being torn down as one of the first bad things we can remember that happened in the community (“remember the Loews Triboro?..”). We’re STILL pissed that they built a couple of 2 family homes there… What a slap in the face. The Astoria Theatre was kinda nice back then, but nowhere near a classic like the Triboro. It was more like the first big screen TV you’d ever seen! Then there was the Strand Theatre down on Broadway and Crescent St. It was small but a bit nicer than the Astoria. Until they closed it and made it a furniture store, then a deli.. Hopefully someone will reopen the RKO Keiths in Flushing in it’s full glory one day. That was one of the last amazing theatres I was able to go to as a kid. I can’t even begin to describe how cool that place was! Apparently some oriental guys have been trashing that one too.. These money grabbing multiplexes of today are one of the reasons that I only rent movies now. Kids growing up today don’t know what they missed!

The Astoria theatre which just closed last year could also have been used for live shows, but it has been destroted also. I was amused when I read about the Queens Borough President fighting the Landmark designation. The one who replaced him was no better. I am not sure if you are aware of the Amphitheatre from the 1939 Worlds Fair in Flushing Meadows park. It had been unused for a few years and finally there was alot of intrest in restoring it and even a promoter willing to contract to put on shows there. Because of a fear from some well connected residents in affluent and somewhat nearby Forest Hills and Kew Gardens all of a sudden an aspestos issue was brought up and the BP used a special fund that required no community board approval to have the structure torn down. These residents were concerned about what kind of concerts would be given there. Meanwhile the amphitheatre is in the middle of a park and not close by to any homes. All this was carried out despite ongoing plans drawn up, meetings and negotiations with the concert promoter. Another Queens landmark destroyed.

SWarren, you’re right in my zone, even down to calling your grandmother Nana (my mother’s mother we called Big Nana, my father’s Little Nana). Anyway, I remember, certainly, the Steinway and the Astoria (which closed only couple of years ago). Where the Steinway used to be is now ,I believe, a parking lot. We saw old movies at the Steinway, including some horror classics. The first time I ever went to a movie at night by mself was at the Steinway. And I remember that long walk from the subway which I used to use for commuting back and forth to my job around 1952-1954.
I saw most of the films you mention at the Triboro. “Jungle Book” (with Sabu, right?) and “National Velevet” and “Two Years Before the Mast” (with Alan Ladd) for sure.
Once in a great whille I’m on Steinway Street and marvel at how even more crowded it is than it used to me, esp. on week-ends. And there’s a much greater ethnic mix as well. Still a vital place to live.
John

The Loew’s Triboro Theatre was located at Steinway Street and 28th Ave..

The theater was demolished in 1974. I was involved in the effort to have the theater designated as a landmark. Landmark Preservation Commission had already voted to make it a landmark.

Unfortunately, like everything in New York, politics entered into it. the decision had already been made before a Board of Estimate meeting by the Queens Borough President ( very anti preservationist) that he would vote against making it a landmark. All the other board members voted lockstep behind him (I scratch your back and you scratch mine etc). Although I helped to obtain over 8000 signatures on petitions to save it, few people showed up at the Board meeting. I feel to this day if more support was shown at the board meeting, the results might have been different. Astoria went downhill after that and now their last movie theater Astoria) just closed. Steinway street once had 4 theaters. Now they have none. an interesting footnote is that the public official (Queens Borough president) who basically killed the landmark designation committed suicide a few years later due to a growing scandal which he though would engulf him

I went to the movies at the Loew’s Triboro from 1943 to about 1956 and would like any information I can get on when it was demolished. I loved the place and remember vaudeville performances on Tuesday evenings there. The Triboro shaped my childhood in ways that cannot be measured.