Loews Lefrak City Triplex
59-16 99th Street,
Corona,
NY
11368
59-16 99th Street,
Corona,
NY
11368
7 people
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Showing 76 - 93 of 93 comments
I’m almost positive this is where my Mom took me to see the original “Willard” back in ‘71. We lived in Elmhurst at the time on 41st Ave just a few doors off Junction Blvd.
Hey Mark, I also lived in Rego Park Gardens at that time, in the Athens building — the only one that faced Junction Blvd. Yes, as I noted above, used to play around in there all time.
i used to live across the street in rego park gardens in the early to mid ‘60s..again, clearly in corona..back then lefrak city was new and nice and safe..in fact as kids we used to go trick or treating during halloween. i guess as the demographics changed so did the neighborhood..i do remember in 1968 seeing planet of the apes with my old man at UA lefrak..
Opened in August 1965.
The grand opening included a Dimension-150 demonstration. I’m not sure if they ever actually ran anything in D-150 or any other deluxe format. They did run some roadshow titles but apparently not on a roadshow basis. Someone told me that he thinks the place at some point had a 70mm Bollywood festival.
I told you I remembered it initially being advertised as a Skouras theater! I guess the ol' noggin isn’t quite out of gas.
And the Post report was correct, as the 99th Street shopping center did, indeed, have rooftop parking.
The Lekrak reference was intentional, since that was the commodity that many of the more entrepreneurial residents chose to make a living from in those days. Maybe it’s changed, but I suspect it hasn’t. When I moved out I told them old Sam ought to consider leveling the whole place and plant wheat or corn on the property.
‘LeFrak’ was always listed in the annual Forbes 400 Richest People edition. In his bio it cited “…the centerpiece of his real estate empire is the 4,500-unit LeFrak City in Queens.” He was poorly served by his publicist – if I owned a place like that, I certainly would not want to draw attention to the fact.
The amazing thing is, when I was a kid of about 10 or 12, in the 60s, I used to know every nook and cranny of Lefrak City. My friends and I would chase each other around through the basements all the time. I could get from one end to the other—Junction Blvd. to 99th St.— completely underground, entirely through basements and parking garages. None of the connecting doors were locked. I imagine that came in pretty handy later in the 70s and 80s — though not for the tenants!
Dave, you’ve (unintentionally?) hit upon one of Lefrak’s other pretentious predilictions with your “LeKrak” reference. In addition to disdaining Corona, Samuel Lefrak and his wife were obsessed with their social status, and began spelling their name LeFrak—and constantly turning up that way in the society columns of the News and the Post. Of course, I never did find out what a “frak” is in French.
When I existed briefly at LeKrak City (nobody LIVES there, they exist) in the 1980s, the renting office gave me the address as 97-20 57th Ave, Lefrak City NY 11368 – again, not acknowledging the Corona location. They also refused to acknowledge that you needed a bullet-proof vest to get in or out of there once the sun went down, and after the third mugging I moved out. This was probably also one reason the theatre shut down.
Agreed, Jeffrey. I’m surprised I didn’t catch that myself. If there is such a thing as “Forest Hills North” it would refer to the section of the neighborhood north of Jewel Ave and would certainly end at the Corona border at the LIE (and before the LIE blasted it’s way through, there was Horace Harding Blvd to mark the neighborhood boundaries).
The listing should be changed to “Corona, Queens, NY”
p.s. I just noticed that you have the address as Rego Park, NY. This is the way it was listed in ads, but I can assure you, it was most definitely in Corona, as was the rest of Lefrak City. Junction Blvd. was the postal dividing line between Elmhurst and Corona. Rego Park was on the other side of the LIE. Lefrak always refused to acknowledge Lefrak City’s actual location; in fact, in much of their advertising they claimed it was in “Forest Hills North” whatever that is!
When I moved to Junction Blvd. as a kid in 1963, Lefrak City was still under construction. The third section, closest to 99th Street, did not open until 1965; I can recall the signs on the buildings promoting new apartments for rent with the slogan “Wellington ‘66” in reference to one of the buildings in the Australian-themed section. But I also recall that when I began 6th grade at the new I.S. 61 further north on 99th Street in September 1966, the shopping center on 99th was already in place and open. So I’m guessing the shopping center opened during 1965 or early '66. I also recall the promotional advertising for the new movie house — which included flyers that were distributed all over the neighborhood — always referring to it simply as the new “UA Theatre” never as the UA Lefrak or anything like that. For some reason, I have a distinct memory of the initial advertising referring to it as a Skouras theater. But my recollection, which may be flawed, was that the theater was closed, at least temporarily, by the time I left the area in the mid-70s.
A Blue Ribbon run from 1970
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Extreme curvature of the screen made it difficult to keep “standard” pictures in focus properly. I recall seeing “Ship of Fools” there out of focus throughout.
PaulNoble
Did anyone ever go here when it was a D-150 house? I was only in it after Loews triplexed it.
Someone also reminded me that when the indian movies stopped playing they renamed the place The Queens Kung Fu Cinema and played those films. The policy lasted about a month.
This theatre was opened in the early 60’s and was a D-150 theatre that played films like Sound of Music after the exclusive Manhattan runs.
It was located on 99th Street just north of the LIE service road. I think it was the Bombay while it was showing Indian fare in the late ‘70’s and '80s.
Some more details: The UA Lefrak was located on 99th Street just north of the Long Island Expressway to service the large apartment complex called Lefrak City. It was known as the Cinema Bombay when it converted to Bollywood fare in the 1980’s. My guess is the theater dated to the early 60’s.