UA Crossbay I

The el is still there! I grew up going to the Crossbay 1 or is it 2? The older one and while apparently it was much better than the multiplex, I still think it was a dumpy theater. It was no Valencia, RKO Keiths (Flushing or Richmond Hill), Elmwood, TriBoro, Alden, the list of quality old theaters in Queens is long. The Crossbay is not in that company.

I was talking to the manager and I also saw the construction being done after Crossbay was closed. The building was completely gutted and then made to Modell’s specs. The only thing you can really see from the old theatre is the exterior which is now painted in a creamy color. Also the gate area on the Rockaway side is still the same (rusted dull look) and the coming soon area is still that aged gray. Its funny that they used a huge peice of plywood to cover the coming soon boxes. Personally I would say Modells rushed to open this store to make some money. I really didn’t mind Crossbay 1 closing being that it was small and really a bad theatre, but Crossbay 2 was a bad move to close. It just needed a renovation but that idea is dead.

Great photos Ken.

Sorry about the spelling error there, Ill try to get a pic of the theatre for all of you guys if I have time.

It should be added in the info that there is a Models sporting good store here, so far since the store just opened, the interior has no remains of the old theatre, the awning and everything else is intact but repainted. The small “Coming Soon” boxes were filled up, altogether so far the interior was the main thing that was changed, and the exterior is still the same but with certain improvements. I think it was better to close Crossbay 1, it was in a state of deterioration and it was small. Crossbay 2 should be the one that should stay and be renovated if needed but right now that seems highly unlikely.

Hopefully open another cinema somewhere close by.

If UA had made the outside of this theatre look as good as it does as a Modells it may still be open. I have to take a picture of it and post it here. They redid the marquee and the entire front in a beige stone, looks so nice.

Last weekend I went Ozone Park to
visit with my Mom for the weekend. (I moved to Pa.)

We were on our way to Howard Beach for dinner when
I noticed there was not a sign on the Crossbay;
at the same time my Mom told me that she thought
the Crosbay was closed. I was really sad to hear that.
It was an icon in Ozone Park. A place where you went
on a Saturday afternoon, where you went on your first
date, where you probably got your first kiss, and
eventually brought your children.

The first movie I can every remember seeing there
was when I was about 10 yrs. old. My grandmother
loved Maurice Chevalier! So I was elected to take a
walk with her and see the movie “Gigi”. At first
I thought; If my grandmother likes it, I would hate it
and the only good thing was that my grandmother would
buy me chocolate covered ice cream bon bons.
But I loved the movie and instantly had a crush on Louis Jourdan.
I was humming the song Gigi for a week.

From the distance, and cold light of the early 21st century, this story may seem as if my Mom was a bad parent. That is not the point of this story. If you can think back to a simpler time in Ozone Park where nothing bad ever happened, here is the tale.

It was a summer Saturday 1962, I was six years old, and my sister was eight. My mother had to go on an errand, and she decided to let us spend the day at The UA Crossbay. The main feature was “The Longest Day.” Not exactly kiddie fare. My mom gave my sister the money and gave her strict instructions to wait for her on the bench, which then existed on the triangle in front of the theatre. The bench faced west towards Woodhaven Blvd. It was a plan. It should have worked. It would have gotten her in trouble these days, but back in 1962, life was different.

My sister was wearing shorts. Back in those days, the UA Crossbay, and a lot of other theatres had a modesty rule against ladies wearing shorts to their establishments. I guess that it is the same kind of rule that they use in Afghanistan where women may only wear those birkas in public.

The manager in his suit and tie saw my sister in her shorts and refused admittance to her on the basis of her attire. I said that if my sister can’t go in, I am not going in. We held hands and crossed Liberty Avenue to the bench on the triangle. We sat there until everyone had entered the theatre. The show must have started. I guess that the manager felt like a real fool enforcing that no shorts rule against an eight year old and her six-year-old brother. He sheepishly ambled across Liberty Avenue and told us that it was OK; we could come in and see the movie. Before I could say “YIPEE!” and race across Liberty Avenue, my sister dug her heels in and firmly told the manager that she was staying right there and waiting for her mother. She did not want to see their movie. The manager slunk away like the evil minded little jerk that he was.

We sat there watching cars zoom up and down Cross Bay/Woodhaven, Liberty/Rockaway for at least six hours. Barley talking. I never counted so many cars before. It was among the worst days of my little life. My mom was angry with the manager, but proud of us for sitting like little statues for such along time. She never did anything like that again.

There is a distinct tinge of sadness now almost half a century later that the UA Crossbay is now gone, I have moved far away to the wilds of central New Jersey, the manager of public morals must have gone to his just reward, and the world is such a different place. Whatever happens to the UA Crossbay property, I hope that it is a good thing, and a nice place for children and a place where all goes well.

Jennifer
I was in the Crossbay once in 1981 when I lived in NY. I went to see Chariots Of Fire after it won best picture. It upsets and saddens me as to what ahs happened to all the theaters I remember from my 8 years of living in NYC. To add fuel to the fire this stupid merger of AMC and Lowes will now wipe out what’s left of great NYC memories.

thanks Peter Koch (that is your full name, yes?) where do you live? i will use your memories in my story if you dont mind.

Got memories of the cross bay theatres? i am a reporter in Queens working on a story about the now shuttered cross bay I and Cross Bay II theatres in south queens and would love to include some local color in the form of personal recollection of the movie houses in their heyday. please post your memories, or better yet, post with your email and we can chat. Thanks. Jennifer M.

I was watching the “King of Queens” the other night and the show started with a exterior shot of the UA Crossbay. Am I correct in assuming that is this theater?