Haven Theatre
80-16 Jamaica Avenue,
Woodhaven,
NY
11421
80-16 Jamaica Avenue,
Woodhaven,
NY
11421
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 101 - 123 of 123 comments
Has any body visited the retail store that now exists in the former Haven? Are any remnants intact? I remember this theater as being very plain, without the traditional ornamentation that most early 20 th century theaters possess. I wonder if the balcony is open to the public, it never was when I attended as a movie house.
I remember very clearly that the last movie to play at the Haven in the spring of 1985 was a double feature of Rustlers' Rhapsody adnn Brewster’s Millions.
I saw the same film at the Picwood in West Los Angeles shortly before that theater closed forever. Coincidence?
“This neighborhood double feature house made it into the Eighties, closing with Berry Gordy’s "The Last Dragon”, released March 1985, according to the IMDb.
I can’t believe I haven’t posted on this page yet !
At the Haven, I saw “M.A.S.H.” and “I Never Sang For My Father” in February 1971, a double feature of “The Conversation”, also starring the tireless, always-working Gene Hackman, and “Twenty Carats”, with the lovely Deborah Raffin, late August 1974, “The Towering Inferno” August 1975, and, last of all, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” in June or July of 1976. All of these with my parents or, at least my Dad.
My dad very shrewdly observed, while watching “Cuckoo’s Nest” with me, that, once McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) had failed to pull the heavy hydrotherapy panel up out of the floor of the treatment room, he said :
“I’ll bet the Indian’s gonna do it !”
And, lo and behold, ladies and gentlemen, he (Chief “Broom” Bromden) most certainly did !!!!
“Thank you …….. Juicy Fruit !”
Priceless !
Being from Glendale, during the 70’s and 80’s I attended the movies frequently, and found The Haven to be one of the best and most comfortable. The balcony was never open, but anyway, Of all the movies I saw there, one was most memorable, and stands out ,I seen it at least a dozen times..“Fast Times at Ridgemont High”!!
When I was a kid in the 50s/60s, if we missed a movie at our local theatre, the Embassy in Cypress Hills, and we missed it at the Earl (Liberty Ave.), we could always catch it at the Haven. To this day my Dad who is 83 and I laugh about the time we went to the Haven to see THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME – a Technicolor remake starring Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollabrigida. It must have been the early 60s. The Haven was never in mint condition as I recall and when we saw the Quinn movie, there was a big gash in the middle of the screen so every time there was a close up of the actors, they all looked like they had been in combat! It was hilarious! Since the theatre was so small there was no lobby – just a candy vending machine behind the last row so every time anyone got candy you heard the coins drop in and the candy drop out! But as bad as it was, at least it provided the last opportunity to see movies we missed elsewhere. Before DVDs and home video and cable, the Haven was the last resort to catch a missed film. As bad as the theatre was, I wouldn’t trade all the movies I saw there with my parents as a kid. Every once in a while they would play reissues as a double feature. I remember vividly seeing a double feature of (GET THIS!) A PLACE IN THE SUN and ALL THE KING’S MEN! Two masterpieces together. And I also remember seeing FUNNY FACE and ON THE WATERFRONT there on a double bill! Can you imagine???
I just uploaded clips from the tv movie Queen of the Stardust Ballroom that has exterior shots of Woodhaven 1975. Including one of the Haven theater, from the side at least, you can see part of the marquee.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_ePIXaz1l8
I lived in this theater starting at 7 years old in 1977 seeing Star Wars until closing in 1985. A couple of times my parents came into the theater just to take me home. I would go there in the morning and watch movies all day. $1.50 for a double feature!
Also, the top of thge page is incorrect, the last show there was a double feature of Richard Pryor’s Brewster’s Millions and Tome Berenger’s Rustlers' Rhapsody, two horrible comedies in the spring of 1985. The theater shut down just before the summer splash of 1985, and that’s why I never saw Back to the Future until video.
Thx for the correction, TomG. (Don’t know where my head was that day…)
Two San Diegans recently posted elsewhere on weird pairings. One gent listed the Readers Digest musical “Huckleberry Finn” with Bronson’s “Death Wish.” (Perhaps if it played it Mississippi or some other “Deliverance” county!) And writer Jay Allen Sanford mentioned “Blue Thunder” and “Purple Rain.” Colorful, to say the least.
And woodie, in the late ‘60s, the Haven management experimented with softcore erotica, such as “I, a Woman.” Hot stuff for its day (via the imagination route), but totally tame by today’s raunchy standards (XXX-plicit). At least it brought in some sorely needed green stamps for the theater during that period.
On dates after the movies, we’d hit one of the two nearby pizza shops on Jamaica Ave. Today, there’s a terrific old-fashioned ice cream place called “Pops” around 86th St. If you haven’t been there, try it! (You can always get some beer down the block later.) Pops has ambience and atmosphere, plus a most friendly staff.
BrooklynJim- Re your June 12 posting, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was originally released in 1954. That was a strange pairing for sure.
I HAD MANY GOOD TIMES IN THE HAVEN . THE BEST ONE I CAN REMEMBER IS ONE FRIDAY NIGHT MY FRIENDS (BRIAN AND RONNIE) AND I WENT TO SEE THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE. WE STOPPED AT A DELI AND PICKED UP SOME BEER TO SNEEK IN WHICH IT MAKE IT ALL THE MORE FUN,AFTER THAT WE WENT TO MIKES BAR ON 78 ST.THERE ARE MANY OTHER TIMES I HAD GOOD TIMES AT THE HAVEN BUT TOWARD THE END IT WAS GOING DOWN HILL( JUST LIKE THE AREA AROUND IT).
{Tried to post the following 3 times last Saturday. All 3 were lost due to “Page Not Found.” Does CT often experience site or server problems? If so , perhaps the execs need to fix or to upgrade.}
That matron, klass, must either be the same one we had at the Peerless in the ‘50s – or her sister. Built like a wooden barrel, she tossed out many a kid. Also think she posed for an emblem on the front of a Peterbilt.
Ironically, my dad used to refer to the Peerless as “the itch.” Must’ve been a common expression in our dads' day. He’d say, “You go in alone and you come out with company,” and then he’d pretend to scratch himself all over. LOL!
The Haven was a dependable and comfortable neighborhood venue. I called it a stop-gap: not fancy or plush, but certainly heads above some of the 3rd rate dives we’ve all experienced. Accessible by the el and with several nearby pizza joints, it often made for a pleasant evening with a date.
Double features were common, but not much else. I used to cry out loudly to no one in particular, “Where’s the Road Runner? MEEP MEEP! Swoooossshhh!” No one ever paid me any mind, and I never got to see a cartoon, either…
One double bill was sort of memorable, a very odd pairing of a ‘60s musical (ugh!), “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” with Howard Keel, and Clint Eastwood’s “Play Misty For Me.” I suffered and sweated through the musical, but the second one kept me in bigtime suspense. Now if I’m correct, Eastwood included Roberta Flack’s hit version of “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” on the soundtrack. OK song, but not to one cranky and discontented old geezer in the balcony. Whenever she’d sing “your face” toward the end of the song, he’d groan and imitate her words and style. She crooned. He groaned. She jazzed it up. He razzed it up. Ever louder. Ever longer. What a duet for the benefit of the half dozen in attendance that afternoon. Grammy material.
As a kid, we would all go to the Haven to see the Saturday afternoon cartoon matinees, especially if it was a rainy Saturday. I remember the elderly matron of the theatre who was very, very strict and you didn’t dare speak once the movie started or she would throw you right out of the theatre! A bit run down towards the end……..my dad used to call it “the itch”.
The Haven was a fun place but as I recall, very run down. I attended many movied ther in the 60’s but it always seemed to be the worst of the Jamaica Ave. theatres. They were all close together only a train stop or two apart. Haven, Roosevelt, Willard, Keith’s and Valencia- did I miss any ? robbiedupree
Christmas 1983 on the neighborhood run
View link
I remember the Friday we opened the doors for this double bill. The first show sold out at 12:00. We had 650 seats and sold almost 700 tickets. Kids sat on their parents lap or 2 to a seat. The first three weeks it was like this. Both films had played the Haven before but not together. This was the PG “Saturday Night Fever”.
View link
This was a sexy ad in 1963
View link
Remember when the second run ads would look like this and all the neighborhood houses would get the film? I had just become the assistant manager of the Haven when we played this movie along with “North Dallas Forty” as the co-feature.
View link
Celluloid
We opened the balcony on weekends and peak times in the summer. In fact a few times in the real dead of winter we would open the balcony and not the orchestra. The blacony had 125 seats and the orchestra 525.
Hey Robert R.
The Haven was one of my favorite theatres as a kid and was a regular from ‘81 to '84 when the area started to become “ghetto”. Just curious , exactly how big was the Haven? I mean how many seats? And why was the balcony never fixed? I never got to watch from the balcony. Darn!!!
I managed The Haven in the early to mid 80’s. Every week another double feature plus kids matinees on the weekends.
For some reason, the Status is listed as “Open”, but the Haven Theater is not still open. It was converted into a flea market during the 1980’s, but that was not too successful. A Liberty bargain store was then built on the property during the 1990’s, and it stands to this day. A shame, really, since I have such fond memories of the old Haven Theater.