Bellerose Theater
245-14 Jericho Turnpike,
Floral Park,
NY
11001
245-14 Jericho Turnpike,
Floral Park,
NY
11001
10 people
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Showing 126 - 150 of 178 comments
Yes it IS FINALLY opened..LOL…..took them long enough.
By the way, when I passed by the former theater a couple of weeks back, the martial arts outlet that currently occupies the building appeared finally to be open to the public.
Jake Gittes: I worked at the Bellerose as an usher in 1979. What is you name?
Here’s the actual link, as the mainpage will change in a few weeks and the Floral Park as a “new” section will be buried within the site:
View link
I revamped my photobucket album and broke all the links to photos I previously posted here. So… here’s a link to my Bellerose Theater album where the pics I took in December are now located.
True but they said that this store was supposed to be opening to the public as a retail store many months ago. I also dont remember any warehouse with front rollup gates and full displays in the window. It doesnt make sense. Also, what about the carpet store that was there. I think it was there for a year or two with no activity. Maybe longer. I dont buy it. Sorry. I agree with the maintenance statement, although work needed to be done on the front long before they actually did it.
RCDTJ,
If this were a WAREHOUSE OUTLET attempting to attract retail customers, I would agree with you. But if it’s only a warehouse (i.e., not intended for retail sales), then the sole use of side gates makes a lot of sense. Consider the need for curb access for the loading and unloading of trucks.
Consider also that the phone response you get – “closed” – simply means “closed to the (retail) public.”
As for exterior maintenance, this is not an annual activity, but something that need be done only every ten to fifteen years.
A couple of thing here……First of all, Neil, I am not trying to start an arguement here but this store is NOT open for business. I called them again today. They told me that they are NOT open and they dont know when they will open. They would give me no other information. Does anyone other than me, live in the neighborhood, that can give some more info on this place. Like I said, I pass by this place everyday and the gates have NEVER been up. I’m not talking about the roll up gate on the side. That has nothing to do with it. If you think thats there main entrance, then something is wrong here. Something very strange is going on here. This is twice in the last 7 years or so that a company has renovated this place, filled it with product, and let it stand like that for a year or so with no activity. As far as the maintenance of this building goes, they have done nothing to maintain this place until the carpet store rented it. It sat for years without anything being done to it.
I suppose you are both correct and that the preservation of any detail work is merely a happy by-product of this maintenance. However, I’ve seen many older buildings where facade “maintenance” involed a shearing off of any elements that might one day dislodge and pose a threat to pedestrians below. My point is I’m just happy that the detail is still in place to be admired even as the theater’s original functionality is lost to the ages.
Yes, the facade would be taken care of like a landlord would take care of any commercial building.
Ed,
Have you considered that the façade cleaning and repointing might have been undertaken by the landlord; and that his motive might have been maintenance of property value, compliance with Town of Hempstead codes, and/or liability insurance?
Just imagine loose facia crashing to the sidewalk and killing someone…
So, they operate out of that big roll gate located down the side street near the old screen wall. Since it’s a wholesale warehouse, they probably open up only for shipments and deliveries… I doubt there is a proper showroom that is open to the general public. Odd, then, that they would spend the money to repoint and maintain the facade ornamentation. A nice gesture towards the building’s past, however.
The gates have definitely come up. The entrance to the Building is on 246th st.
Sorry to say this but…………that makes no sense. How come the gates have not come up one time if they have been open since November? Everytime I call them, they say they will be opening soon. I pass the building twice a day. They are NOT open.
I am the VP of the Bellerose Terrace Civic Association. The Theater is now a Karate Wholesale warehouse. My understanding is that it has been open since Nov 2005. The owners have applied for a variance to have OmniPoint install Cell Phone Anteenas on the Roof.
Neil Frary
Vp Bellerose Terrace Civic Association
The theater must have ghosts that are upset that the building is no longer a theater, and are doing their best to stop the building from reopening as anything else.
Seriously though, once was strange, twice in the same theater is down right weird.
Ed
This is the second time in about 7 years that this has happened to this building. First it was the carpet store that fixed up the place, loaded it with carpet and stuff, then never opened. It sat for a year or two with no signs of anything. Now, the martial arts store. I called them in early September and they said they would be opening in two months. Nothing has happened yet. There is no activity during the day at this building. I don’t know what is going on with this place, but it is very strange.
As Bway points out, the both sides of the road are now Jericho Turnpike from the Cross Island Pkwy to all points east. However, there is no variation I can come up with to get the Google map service to pinpoint the location properly. If you drop the “Queens” (which should be done anyway) it points you to Floral Park (closer to the Floral Theater location). If you keep it in Queens it won’t plot you anywhere… and changing from Jamaica Ave to Jericho Turnpike is no help either. In any event, the proper address should be changed ot “Jericho Turnpike, Bellerose, NY.”
I drove by the theater with camera in hand yesterday morning and snapped some shots. The Martial Arts store is still not open (you can see unopened boxes piled high against the storefront windows and doors from the sidewalk), but the restoration job on the facade is very impressive – as can be seen in the detail photos below. By the way, they list an address of 245-14 on their signage.
Here’s a wide shot of the building where you can see the big rolldown gate installed by the would-be carpeting store down the side street near where the front of the auditorium would have been: View link
A head-on shot of the facade:
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Some ornamental details:
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Never made it to this theater, but I recall it being listed along with the Five Towns and Hewlett theaters for third-run discount. Was the Herricks also in that penny-a-year scheme of the late ‘70’s and early '80’s? Anyway… Seems like a pretty tall structure not to have had a balcony. Must have been a spacious room.
And what is the deal with these retail tenants who never seem to open their doors to the public? The martial arts supply company’s website accepts orders by internet and by phone and makes no mention of any store locations. They list their main office on Horace Harding Expressway in Bayside and offer a Queens telephone number. My guess is they are currently using the former Bellerose Theater as a warehouse storage facility with plans to open a showroom – why else would they clean and re-point the facade with such care if they didn’t expect to bring customers here?
The Jericho Turnpike – Jamaica Avenue controvery for the proper name for this theater is now official. It can be changed to Jericho Turnpike. For years, the Nassau side of this road was called “Jericho Turnpike” (The theater was always actually on “jericho”, not Jamaica), but now they official changed the Queens side of the road from the Nassau Border to the Cross Island Parkway to “Jericho Turnpike”. It can be officially changed above.
Here’s the article:
View link
Greg,
Sorry to answer on this forum. My email address is “”.
Thanks,
Marty
yes,through my pursuit of lauren bacall i attended this theater twice
Marty,
If I had your e-mail address – possibly through your profile – I could send you a couple of B&W photographs taken at the 1959 Memorial Day parade, with the marquee in the background.
Does anyone have any photos of the Bellerose before it was altered? I can remember the marque with the blue neon block “BELLEROSE” on the sides. I think at some point a neon band went along the top and down the sides of the marque also. I remember the day a dump truck pulled under the marque and demolition workers with sledge hammers laid waste to it allowing the pieces to fall off into their truck. (A neon transformer had dangled dangerously from a wire over the sidewalk for weeks before the marque was finally taken down.) Directions given to motorists looking for the Cross Island Parkway or Braddock Ave. would never quite be the same.
I called the Karate store today. According to them, they will be opening in 2 months. We will see.
I wish someone knew what was going on there. The carpet store that was there before the karate store also never opened up. They put in the warehouse and roll up door. It was stocked with carpet for a whole year with no activity in or out. Now with the karate store, it’s the same thing.