Loew's Valencia Theatre
165-11 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica,
NY
11432
165-11 Jamaica Avenue,
Jamaica,
NY
11432
36 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 480 comments
Thanks, Lost Memory. I don’t think I’d ever heard or read about this film !
“20 Million Miles to Earth” plus “Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers” would have made it a Ray Harryhausen FX double feature.
The first would have to be Jayne Mansfield in “The Girl Can’t Help It” (and indeed the screen had never seen anything like [them]) and the second feature has many shocking possibilities but none that I can place in 1957…Streisand as Yentl? Lucy as Mame? Liberace as straight? All mind-boggling, yet none correct.
“Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers” ?
Hmmm. That first tag sounds like logical hyperbole for the original “Godzilla”, but I know that movie was released in the U.S. a year earlier. And that line would make too much sense. I’ll bet they’re a pair of outlandish tags for an AIP horror double-bill! I’m sure if we search the net hard enough, we’ll find the films – so spill it quick, Warren! Now my curiosity is piqued!
Thanks for posting that, Bway, I’ve noticed that myself.
The Tabernacle of Prayer took over the Valencia before the El closed, even if by a few months. I have seen photos of the 168th Street station of the jamaica el on September 11, 1977, the last day of the el service, and the cross for Tabernacle of Prayer was already on the Valencia building.
Veyong, I can’t be sure of the exact date. Mabe it was 1960 but I do know it was at the Valencia. The El train was still there. The electric buses were running on Jamacia Ave. I can still see the goldfish in the lobby, the huge Ben-Hur posters and billboards in and outside the theater and I was so impressed with the woodcarvings all over the walls.
Kong911, in 1959 in the New York area “Ben-Hur” (1959 version) was on view only at the Loew’s State.
Another note to PKock and HeMan re: anti-aircraft guns. I just checked with my father-in-law who told me when he came home from the war, he remembers 90mm guns in Aqueduct Racetrack and more in Hamilton Beach on Crossbay Blvd. where there now is a VFW all by itself.
to PKoch. I wasn’t around yet during the war but I did hear this story when I was a kid living in the neighborhood. It might or might not be true. Also I was in the Valencia only one time and that was to see Ben Hur in 1959.
I don’t know anything about former ack ack guns in Queens, kong1911.
Just a note to PKock and HeMan re: your post in July. I have heard that there was an anti-aircraft battery where Aqueduct Racetrack is today. I never heard anything about baisley pond park having one. I lived just across Rockaway Blvd. from the park in the early 50’s.
Congratulations, tomw9 !
Perhaps some members of CT can be of assistance with some old newspaper clippings of 50 years ago.
My first visit to Lowe’s Valencia Theater Was 50 years ago today, Sept. 14,1957. Can you tell me what was playing that day?
My first visit to Lowe’s Valencia Theater Was 50 years ago today, Sept. 14,1957. Can you tell me what was playing that day?
Thanks, Panzer65.
My mother said this was the most beautiful theater she’s ever been to,the second is The RKO Madison.
Thanks, Warren. Your answer makes sense.
Thanks, Warren. Do you have any data on how the Depression affected Loew’s Valencia, and the other four “wonder” theaters, in their first few years ?
OK, we’ll move the rock n roll chat to the page for the Brooklyn Paramount, and the Wyckoff and Palmetto news stand talk to the Parthenon Theater page.
Yes, Jack Tomai, Forrest J.Ackerman was indeed the editor of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine, also of MONSTER WORLD. I used to get them inside that little hole-in-the-wall news stand which is still there at the northern corner of Wyckoff and Palmetto under the el.
Yes, I think it cost 35 cents.
I wonder how many parents told their teenage daughters not to go to rock n roll shows because they could get pregnant at them ?
Oh boy, PKoch, there ya go reminding me of something else from back in the day…FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND! I was addicted to that magazine. Wasn’t Forrest J.Ackerman the editor? Loved that magazine…couldn’t wait to buy it the minute it appeared each month in the local candy store! It think it cost 35 cents?
Re: rock n roll show dangers: I think it was more of a parent’s concern of large groups of teenagers, no matter what their race, congregating in a large venue embracing rock and roll and letting off all that steam together.
Thanks for your answer, Jack Tomai. You mention rock n roll shows were thought to be dangerous because of their mix of ethnicities. You mean black and white ? White kids digging black music ? I ask, because the Rolling Stones classic “Brown Sugar” is about inter-racial sex, and ironically uses a black man’s music (Chuck Berry’s) to sing an ode to white racism.
Ah yes … pot and the police adding to the excitement ! Who wants to see safe, legal Pat Boone, or Wayne Newton ?
“Yeah, we’ll have a party, but we gotta post a guard outside !”
“And when da police knocked, those doors flew back ! But they kept on rockin', goin' round and round ….”
Yeah, a scary movie and rock ‘n roll : two quick bops to the nerves that feel good. Just like orgasm.
I saw CURSE OF THE DEMON at Film Forum, sometime from summer 1987 through 1989. I knew about it as a kid from “Famous Monsters Of Filmland” magazine.
Don’t know about rock ‘n roll at the Valencia.
PKoch: Thanks for asking about the Rock n Roll shows at the old Bklyn Paramount. You asked why I said they were thought to be dangerous…well, I think primarily because it was a mix of ethnicities attending the shows. Also because there was occasionally the smell of pot in the air. I was only 11 thru 14 yrs old when I went to these shows with my older cousins so I really didn’t know what was going on. I just remember seeing some of my favorite record stars of the 50s and 60s performing. Alan Freed and Murray “the K” were usually the mc’s of these shows and some of the acts I remember seeing were The Shirrelles (a girl group famous prior to the
Supremes), Freddy Cannon (“Palisades Park”), the Angels (“My Boyfriend’s Back”) Johnny Tillotson (“Poetry in Motion), Gene Chandler ("The Duke of Earl”) among others. These shows were very cheap affairs with very little production values. Many of the acts actually lip-synched their records. But I recall them fondly as being very high-energy and exciting at the time. There was usually lots of dancing in the aisles and there was also visual police presence (which really added to the excitement of the show for a 13 year old kid!). I personally never encountered any trouble at these shows although my older cousin was involved in a skirmish at one of them later on.
Oftentimes, you could also see a movie before or after one of these shows. I remember seeing the terrific CURSE OF THE DEMON with Dana Andrews (which has since become something of a cinema classic)at the Bklyn Fox in addition to the Rock and Roll show. I think I was about 11 or 12 at the time and still remember it as a great event! A scary movie and rock and roll all together!
As I think back about these rock n roll shows, I seem to remember that Loew’s Valencia might have hosted a few rock n roll shows back then. Does anyone out there remember this?