Plaza Theatre

393 East Main Street,
Patchogue, NY 11772

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Showing 176 - 200 of 202 comments

Bway
Bway on September 25, 2004 at 8:14 am

There’s a lot of filmintg the last week in the area. They were filliming in front of and in a mansion on South COuntry Rd in Bellport Village the last couple of days too.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on September 25, 2004 at 12:20 am

some picture shoot today out side the theate building.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on September 21, 2004 at 10:36 am

orlando what was the farter son team that managed this theater for so long ?they closed the theater

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on September 20, 2004 at 7:32 pm

great/ pass it every day in a sad shape

iluvjoe1
iluvjoe1 on September 20, 2004 at 7:29 pm

Thank you for all the responses. I am glad to see other people have an interest in “The Plaza Theatre” as well. I will post the pictures I took. Most of the pictures are poor quality, but I do have a couple of nice ones, really interesting. One picture is creepy, you can see what appears to be some type of rodent very close to my feet, of course at the time I had no idea it was there. I also did some research, “Sixteen Candles” and “Amadeus” did come out in 1984 in the theatres. Also, I looked up the Hot Wheels car I found. The “Mighty Maverick” in metallic pink with redline tires was produced by Mattel and sold in stores between 1970-1971. Actually, it seems that the “mighty Maverick” especially in pink and in mint condition is worth up to 300.00 plus dollars by collectors. If anyone knows any more infomation on this toy car let me know, it has sparked an interest. I hope to have my pictures online soon, I will let everyone know here when I do so. Also, if anyone has any more information on “The Plaza Theatre” please let me know. Thank you, Joey

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on September 20, 2004 at 7:02 pm

The box office #s for this theater were a horror show

Bway
Bway on September 20, 2004 at 12:57 pm

By the way, just to add, I saw Ghostbusters at the Plaza in 1984 (the last movie I saw there), so the theater had to close some time after that movie was released in 1984.

Bway
Bway on September 20, 2004 at 12:54 pm

The problem is that with all the multiplexes around, there is no need for a small theater like this. The building is an ugly building, 60’s architecture at it’s worse, and not easily converted to some other use. The chance of a theater moving in are next to zero, because of all the modern multiplexes around, and converting it to some other use would be hard.
Main Street in Patchogue has improved so much over the last decade and a half, so neighborhood economics is not so much of a problem, it’s the building itself.
I agree with your assesment. Total demolition is the only merciful fate for the building.

br91975
br91975 on September 20, 2004 at 12:48 pm

Considering Joey’s remembrances of having seen ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ there and his expedition find of an ‘Amadeus’ one-sheet, the Plaza probably closed sometime around the summer/fall of 1984…

Just out of curiousity, are there any obvious reasons (i.e., neighborhood economics, absentee landlord, etc.) why the Plaza has been sitting empty for 20 years? Based on the comments of those who’ve seen the interior in recent years, its fate seems far more likely to involve eventual demolition as opposed to any sort of renovation.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on September 20, 2004 at 10:56 am

LOL, IS THERE A REAL ESTATE AGENT THAT IS WORKING WITH THAT PROPERTY.

Orlando
Orlando on September 20, 2004 at 10:43 am

There are only two ways to get in, a)the legal way, the real estate opens the building for inspection or b)the illegal way, you sneak (break in) in. I’ll let you guess which one. The posters indicate the theatre closed in 1983-84.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on September 19, 2004 at 10:59 pm

would love to see them // HOW DID YOU GET IN TO SEE THE THEATER????

Bway
Bway on September 19, 2004 at 8:53 pm

It would be great to see the photos you took. You can’t post them on this site, but maybe you can put them in an www.imagestation.com album or something.

iluvjoe1
iluvjoe1 on September 19, 2004 at 8:38 pm

Finally got a chance to go inside and check out “The Plaza Theatre” for myself. Be very careful if you venture inside, this place is very moldy, dark and smelly. My brother and I went inside last week, I will see about getting some photos posted on this site. We did get the opportunity to find some real cool things inside the old thertre. First, there are a couple of reels of film, the writing is very hard to make out, but the films are not movies, but labeled “demo previews” possably some type of advertisments or movie trailers. This was very cool, I came across an old hot wheels car labled on the bottom as “mighty maverick” in a shiney hot pink color, really nice shape too. Also, ther are some old movie posters there in the back office, really cool for a movie collector. There was a poster for “sixteen candles,"Amadaus” and a few others scattered about. Too bad that this place is a complete disaster, time really took its toll here. Anyhow, be careful if you venture in there, it was actually hard to breath properly, even wearing a mask, so if you have asthma or alergies, entering here would be a real bad idea.

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on September 14, 2004 at 10:15 am

A CHURCH WAS LOOKING INTO BUYING THIS THEATER BUT NOTHING EVER CAME OF IT

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on August 22, 2004 at 2:30 am

when the theater closed it was century or almi century at the time

Michael Furlinger
Michael Furlinger on August 22, 2004 at 2:26 am

This theater closed around 1983 give or take, the box office # for i pass this theater every day this theater bad for years. I pass this theater every day and the birds love it. never had good parking

iluvjoe1
iluvjoe1 on August 9, 2004 at 9:32 pm

Wow, The Plaze Theater in East Patchogue. I remember watching “Grease” three times in a row there when I was 9yrs old. I also remember going there and seeing “Sudden Impact” with an old girlfriend and making out the whole time in the balcony. Of course I could never forget watching “Nightmare on Elm Street” in the early eighties there as well. Currently I live in Florida, but every year my family and I visit Long Island, and we also make sure we ride past “The Plaza Theater”. Each time I ride past the old theater I get chills, happy memories of a time in my life that will always be special.

TheCinical
TheCinical on July 24, 2004 at 1:15 pm

It’s kind of sad to see what was probably a wonerfull old place turn into such ruins. I’d love to see the E.Patch Theater open again… it could be something like The Magestic. These new multi-plex theaters are great, but you never know when something good can come along, the E.Patch Theater could be something good, if people could make up their damn minds already.

TheCinical
TheCinical on July 24, 2004 at 1:12 pm

It’s scary in E.Patch Theatre. It’s dark, damp and moldey. We went into the projection room and my friend picked up an old reel, but couldn’t read what was written on the side of the film can. All the seats are coverd with pigeon poo… and it smells bad as well. It’s very unsanitary. If you decide to ventur in there, you best be puttin' on some rubber gloves and boots! You’re sure to find unearthy things in there!

fred1
fred1 on June 17, 2004 at 1:58 pm

i thought the plaza was a UA theater when it closed

Bway
Bway on June 17, 2004 at 11:06 am

Warren, to answer your question about some of the Patchogue theaters, I researched a few of them, and added the Lyceum, Rialto, Granada, and Star Palace theaters to the site. The theater listed as “59” East Main Street is probably the “Ward and Glynne’s Patchogue Theater” which is now the “Patchogue Theater for the Performing Arts” listed as 71 East Main Street currently. “71” is the address they use now, but “59” is within the storefronts connected to the theater (I checked this morning), so that may have been the address they used previously, before the renovation. 59 is around where the “Trio Restaurant” is now, but it is a part of the Patchogue theater building’s storefronts.
The Granada was not The Plaza, as it actually was on West Main Street near Railroad Ave. Of all the Patchogue theaters only the “Ward & Glynne” one remains (thankfully so, as it was the most palatial) – and of course the 1960’s “Plaza” which is in ruins.
Here’s the result of my research of some of the Patchogue theaters:
(Ward & Glynne’s, now The Patchogue Theater is linked above)
/theaters/7421/
/theaters/7423/
/theaters/7424/
/theaters/7422/

Bway
Bway on June 16, 2004 at 3:38 pm

Funny you should ask, as I just made an entry here on the site for another of the Patchogue Theaters:
/theaters/7402/

I live near there so will find out some more about the one at “59 E Main St”, as I have few books on the history of Patchogue. I do know that the Rialto burned to the ground in either the 60’s or 70’s (more to come, as I was going to add an entry for that one too). I don’t know anything about the Granda theater, but so many of Patchogue’s Main St and South Ocean Ave buildings burned, so that may have been the fate of that one too. The Plaza Theater “could” be The “Granda, but the Plaza seems like "60’s construction at it’s worst”, so it couldn’t be that old unless it was horribly remodeled from an older theater in the 60’s.
Patchogue had many theaters at one point, so it’s possible that they are all seperate ones.

Bway
Bway on June 15, 2004 at 4:10 pm

The address for the old Plaza Theater is 393 East Main Street.