You might have to zoom in (see the small building and large building icons on the tool palette to the left of the image)… but I believe the former Rugby is the sort of tan colored building with vertical bands (which look like they might match the vertical brick columns glimpsed in the “Always Air Conditioned” photo I posted above. Those round medallions are nowhere to be found, but they could have been removed since the building was adapted for re-use. Someone posted the building now houses retail space, but the entrance and signage almost looks to me to be indicative of a church conversion. If you count 5 building lots over (next to the pair of 2 story residential buildings) you’ll see the low rising retail building that was the Woolworth’s depicted in the vintage transit photo posted by Peter K on April 11, 2004.
I have a pair of images taken by professional photographer Matt Weber featuring a theater in Brooklyn that at least one CT member has identified as the Rugby. Here are the photos:
Can anyone on this page confirm that these are photos of the Rugby’s marquee? They were taken sometime in the late 1980’s and Matt does not recall exactly which theater he photographed, but does recall it was “deep in Brooklyn”.
Matt has a number of great photos of NYC street scenes at his website www.urbanphotos.com
Warren…. I am posting the images on the Rugby page to seek confirmation from those who have posted about that theater. Until I have some additional corroboration, the photos will remain in a general “Brooklyn Theaters” folder on my photobucket account. I’ll try to contact Orlando as well. Thanks for the tip.
RobertR… Thanks for offering the Rugby as the identity of that mystery marquee I posted a few days ago! And thanks to everyone for their help in trying to nail that one down. You say you’re pretty sure, so I will post the photos on the Rugby page and see if I can get anyone else to concur.
Here’s a post that belongs on this page… I took a number of photographs of the restored Spanish-influenced exterior facade of the former Bayside Theater a few mornings ago. As noted previously on this page, the interior (from lobby to stage house) has been completely gutted and converted to retail and office space. The exterior was cleaned and repaired, though certain modifications, naturally, had to be made as part of the building’s conversion:
At first, I thought that fire escape in the last photo was the original balcony exit… then I realized that it led from the top of the stage loft area. I’m guessing it was added with the conversion of the interior space to offices. The main entrance under the canopy on Bell (where the Love My Shoes outlet is located) was, obviously, where the orignal theater entrance and marquee were located. About the time the theater was divided into a quartet, those doors were shut (and kept for exiting only) and the retail space leading to the corner where the Washington Mutual Bank is now located was converted to a ticket-lobby. A corner entrance (with doors that opened onto both Bell Blvd and 39th Ave) was utilized until the theater was permanently shuttered. As shown in the photos, the current bank entrance features a catty-corner double doorway.
The office entrance with the high glass archway shown down the block on 39th Ave was originally an open archway that led to the alley where the theater’s fire escapes and auditorium exit doors deposited patrons. This space has now been enclosed to form the street entrance to the office space in the old theater building (which sits behind the retail space on 39th Ave.
For good measure, here’s a shot of the rear wall (covered in ivy) of the 39-21/23 building: Rear shot
I think the 39-21 address is the most likely, given the width and depth of the structure. From that rear photo, it almost looks like the 2nd floor may have been added at a later date to the original structure. The two distinct looks of the Bell Blvd facade seems to support that idea.
Davebazooka… to wrap up my incomplete response to your question about the entrance and the storefronts along Northern Blvd…
The storefronts (particularly those closest to the Keith’s entrance, couldn’t have run any deeper than the combined length of the theater’s inner and outer vestibules before running into the grand foyer’s outer walls. My point about the glass curtain concept spelling doom for part of the lobby is based on the fact that the lobby space has four walls (the southern wall being the one depicted in that NY Times photo that started you thinking about it). In order to display the restored lobby/grand foyer space via this curtain wall to pedestrians and traffic on Northern Blvd, you would have to remove the southern wall in order to look in and see the decoration on the remaining 3 walls. Otherwise, behind that glass curtain would just be the back of the southern wall… Make sense?
Life’s too short… are you actually aware of a problem that has thrown the glass wall concept up in the air? I wonder if it has to do with this dilemma… They can’t possibly fulfill their obligation to restore the landmarked portions of the building while going forward with this particular idea. The two seem to be mutually exclusive. The only way to preserve the integrity of landmarked lobby/grand foyer is to maintain the space as an intact egg, not to crack one side of the shell so folks could peer inside from the street!
The sad twist is that while the regrettable demolition of Penn Station (dubbed a “monumental act of vandalism” by the NY Times' Ada Huxtable) ultimately led to the formation of the LPC in NYC so that corporate vandals could be held at bay, the LPC seems to have lost whatever teeth it ever had. The Kieth’s lobby WAS designated a protected landmark by the LPC back in the early 1980’s while still the theater was still in operation as a triplex and look how Huang made a mockery of that status!!!
In all fairness to Huang (not that he deserves it), the grand RKO Keith’s fountain was removed sometime in the ‘60’s or early '70’s to make way for a larger concession stand… long before Tommy Huang ever got his filthy paws on the building.
To answer Davebazooka’s question about the entrance… You are correct about the tunnel. The Keith’s entrance was already set back about 10 to 12 feet or so from where the building’s lot line met the sidewalk. This outer vestibule allowed folks to peruse advertising material in display cases or lobby cards and offered some space around the old outdoor box office for folks to mill about before entering. Once through the doors you probably had another 15 or 20 feet of inner vestibule with more display cases on either side before you reached the inner set of doors where the ticket taker was usually situated. This is the opening you see in that NY Times photo. Once you got your ticket ripped, you were allowed to pass into paradise…
The allusions to Penn Station here are quite appropriate when considering what is being lost in architectural splendor verses the sterile and functional banalities that we are being given to replace it. Have you ever seen photos of the old Penn Station and then compared them to the depressing low-rent basement that took its place? I forgot who it was that said of the comparison “You used to arrive in New York like a King, and now you scurry in like a rat!”
The facade of the building was originally white – the current brick face look was applied to the entire shopping center at the time the new multiplex was opened in 1993 to unify the mall’s appearance. I seem to recall that there was a 1960’s era sign on the upper facade that sort of stylishly spelled out “Loew’s Bay Terrace Theater” in pastel colored letters… I believe it was near the front corner of the building facing Bell Blvd. I think there was a long but shallow canopy marquee that ran along the front facade depicted in the 2nd and 3rd image above. I can’t remember if that pylon sign was used by the old theater or if it was constructed expressly for the new multiplex. It is possible it dates back to the original, since the theater’s marquee faced away from the busy intersection of Bell and 26th Ave and I don’t recall an auxillary marquee on the rear wall.
Here are some shots of the theater I took a couple of mornings ago. There was a custodial worker inside the theater, so I was also able to make it into the vestibule area between the outer and inner entrance doors and snap a couple of images of the lobby through the glass:
You can see the theater parking lot to the left of the building (with footbridge to entrance) and the shopping center lot and storefronts to the right of the multiplex. At the far right of the image near the bottom edge you can make out the old stand-alone Loews theater (now retail) that this multiplex replaced in ‘93.
Davebazooka… the image must have been taken from near the top of stairs on the right side of the lobby. The view looks about right. Turn a bit to the right and you were looking down at the candy counter that had long ago replaced the marble fountain that was the lobby’s original centerpiece. As Ed Baxter indicated in his posts above and way back in Feb 2005 about his unofficial visit inside the hulking ruins, the mezzanine promenade that overlooked the lobby was probably structurally unsound (with big holes punched through the floor, as I believe Ed described back in February) and probably off limits to the photographer. I can recall standing pretty much in that spot at the top of the stairs the last time I was in the Kieth’s (for a double bill of “A Boy and His Dog” and “Hell’s Angels Forever” in 1984 or so) and pausing to have a good look around the place. Hard to believe it’s been over 20 years since that last look at the Kieth’s magnificence.
I wonder if the plans to restore the lobby space include a replica of that fountain? Or, since the fountain had been removed long before the LPC granted its token designation to the foyer, do the plans propose some sort of information kiosk or concierge desk in its place? The whole project is a sham anyway. I don’t see how that wall featured in the NY TImes photo or any of its surviving ornamentation will figure into the plans to render the lobby and foyer viewable from the street by having a glass curtain wall installed on the Northern Blvd facade. The concept just doesn’t work without the elimination of that wall. Restoration my derierre!
I remember all the hooplah when they had that giant inflated Lou Costello “tug” the Empire down the block to its present location. The process made it to segments on all the local news channels at the time as well as all the daily papers. I remember thinking back on my days seeing films on 42nd Street when I read the about the plans to have the shell of the theater used as an entrance to a large multiplex and how escalators would transport ticketholders through the old proscenium, thinking what a great idea that was. The original Empire was a pretty cozy place and had virtually no lobby space. Converting the old auditorium to one of the multiplex’s screens would have been impossible unless the complex’s lobby was built adjacent to the theater and one entered along the side wall of the auditorium. As far as returning it to legitimate use, it might have made a nice companion to the jewel box Victory at the other end of the Duece and surely would have been re-fitted to under 500 seats in order to expand the lobby and skirt the union demands of legit B'way houses. I wonder if it would have found a niche as the New Victory did.
Not at all dave-bronx… I understand your point. I was just going by how the theater is currently listed in the Movie Clocks and newspaper ads. As I said, the two large signs on the building simply read “Loews Theaters” with the familiar spot-light logo. Unlike the former Bay Terrace theater which had a very distinctive 1960’s style sign over its entrance that clearly identified the theater as “Loews Bay Terrace”. I have a number of photos of the Sixplex taken yesterday morning that I need to upload to photobucket and then I’ll post them here.
Yeah, Lost. I’m hoping that someone like BrooklynJim or PKoch who used to frequent theaters all over the borough might recognize the two signs from either end of the marquee. Warren pointed out in one of the other pages I posted that it sure looks like this theater was long closed and uncared for by the time this shot was taken in the ‘80’s (late '80’s I think). I’m sure the marquee is long gone, but it’s probably a good bet that the building is no longer around either, though I could be wrong about that. I’ll keep posting the images on various B'klyn theater pages and see if someone can match it to their local nabe.
Hey Lost, Warren, BrooklynJim, PKoch… ANYONE… I have two images that show detail of a battered theater marquee in Brooklyn and I’d like some help trying to identify it:
The photographer is Matt Weber who has a number of great images of NYC street scenes at his website www.urbanphotos.com. He was kind enough to share some photos with me, but doesn’t recall precisely which theater it was he captured here. The photo was taken some time in the ‘80’s and he told me it was “deep in Brooklyn, possibly Flatbush Ave”. Not a whole lot of help, but I plan on spreading this message around and seeing if anyone can make a direct hit!
I forgot to mention that it appears the theater had two balcony sections, judging from the view of the fire escapes. And this aerial view from the local.live.com indicates considerable fly space:
The shot was taken by Matt Weber who hosts a site at www.urbanphotos.com featuring his excellent photography of all sorts of NYC street scenes. He was kind enough to let me grab a handful of his theater shots for use here. Some of his images were also used on the recent forgotten-ny.com page on 42nd Street.
Dave-bronx…. this is the way the theater is listed in the local newspapers. When you add a theater, the site form asks for “current name”. My intention wasn’t to rush anything. Technically, the only “name” to appear on the actual building and pylon sign is “Loews Theaters”, with no mention of the name “Bay Terrace” or reference to “6” or “Sixplex”. For some period of time in the mid ‘90’s those same signs displayed only the name “Sony Theaters”.
As I looked at the photo, Bway, I was wondering where the LIE would have been located in relation to the view. I’ve always noticed the roof line of the building from the Expressway, particularly from the eastbound lanes. So the theater ran parallel to Grand Ave with the back wall of the lobby on your left as you entered and the auditorium on your right pointed towards the southwest where the LIE would eventually be constructed.
As a matter of fact, here’s a local.live.com aerial view of the structure:
Click on the larger building icon in the bird’s eye tool palette to get a closer view. The theater is the buidling with the white facade behind the 3 trees on the sidewalk.
I remember passing this building by a few times and thinking it may have been a former theater – but then I quickly dismissed that notion as it was at a time when I was zealously “seeing” former theaters on every other street corner! Had I noticed any church signage there would have been no doubt whatsoever.
Not sure where the entrance was, but with the address 207-13 it must have been mid-block. I would guess the wall to the left is the screen wall and that the entrance was at the eastern end of the structure towards the right. Can’t tell if that dark awning is the restaurant entrance, though it looks to be in an adjacent lot if so. I guess a trip to the premises in person would better tell the tale. Nouveau Manoir might include a catering hall and make use of the former auditorium’s open space. From what little I can gather restaurant specializes in Carribean cuisine and features live music at certain times.
Absolutely, mikemovies. Bayside is a great neighborhood. No worries attending this theater. Ditto the multiplex theaters in not too distant Fresh Meadows, College Point or Douglaston (though I’m not a fan of the facilities at Douglaston’s Movieworld). Mind you, these are all modern multiplexes and certainly made in cookie-cutter fashion. I would also include the Midway Stadium 9 and Cinemart in Forest Hills and, for some less commercial fare, the Kew Gardens Cinemas.
For good measure… here is a local.live.com aerial view of the Rugby’s stretch of Utica Avenue:
View to the West
You might have to zoom in (see the small building and large building icons on the tool palette to the left of the image)… but I believe the former Rugby is the sort of tan colored building with vertical bands (which look like they might match the vertical brick columns glimpsed in the “Always Air Conditioned” photo I posted above. Those round medallions are nowhere to be found, but they could have been removed since the building was adapted for re-use. Someone posted the building now houses retail space, but the entrance and signage almost looks to me to be indicative of a church conversion. If you count 5 building lots over (next to the pair of 2 story residential buildings) you’ll see the low rising retail building that was the Woolworth’s depicted in the vintage transit photo posted by Peter K on April 11, 2004.
I have a pair of images taken by professional photographer Matt Weber featuring a theater in Brooklyn that at least one CT member has identified as the Rugby. Here are the photos:
Always Air Conditioned
The Best in Entertainment
Can anyone on this page confirm that these are photos of the Rugby’s marquee? They were taken sometime in the late 1980’s and Matt does not recall exactly which theater he photographed, but does recall it was “deep in Brooklyn”.
Matt has a number of great photos of NYC street scenes at his website www.urbanphotos.com
Warren…. I am posting the images on the Rugby page to seek confirmation from those who have posted about that theater. Until I have some additional corroboration, the photos will remain in a general “Brooklyn Theaters” folder on my photobucket account. I’ll try to contact Orlando as well. Thanks for the tip.
RobertR… Thanks for offering the Rugby as the identity of that mystery marquee I posted a few days ago! And thanks to everyone for their help in trying to nail that one down. You say you’re pretty sure, so I will post the photos on the Rugby page and see if I can get anyone else to concur.
Thanks again!
And great photos as always, KenRoe!
Here’s a post that belongs on this page… I took a number of photographs of the restored Spanish-influenced exterior facade of the former Bayside Theater a few mornings ago. As noted previously on this page, the interior (from lobby to stage house) has been completely gutted and converted to retail and office space. The exterior was cleaned and repaired, though certain modifications, naturally, had to be made as part of the building’s conversion:
View from north on Bell Blvd
New entrance and canopy (where original theater entrance & marquee were)
Corner view 39th Ave and Bell Blvd
Bell Blvd facade detail
Close-up window ornamentation
Detail of shield ornamentation
Alternate angle Bell Blvd ornamentation
39th Avenue facade detail 1
39th Ave facade detail 2
Ornamentaton over windows
39th Ave office entrance (this was a gated archway that led to fire escape alleys
39th Ave shield ornamentation detail
39th Ave facade towards rear of building
Rear view down 39th Ave showing stage fly loft
New corner entrance for bank 39th Ave at Bell
Ornamentation detail at corner of 39th and Bell
Corner tower Bell and 39th (this served as latter day theater entrance after quad work)
View down 39th Ave from Bell
Front facade from corner of Bell & 39th Ave
Fire escape from Stage Loft
At first, I thought that fire escape in the last photo was the original balcony exit… then I realized that it led from the top of the stage loft area. I’m guessing it was added with the conversion of the interior space to offices. The main entrance under the canopy on Bell (where the Love My Shoes outlet is located) was, obviously, where the orignal theater entrance and marquee were located. About the time the theater was divided into a quartet, those doors were shut (and kept for exiting only) and the retail space leading to the corner where the Washington Mutual Bank is now located was converted to a ticket-lobby. A corner entrance (with doors that opened onto both Bell Blvd and 39th Ave) was utilized until the theater was permanently shuttered. As shown in the photos, the current bank entrance features a catty-corner double doorway.
The office entrance with the high glass archway shown down the block on 39th Ave was originally an open archway that led to the alley where the theater’s fire escapes and auditorium exit doors deposited patrons. This space has now been enclosed to form the street entrance to the office space in the old theater building (which sits behind the retail space on 39th Ave.
I took a shot of both buildings the other morning:
39-19 Bell Blvd
39-21/23 Bell Blvd
For good measure, here’s a shot of the rear wall (covered in ivy) of the 39-21/23 building: Rear shot
I think the 39-21 address is the most likely, given the width and depth of the structure. From that rear photo, it almost looks like the 2nd floor may have been added at a later date to the original structure. The two distinct looks of the Bell Blvd facade seems to support that idea.
Davebazooka… to wrap up my incomplete response to your question about the entrance and the storefronts along Northern Blvd…
The storefronts (particularly those closest to the Keith’s entrance, couldn’t have run any deeper than the combined length of the theater’s inner and outer vestibules before running into the grand foyer’s outer walls. My point about the glass curtain concept spelling doom for part of the lobby is based on the fact that the lobby space has four walls (the southern wall being the one depicted in that NY Times photo that started you thinking about it). In order to display the restored lobby/grand foyer space via this curtain wall to pedestrians and traffic on Northern Blvd, you would have to remove the southern wall in order to look in and see the decoration on the remaining 3 walls. Otherwise, behind that glass curtain would just be the back of the southern wall… Make sense?
Life’s too short… are you actually aware of a problem that has thrown the glass wall concept up in the air? I wonder if it has to do with this dilemma… They can’t possibly fulfill their obligation to restore the landmarked portions of the building while going forward with this particular idea. The two seem to be mutually exclusive. The only way to preserve the integrity of landmarked lobby/grand foyer is to maintain the space as an intact egg, not to crack one side of the shell so folks could peer inside from the street!
The sad twist is that while the regrettable demolition of Penn Station (dubbed a “monumental act of vandalism” by the NY Times' Ada Huxtable) ultimately led to the formation of the LPC in NYC so that corporate vandals could be held at bay, the LPC seems to have lost whatever teeth it ever had. The Kieth’s lobby WAS designated a protected landmark by the LPC back in the early 1980’s while still the theater was still in operation as a triplex and look how Huang made a mockery of that status!!!
In all fairness to Huang (not that he deserves it), the grand RKO Keith’s fountain was removed sometime in the ‘60’s or early '70’s to make way for a larger concession stand… long before Tommy Huang ever got his filthy paws on the building.
To answer Davebazooka’s question about the entrance… You are correct about the tunnel. The Keith’s entrance was already set back about 10 to 12 feet or so from where the building’s lot line met the sidewalk. This outer vestibule allowed folks to peruse advertising material in display cases or lobby cards and offered some space around the old outdoor box office for folks to mill about before entering. Once through the doors you probably had another 15 or 20 feet of inner vestibule with more display cases on either side before you reached the inner set of doors where the ticket taker was usually situated. This is the opening you see in that NY Times photo. Once you got your ticket ripped, you were allowed to pass into paradise…
The allusions to Penn Station here are quite appropriate when considering what is being lost in architectural splendor verses the sterile and functional banalities that we are being given to replace it. Have you ever seen photos of the old Penn Station and then compared them to the depressing low-rent basement that took its place? I forgot who it was that said of the comparison “You used to arrive in New York like a King, and now you scurry in like a rat!”
The new Loews Bay Terrace 6 has been posted on CT. Meanwhile, I took some photos of the former original Loew’s Bay Terrace the other morning:
View of rear screen wall from 26th Ave near Bell
View from Bell Blvd towards former theater entrance
View from shopping center parking lot
Rear of current multiplex from taken from same spot
Current multiplex pylon sign
The facade of the building was originally white – the current brick face look was applied to the entire shopping center at the time the new multiplex was opened in 1993 to unify the mall’s appearance. I seem to recall that there was a 1960’s era sign on the upper facade that sort of stylishly spelled out “Loew’s Bay Terrace Theater” in pastel colored letters… I believe it was near the front corner of the building facing Bell Blvd. I think there was a long but shallow canopy marquee that ran along the front facade depicted in the 2nd and 3rd image above. I can’t remember if that pylon sign was used by the old theater or if it was constructed expressly for the new multiplex. It is possible it dates back to the original, since the theater’s marquee faced away from the busy intersection of Bell and 26th Ave and I don’t recall an auxillary marquee on the rear wall.
Here are some shots of the theater I took a couple of mornings ago. There was a custodial worker inside the theater, so I was also able to make it into the vestibule area between the outer and inner entrance doors and snap a couple of images of the lobby through the glass:
View from 26th Ave parking lot
Looking head-on at main facade from theater parking lot
Main facade from foot bridge
Close up of entrance, canopy and box office windows
Lobby concession stand
Lobby left wall
Lobby towards right wall
Rear view from shopping center parking lot
Pylon sign on 26th Ave near corner of Bell
Here’s a local.live.com view to give some orientation…
View to the north
You can see the theater parking lot to the left of the building (with footbridge to entrance) and the shopping center lot and storefronts to the right of the multiplex. At the far right of the image near the bottom edge you can make out the old stand-alone Loews theater (now retail) that this multiplex replaced in ‘93.
Davebazooka… the image must have been taken from near the top of stairs on the right side of the lobby. The view looks about right. Turn a bit to the right and you were looking down at the candy counter that had long ago replaced the marble fountain that was the lobby’s original centerpiece. As Ed Baxter indicated in his posts above and way back in Feb 2005 about his unofficial visit inside the hulking ruins, the mezzanine promenade that overlooked the lobby was probably structurally unsound (with big holes punched through the floor, as I believe Ed described back in February) and probably off limits to the photographer. I can recall standing pretty much in that spot at the top of the stairs the last time I was in the Kieth’s (for a double bill of “A Boy and His Dog” and “Hell’s Angels Forever” in 1984 or so) and pausing to have a good look around the place. Hard to believe it’s been over 20 years since that last look at the Kieth’s magnificence.
I wonder if the plans to restore the lobby space include a replica of that fountain? Or, since the fountain had been removed long before the LPC granted its token designation to the foyer, do the plans propose some sort of information kiosk or concierge desk in its place? The whole project is a sham anyway. I don’t see how that wall featured in the NY TImes photo or any of its surviving ornamentation will figure into the plans to render the lobby and foyer viewable from the street by having a glass curtain wall installed on the Northern Blvd facade. The concept just doesn’t work without the elimination of that wall. Restoration my derierre!
I remember all the hooplah when they had that giant inflated Lou Costello “tug” the Empire down the block to its present location. The process made it to segments on all the local news channels at the time as well as all the daily papers. I remember thinking back on my days seeing films on 42nd Street when I read the about the plans to have the shell of the theater used as an entrance to a large multiplex and how escalators would transport ticketholders through the old proscenium, thinking what a great idea that was. The original Empire was a pretty cozy place and had virtually no lobby space. Converting the old auditorium to one of the multiplex’s screens would have been impossible unless the complex’s lobby was built adjacent to the theater and one entered along the side wall of the auditorium. As far as returning it to legitimate use, it might have made a nice companion to the jewel box Victory at the other end of the Duece and surely would have been re-fitted to under 500 seats in order to expand the lobby and skirt the union demands of legit B'way houses. I wonder if it would have found a niche as the New Victory did.
Not at all dave-bronx… I understand your point. I was just going by how the theater is currently listed in the Movie Clocks and newspaper ads. As I said, the two large signs on the building simply read “Loews Theaters” with the familiar spot-light logo. Unlike the former Bay Terrace theater which had a very distinctive 1960’s style sign over its entrance that clearly identified the theater as “Loews Bay Terrace”. I have a number of photos of the Sixplex taken yesterday morning that I need to upload to photobucket and then I’ll post them here.
Yeah, Lost. I’m hoping that someone like BrooklynJim or PKoch who used to frequent theaters all over the borough might recognize the two signs from either end of the marquee. Warren pointed out in one of the other pages I posted that it sure looks like this theater was long closed and uncared for by the time this shot was taken in the ‘80’s (late '80’s I think). I’m sure the marquee is long gone, but it’s probably a good bet that the building is no longer around either, though I could be wrong about that. I’ll keep posting the images on various B'klyn theater pages and see if someone can match it to their local nabe.
Hey Lost, Warren, BrooklynJim, PKoch… ANYONE… I have two images that show detail of a battered theater marquee in Brooklyn and I’d like some help trying to identify it:
Always Air Conditioned
The Best in Entertainment
The photographer is Matt Weber who has a number of great images of NYC street scenes at his website www.urbanphotos.com. He was kind enough to share some photos with me, but doesn’t recall precisely which theater it was he captured here. The photo was taken some time in the ‘80’s and he told me it was “deep in Brooklyn, possibly Flatbush Ave”. Not a whole lot of help, but I plan on spreading this message around and seeing if anyone can make a direct hit!
Thanks, guys…
I should have written “two balcony levels” rather than “balcony sections”.
I forgot to mention that it appears the theater had two balcony sections, judging from the view of the fire escapes. And this aerial view from the local.live.com indicates considerable fly space:
View to the East
You may have to close the welcome box at the left of the page to get a proper view.
Here’s an undated B&W shot of the 116th Street facade showing the balcony fire escapes still intact:
Mt. Morris fire escapes
The shot was taken by Matt Weber who hosts a site at www.urbanphotos.com featuring his excellent photography of all sorts of NYC street scenes. He was kind enough to let me grab a handful of his theater shots for use here. Some of his images were also used on the recent forgotten-ny.com page on 42nd Street.
Dave-bronx…. this is the way the theater is listed in the local newspapers. When you add a theater, the site form asks for “current name”. My intention wasn’t to rush anything. Technically, the only “name” to appear on the actual building and pylon sign is “Loews Theaters”, with no mention of the name “Bay Terrace” or reference to “6” or “Sixplex”. For some period of time in the mid ‘90’s those same signs displayed only the name “Sony Theaters”.
As I looked at the photo, Bway, I was wondering where the LIE would have been located in relation to the view. I’ve always noticed the roof line of the building from the Expressway, particularly from the eastbound lanes. So the theater ran parallel to Grand Ave with the back wall of the lobby on your left as you entered and the auditorium on your right pointed towards the southwest where the LIE would eventually be constructed.
As a matter of fact, here’s a local.live.com aerial view of the structure:
Maspeth Theater looking South
I’m starting to develop a dependency on that site! I must be stopped…
Here’s a local.live.com aerial view of the former theater facing the south and looking at the building’s Jamaica Avenue frontage.
Hollis Theater aerial
Click on the larger building icon in the bird’s eye tool palette to get a closer view. The theater is the buidling with the white facade behind the 3 trees on the sidewalk.
I remember passing this building by a few times and thinking it may have been a former theater – but then I quickly dismissed that notion as it was at a time when I was zealously “seeing” former theaters on every other street corner! Had I noticed any church signage there would have been no doubt whatsoever.
Here’s a local.live.com view of the building facing the north and looking at the former theater’s frontage on Jamaica Avenue.
Bellaire facing north
Not sure where the entrance was, but with the address 207-13 it must have been mid-block. I would guess the wall to the left is the screen wall and that the entrance was at the eastern end of the structure towards the right. Can’t tell if that dark awning is the restaurant entrance, though it looks to be in an adjacent lot if so. I guess a trip to the premises in person would better tell the tale. Nouveau Manoir might include a catering hall and make use of the former auditorium’s open space. From what little I can gather restaurant specializes in Carribean cuisine and features live music at certain times.
Lost… I’d like to serialize the introduction in Reader’s Digest one day, if I could ever afford the postage to mail them the original manuscript!
Absolutely, mikemovies. Bayside is a great neighborhood. No worries attending this theater. Ditto the multiplex theaters in not too distant Fresh Meadows, College Point or Douglaston (though I’m not a fan of the facilities at Douglaston’s Movieworld). Mind you, these are all modern multiplexes and certainly made in cookie-cutter fashion. I would also include the Midway Stadium 9 and Cinemart in Forest Hills and, for some less commercial fare, the Kew Gardens Cinemas.
You’re killing me, Lost! That’s ok… breaking them and having them broken is NY way of life! If you know what I mean.