Just a little background, Mr. Ziggy Brenner was the main owner of Cinema City 5 and Next was Mr. Mann and then there were other investors and while Mr. Brenner didn’t want to sale as Cinema City 5 had the better runs and was actually out grossing the Meadows after the Conversion he was forced to sell by the investors. I was the Manager from 1987 to 1991 and was there when Cineplex took over they moved the Candy stand from the middle of the theatre to against the wall of Cinema 5 taking about 150 seats from the 500 seat auditorium. I don’t know where you got the 720 seat count from but that is wrong as theatres 1 to 4 were 250 seats each and theatre 5 was 500 seats before Cineplex took over in 1991 and someone stated you entered the Theatre at ground level and had to go up stairs to auditoriums that is partially true but the theatre as well as the parking lot were also above ground level due to some type of grading used by the A& P supermarket that was there originally and not a Bohack as stated so two wrong things the seating is wrong as it was well over a 1000 seats and originally over 1500 seats and the supermarket is wrong. Next there were 18 townhouses built on the property as well as 2 Marriot hotels which are opening bin a few months. Due to being there first Cinema City had the better runs because they were 5 theatres and the Meadows at the time were 2 runs and that’s why it was important for Cineplex to buy Cinema City 5 and tghey overpaid because they had to buy the property and the business
Though not flashy Cinema City was a decent looking theatre in the late 80’s with full stereo sound and Theatre 5 was equipped with 8 channel sound as opposed to simple surround sound also theatre 5 had 70mm capability. Problem was that the waiting areas were small and if you didn’t want to wait in the downstairs waiting area you had to line up outside once you came in to buy your ticket and the bathrooms were also downstairs on the other side of the lobby from the waiting area, so you would have to come back upstairs and then go back downstairs to get to the bathrooms. No bathrooms on the main floor,
Once again some miss information The Franklin and Squire were both owned by Warren Whurtzberger who did the conversions using money he borrowed from Boston Concession as he was in financial trouble in 1996, he sold both to Clearview Cinemas. Bud Mayo and Paul Kay were 2 independent theatre owners though Bud had also been a Vice President for IBM for a long time in 1993 they started with 2 theatres in N.J. and in 1995 they brought 3 theatres in Long Island from Carmi Djiji called GG cinemas at the time , the Port Washington, Herricks and Grand Avenue, who I worked for and then we started buying independent theatre’s in New York and New Jersey as ell as buying smaller venues from major chains. There were no Loew’s people in Clearview at that timein 1998 we took over theatre’s from Cineplex which included Soundview Cinemas The Chelsea and a few more at that time we got a division manager from Cineplex It wasn’t until Bud sold to Cablevison and then left the company that we had people from Loews brought in to run the company in 2001. I was the Division Manager for Long Island and was part of building up the company from 1995 to 2001 when I left to form my own company in Florida with 2 partners. I started in the theatre business in 1970 as a concession attendant and by 1973 I was the asst. Manager of the U.A. Quartet in Flushing, then in 1975 I was the Manager in 1979 I went to work as an Asst. Manager at National Amusements Sunrise Cinemas for it’s opening raising to House Manager then I was put in charge of the construction site for National Amusements Commack Multiplex and then opened it as the Managing Director before being transferred to Whitestone Multiplex Cinemas. In 1991 I went to work for GG theatres as the Manager of Port Washington and District manage4r for the other 2 GG theatres and when Clearview took over in 1995 I continued as their District Manager for L.I. and as previous mentioned, I was very much involved in their growth into a 68 theatre chain. I would go to each theatre that was taken over and help to bring it online as a Clearview Cinema and for a while I was also in Charge of Concessions and Special Events for the company
The strange thing about the Squire was that U.A. Eastern Theatres offices were on top of the Theatre when I worked for U.A. in the 70’s as a Manager at the U.A. Quartet so I spent a lot of time in the Squire, where at the time Mr. Al Lowey was the Manager of both the Squire and the Playhouse and Hope Masades was his Asst., So when Clearview took it over in 1996 it was like a old homecoming for me. I left Clearview in 2001 a year after Clearview was brought by Cablevision and they changed our operating procedures so I left to buy theatres in Florida and form my ow3n company with 2 partners
The history of the Squire is a little off, U.A. did not close the theatre because of bankruptcy, they sold the building to a gentleman by the name of Warren Whurtzberger who then renovated the theatre to 7 screens and because of his money problems he sold the 7 plex to Clearview Cinemas in 1996. I know this because I was the Division Manager for Clearview Cinemas for Long Island at the time of the sale and was responsible for bringing the Squire into the fold as well as the Franklin also owned by Whurtzberger, who had overextended himself with loans from Boston Concession in order to by and renovate the Squire
My name is Michael Hochstein, I worked at the Quartet from 1971 to 1978 first as an usher, than as a assistant manager than as the Manager. There was more than 700 seats. There actually was close to 1100 seats. The 2 big theatre 1 and 2 had 300 seats each and theatre 3 and 4 had 250 seats each.
Just a little background, Mr. Ziggy Brenner was the main owner of Cinema City 5 and Next was Mr. Mann and then there were other investors and while Mr. Brenner didn’t want to sale as Cinema City 5 had the better runs and was actually out grossing the Meadows after the Conversion he was forced to sell by the investors. I was the Manager from 1987 to 1991 and was there when Cineplex took over they moved the Candy stand from the middle of the theatre to against the wall of Cinema 5 taking about 150 seats from the 500 seat auditorium. I don’t know where you got the 720 seat count from but that is wrong as theatres 1 to 4 were 250 seats each and theatre 5 was 500 seats before Cineplex took over in 1991 and someone stated you entered the Theatre at ground level and had to go up stairs to auditoriums that is partially true but the theatre as well as the parking lot were also above ground level due to some type of grading used by the A& P supermarket that was there originally and not a Bohack as stated so two wrong things the seating is wrong as it was well over a 1000 seats and originally over 1500 seats and the supermarket is wrong. Next there were 18 townhouses built on the property as well as 2 Marriot hotels which are opening bin a few months. Due to being there first Cinema City had the better runs because they were 5 theatres and the Meadows at the time were 2 runs and that’s why it was important for Cineplex to buy Cinema City 5 and tghey overpaid because they had to buy the property and the business Though not flashy Cinema City was a decent looking theatre in the late 80’s with full stereo sound and Theatre 5 was equipped with 8 channel sound as opposed to simple surround sound also theatre 5 had 70mm capability. Problem was that the waiting areas were small and if you didn’t want to wait in the downstairs waiting area you had to line up outside once you came in to buy your ticket and the bathrooms were also downstairs on the other side of the lobby from the waiting area, so you would have to come back upstairs and then go back downstairs to get to the bathrooms. No bathrooms on the main floor,
Thank you Orlando for clearing up some things. Clerview3 took over in September of 1995. I took over running the theatre after you left in 1991
Once again some miss information The Franklin and Squire were both owned by Warren Whurtzberger who did the conversions using money he borrowed from Boston Concession as he was in financial trouble in 1996, he sold both to Clearview Cinemas. Bud Mayo and Paul Kay were 2 independent theatre owners though Bud had also been a Vice President for IBM for a long time in 1993 they started with 2 theatres in N.J. and in 1995 they brought 3 theatres in Long Island from Carmi Djiji called GG cinemas at the time , the Port Washington, Herricks and Grand Avenue, who I worked for and then we started buying independent theatre’s in New York and New Jersey as ell as buying smaller venues from major chains. There were no Loew’s people in Clearview at that timein 1998 we took over theatre’s from Cineplex which included Soundview Cinemas The Chelsea and a few more at that time we got a division manager from Cineplex It wasn’t until Bud sold to Cablevison and then left the company that we had people from Loews brought in to run the company in 2001. I was the Division Manager for Long Island and was part of building up the company from 1995 to 2001 when I left to form my own company in Florida with 2 partners. I started in the theatre business in 1970 as a concession attendant and by 1973 I was the asst. Manager of the U.A. Quartet in Flushing, then in 1975 I was the Manager in 1979 I went to work as an Asst. Manager at National Amusements Sunrise Cinemas for it’s opening raising to House Manager then I was put in charge of the construction site for National Amusements Commack Multiplex and then opened it as the Managing Director before being transferred to Whitestone Multiplex Cinemas. In 1991 I went to work for GG theatres as the Manager of Port Washington and District manage4r for the other 2 GG theatres and when Clearview took over in 1995 I continued as their District Manager for L.I. and as previous mentioned, I was very much involved in their growth into a 68 theatre chain. I would go to each theatre that was taken over and help to bring it online as a Clearview Cinema and for a while I was also in Charge of Concessions and Special Events for the company
The strange thing about the Squire was that U.A. Eastern Theatres offices were on top of the Theatre when I worked for U.A. in the 70’s as a Manager at the U.A. Quartet so I spent a lot of time in the Squire, where at the time Mr. Al Lowey was the Manager of both the Squire and the Playhouse and Hope Masades was his Asst., So when Clearview took it over in 1996 it was like a old homecoming for me. I left Clearview in 2001 a year after Clearview was brought by Cablevision and they changed our operating procedures so I left to buy theatres in Florida and form my ow3n company with 2 partners
The history of the Squire is a little off, U.A. did not close the theatre because of bankruptcy, they sold the building to a gentleman by the name of Warren Whurtzberger who then renovated the theatre to 7 screens and because of his money problems he sold the 7 plex to Clearview Cinemas in 1996. I know this because I was the Division Manager for Clearview Cinemas for Long Island at the time of the sale and was responsible for bringing the Squire into the fold as well as the Franklin also owned by Whurtzberger, who had overextended himself with loans from Boston Concession in order to by and renovate the Squire
My name is Michael Hochstein, I worked at the Quartet from 1971 to 1978 first as an usher, than as a assistant manager than as the Manager. There was more than 700 seats. There actually was close to 1100 seats. The 2 big theatre 1 and 2 had 300 seats each and theatre 3 and 4 had 250 seats each.