This was a truly magnificent theater! Designed in Moorish architecture,it was long acclaimed as one of the most beautiful theaters in the five boroughs of New York. The Valencia’s ticket booth was under the marquee outside the theater. After buying a ticket, one walked through a long wide hallway, lined with one sheets of coming films. The uniformed ticket taker took your ticket at a bank of doors that opened onto a huge and magnificent lobby. The concession counter was on the left (looking into the theater ) with goldfish pools dotted around the lobby. Inside, the theater was designed to look like Valencia, Spain. On either side of the orchestra section, shadowy silhouettes lined the proscenium, and, best of all, clouds floated slowly across a ceiling sky dotted with twinkling stars. There was a loge and a huge balcony that seemed to go on forever. (If I am not mistaken, the Valencia was the twin to the Paradise Theater in the Bronx.)
The theater offered many sneak previews (at least in the 50’s and 60’s when I knew it), such as FRIENDLY PERSUASION in July of 1955, four months before the film opened its regular run, and hosted personal appearances by such stars as Joan Crawford (with STRAIT JACKET) and Paula Prentiss with THE HORIZONTAL LIEUTENANT.
Many times, when a double feature that had been booked in for a week wasn’t doing well enough, the management would change the show on Saturday afternoon, meaning that if you came for the first movie you could stay for all four!!! (I remember one Saturday in particular when we were treated to NIGHT OF THE HUNTER with Robert Mitchum, DESERT SANDS starring Ralph Meeker, GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES with Jane Russell and a western!!
The Valencia is now a church, but it will remain always in my memory as one of the magic places.
This was a truly magnificent theater! Designed in Moorish architecture,it was long acclaimed as one of the most beautiful theaters in the five boroughs of New York. The Valencia’s ticket booth was under the marquee outside the theater. After buying a ticket, one walked through a long wide hallway, lined with one sheets of coming films. The uniformed ticket taker took your ticket at a bank of doors that opened onto a huge and magnificent lobby. The concession counter was on the left (looking into the theater ) with goldfish pools dotted around the lobby. Inside, the theater was designed to look like Valencia, Spain. On either side of the orchestra section, shadowy silhouettes lined the proscenium, and, best of all, clouds floated slowly across a ceiling sky dotted with twinkling stars. There was a loge and a huge balcony that seemed to go on forever. (If I am not mistaken, the Valencia was the twin to the Paradise Theater in the Bronx.)
The theater offered many sneak previews (at least in the 50’s and 60’s when I knew it), such as FRIENDLY PERSUASION in July of 1955, four months before the film opened its regular run, and hosted personal appearances by such stars as Joan Crawford (with STRAIT JACKET) and Paula Prentiss with THE HORIZONTAL LIEUTENANT.
Many times, when a double feature that had been booked in for a week wasn’t doing well enough, the management would change the show on Saturday afternoon, meaning that if you came for the first movie you could stay for all four!!! (I remember one Saturday in particular when we were treated to NIGHT OF THE HUNTER with Robert Mitchum, DESERT SANDS starring Ralph Meeker, GENTLEMEN MARRY BRUNETTES with Jane Russell and a western!!
The Valencia is now a church, but it will remain always in my memory as one of the magic places.