One more story: During that final walk-through before we sold the Graham, I found a lot of 35mm film that had been strewn about the lobby from the projection booth above. I suspect that it was the print of the last film ever shown at the Graham, “10” starring Bo Derek.
It’s great to read all the stories about the Graham at 3171 Whitney Avenue, because my grandfather was the original owner and the ONLY owner throughout the Graham’s life as a cinema. It was in my family for over 50 years, although we did not operate it ourselves after 1960.
The building was originally a trolley car barn, which accounts for the long and narrow shape, unusual for a cinema. When trolley service disappeared from Brooklyn, the city sold off the building. My grandfather, who owned a few other cinemas in Brooklyn, bought it and turned the trolley car barn into a 900+ seat cinema. He operated it for decades. In the Great Depression, he would give away a five-pound bag of sugar for every 100th ticket. Tickets were a quarter of a buck.
After he retired he leased the Graham out to various operators in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. When the cinema finally closed, I did a walk-through to figure out what we should do with the building. Since nobody in the family lived in Brooklyn or was free to move there and run a cinema, we decided to sell the property. After we sold it a builder turned the old shell into condos by digging out the parking lot and created a few levels for the apartments.
Keep the stories coming. If I find the old family photos I will try to post some here!
Hi Seppy,
Thanks for the good thoughts. We’ll keep searching for those photos.
Jim
One more story: During that final walk-through before we sold the Graham, I found a lot of 35mm film that had been strewn about the lobby from the projection booth above. I suspect that it was the print of the last film ever shown at the Graham, “10” starring Bo Derek.
It’s great to read all the stories about the Graham at 3171 Whitney Avenue, because my grandfather was the original owner and the ONLY owner throughout the Graham’s life as a cinema. It was in my family for over 50 years, although we did not operate it ourselves after 1960.
The building was originally a trolley car barn, which accounts for the long and narrow shape, unusual for a cinema. When trolley service disappeared from Brooklyn, the city sold off the building. My grandfather, who owned a few other cinemas in Brooklyn, bought it and turned the trolley car barn into a 900+ seat cinema. He operated it for decades. In the Great Depression, he would give away a five-pound bag of sugar for every 100th ticket. Tickets were a quarter of a buck.
After he retired he leased the Graham out to various operators in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. When the cinema finally closed, I did a walk-through to figure out what we should do with the building. Since nobody in the family lived in Brooklyn or was free to move there and run a cinema, we decided to sell the property. After we sold it a builder turned the old shell into condos by digging out the parking lot and created a few levels for the apartments.
Keep the stories coming. If I find the old family photos I will try to post some here!