I was there on Sunday and I spent about two hours wandering around inside and out. I had dinner at Junior’s across the street then wandered over.
The first thing on the exterior you notice is that the fire escapes are all removed. Then you can see the stagehouse it was small, but had flyspace. On the inside you can see the stage was not that deep I’d say about 20 feet! I find this really surprising, so it must have been built mainly for movies.
The original plasterwork, procenuim, and ceilings are all still there, and in remarkable condition.
LIU has removed the mezzanine, most of the balcony seating, and has retained the lobby as a restaurant.
They have tried to utilize as much of the space as possible. The mezzanine level doors to the old boxes are now small offices. The stagehouse flyspace area has been floored in and that space used up. The stage entrance and associated rooms are now the LIU securuty department.
The balcony has been walled into the existing space and converted to classrooms retaining some of the the original upper balcony seating area.
The stairways to the upper areas of the theatre have been removed and the connected office building is now used to get upstairs.
The lobby is in great shape, and the grand staircase to the mezzanine is still there.
The space is remarkable, but I think it is very unlikely it will ever be restored. The stage is too tiny for todays use, and the abutting buildings seem to prevent any expansion.
I then drove up Flatbush to look at the Kings, how depressing!
I have one of these plaques as well, mine came from a closed up Loews theatre.
Any idea of what it is worth?
I was there on Sunday and I spent about two hours wandering around inside and out. I had dinner at Junior’s across the street then wandered over.
The first thing on the exterior you notice is that the fire escapes are all removed. Then you can see the stagehouse it was small, but had flyspace. On the inside you can see the stage was not that deep I’d say about 20 feet! I find this really surprising, so it must have been built mainly for movies.
The original plasterwork, procenuim, and ceilings are all still there, and in remarkable condition.
LIU has removed the mezzanine, most of the balcony seating, and has retained the lobby as a restaurant.
They have tried to utilize as much of the space as possible. The mezzanine level doors to the old boxes are now small offices. The stagehouse flyspace area has been floored in and that space used up. The stage entrance and associated rooms are now the LIU securuty department.
The balcony has been walled into the existing space and converted to classrooms retaining some of the the original upper balcony seating area.
The stairways to the upper areas of the theatre have been removed and the connected office building is now used to get upstairs.
The lobby is in great shape, and the grand staircase to the mezzanine is still there.
The space is remarkable, but I think it is very unlikely it will ever be restored. The stage is too tiny for todays use, and the abutting buildings seem to prevent any expansion.
I then drove up Flatbush to look at the Kings, how depressing!