Raceway Cinema

I was an usher at the Raceway Cinema from 1971-1973. It was a wonderful experience. I remember ushering for Deliverance for like 6 weeks straight.

I believe I saw “The Lion in Winter” here

The map location is off… it should be further West… across from Carle Rd in Westbury.

The theatre was first run, road show in it’s early days. I remember seeing Thoroughly Modern Millie there. I would presume that the Century Roosevelt Field was a contributing factor to it’s demise. The only other theatres in the area were the old Westbury on Post Avenue which was not first run and the Salisbury which resorted to adult films to extend its lifespan.

I worked at the Raceway Cinema in summer 1975 during the Disney Film festival. At that point, the building was having structural issues… it’s balcony was unavailable to the public as it no longer could support a full seating up there. It was indeed a Mann theater and their film selections during those years weren’t competitive. It began to have the re-issues of SciFi and oldies as did the now defunct Syosset Theater… tho’ that lasted into the 90’s and was THE place on LI to see the original Star Wars’ re-release.
Initially, the movie house was a premier theater with first run, exclusive showings. Tickets had to be purchased in advance and were high priced for the time. It was geared for the Raceway, Island Inn/John Peel Room crowd for a more formal night out. There was a full bar lounge on the second floor balcony overlooking Old Country Road through floor to ceiling plate glass. Pretty swanky.
The structural problems and the beginning of the summer blockbusters took its toll and the theater was sold and, as stated, became the Racket Club. When they refurbished it, they were able to remodel the structure to eliminate the balcony problems.
The Racket Club (and health club… not much of a spa!) lasted a few years before becoming a retail store. It was then torn down when the entire Roosevelt Raceway properties were sold and the current incarnation of retail/restaurants popped up.

So far I have found ads showing it as a National General and BS Moss house. I don’t know how I never saw this place or even attended a movie here. I have a NY Times story somewhere when they first announced building it that I will locate and post.

Here’s an advance ad for the grand opening of the Raceway Cinema. View link

The address is listed as 1020 Old Country Road @ Roosevelt Raceway.

That must be it, I have long been curious exactly where this theatre was and why it seems to not have lasted long. Longislandmovies may be able to shed some light on it.

I just looked at the Willy Wonka ad, and it list this theatre as National General’s Raceway Cinema.

I came across an ad for this theatre which opened on July 12, 1967.

I just came across an ad from 1971 and it seems at that time the Raceway was being operated by National General Theatres.