Cinart Theatre

102 Court Street,
Brooklyn, NY 11201

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Showing 1 - 25 of 28 comments

markp
markp on November 21, 2016 at 7:21 am

Gee how familiar that sounds. Yup must be the same owners or relatives of. I remember sometimes having to put in stubs at the end of the night halfway thru the last reel. I was so happy when they converted to xenon in 85, but then we never ever saw a new bulb again. We always got used ones from the projectionists in our local who worked the large chain theatres like GCC or UA.

jsbreezy
jsbreezy on November 20, 2016 at 10:05 am

Mark, the people that owned the Cineart owned the Harem on 42nd St in Manhattan, they also owned the Wagner on Wycoff Ave in Brooklyn. They also owned 1 location the Combat Zone in Boston but I don’t remember the name of it. As far as the Polk in Queens goes, I worked there on a few occasions when they needed a fill in for someone that was on vacation and the owner handed you carbons in the morning in your hand. When I asked he said that is your carbon allotment for the day. I then said I guess we’re going home early today and headed up to the booth. Sometime later he came up with more.

markp
markp on November 6, 2016 at 1:16 pm

jsbreezy, I think the people that owned this theatre owned a whole bunch of them, including the Globe in the Bronx, the Deluxe in Brooklyn, the Polk in Queens and the 2 I worked at as a projectionist here in New Jersey, the Sayrewoods Theatre and the Cinema 9. Really Nice people as you said. All they wanted was keep the picture on the screen. I worked there from 1978 till 1990.

jsbreezy
jsbreezy on November 6, 2016 at 9:01 am

I worked at the Cineart as a projectionist from December of 1975 to roughly the summer of 1985. Its address was 102 Court Street and it was running 16mm until around 1977 when it went to 35mm to try to compete wit the Manhattan porn theatres. It was kept clean and was relatively trouble free. Nice people to work for. I had a blast there.

johndereszewski
johndereszewski on May 19, 2015 at 7:48 am

Thanks for providing not only a glimpse of the old theater but also of the long gone blockfront. Everything has changed, Queens Restaurant moved up the block and a Barnes and Noble book store now occupies the first two floors of the large building that runs through the entire block.

robboehm
robboehm on May 18, 2015 at 10:01 pm

Photo from Brooklyn Pics uploaded.

Willburg145
Willburg145 on July 22, 2014 at 2:00 pm

What did the interior of the Cinart look like? It’s too bad there aren’t more interior shots of these theaters.

barryhoff
barryhoff on August 24, 2010 at 4:19 pm

Hello newbies…..the Paras Cort also pronounce as Paris Cort by locals was located on the west side of Court St neard Degraw St next to Court St Pastry, you can still see the facade has the happy and sad face figures on it. as a kid in the 50s I would go there to watch movies and also at the Lido, dont any of ya know this? I can tell you all are not native Brooklynites.

johndereszewski
johndereszewski on February 13, 2010 at 8:07 am

I remember this theater from the 1970’s, when it was very much in its XXX mode. At that time, Queen Restaurant, which has since relocated one block north, was situated just to the theater’s right and also maintained a pizza place just to its left. On one occasion, the Cinart provided dubious additional advertising or the Queen when it played the classic flick “Pizza Girls”!

washpub
washpub on February 11, 2010 at 11:31 am

for mattyparas:
he was my grandfather,too, email me at: INFOatYESNCdotCOM
dr m

mattyparas
mattyparas on December 27, 2009 at 11:22 pm

my great grandfather owned the Paras court. I may be able to find out some information from my grandmother

jflundy
jflundy on June 22, 2009 at 4:58 pm

Here is a link to the Forgotten Street Scenes website. It is the Court Street page. Some current or former theater are shown.

About three quarters of the way down the page , a building is shown, obviously a theater at one time. It is located near Baltic on Court Street. The web master asks help in identifying this old theater’s name.
View link

The link comes from Warren G. Harris. He believes that this building may once have been the Cinart.

View link

washpub
washpub on April 28, 2009 at 9:24 am

does anyone have information on the Paras Court, and maybe an old image?

Kaylie123
Kaylie123 on April 29, 2008 at 8:25 pm

I am trying to date a foto of my father. He is standing near a poster for the Paras Court Theater. The date is blurred; however the poster does indicate two movies being shown: Secret Bride and I am a Thief. Based on where my father lived back then, I would venture to guess that the Paras Court Theatre was at Court and Union Streets. Since both of these movies were released in Nov/Dec, 1934, does anyone out there believe that they would still be shown in say early spring of 1935. Since my father is not wearing an overcoat (he is standing outside a store window) I believe that it was probably spring. Can anyone comment on my guesses?

Thanks

boerumhill1849
boerumhill1849 on April 3, 2008 at 1:12 am

Photos of the Borough Hall Theatre in 1922 and 1931 can be seen here:

View link

scottfavareille
scottfavareille on July 24, 2006 at 2:18 pm

Personally, with regards to what is a “treasure”, the study of XXX theaters in the 1970’s and 1980’s is quite fascinating from a number of historical points, namely:

  1. Neighborhood decay (and in some cases, neighborhood revival after the XXX theater went out of business).
  2. Changes in zoning laws (I personally have found that this turned out to be the most effective way of putting “adult entertainment” businesses either out of business or heavily in check.)
  3. Countless battles & raids for “obscenity”

This site I have found to be an excellent information source in doing my research. One can never have enough information.

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim on July 24, 2006 at 10:53 am

[Screwy filter @ CT: G – I – R – L – S and a – d – u – l – t – s printed out as “s” and “– – – – –.” Ha! We all be saved from the wages of sin and the flesh! LOL!]

EdSolero, another “tip of the Hatlo hat” to you, sir, for confirming the 102 Court St. address for both Boro Hall and Cinart. As soon as I can locate some local PC guru to follow your instructions re the DVD photo, it’ll get posted ASAP. (And I wasn’t kidding about the heat. It hit 113 degrees in El Cajon Saturday! We are in meltdown.)

BrooklynJim
BrooklynJim on July 20, 2006 at 3:15 pm

“BrooklynJim… where are you?!?”

[Please note that “BrooklynJim” is out somewhere in the west coast heatwave trying to find Cheryl Hansson and her Cover s to cool off with. He may even find them in the – – – – section of the San Diego ComiCon, currently in progress. – Cinema Treasures Mgmt.]

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on July 20, 2006 at 1:30 pm

Here are some ads for the Cinart during it’s XXX period. The address is clearly identified as 102 Court Street, which means this was the former Borough Hall/Boro Hall Theater. So we can update the address above and ad some AKA information.

Offering videos 3 for $100:
NY Post 3/8/82

Day and dating with the Deluxe on Bath Ave:
NY Post 3/10/82

Listed in the old Neighborhood Movie Guide:
NY Post 12/11/80

BrooklynJim… where are you?!?

Warren… we must be tolerant here. One person’s toilet is another one’s treasure. This site is already overpopulated with theaters that certainly wouldn’t be considered “treasures” from an architectural or aesthetic point of view. Like it or not, this site has become a repository for any and every theater past or present that membership cares to post. Fortunately, we can all choose which theaters to keep track of and which to ignore.

overcertified
overcertified on May 22, 2006 at 1:42 pm

The Lido – 265 Court Street is now called the Cobble Hill, or at least the Cobble Hill has a 265 Court Street Address

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on May 22, 2006 at 1:35 pm

Theatres listed on Court Street, Brooklyn in the following years:

American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915
Melville Theatre, 551 Court Street
St. George Theatre, 222 Cort Street (mispelt possibly?)
Remsen Theatre, Court Street & Remsen Street

Film Daily Yearbook 1926
Borough Hall Theatre, Court Street. 600 seats
Lido Theatre, Court Street. 600 seats
Paras Court Theatre, Court Street & Union Street. 600 seats

Film Daily Yearbook 1927
Same details as 1926

Film Daily Yearbook 1930
Borough Hall Theatre, 102 Court Street. 598 seats
Court Theatre, Court Street & Smith Street. 589 seats
Gloria Theatre, 395 Court Street. 599 seats
Lido Theatre, 265 Court Street. 530 seats
Paras Court Theatre, 292 Court Street. 600 seats

Film Daily Yearbook 1941
Borough Hall Theatre (as above)
Gloria Theatre, 395 Court Avenue (a misprint?) 550 seats
Lido Theatre, 265 Court Street. 500 seats
Paras Court Theatre, 292 Court Street. 570 seats

Film Daily Yearbook 1943
Borough Hall Theatre, 102 Court Street. 585 seats
Gloria Theatre, 395 Court Avenue (still misprinted?) 594 seats
Lido Theatre, 265 Court Street. 550 seats
Paras Court Theatre, 292 Court Street. 593 seats

Film Daily Yearbook 1950
Boro Hall Theatre, 102 Court Street. 585 seats
Gloria Theatre, 395 Court Street. 594 seats
Lido Theatre, 265 Court Street. 512 seats
Paras Court Theatre (as above)

Film Daily Yearbook 1957
Lido Theatre, 265 Court Street. 512 seats

overcertified
overcertified on July 31, 2005 at 3:31 am

The Cinart was north of Atlantic Avenue. The Cobble Hill is south. The Cinart and surrounding buildings were destroyed and the United Artists Court Street Stadium 12 was built on that site, along with a bookstore (I think Barnes & Noble). This would be at 108 Court Street.

RobertR
RobertR on July 19, 2005 at 10:40 am

The Tivoli is under it’s last name Adonis
/theaters/4693/

RobertR
RobertR on July 18, 2005 at 2:22 pm

Yes I just looked it up, thats the Cobble Hill. The name Lido needs to be added as a former name. It has the other previous name Rio already.