Loew's Metropolitan Theatre
392 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
392 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
20 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 139 comments
Please update, Cineplex Odeon took over the theatre on November 17, 1989, when Cineplex renovated the theatre after Loews operated it. The two downstair theatres was large auditorium with small screens and the sound was MONO. The two upstairs theatres the screens were better and with Dolby Stereo. Cineplex Odeon, just like the Fortway and Kenmore Quad did not put Dolby sound in all screens.
Grand opening ad posted.
The huge chandelier still exists, but now hangs deep underground in Cumberland Caverns, near McMinnieville, TN. I believe that they have the organ, as well.
Grand opening article:
Happy 100th birthday to Loew’s Metropolitan, which first opened in September, 1918, and is not only still with us, but also magnificently rejuvenated as home to the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Loews Theatres was well known for it’s lack maintenance and refurbishment program during that era. It was Cineplex Odeon that really did give these old theatres a new lease of life.
It was Loews. Cineplex only did a cosmetic remodel and put in new cushion seats. Loews was still operating with 70 year old wooden seats.
Who was the chain that actually made this a quad, was it Loews or Cineplex Odeon?
There was a seldom-used entrance on Livingston Street, but usually the Livingston Street marquee was used to advertise the current attraction.
Uploaded to photos from Brooklyn Pics. One is purported to be Smith near Fulton. The other Livingston. Were there multiple entrances or is Brooklyn Pics wrong.
The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, which now operates out of this old movie house, hit a home run in performing the Battle Hymn of the Republic at Monday’s Inauguration ceremony. Kudos to the choir, the congregation and the people of Brooklyn!
The Metropolitan mezzanine did not over look the lobby as you can see in the first photo. I think that mezzanine shot may be of the RKO Kenmore, or some other Loews house.
The mezzazine lounge didn’t look like that when I frequented the theater, from 1983 to closing. The opening had been covered over by a floor, making a very large lounge space with very little decor.
Here’s a couple of old interior pictures from the collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Click on the small pictures to expand them.
http://tinyurl.com/6a5w23g
http://tinyurl.com/6esqtdm
Thanks Al ,you are so right.
The Cineplex Odeon take-over was in the late eighties. There was no Cineplex Odeon in 1978.
Well, I’m sure she attracted rather large crowds. Right after Hell’s Angels, Jean Harlow fan clubs sprang up around the country, even though she had yet to prove herself as the talented comedienne she would become.
Just read that Jean Harlow made a personal appearance there in 1932 to publicize Beast of the City. That must have caused pandemonium!
Very nice link Thanks again Tinseltoes.
MY sister took a picture of a New York theatre with “MOONRAKER” on it.I would love to find that picture.It could be this theatre?
I like the way the they had 2 marquees one on each end.Those were the days.
I have to agree. A theater converted to a church is “not” lost. This is an excellent example of a beautiful building restored, and still 100% here, even if it’s not a theater anymore. Loews 175th St (United Palace), the Valencia, and a whole string of others are also examples.
The alternative could have been a bad conversion into retail with gutting, or even worse, a pile of rubble.
I was in the restored church the other day, and it is stunning. Even though it’s not a movie theater, there’s still a show going on.
And I believe the theater was twinned – and then quadded — by Loew’s years before Cineplex Odeon took over.
The Loews Metropolitan (or Loews Met as we old Brooklynites used to call it,) was one of 4 beautiful Golden-Age theaters Downtown Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Fox, The Paramount, the RKO Albee and the Loews Met. It was one about 3 blocks from the Albee abd one block from the large A&S department store (now Macys.) Like most golden-age Loews, it was an enormous theater with a large fountain with wishing-well in the inner lobby.) Starting in the early ‘60s, I would sometimes go with my father there and later my friends, taking the number 2 IRT from East New York to get there.
It ususally showed films from MGM, Paramount or Columbia. Among the films I saw there were: “Lawrence of Arabia” (right after its roadshow run,) the Brando “Mutiny on the Bounty.” John Wayne in “Circus World,” Charlton Heston in “Major Dundee” and Jerry Lewis in “Whos Minding the Store.” I seem to recall some Elvis’ films playing there as well, I think “Blue Hawaii.”
As the area started deteriorating in the ‘70s, the Met had to resort to showing double-features of grade-D horror films. (The Albee at the same time was showing Kung-fu and Blaxploitation films.) Soon afterward, it was bought by Cineplex Odeon and converted into 4 theaters. It reopened at Christmas 1978 with great fanfare showcasing “Superman” and Clint Eastwood in “Every Which Way But Loose.” (I was working downtown at the time.) However, it was not to last. When I was working downtown again in 2001, the theater was now closed for good and being converted into a Church, the ultimate fate for many golden-age theaters in deteriorating areas.
The Loews Met was a beautiful theater, that outlasted the other beautiful golden-age theaters in downtown Brooklyn. Now it only lives in our memories.
Great pictures on the page keep them coming.