Oceana Theater

Per it’s NEW website:

Oceana Theater is an ideal venue for concerts, theatrical performances, comedy shows, as well as corporate events, conferences, political meetings, and so on.

Oceana Theater was opened in 1934. Known later on as the Atlantic Oceana, the Millennium Theater and the Master Theater, in 2022 the theater returned to its historical name.

Now is a modern, excellently equipped 1326-seat venue located in the heart of South Brooklyn’s immensely popular Brighton Beach Area, by the beautiful ocean beaches, near convenient transportation means (subway, easy driving access).

“Oceana Theater” is a household brand name among the fun-loving and diverse crowd of Brooklyn residents. World-famous artists of a great variety, beloved ballet and drama troupes, as well as an endless list of dazzling pop performers from various countries of the world, have honored the stage with their talent and fame. The theater is outfitted with cutting-edge sound and lighting equipment. It includes an extremely powerful, high-quality surround sound system carefully adjusted to the dimensions of the theater, capable of infinite adjustments to all various kinds of artist line-ups. A multi-dimension, computerized stage lighting system provides dazzling light support to any kind of performance, from classical ballet to pop and rock concerts. The theater is equipped with LED screen that add to the beauty and excitement of any performance. The theater’s professional team of sound, lighting and video engineers competently use wonders of modern technology to greatly enhance the excitement of any performance.

Bring beauty and excitement into your life and business with Oceana Theater, one of New York’s best multi-profile venues.

Please note, that we do not have an elevator or wheelchair ramp. The Oceana Theater is located on the 2nd floor of the building that is unfortunately not ADA-compliant (it was built in the early 1900s and falls under a “grandfather clause”), so the Oceana Theater does not offer disability services such as wheelchair accessibility. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.

Please change name back to Oceana Theater! I stopped by today to look inside (mainly a NetCost Supermarket) with lots of interior design of the theater still there (moldings). There is still one theater upstairs, which they are now calling it the Oceana Theater!! Otherwise, all signage of Master Theater is gone!

I agree that this listing should be changed to closed. It appears to be currently available for rent: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1027-1035-Brighton-Beach-Ave-Brooklyn-NY/20301550/

The staircase is not the original one. You acsess the restrooms from a wide staircase on the riht hand side of the orchestra seating area, the candy stand was in the, set slightly back from the seating area so you could actually around the counter but concessions wer sold from the front facing incoming audiences. The ladies room would be at the top ofthe left staircase and the mens room was to the left accssesed by a simple staircase in the inner lobby on ththe left, not in the orchestra. Today you can see cove lighting as you enter the supermarket still intact.. this would have been the back of the orchestra between the back ofthe candy stand to the last row of the orchestra, a four foot wooden halh wall backed the seats and you would be able to see the entire auditorium. 1n 1974-1975 when I worked there, Mr. Schiering closed the balcony to save on projectionist’s salaries as they got paidby the number of seats. Two balcony/loge entrances wer plaster-boarded one with a door so the Projectio booth still in the balcony. I left in 1976 when it became apparent that Scheiring would be retiring and was going to sublease to Golden Theatres, the abotionists of the Loew’s Alpine ant then the Oceana. The Oceana was a beautiful theatre as far as I was concerned, but to longtime employe there “Gloria” the candy counter/matron called it “Do you how much money it costs to heat up this big old barn?” She was ahoot anda very nice lady with a good sense of humor on everything and sex. This is only a tid-bit, there is much more. Let me know if you want to hear Part II.

If you search as Oceana you’ll get the Master. In theory all CT sites should be by the last name used. In theory.

I grew up on Banner Avenue and Brighton 7th Street in the 1950s. The Oceana was our regular neighborhood tgeater (along with the Tuxedo on Ocean Parkway off Brighton Beach Avenue). I remember going to the Oceana in about 1955 (I would have been 9 years old) to see a live stage show with tge Merry Mailman, Ray Heatherton (actress Joey Heatherton’s father). Many good times at the Oceana.

Apparently the theater is no more. A 15,000 feet gourmet Russian supermarket is due to open on the site offering 40 varieties of caviar. It’s called Gourmanoff. Foods of Bulgaria, Uzbekistan and Latvia will also be featured.

Thanks Ed, I don’t know ho wI didn’t see the link! That said, I’m not sure what to think about the photos. I thought the one shot of the red carpeted walls with the chandelier was interesting but the other shots made the interior look rather bland. This might be deceiving though. What do you think?

A big article in today’s NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/arts/millennium-theater-in-brighton-beach-as-link-to-old-country.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=millennium%20brooklyn&st=cse

Relatively little is said about the theater itself except for this nugget: “The theater, with its glittering chandeliers and red-carpet walls, has a threadbare glamour.” It also calls this 1,400 seat theater a Lincoln Center of sorts for the Russian Community. I wonder how much of the original details remain.

does anyone remember Zeimars Deli which was located in Brighton Beach? My uncle used to own it.

The Oceana was an attractive neighborhood theatre. It was was close to the once fashionable Manhattan Beach.

On Saturday afternoons we kids had to sit on the left side…the center, the good seats, were off-limits, and an annoying woman (“matron”) in a white outfit would patrol with a flash light. Years later I learned of a New York state law requiring segregation of children, apparently for their own safety. But for budding movie buffs to have to sit off-center was an insult, let alone a joy dampener.

My mother’s mother used to go to the movies here every Saturday after she was done with the shabbos lunch dishes. Even though my grandfather was strictly orthodox, she somehow brokered a deal for herself whereby once a week, she got to go to the movies by herself without acceding to his demands and the chores of housewifery. Good for her!