Strand Theater

Wish they would include the “Studio” here. It was the other Brockport movie theater.

So the Strand as been triplexed? There goes plans to see this theatre.

Ed: The Winslow Block was originally a multistory building with multiple storefronts. In April 1908 the Happy Hour Theatre opened on the second floor. Four months later in August 1908 the Lyric Theatre opened in a storefront on the ground floor. In 1916 the Lyric moved upstairs taking over the former Happy Hour space and changed it name to the Strand Theatre. Therefore the Lyric that passed out of existence and was replaced by E Harrison Company was the space on the first floor of the building. In 1946 the building was remodeled and the Strand took over the entire building. If you look at the Google Street View of the State Street side of the Strand building you can see all the bricked-over windows and doors of those original first floor retail spaces.

Do wish the photo with this theatre featured the Carrara glass exterior on a bright sunny day without the highway barrels.

Kallet Theatres of Oneida, NY owned the theatre until 1989 when it was sold to SJM Entertainment of Syracuse who bought both the Strand and Studio Theatre in Brockport. SJM converted the Strand to a triplex in 1989 utilizing equipment from both buildings to achieve the conversion. Note: Kallet leased the theatres to CinemaNational Theatres (a division of Carrols Development Corp) who operated the theatres from 1974 until 1989. CinemaNational merged with USA Theatres of Boston and later with Loews Theatres of NY before the sale to SJM Entertainment.

Curiously, this item appeared in the January 11, 1917, edition of the Holley Standard:

“The Lyric theater in Brockport is to pass out of existence. The E Harrison Company have leased the building and expect to remove their clothing business to that location.”

Perhaps SchineHistorian (apologies for identifying the wrong gender for her in a previous comment) would know if there was an different Lyric that had operated in town once the changeover was made to the Strand name – or perhaps this was a planned relocation for E Harrison that never happened. Amazing how side-tracked one can become when burying themselves in old newspaper editions! I’m researching a couple of theaters in Holley, NY, and just keep stumbling upon tangential tidbits like this.

And SchineHistorian would know as she is the expert on Schine theatres!

In his post of September 25, 2008, SchineHistorian suggests that this theater originally opened as the Lyric Theatre. An item in the December 3, 1914, edition of the Holley Standard (a weekly paper from a neighboring village), noted that the Lyric was purchased by Charles Lawton, who was also the owner of another Brockport cinema, the Globe Theater. It doesn’t appear that the Globe is presently listed on CT. Meanwhile, perhaps Lyric Theatre should be added to this entry as an AKA.

When was this theatre triplexed?? It may be the only existing Michael DeAngelis designed theatre that has been divided with three screens!

ken mc: Thanks so very much for posting the Boxoffice interior photos of 1947 which are so similar to my hometown DeAngelis designed theatre. Should be interesting to see how this theatre was triplexed being that “tri” means three when I visit the theatre this Spring.

FLMurphy: Nice to read that your father managed this theatre for many years. I hope to see this theatre this summer and it’s not because it was divided up, but rather because the architect was Michael DeAngelis.

This theatre is listed as having 3 screens so was it divided up and was originally a single screen theatre? I would say…yes!

When was this theatre “triplexed”?