Commodore Cinemas

Did they theater have dressing rooms or was it built for movies? I remember seeing a show there on late 70s.

Are the photos of the interior prior to demolition still available on Flickr?

If you go to Save the Commodore!’s Photostream on Flickr there are some depressing photos of the interior (and exterior) before the demolition.

My family rented an apartment in the early 1950’s adjacent to this Commodore theater. The two-story apartment was part of the Synagogue converted into two apartments. Our backyard was a long narrow cemented area laying between the rears of both the Synagogue and Commodore buildings. My sister and I were very little and shared a bedroom on our second floor with only one side window which faced the back of the theater. It only had a shade on it. The lights from the theater would cast shadows of tree limbs from a tree in it’s back property onto our window shade, and when it was windy the shadows of the moving branches were scary to us. Many memories of that home.. the last apartment we lived in before moving out to Long Island and into our first home.

As of November 30, 2015 it’s still a huge empty lot. If the Chasidim bought the property they ain’t talking! I asked several walking by and who owned 2 stores … no one could or would answer me?

Wow, Great photos of the Commodore! It was nice to see those “urn” things again….I used to pass them every day for a decade on the J/M trains through there on the el. STILL can’t believe that beautiful building was senselessly torn down. What a shame.

Thanks Panzer for capturing an act of absolute folly! In looking at the empty lot that will probably remain vacant for the foreseeable future, the sheer stupidy of it all just shocks anyone’s conscience.

It still sickens me whenever I ride by on the el trains through March Ave station that they tore this theater down….and for what? What a waste.

I don’t know what the current owners paid for the theater, but the theater was deliberately attacked with holes punched in the roof to quickly destroy the place so there was no hope it would be saved. Has anything been built in it’s place?

Anyway, here a 1967 photo of the Commodore in it’s happier days:

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Is IT TRUE? THAT THE JEWS BOUGHT THE COMMODORE FOR $1.00? If True Williamsburg,Brooklyn really is the
‘King Of The Jews! jDa'Vi.

HI anniegirl, It’s so nice to read that many people had great memories there. My dad ran the Williamsburg theatre about 2 blocks down the street in 70’s. He became partner of the Commodore in the early 80’s until it closed. I was about 4 years old when he started there. Yes, I remember the soda machine it was red and in the same spot you described. It was there for a couple of years then my dad upgraded the candy stand. he had a new one built in front of the old one. The old stand became a storage the room. He got rid of the soda machine and added more arcade machines. I missed that machine I used to ask my parents for change just to watch the cup come down and fill with soda. It was pretty amazing 2 me lol. The couch in the ladies room was gone in the 80’s probably because the bathroom sizes were cute back to make room for the candy stand or my dads office. i not sure which ladies room was the original one. The size of the balcony’s were also decreased to add a second screen up stairs. So you probably remember one big balcony in the rear. They used the middle section of it to make the second screen. All that was left was 2 small balcony’s one on the left and one one the right with a huge wall in between them. I wish I could have seen it it before all those changes because I could tell it was a beautiful theatre. I used to sit in the balcony and stare at the huge chandelier, all the details on the walls and try to imagine it when it first opened. Its sad how everything old gets torn down instead of bringing it back to its original beauty. If that theatre were in England it would have stood for hundreds of years because they preserve history.I read the whole blog and saw the discussion about the kimball, that organ was behind and above the screen.when you walked on stage right there was a doorway straight ahead that led to a tiny room behind the movie screen. In that room there was a metal ladder bolted to the back wall that you had to climb straight up to a ceiling door through that door was where they kept the Kimball organ. As far as the filming Avril filmed her music video on the outside of the Commodore they couldnt get in to film.They went in to my dads restaurant next door and asked my dad for help getting in but the theatre was already sold.The second filming was the disney movie enchanted. Just some fyi saw a lot of questions about it. :)Thank you for writting if you have any other questions please ask.

hey greenpoint, i will send my dad your regards. He is ok, bored out of his mind now that he’s retired. I don’t think it will last very long he’s already thinking of starting another business closer to his home. I loved getting my dads chicken next door with some fruit punch then sit in the balcony and watch a movie. i have so many great memories of that place. :)