Nostrand Theatre
2817 Nostrand Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11234
2817 Nostrand Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11234
6 people
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For anyone who might find it useful, here is the page that explains how to make clickable links on Cinema Treasures.
Thank you for reposting a clickable link ken!
Ken, that is really an impressive use of the space.
Nostrand Theatre
Here is a much nicer virtual tour of this former theater than I had previously posted several years ago. I love that it looks like it can be easily turned back into a theater in the future. I’m not sure how to make links clickable here. If somebody knows how, please do so in another post, thanks! I’ll give it a try myself.
-> https://youtu.be/PMfpJC-XOhg
(https://youtu.be/PMfpJC-XOhg)
I remember seeing 101 Dalmatians and Mary Poppins here. We had to stand in line for Mary Poppins for about an hour. My sister, mother and a friend saw West Side Story here. I don’t remember a lot about the inside of the theater. I was in grade school back then and didn’t pay much attention to that type of thing, I just wanted to see the movie. The one thing I remember the most about my early movie going years was the smell of the popcorn. (sometimes mixed with the faint smell of cigarette smoke)
Agreed! The old theater smell is unique and unmistakable. I miss it.
Due to it’s proximity to Marine Park, The Nostrand proved to be the go to theater for many of the denizens of the area, including the Sgandurra family of Burnett Street, indeed with four children it was almost a certainty that Saturday mornings would find some of them joyfully ensconced within the confines of those well cushioned 980 seats.
What a shame there aren’t more vintage pictures of the interior of old movie theatre. My wish list: The Commodore,Williamsburgh,The Marcy, The Rainbow.
Here is another link, to the gym’s main website with photos. They really did a nice job fixing up this place.
http://www.harborfitness.com/webnew/marinepark.html
Here is a link to a Youtube video of the inside of the Nostrand Theater as it appears today in 2012. It’s currently a Harbor Fitness Gym. Some of the original theater architecture is still there. Check it out! –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALTOz91SKrw&feature=plcp
RobertR, WHAT inside pictures?
They do alot of Polls on CT How about “That Smell'.LOL.
Most old theatre dawgs know that smell.The Imperial in Augusta had it and the CAROLINA in Hendersonville,N.C. had it for Sure. Great idea,M.C..
Here I thought I was the only one who recognized that distinct smell! You might have something there Mike! Hey, the guys who make the “New Car Smell” air freshner, should work on a formula for the “Old Movie Theater Smell”! We can use it to spray in the new Multiplexes, which most I’ve noticed smell just like a dirty toilet!
The Nostand theater had that great old smell for sure! I wonder if it managed to hold up over the years as a gym. I’ll have to stop in there one day, if I can find parking, lol, and give a look and a sniff!
Moviemanforever,I love it.great story on “that smell” must have been Nationwide.
M.C. loved the “old Theatre smell” quote.Funny you don’t smell it much in these 20 plexes.Maybe the otta can it and spray it for us old theatre dawgs.lol.
Although a convenient neighborhood screen, this venue, due to location, did not have the transportation access or pedestrian traffic that generated large crowds. Quadding would not have helped. Occasionally a film like ET would do boffo business, but I suspect that was rare. The film palaces at the western end of Kings Highway had a critical mass of several theatres, in the middle of a major shopping district, served by a major express subway stop and numerous bus routes. Not so the Nostrand which was in a strictly residential area. No doubt the Waldbaums supermarket diagonally across KH had more weekly patrons than the Nostrand. Once the Loews Georgetown Twin and Centur’s Kings Plaza Twin opened, with suburban style parking and other amenities, the days of the Nostrand were numbered.
An interesting note I just remembered about this theater. Several years after it closed a local synagogue was damaged by fire, and the owners of the theater let the congregation use the now closed theater for a while for their services. I remember all the local news stations had crews down there filming the good deed.
From what I can remember this theater was way smaller than most in Brooklyn. It possibly could have been twined, but it would have been pretty small. No way Quad. The Brook, kings, Canarsie and Walker theaters were way larger. However, it’s only from memory and it’s been close to 30 since I’ve been in there!
The inside pictures look that this could almost have been easily quaded. Century’s did announce the Brook was going to re-open as a quad but it never happened.
Surprised that more people aren’t talking about this theater. I believe it closed around 1983. The building sat empty for years, then it became a furniture store, and now it’s a gym. This theater was always crowded back in the 70’s with long lines waiting to get in all the way down Nostrand Ave. Some of the movies I can remember seeing there were “The Goodbye Girl”, “Heaven Can Wait” “Used Cars”, and a bunch of “G” movies, like “Mary Poppins”, and “Lady and the Tramp”. This theater most definitely had that “old movie theater smell”. I can close my eyes and still remember it. I guess it was a stale air mix of popcorn and smoke back then, lol! This was also one of the last theaters I can remember in brooklyn with a working curtain, that would open and close with each film. The original marquee in that 1976 photo was replaced by a new modern one around 1979-80. It most likely closed because it wasn’t large enough to turn into a twin, and the parking situation was always pretty bad. Anybody have pictures of the inside of the gym? Would love to see what it looks like in there now.
The Nostrand was a big old theater on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn. (I was married about 2 or 3 blocks away from the Nostrand.) It was large and had a balcony. My two most distinct memories of the Nostrand was when when my father’s car, which I was driving, was hit from behind during a snowstorm on my way to see Saturday Night Fever. I sat there the entire film wondering what I was going to tell my father. My second memory was going there with my wife and mother and father to see the original Halloween. The theater manager stopped us before we went in and advised that he had no ushers on duty and the crowd was rowdy. He said he would give us our money back before we entered the theater, but not after. We decided to go in anyway. It wasn’t too bad. Memories of another Brooklyn theater long gone.
I remember a strand theater being on fulton street near franklin ave in bedstuy. Do anyone remember?
I rememember a strand theater being on fulton street near franklin ave in bedstuy. Do anyone remember?