Seaview Theater

rivest – If you can’t find an opening ad, no one can.

It is now a Dollar Tree, although I wish it were a dollar theater instead.

Current photo posted in the photo section

I posted the 1977 photo of Star Wars playing at the Seaview Theater & some nearby stores! To the left of the theater in the picture were Splendore’s Pizza, Carvel, & Charcoal Chef (not in this photo). To the right were Taub’s Floor Covering, Loft’s Stationary, & Jack’s! Further to the right, not in this photo, were stores like Star Value City, Pasichow Jewlery, Shoreview Cards (still there today), Ro-Mar, & Manufacturer’s Hanover Trust on the far right corner. The next, adjacent shopping center to the right included names like Pantry Pride, Dial Drugs, Coney Island Joe’s, Joy Teang, Contemporary Eye Care (today at Rkwy Pkwy & Ave L), Donut Towne, & Martin Paints. This amazing photo was taken in the rain by Cindy O Cindy (Facebook name) who gave me permission to post it to my Facebook pages like “Canarsie People – Where Are They Now????”. Thanks Cindy!

I went to the Seaview Theater the first time on a saturday night in 1963 with my date Arlene S.

Years before it closed there was a major gas explosion that occured I believe in the Pizza store next store. It caused major damage to the theater and the whole strip of stores on that side. I’m pretty sure it blew out all the front windows, and caused a major water leak. They had to rip up the carpets in the theater, and I don’t think they ever replaced them before they closed the theater forever several years later. The Theater then became a Consumer Distributing store, and several drug stores after that.

To dvcomo – I disagree with you. I lived in Bayview Houses from 1956 to 1982. See my posting above from 7/7/05 where I say the SeaView Theatre opened around 1961 . I have an ad of Ben Hur (1959) playing there a year or so after it’s debut. Philip’s posting of 6/21/05 that he saw Soldier in the Rain (1963) there is way before 1967. The theatre was built with the shopping center not years after it. I remember going to Kress’s soda fountain after seeing a movie there and that was way before Star Value took over the Kress store which was around 1966 (the same time Food Fair became Pantry Pride). Any other Canarsie people out there that agree with me?

I disagree with some of the previous postings. The Seaview Theater was built in the mid-sixties, approximately 1967. I remember it being built – it was added to the existing strip of stores. It was an average size neighborhood theater, not a tiny one. I saw Star wars there, like the advertisement shows. It was very clean and well maintained as compared to the older Canarsie Theater, and it had a great sound system, especially for the midnight special rock movies(Alice Cooper – Welcome to My Nightmare, for one) when they would really crank it up! It was a fun time, with all of the neighborhood teens getting together for a night out.

Greenpoint, you are confusing the strip malls (we call them shopping centers) in this area. The SeaView Theatre was in the one closest to the Belt and opened around 1961 – the one that had Star Value City (originally Kress) in it for years. The theatre was located between Splendore’s Pizza on the left and Taub’s Foor Coverings on the right. The shopping center with Rite Aid and the now defunct King Arthur (not King David) Kosher Deli, is across Rockaway Parkway around the corner on Seaview Avenue and was built in 1955 as part of Bayview Houses. The Rite Aid store was never a theatre- it originally housed a supermerket and if my memory serves me right (I lived in Bayview from 1956-1982), started out as Sunrise, then Grand Union, Bohack, Packers, Met and Key Food before becoming a nite club in the late 70’s.

As I recall, the strip mall was L-shaped – with the short leg parallel with the Belt Pkwy and the long leg parallel with Rockaway Pkwy – the theatre was in the corner of the L where the long and short legs meet.

The theater was located in the corner of an L shaped strip mall on Racaway Parkway in Brooklyn just about a block from the Belt Parkway. The interior was a non-discript room surrounded by dark red acoustic curtains with an acoustic tile ceiling with recessed lighting. There was no balcony and a very small lobby with a small concession.

I lived across the street from the Seaview Theater. I recall that the first film shown there was Soldier in the Rain starring Jackie Gleason.

After it closed it was converted into a Consumers retail store.

In 1971 it was listed as a National General Theatre.