Calderone Theater
145 N. Franklin Street,
Hempstead,
NY
11550
145 N. Franklin Street,
Hempstead,
NY
11550
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Per Newsday: (Oct 2022)
A developer seeking to build 314 affordable senior apartments in Hempstead Village could benefit from $89 million in tax-exempt financing through the Nassau County Local Economic Assistance Corp.
The agency granted preliminary approval for the bond financing at its meeting Sept. 22.
The apartments would be split between a pair of proposed developments at 145 N. Franklin St. and 226 Clinton St. in the village.
The bulk of the units proposed by developer Daniel Goldstein of BOSFA Properties in Lawrence would be built at the North Franklin Street site, previously owned by Faith Baptist Church. The existing building would be demolished for the construction of 244 senior apartments funded in part by a $57 million tax-exempt bond.
For more than 40 years, the Calderone Theatre operated as a concert hall and movie house at the North Franklin Street address. It hosted mainstream acts such as Aerosmith, Lou Reed and ZZ Top before it became a multiplex in 1992. Goldstein’s company acquired the site from the church in March for $5 million.
6/5/23 Drove by. All stores in front have paper covering windows. The Church has moved out. Not sure what is happening but I don’t know if it will be standing much longer.
I used to come here a lot with my parents back in 1993-1996 when they used to show the Bollywood films in that big auditorium upstairs.
There were several Bollywood theaters that came and went during that decade, but this was my personal favorite, especially with so many big blockbusters drawing sold-out audiences.
There were times when the Bollywood audience was much larger than the Hollywood audiences in the other six theaters combined.
I really enjoyed seeing all the posters they had in the hallway and I especially enjoyed their nachos with cheese dip…..mmmmm.
Please update, became a 7 plex on May 15, 1992.
Reopened on May 15th, 1992 as the Village Cinema 7.
Grand opening ad posted.
Opening article with pictures. It had an escalator.
and
and here’s the grand opening ad
Calderone Theatre opening 20 Jun 1949, Mon Newsday (Suffolk Edition) (Melville, New York) Newspapers.com
The first time I went there I saw Richard Lester’s"The Three Musketeers",it was huge beautiful theater.The next time I went it was a concert hall and I saw Carlos Santana!
There is a 2/6/2004 comment re the stream but it doesn’t site a specific reference.
A few years back I read an article that during the construction of the Calderone they were going to have a stage for live acts, this is why it’s such a large theatre but had to cancel the idea as they found a brook underneath while building the stage as a result this would not allow the weight of the stage to hold up. Has anyone ever heard of this and if so is there a link to it
I used to go to the Calderone Theater almost exclusively when I was child in the fifties. All the big movies played there. Saw Elvis, Dean & Jerry, Godzilla, etc. Used to be 60 cents for children and 90 cents for adults. Parents used to drop us off alone and then come back to pick us up when the films were over. Always a double feature.
Uploaded a picture of the marquee when the Calderone served as a concert hall. From the Newsday Long Island Places we Loved site.
During the period when it was split up into 7 auditoriums it was known as the Village Cinemas.
@robboehn One of the pictures shows the front all draped for the wide Cinemascope screen
From the photo above it would seem that the screen must have been very small in the beginning. Since the proscenium was very small what did they do to accommodate CinemaScope and the like?
used to go there in the 50s, brings back memories.
in 1979 I appeared in a live stage show here. It was sort of odd being on the stage after having seen movies here
It was cheap carpet too.
Never was in the theatre but went for a job interview in office space which was included in the theatre complex. I was negatively impressed by the apparently cheap construction. The floors in the hallways actually moved underfoot.
There are a plethora of images of the Calderone Theatre (as well as other Long Island theatres built by the Calderones) on the excellent Long Island Library Resources Council’s Long Island Memories website – where a sample of photographic collections from various regional libraries have been digitized for easy access. Among the collections is one that focuses on the Calderones from the Hofstra University Library’s archives.
This image of the Calderone’s auditorium under construction starts off the series of images pertaining particularly to this theatre. You may click anywhere on the image to zoom in for a closer look. Click on the thumbnail image to move the “red box” around and change the area of detail viewed in the larger image. You may advance to the next image by clicking “Next” in the upper right side of the page header.
Excellent images well worth spending the time to peruse. And once you move past the Calderone Theatre itself, a number of other Calderone projects may be found, including the Mineola Theatre, the Cove Theatre, the Hempstead Theatre and others.
What was the name of the opening band for Hot Tuna on May 4, 1975?
According to an article in the August 26, 1949 Newsday, the opening night proceeds of $ 3,568 were turned over to the local Community Chest by the Skouras Theatre Corp.
The pictures you have are of the Rivoli Theater which was located just up the block from the Calderone. The Rivoli was know as the Calderone 2 for a period to try to change the bad image it had for may years. It did not work… The theater has been demolished.
They are definitely not pictures of either the Calderone or the Hempstead theater.
Are these pictures the Calderone?
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That date I was doing the renovating in was 1997, not 2007, my mistake.