Colony Theatre

Please update, it was a twin in the 1980s

I went to ask around and look around today at the former location of this theater, and here’s what I found.

1. On Google Maps, the satellite view shows a large rectangle roof higher than the stores in the front, pretty good evidence of where the theater stood. (Take a look here: http://i.imgur.com/HZHssAn.jpg). I was curious if the stores went all the way back or if there was a possibility of a stock room or something being used that still had original detail from the theater.

2. I started on the south end and went into $5 Shoe store. (http://i.imgur.com/95VOqoD.png). From the street, this looks very small but it opens up into an enormous double-height space. It’s a big L-shaped space, and it goes behind the next two stores—Beverly Boutique and Cohen’s fashion optical. It’s finished in drop ceiling tiles and I did manage to see some original trim or something where one tile was missing. But other than that, there is no indication that it was a movie house.

3. There is a Foot Locker where the entrance once stood. A staff member allowed me to look into the stock room, where I could see the ceiling was not only double-height, but there were still large chunks of the original walls and plaster from the theater. They were painted a greenish color. I managed to spot at least one brass or gold-painted torch-shaped sconce intact from the theater. The wall dividing the back of the store on the right is just bare sheetrock. On the other side of the wall is the $5 shoe store. So the dimensions of the original movie house are intact, if not anything else.

4. The Foot Locker opened up only about 6 or 7 years ago, and I don’t recall what was there prior to that. They have a very low drop ceiling in the front of their store so it’s possible that something original detail is still there, but I sincerely doubt it.

In the 60s, I went to the Colony the most. One event was showing epic ‘Gone with the Wind’ across two afternoons. Mom said I had to see this on the big screen (same with ‘Wizard of Oz’ at the Midway). Mom told me as a teenager she used to ‘fish’ for people’s hats from the Colony’s balcony with string and gum. Other stores on 82st were Danow’s card shop (1, then 2 locations!), Jamaica Saving Bank (moved from 81st when Field’s expanded into their space), Household Finance and Beneficial Finance, Burger Nest, Kresge’s, Drs Rosenkrans and Adler (oral surgeons), Barricini candy.

I grew up in Jackson Heights in the 1950s and saw a few movies at the Colony, including High Noon, Disney’s The Living Desert, and at least one of Ingmar Bergman’s films. The Colony was one of two “art houses” in the neighborhood, the other being the Earle on 74th Street.

Thank you for updating the theater’s address on this thread, as well as the write-up.

Tinseltoes: Thank you for sharing this very impressive vintage image.

Here is a photo of the Colony today, May 3, 2009.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaeldj/3498753416/

I had been to the Colony many times, the first time was to see the double Feature of “West Side Story” and “In The Heat Of The Night”. What i remember most of that first time was that inside the theater by the refreshment stand in the lobby was a second marquee which told us the upcoming attractions at the theater. I also the Frank Sinatra film “Dirsty Dingus Magree” there with an advance preview of Billy Wilder’s “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes”. I also saw the third Sidney Poitier Virgil Tibbs film “The Organization” with an advance preview of the george Segal drug film, “Born To Win”. Later on on saw the second Dirty Harry film, “Magnum Force” with “The Last Of Sheila”.

Ed:July 4, 1986 movie clock was from NY Daily News, not NY Post. Grew up a couple of blocks from this theatre, so was there many times, along with the Jackson and Boulevard. Can’t remember a lot of movies seen there however, only 2 come to mind: Posse with Kirk Douglas comes to mind, also Burt Reynolds in “The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing”.

Warren is correct the theatre entrance was under the window. When it was first converted the store occupying the lobby area was “Parade of Shoes”, which has now apparently moved out. In the second photo, next to the ABC store is a $5 Store. The back of that store was knocked through into the former Colony auditorium. Between the ABC and $5 store is an alleyway, where the fire exits from the theatre were.

The address of the property that Kurt M references is 80-20 Roosevelt Avenue and was a funeral parlor and mortuary since as far back as 1956 when the C/O for same was issued. The C/O indicates the alteration of an existing building – and the timing is certainly right for the closure and conversion of a former nabe. The “bin” for this lot on NYC’s Building Department website also contains a C/O for a dwelling and store issued in 1931, but it seems to be referencing a Shelton Ave in the address. Was this an archaic name for 81st Street? This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve run across an errant C/O in the wrong property bin on that website. And I see no newer C/O converting from funeral home to restaurant.

I can’t get a good view of the front facade from local.live.com due to the elevated IRT tracks, but the building profile from the air does not seem to indicate that the structure was built as a cinema. While the structure may be big enough to have once contained a small theater, the two story structure features a flat roof with parapet wall, rather than the usual peaked roof seen in most purpose-built auditoriums. KurtM… how did you come to understand that this was ever a theater?

The theater I mentioned in answer to Ed Solero was actually on eighty first Street and not Eightieth as I first wrote. I went their very recently and noted my error.
Kurt M.

This Post Movie Clock from December 11, 1980 shows the Colony (way down in the lower right corner) showing late run double features as a single screen.

By March 10th, 1982 the Colony – still a single screen – seems to be listing a Spanish language film. Judging by showtimes, it appears this was a double bill as well.