Lawrence Theatre
343 Rockaway Turnpike,
Lawrence,
NY
11559
343 Rockaway Turnpike,
Lawrence,
NY
11559
3 people
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unforatley, it wasn’t until 2016 when that competition was allowed like E-Walk and Empire showing the same pictures. Im the 90’s Lawrence and Lynbrook would show the same movies but Cineplex Odeon and Loews Cineplex would’t play date with their own theatres
This theatre had absolutely no competition after the Five Town closed. I never understood why RKO and then Cineplex used this as a move over and dumping house. In the olden days with huge booking Zones Lawrence would never play day and date with Fantasy or RVC Twin but that practice should have been dead in later years.
Just updated a better quality grand opening ad
Please update, theatre open with Barefoot in the Park on August 23, 1967 (display ad Posted), theatre became a triplex on February 1, 1980 (The Red and Gold theatre became Theatre 1 and 2 divided up the middle, both screens Mono and Theatre 3 was Dolby Stereo. Dolby was installed in 1977 for Star Wars. The theatre closed on October 19, 2000. When Loews Cineplex took control in 1998, they show mostly move overs from Rockville Center and Fantasy locations prior to its close.
Al Alvarez, if you look in the photos section someone posted a Grand Opening picture of the theatre Barefoot In The Park. The original name was RKO Twin Rockaway Blvd, it was rename Lawrence Triplex when it was closed. The theatre was later operated by RKO Century, Cineplex Odeon and when it closed, Loews Cineplex.
So, did it open with “Bonnie & Clyde” or with “Barefoot in the Park”?
Grand opening ad posted open with Barefoot in the park
Grand opening ad posted.
It was a Duane Reade pharmacy for a while. I have photos from 2006 showing the Duane Reade still in full swing. I go to the Costco near there from time to time and hadn’t noticed what the state of the occupancy is.
The theater building was turned into a supermarket about five or six years ago. It failed and the building remains empty today.
Ads always referred to it as Twin Lawrence
In the photo on this page of Boxoffice, January 15, 1968, the name on the theater’s marquee is RKO Twin Rockaway Boulevard.
Yeah, a very sleazy little theater. Saw tons of movies there, took my girlfriend to see the insane Nightmare, a misanthropic slasher movie from 1981. I saw Godzilla 1985 there. McDonalds right across the street ensured proper food for proper movies. They showed The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1985) while Inwood Video, right around the corner, had the video tape up for rental. I trained there as a projectionist, it was a nightmare, everything about the booth was screwed up, the young guy who trained me even wrote a survival manual. They called me to work the place once, I made up a lie and told them I hadn’t finished my training there. There was no way in Hell I was going to work that theater. It had a rat problem as well, an infestation, they were closed for that once I believe.
Burglary in 1975:
http://tinyurl.com/3bhhow
This ad for Five Card Stud advertises this as the New RKO Lawrence Twin.
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eveyone of those rko theaters are now closed…….
Came across an old copy of Newsday I saved from the time just after John Lennon’s murder. I also have copies of the NY Post and Daily News from this time and it seems that only in Newsday did theater chains like RKO run these sort of throwback block ads:
RKO block ad
Elsewhere in the paper, RKO also had a smaller block for its bargain-priced third run cinemas (at the time priced at “80 cents at all times”) such as the Mineola, Valley Stream and Hempstead Theaters.
Here’s an updated link to my photobucket album where those photos from February are now located. The old links no longer work.
Thanks longislandmovies… but I was thinking of a theater where from the lobby you actually had to step down a couple of steps before pushing open the doors into the auditorium. I thought it might have been the Lawrence.
THE LAWRENCE HAd a 2 step up from the box office to the lobby.
This was known as the RKO Lawrence when I attended in 1979 and the very early ‘80’s. I remember seeing “Apocalypse Now” for the 3rd or 4th time here. Saw a number of movies here. I also saw the 1980’s 3-D flick “Coming At Ya” here and possibly “The Elephant Man”. I seem to remember this as a twin, but it might have been a triplex by the early '80’s. I know CConnoly is talking about another theater when he mentions the light flooding the auditorium whenever someone would enter from the lobby, but I think that occured at several theaters. Was the RKO Lawrence the theater where you had to walk down a few steps from the lobby to the doors leading into one of the auditoriums?
Anyway, here are a few shots of the building now, which is a Duane Reade now. The entrace looks the pretty much the same and the lobby ran along the wall that faces Rockaway Boulevard (facing the camera lens in the 1st photo) with the auditoriums on the left.
RKO Lawrence
Pylon sign
Old entrance
It was still a twin when “Williard” played there.
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CCONNOLY that was the HEWLETT theater it is listed
There’s another theater from the Five Towns that I don’t see listed on this site either. It was located on Peninsula Blvd in a shopping center. I’m not sure if the area was Valley Stream (south) or Hewlett. What I remember was seeing Woody Allen’s “Another Woman” there on a Sunday afternoon. Everytime someone came into the auditorium, the theater would be flooded by light. It was really annoying. Not sure when it closed but I’m sure it is…anyone recall this theater? It was NOT near Rockaway Blvd but much closer to Sunrise Highway, maybe a mile or so south of it.