Little Neck Theatre
254-08 Northern Boulevard,
Little Neck,
NY
11362
254-08 Northern Boulevard,
Little Neck,
NY
11362
2 people
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Advertised as part of the Interboro Theatres circuit in 1948 ad displayed here
Ron Marzlock’s capsule history of the Little Neck Theatre can be viewed at the Queens Chronicle’s website here
This one opened on January 18, 1929 with Jack Holt in “Submarine”.
Added a photo showing usage as retail
I grew up in Great Neck, a short bike ride away when I was a kid. I saw 9 TO 5 there with my parents and begged them to take me to see STAR TREK – THE MOTION PICTURE sometime before.
I remember sneaking off to this theater one Saturday afternoon in early 1983 when I was 15 years-old to see SPRING BREAK, one of the many teen sex comedies of the time.
The last movies I can recall playing there before closing was a double feature of FLASHDANCE and STAYING ALIVE.
I grew up in Great Neck, a short bike ride away when I was a kid. I saw 9 TO 5 there with my parents and begged them to take me to see STAR TREK – THE MOTION PICTURE sometime before.
I remember sneaking off to this theater one Saturday afternoon in early 1983 when I was 15 years-old to see SPRING BREAK, one of the many teen sex comedies of the time.
The last movies I can recall playing there before closing was a double feature of FLASHDANCE and STAYING ALIVE.
Another re-release of “Vixens” to do battle with “Curious Yellow"
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It was a great little neighborhood theater in the 70’s and 80’s, often showing economical double features. It was also my introduction to R-rated horror movies which were thrilling. I remember seeing “Friday the 13th,” “Halloween,” “The Thing,” “Cat People,” “Nighthawks,” and “Airplane.” The owner used to make the rounds during the show to make sure the kids weren’t being too disruptive. When the Douglaston MovieWorld multiplex opened in the early 1980’s though, we knew it was just a matter of time before the Little Neck would close up shop. I still miss it.
i grew up in little neck, my parents still live there. movies i saw at the theater include grease, saturday night fever (pg version), the dead zone, easy money, missing, raging bull, flashdance and many others. mostly mid – late seventies, early eighties. i was young, but if i wasn’t w/ an adult, there was never a problem about age for r rated movies.
In it’s Walter Reade days the Little Neck played the epic “War & Peace” in two parts.
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Hmmmm…well, I’m back to the Island in mid July. I shall make a point of driving by. This is most likely the same theater.
This theatre was in the middle of the block with stores on both sides. Except for the showcases I dont think there was room for any brick work. I remember your posting talked about a parking lot, the Little Neck did not have one.
I had posted an inquiry about this theater on the Cinema Manhasset site. If this is the theater I’m talking about there, from the outside, it always looked like a Century’s theater with their standard (uninspired) bland white brick on the outside. That’s whuy I was kind of skeptical about it because it didn’t seem that old when I was there once in the mid 70’s. And yes, the seats ran perpendicular to Northern Blvd.
I forgot until I saw an ad that this was a Walter Reade Theatre in the late 60’s early 70’s along with the Continental in Forest Hills.
It is correct when it was said that you accessed the theater from the entrance on Northern Blvd, but the auditorium rows were actually perpendicular to Northern and faced 254th Street. The last film that played there was “Dead Zone” and the title stayed on the marquee for months. That film was released in 1983 so I guess that is when the theater closed.
Too bad this had to die for the sake of an air conditioner.
I only was here twice, once for a double bill of two Neil Simon films, Only When I Laugh and The Goodbye Girl.
The theatre also showed some very popular fare, like Saturday Night Fever, which played there for months. The last film I saw there, with my parents and brother, was “Octopussy.” An older couple came up to us at the end of the screening and asked us, “How was it?” and we figured they were there for the next showing, and they stopped us and said, “No, we mean, how was it without air conditioning?” (It was August.) We said it wasn’t that bad, actually, and then in the remaining exchange, it became clear that this elderly couple OWNED the theatre and were actually very concerned about how the patrons were surviving the heat wave. Very sweet of them. The only experience I’ve ever had like that in a cinema.
The theatre also showed some very popular fare, like Saturday Night Fever, which played there for months. The last film I saw there, with my parents and brother, was “Octopussy.” An older couple came up to us at the end of the screening and asked us, “How was it?” and we figured they were there for the next showing, and they stopped us and said, “No, we mean, how was it without air conditioning?” (It was August.) We said it wasn’t that bad, actually, and then in the remaining exchange, it became clear that this elderly couple OWNED the theatre and were actually very concerned about how the patrons were surviving the heat wave. Very sweet of them. The only experience I’ve ever had like that in a cinema.