De Luxe Theatre
650 E. Tremont Avenue,
Bronx,
NY
10457
650 E. Tremont Avenue,
Bronx,
NY
10457
7 people
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Showing 18 comments
I like the porno incarnation myself. I’m also drawn to the word “psychedelic” too !
Yes Ed, That’s how the photo rotations work on the site.
I always thought it was the most popular (most often viewed) photo that becomes the default image on the main page for each theater.
Thank you, robboehm for the info. I hope they still rotate the photos but whenever I see this page the Deluxe “Porno Theater” photo is always on it. Regards, Lou
Not sure of dates etc, but the person who ran the porn theatre i worked at in Old Bridge NJ ran this one in the 70s and 80s. He also ran the Globe in the Bronx. The Earle in Jackson Heights and the Polk as well as others. I know ours ran till 1990. As late as 1985 I was still getting films delivered from all these theatres as well as this one.
lou52_1 Once upon a time I was told that the cover photos rotate. If it’s not happening now there is now way to earmark a specific photo for the cover.
I lived on this street (Belmont Ave, just off Tremont Ave) from 1952 to 1970. The Deluxe Theater entrance was about 150 feet from the front door of my apartment building. It was our movie theater. We owned it. I can’t tell you how many movies my friends and I saw here but it was lots and lots. Sometimes they would have kiddie matinee’s from 9am to 1pm and the place would be packed…and left a huge mess afterwards. It was great to have your own “private” movie theater! The only other theater that rivalled the Deluxe in terms of the amount of movies we saw there was the Loew’s Fairmount Theater which was right around the corner just passed Crotona Ave, one short block away. But, as I said, the Deluxe was ours. The photo that was uploaded by Texas2step (the one that was taken between 1939-1941 (which is a N.Y.C. “Tax Assessment” Photo, ID# 2947-25-BX) should be the “cover photo” for this page. The Deluxe “Porno Theater” photo has got to go!!! It should be relegated to the dustbin of history and forgotten. Please change the the Deluxe Theater Page cover photo to the photo mentioned above! The Deluxe Theater deserves to be remembered as it was in it’s prime, (pre-1970) a lovely neighborhood family movie theater. Thank you.
I saw so many films here. “Rio Bravo,” “Two Women, "Dr. No,” “The Professionals” and “Superfly” come to mind right off the bat.
I lived nearby on Topping Avenue. My Grandmother and mother would often walk by the De Luxe on their way to go shopping at Bathgate. I remember my Mom took me to see the movie, “Them” in 1954, I was six years old. The last movie I saw there, was the double feature, “The Miracle Worker” and “The Birdman of Alcatraz” 1962.
The photo of the theatre posted several times here must be earlier than 1981. Both the film listed on the marquee were released in 1967. I would say the place ran its last film prior to 1981.
Minutes of a December 21, 1920, meeting of the NYC Board of Appeals reveal that the theater at 650 Tremont Avenue was designed by architect Eugene De Rosa.
According to this photo, dated 1981, the theater was occupied by a Hugo’s Steak House as well as a Bargain Storage facility. Comparing to Lost’s 1986 photo… I wonder if these dates are correct. Seems the storage space/steak house usage would have come after the building ceased theatrical operations.
Boy, that photo kind of defines the gritty 70s!
A comment on that photo from my older sister, who spent considerable time in the De Luxe as a child in the 40’s:
“The Deluxe theater pic was sad, because all the art deco stuff is gone (wonder what they did with the blue-tiled mermaid fountain in the lobby?). But it is the same building; the entry doors are in exactly the same place.”
A photograph of the De Luxe Theatre I took in June 2005:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/221247379/
My “uncle” Louis Weiner (not really an uncle, but that’s what he was called) was manager of this theater back in the 1940s, before I was born. Around the corner on Belmont Avenue was the apartment building where my aunt and grandparents lived. I saw the theater whenever we visited them in the early 1960s (we lived a couple of miles away) but I never went inside.
It was still open in 1974
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Now a Rite-Aid. To see a recent pic, go here:
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