Square Theatre
58 Westchester Square,
Bronx,
NY
10461
58 Westchester Square,
Bronx,
NY
10461
2 people
favorited this theater
Opening date and original name is unknown. The Square Theatre was renovated in 1936 to the plans of architect William I. Hohauser. The front of the building is still standing and you can tell there was once a marquee on it, unfortunately, the auditorium which stood some distance back from the street was demolished in 1981.
Contributed by
dave-bronx
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
“Behind the Green Door” made Marilyn Chambers a star. Here is that film paired with “The Resurrection of Eve” on a showcase run.
View link
OK, apparently this theatre I posted is not the Square Theatre. The place I have been referring to was in the 3-story building in the next block, visible beyond the Square marquee in Lost’s photo, in the center of the building under that gable part of the roof. It explains the previous confusion over the address. Do any old-time Bronx boys or girls remember what the theatre at 49 Westchester Sq. was called?
The link below (from my post of 03/14/2005) shows the remains of the theatre I have been referring to, scroll to the bottom of the page to the group of 4 pictures. That website, forgotten-ny.com, mis-identified it.
View link
I was there snooping around a while back, and I could see that at one time there was a 2-story structure in the empty space behind that facade, marks from the tar roof on the adjoining windowless walls were evident. An auditorium could have fit in the parking lot in the rear and on the site of that 1960s-style post office behind the parking lot.
From the NYT on January 27, 1968:
JUDGE VIEWS FILMS IN OBSCENITY CASE
Judge Irving I. Schreckinger of the Bronx Criminal Court spent most of yesterday afternoon in a midtown Manhattan screening room viewing two allegedly obscene films, “Infidelity, American-Style” and “Housewives on Call.” The films had been seized by the police at the Square Theater in the Bronx on Dec. 9.
The Square Theatre was renovated in 1936. The March 7, 1936, issue of Boxoffice has an article by architect William I. Hohauser, illustrated with a few photos of the Square Theatre, which was one of his recent modernization projects.
Unfortunately, the scan of the article is very blurry, and about half the text is unreadable, including the part that makes reference to the Square Theatre. The photo caption is readable, but doesn’t give much information. It does, however, specifically say the project was a renovation, so the Square must have operated before 1936, perhaps under a different name.
Here is a fresh link to the photos of the Square Theatre in Boxofffice, March 7, 1936.
I live around the corner from this place the white building is not the square. the square was shut down and demolished in the early 1980s and the building there is new and I saw the pics of it being built in 1981 and the white building was going to be the new square.
I saw “Bye Bye Birdie” at this theater years ago.
Hello-
I did likewise. my friends and I stood outside the theater
online for say an hour and a half till the next showing of Bye Bye Birdie.