Cambria Theater

219-09 Linden Boulevard,
Cambria Heights, NY 11411

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Showing 19 comments

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on October 16, 2019 at 4:27 pm

Let’s see some of those ads

robboehm
robboehm on October 16, 2019 at 10:14 am

The current local residents were not in residence when the Cambria was operating. Neighborhood changed.

Comfortably Cool
Comfortably Cool on October 16, 2019 at 8:53 am

How many “local residents” do you think are contributors to Cinema Treasures, or are even aware of the website’s existence?

Bloop
Bloop on October 15, 2019 at 8:47 pm

Tis' a pity that there are no comments from local residents who remember this theater’s seedy past. Lots of “soft core” in the late 1960s (I have ads) . Not sure when it went “legit” or closed .

MarkieS
MarkieS on June 1, 2009 at 12:36 pm

Does anyone know anything about a theater called the Island? I think it was in Hollis. my mom told me she used to go there in the 30’s. It got movies at the end of their runs, so was cheap and called “the itch” by alot of people. I don’t see it listed on this site. Thanks.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 5, 2008 at 11:20 pm

Listed in 1958 yellow pages: LindnBl StAlb LAurltn 5-9455.

MarkieS
MarkieS on September 6, 2007 at 7:44 pm

I moved from this neighborhood in 1969. The last double feature I saw here was Planet of the Apes and Fathom(a Racquel Welch movie).

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on August 21, 2007 at 2:06 pm

The church that operates out of the former Cambria Theater also holds services in the fromer Community Theater in Queens Village.

Here is the church’s website which states that the Cambria came into their posession on Easter Sunday, 1975.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on June 14, 2006 at 2:14 pm

Once again, aerial shots from local.live.com help to give us some orientation:

View to the North
View to the South
View to the East
View to the West

In the view to the East you can clearly see where the auditorium walls taper in towards the screen and identify the sets of exit doors I photographed the other morning. It also appears (particularly in that last view to the West) that this image is even older than the one Lost posted on June 5th as the marquee appears to be the original and the lot on the next block where that new building now stands hasn’t even been prepped for construction. I imagine that sometime between this image and the one Lost linked to, the marquee might have been struck by a truck or bus and damaged to the point where it was in danger of collapse.

By the way… I find with local.live that sometimes when you open the link up, you have to zoom in and drag the image around a bit to center on your target property. The link doesn’t always open exactly as the image you created the link for.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on June 14, 2006 at 12:19 pm

Took the following shots yesterday morning:

Facade from an eastern angle
Refurbished marquee and entrance
Marquee close-up
Entrance vestibule
Vestibule floor tile-work
Canopy view from west side of block
Exit doors?
Rear corner screen wall
Long shot corner of 219th and Linden Blvd
Facade from across street
Alt angle facade view

This building is in much better shape than the former St. Albans Theater just a couple of miles to the west on Linden Blvd (also presently a church). Comparing these shots to the ones posted by Lost Memory on June 5th, looks like they completely overhauled the marquee, which was nearly collapsing onto the sidewalk. Some of those police barricades are still on site, leaning up against the theater’s side wall on 219th Street. I peaked through the front doors and could see that the ticket lobby is being used for storage of construction materials. The room appears more or less intact, with big display cases on either side wall and a noticeable slope up to the inner doors that lead to the foyer.

Looks like the foyer runs straight back along the building’s eastern wall with the auditorium running to the left, parallel to Linden Blvd behind the store fronts that now seem to be put to ancillary use by the church that occupies (and presumably owns) the building. The rear screen wall runs against the western lot line on 219th Street and there appears to be some exit doors on either side. I’m not sure if the photo marked “Exit Doors?” above actually shows us such a set of doors. They look like they could be, but perhaps they always led to the office space above. There are roll top gates located on either side of what would appear to be the screen wall (see the “rear corner screen wall” shot and also just to the left in the “exit doors” shot).

Lost… the photos you linked to have to be at least a year old. You can see at the far left of the first photo I posted that there is a completed structure on the next block where there was just some construction shedding in the older shot.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on December 5, 2005 at 12:59 pm

This theater is still on Linden Blvd in Cambria Heights occupied by a church. And unlike many theater-to-church conversions, this one appears to have retained the original marquee. I passed by today, but didn’t have a camera handy. On the sides of the marquee, where I assume the name “Cambria” originally appeared, is the name “Bethel” and the ad space on the marquee is blue. It reminds me of the Community Theater in Jamaica Avenue – original marquee (although the Community’s is in need of some deferred maintenance), blue color and the name “Bethel”… I wonder if the churches are related. I have some photos of the Community to post when I get a chance to access my photobucket site.

I’ll go back soon to the Cambria with my camera and snap some shots as well as nail down the exact address – unless someone else beats me to it.

Bway
Bway on September 30, 2004 at 10:42 pm

Thanks Patrick for all your efforts. You have given hours of enjoyment, and the information posted in many of these theater’s sections is invaluable. It means so much to be able to read through all the comments and information people have provided on all the pages.
One of th only obstacles has been when you know a theater as let’s say, “DeKalb Theater”, but you can’t find it because it’s under the “last” name or one of the known names, in that case “Casino Theater” or “New Casino Theater”. I do believe it’s best to call the theaters by their “last” or current names (because that makes the most sense), but it would be nice to be able to search for them under their former names too, as sometimes that’s all what’s known.
I look forward to this “new” version when all the theaters and their great comments and information get transferred to it.
Thanks again.

Patrick Crowley
Patrick Crowley on September 27, 2004 at 3:38 pm

Thanks for your suggestions, everyone. We definitely plan to address this issue with the next version of Cinema Treasures. I think you’ll all be very happy with the solution we’ve developed.

EMarkisch
EMarkisch on September 27, 2004 at 2:08 pm

lostmemory…Thanks.

EMarkisch
EMarkisch on September 27, 2004 at 12:10 pm

lostmemory….Yes.
However, I do not know if this will be approved by the webmaster. Do you know how to run this by him to find out if it is okay? The reason why I am saying this is that I never received a comment one way or the other from my previous suggestions as to whether this was OK or not.

If it is OK, then, perhaps, we all could backtrack and rename those pages to include all the names that a theater was known under. Another one that comes to mind is our infamous Irving / Mozart.

EMarkisch
EMarkisch on September 27, 2004 at 10:55 am

lostmemory…It is possible to list a theater with multiple names so that the search engine will pick up the one that anyone is looking for. I have suggested a mthod for this on a number of pages (Casino -Brooklyn comes to mind) but it has always fallen on deaf ears.

If the listing for Gateway Theater / Corpernicus Cultural & Civic Center can be found by typing in “Gateway”, “Corpernicus”, “Cultural”, “Civic” or “Center” in the Search box, then other theaters could be listed under all their names, as long as there is a slash between each name.

Some that come to mind are:

DeKalb / Casino
Adonis / Tivoli
Adonis / Cameo / Squire / Ideal
Cinemart Cinemas / Inwood / Metropolis
Embassy Five / Victoria / Gaiety

I have used the last name that that the theater was known under first and worked back to the earliest name. It would work in either direction, would certainly cause less confusion and would enhance this already great site.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on September 26, 2004 at 9:18 pm

The intersection of Linden Blvd & 219th Street is in Cambria Heights Queens.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on September 26, 2004 at 8:57 pm

That address can’t be correct – 22-15 Steinway St. is Astoria, Queens, right across the river from Manhattan – Cambria Heights is out in the vacinity of Kennedy Airport. If that address is from some kind of trade publication, sometimes a theatre would be listed with the address of a management office, since administrative business was done by ‘the office’ and not by the theatre manager.

RobertR
RobertR on September 26, 2004 at 7:21 pm

On April 28, 1958 the Cambria and Linden were both playing “Raintree County”.