Cambria Theater

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

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 .

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

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.

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.

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.

lostmemory…Thanks.

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.

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.