Hewlett Theatre
1350 Peninsula Boulevard,
Hewlett,
NY
11557
1350 Peninsula Boulevard,
Hewlett,
NY
11557
2 people
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Grand opening ad posted.
The Hewlett Theatre was opened by Town & Country Theatres on June 24th, 1960. Its safe was blown open on June 26th with $1,500 inside it.
Hewlett theatre smash opening 27 Jun 1960, Mon Newsday (Nassau Edition) (Hempstead, New York) Newspapers.com
Please update, the theatre closed June 27, 1991. Last feature was Thelma and Louise
I started taking photos in 2003 when I got my first digital camera, I wish I had photos of the Hewlett, old Fantasy, Green Acres, Lawrence, Central, Surfside, Five Towns and other theatres I been too.
I was at the Sunrise one last time after 2003, but with the metal detectors I was afraid to take the camera. It was before smart phones.
ridethetrain Such troubles also caused a delay in the rebuild of the Shore in Huntington. All the beams were in place for both the exterior and interior. It was interesting to see how they nested the auditoriums. Sorry I didn’t have a camera with me at that time.
Another side note, the theatre closed during the financial problems of Cineplex Odeon.
Please update, this theatre was ran by FOX Eastern Theatres in the 1960 and 1970, then became Cinema 5 for a short spell and independent, it was taken over by RKO Century in 1982. It was a discount movie house 1982 t0 1987. In the middle of 1987, Cineplex Odeon which bought the RKO Century chain operated this theatre as first run. It closed in the summer of 1991
Early Newsday ads show the Hewlett as being operated by Town and Country Theaters along with the Wantagh, Glen Cove and Town (Glen Cove).
Uploaded a long shot to show the roof line. Reminds me of the North Babylon and Mid-Island.
And to Jeffwitt the day of each town with it’s own theater is over; just check the Newsday Movie Guides. Over 70 theaters have bitten the dust on Long Island.
Gentelmen:
I think that the town of
Hewlrt ,MY. Should have it’s own movie
theater again in the near future.
My mom recalls that she saw “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and “Fantasia” there in 1985.
It since became a Blockbuster Video store, but it has since closed. It’s now the site of an Ace Hardware store.
Remove the word “Harbor” from the address. Should be just plain “Hewlett.” Hopefully, that will reset the map and re-position the street view?
Once again, the address for this theater should be updated to 1350 Peninsula Boulevard, Hewlett, NY 11557 to correct both the map locator and the street view. Currently, both are smack in the middle of a residential development in Hewlett Harbor, a good distance away to the east from the theater location.
I have a 1981 ad for the myriad of RKO Century Warner theatres which existed at that time. All the theatres but the Hewlett just show the name. The Hewlett, however, is listed as “Hewlett Theater”. How grand. At that time the price policy for the discount theatres, which included the Bellerose, Brookhaven and Farmingdale was $1.00 Mon-Thurs. $1.50 Fri-Sun. The Hewlett reference, however, was also unique $1.00 Mon-Wed, Thurs..
All the comments above lead to the conclusion that the address of the theatre was 1350 Peninsula Blvd. The heading should be amended accordingly.
Matty’s Toy Shop was the theater. Look to the top, you can see the door that lead to the roof from the projectionists booth. I had begun my earliest projectionist training at this theater, and I lived right down Penninsula Blvd by the Woodmere Middle School. The theater closed in 89/90 if I remember right. It certainly wasn’t any earlier. The guy who owned the Polk was Walter Gusson (sp). He kept trying to turn it into an adult theater but the authorities kept closing it every time he did. I saw a matinee of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea there in the early seventies. I also believe (or have memories of) Destroy All Monsters there as well. It had no balcony, it was a simple strip mall theater.
Here are a few shots I took yesterday:
Matty’s Toy Shop
Long shot
Mall signage
So, can anyone confirm that this was the theater building?
In any event, movie listings show this was on Century’s late-run discount circuit by 1980 (probably a few years earlier than that) and continues to pop up in movie listings I have in 1982, 1985 and as late as October of 1986. So the theater lasted at least that long.
Does anyone know which space in the Peninsula Mall was occupied by this theater? The mall is largely a single level strip, however, there is a two story unit that seems like the likely location of the former theater. The unit is occupied by Matty’s Toy Stop and is adjacent to the Blockbuster outlet in the mall. If I’m correct about this, that would make the address 1350 Peninsula Blvd, Hewlett, NY 11557.
According to their website, they’ve been open since 1988 – which would fit the timeline established above. I’d never been to this theater – I used to haunt the theaters in Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Rockville Center and Lawrence in the ‘80’s, and for discount late-run we used to go to the Five Towns Theater in Woodmere. I do recall the Hewlett being listed in the discount run advertisements, however. Anyone have an approximate size here? Was there a balcony?
Here’s a local.live.com view where one can make out Matty’s Toy Stop as the narrow two story space with the three blue awnings on the 2nd floor. The blue awning of the adjacent Blockbuster can be seen to the left of the site. Can anyone confirm if this is the former Hewlett Theater?
this theater closed later than 82……..my best guess is 84
Annette at the Hewlett in 1963.
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The theater closed in 1982.
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It was in Hewlett, not Hewlett Harbor, in the Peninsula Shopping Center, Corner of Mill Road and Peninsula Blvd. Known local as the four corners because of the four gas stations on each corner. The same strip mall always had a supermarket. Woodrow’s Deli and Carvel are still there, next door to the site.
I had this one completely mixed up. This one was on Penninsula (sp?) Blvd in the shopping center. Kind of large, gaudy sign on the street. It was about a mile or so south of Sunrise Highway. Kind of near Valley Stream.
I saw “The Karate Kid” and “Another Woman”. “Another Woman” was an annoying experience though it wasn’t the movie that annoyed me (I actually liked it..). I saw this on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the winter. But the way the auditorium was setup, everytime someone opened the auditorium doors, the place and the screen would fill with light. It got so annoying that people started yelling.
This was a decent movie theater in a good location.
On Rockaway Blvd Centurys had the Five Towns which really never found success until it went discount. I was suprised because it was a modern theatre in the mall. The other was the RKO Lawrence.
I remember the marquee on Broadway. What was it…five six lines tall at that? If you blinked, you’d miss the place. I never saw a movie at this place for some reason. Of the theaters in the Five Towns, I went to the one in Cedarhurst (which is not listed here) and the other one in Lawrence on that lovely stretch of LI road, Rockaway Blvd.