A Look at Brooklyn, then and now.

Downtown Brooklyn once had a theater district, which actually was spread out over more territory than Manhattan’s. At one point, in the late 1800’s, there were theaters on Washington St, now Cadman Plaza East, theaters on Fulton, and eastward to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. As “real” theater slowly was replaced by movies, in the early 20th century, downtown saw four big movie palaces rise up to great heights of magnificence: the Albee, the Fox, the Loew’s Metropolitan, and the Paramount. And then you had the Duffield, at 249 Duffield Street, just off of Fulton Street. It was designed by Russell B. Smith. It started out in 1913, playing silent films with the help of an organist or a small orchestra. It was enlarged in 1915, and got a new screen and new seating. The house had a new Wurlitzer organ installed in 1926. In 1946, it was renovated again, the Brooklyn Eagle calling it “a popular addition to Brooklyn’s deluxe motion picture houses.”

The house held around 900 people, and had a single screen, with a balcony and orchestra. In 1984, the balcony was closed off, and two screens were installed, making it a duplex holding around 300 plus people each. Through much of its life, the Duffield played second tier movies, and managed to survive. This vintage photo is from 1964. By the 1980’s, it was pretty ratty, but by then, it, and the Loew’s on Fulton Street, were the only movie theaters left in Downtown Brooklyn. I only saw one movie in here, a showing of Prince’s “Under the Cherry Moon”, in 1986. What can I say? A couple of years later, in 1991, a patron was shot during a showing of “New Jack City”, and the subsequent investigation succeeded in shutting the theater down for good. The building was sold and quickly demolished.

In its place, this strip mall style concrete building was erected, originally holding a store called “Brooklyn USA” that sold Brooklyn themed clothing and accessories. That didn’t last more than a couple of years, and it has had several tenants. Today, the building is home to a Planet Fitness gym. GMAP

The Peter Fonda movie places this photo as 1964.


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