Wondering About the Loew's Wonder Theater
Almost exactly a year ago, the Economic Development Corporation put out a request for proposals for the redevelopment of the gargantuan, dilapidated Loew’s Kings theater in Flatbush. Since then, though, there’s been little news about plans for the property. The former “wonder theater” has been the subject of a number of failed revitalization schemes since…
Almost exactly a year ago, the Economic Development Corporation put out a request for proposals for the redevelopment of the gargantuan, dilapidated Loew’s Kings theater in Flatbush. Since then, though, there’s been little news about plans for the property. The former “wonder theater” has been the subject of a number of failed revitalization schemes since it closed in 1977 (in 1999, for example, Magic Johnson signed up to turn it into a modern multiplex). In March, the EDC told the Times they’d received multiple bids for the theater and that the agency would try to move beyond the initial stage of the project sometime this spring (which, obviously, didn’t happen). We called the EDC a couple of times to ask about where the project stood but haven’t heard back. Any intel out there about what is—or isn’t—cooking?
A Chance to Bring Back an Old Brooklyn Gem [Brownstoner] GMAP
Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn; The Kings Is Dead! Long Live the Kings! [NY Times]
Film Historian at 2:29, the most successful model for reviving these kinds of old movie palace theaters is the Fox Theater in Atlanta. Gorgeous gorgeous. Very well attended by the people of Atlanta. I have seen both movies and rock bands there. It is also the venue for the ballet.
http://www.foxtheatre.org/
NYC would do well to bring on people from Fox Theater as an advisory board, for the Kings theater. Atlanta is a racially and economically diverse city too, just like Brooklyn.
As someone who lives in that neighborhood, I’d agree iwth the characterizations that say it’s “gritty” but also friendly and working-class, tending towards the lower working-class. It’s not the safest place in the world, but I certainly wouldn’t call it a ghetto.
I’d also like to agree with folks who tends towards an arts/film center that focuses on the demographics of the neighborhood, which is mostly Caribbean and Latino. It would be great to have a kind of indoor version of the Celebrate Brooklyn concert series that takes place in Prospect Park during the summer. There series has a lot of reggae, jazz, Afro-influenced Latin music, dance groups like Ronald K. Brown.
Of course, one of the great things about Celebrate Brooklyn is that it’s mostly free and I don’t see how that could happen with an indoor venue.
It is interesting to compare the Loews in Jersey City and the Loews in the Bronx. Two very different ways to approach restoration/preservation. The reno in Jersey is being done by volunteers–slowly, as it has been going on since 1993. (It had been sold to a developer, but the city ended up buying it.) The one in the Bronx was done by a developer–actually, two, since one guy put in about a million before selling it to the current owner.
http://www.loewsjersey.org/
http://www.theparadisetheater.com
I live a few blocks away and take exception to the poster calling it a ghetto. I’d prefer to stay on topic, however, and I’d also love to see it be restored as a movie palace. There are many groups in the neighborhood who could rent the facility for events such as concerts or religious gatherings too. When I lived in Milwaukee there was a wonderful old landmark theater that showed amazing films and had the best concerts. This is a real jewel of Brooklyn, I hope it doesn’t get demolished!
I live nearby. No it’s not ghetto, just working class.
I hope I am proved wrong, but I think it will be torn down eventually regardless of the City’s claims to restore it, just because of its location. One day it will be there, next day gone. There was a beautiful building on the corner of Ocean and Church. When the bank using the building closed, the building was bulldozed and a boring building put there. People who live there are busy and trying to get by; they aren’t concerned about preserving architecture.
Something like the Senator Theater in Baltimore would be amazing…
burlesque house
please don’t make it a target or bank or far worse wal-mart..this is a neighborhood so full of cultural, ethnic, racial, economical diversity…we would all welcome something that would bring something of substance,like a performing arts center, something that brings a community together…look at Dance Theater of Harlem … Ballet Hispanico.. even Brooklyn College …maybe we can start tying everything wonderful about Brooklyn, from the food to the music, through the people that support it, to the kids that need to be inspired…whether you live in park slope ,fort green, bushwick or flatbush, we have the need to be inspired and the responsibility to participate in fullfilling that need because it benefits all of us.
Back to the Loew’s Kings, as a film historian, I’d love to see this place reopen as a movie palace. All of the Loew’s Wonder Theaters in the five boros have been restored, but none as working movie theaters. Instead they’re used as performing arts venues or churches. I completely understand that a movie theater cannot (and I’m talking anywhere in the city, barring the Ziegfield) make enough money on ticket revenue to support the upkeep of a venue this size (3,192 seats). Not to mention the initial costs of renovation. I’d be interested to see what sort of model has been used for the Loew’s Jersey renovation, though. They’ve successfully, through an all volumteer effort, restored a palace of this size. They show movies one weekend a month and rent it out the rest of the time, for concerts, weddings, meetings etc. Maybe it’s just my personal taste, but it saddens me that there are no truly grand place to see a movie in this city. It’s such a different experience than going to a multiplex or watching a DVD or going to a tiny arthouse. These theaters were designed to be places where communities could come out to see a movie and feel like they were going to the opera. They’re historic artifacts and using them for their intended purpose is a great way to bring that alive.