The Meadowbrook Theatre prior to a Saturday matinee in 1953High school memories were made at the Meadowbrook Theatre located at 2549 Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow. It was where many a romance began for Division Avenue High School students. Maybe your first kiss was experienced in its darkness. A movie and then ice cream at nearby Jahn's was as good as it got for early Levittowners.
But those days are gone and so is our beloved Meadowbrook Theatre.
Here is some history:
The Meadowbrook was once a sizeable single-screen cinema with a balcony, which was opened in 1949. Later three additional screens were built at the rear, making it a quad.
Sometime later, the original screen was split down the middle and the balcony was sealed off, due to licensing requirements. In the 1980's, the largest of the additional screens was also split in two, making it a 6-screen operation.
The theater has been demolished and a bank constructed on the site.
8 comments:
I remember going to see Yellow Submarine with my older sister, I was 11, i think...we came out of the theatre and her car had a flat tire. Our parents weren't home so she called AAA and while waiting for the flat to be changed, Meadowbrook theatre allowed me to see Yellow Submarine again at the next showing for free...
There was nothing like a Sat. or Sun.I enjoyed the Meadowbrook like it was part of my home. In those days Dreams came true and I could sit throu "GONE WITH THE WIND" TWICE!!
I think I remember we paid thirty five cents to get into the theater. That's where I saw Elvis Presley in his first movie, Love Me Tender!
Ah, yes! I remember it well, though no romance for me there. When visiting family on L. I., I saw it being torn down (was that in this decade?) and almost cried. I had to leave a message for my best friend, now in Conn. with her daughter. "Tell your Mom they've torn down the Meadowbrook! She'll know what that means!" Kathy Stahlman Zinn, '63
Oh no.
I saw Psycho there and had nightmares for weeks
Saw A Summer Place their with what's-her-name. I remember those ushers with flashlights would come around just in case your face got stuck to someone else's.
I know the names of all who commented except Kneatsley. Who are you?
I also remember seeing Love Me Tender at the Meadowbrook. It wasn't a bad walk from Division and I often went after school and would get there just in time for a matinee.
Thanks for posting comments. Wish we got more. Have you check out the new format on the blog archives? Now it is easy to access old stories. Just click on a topic you find of interest and voila!
I remember going to Mass at the Meadowbrook theater, before St Bernard's Was built. It was good because you didn’t have kneel down.
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