The Sunday Memory Drawer - Thinking About My Movie Palaces, Part 3

Wrapping up my movie palace memories with some snapshots of other theaters I frequented with my family and friends when I was a kid.  While some of these are not the ornate palaces that the Mount Vernon, New York RKO and Loews were, they all conjure up very distinct and warm thoughts from my childhood.

Because my family had their roots in the Bronx and we lived very close to that borough, it was natural for us to occasionally venture there for some movies that didn't hit our hometown houses.  Take, for instance, the theater above.  

The Wakefield located on the corner of White Plains Road and 233rd Street.  Right underneath the IRT elevated tracks.  Actually, the train whizzing by noisily was part of the ambience as you watched your film.  I remember seeing "The Guns of Navarone" there with my dad.   Later on, it was a walkable journey for me and my neighborhood chums as we got older and could venture more than two blocks from our front yards.   It was at the Wakefield where my neighborhood best bud Leo and I saw...gasp..."Midnight Cowboy."  And if you look at the photo above, I do believe the shoe repair place was owned and operated by Leo's uncle.

The Wakefield is now a church.

Further down on White Plains Road was the Laconia theater near 225rd Street.  It was across the street from John the Barber where my dad took me for haircuts.   We didn't frequent the Laconia as much as the others, although I do recall a very rainy day when my mom took me and the aforementioned Leo to see "The Absent Minded Professor."   I remember the two of us being dressed in those ugly yellow grade school raincoats.  One reason why the Laconia fell off our radar screen is because the neighborhood changed and, according to my father, there were too many...never mind.    Another reason is that the Laconia distinctly changed the fare it was offering.

Not exactly Fred MacMurray and his flying Model T.

Heading back to Mount Vernon, we have on the opposite side of town...the Parkway Theater.  It was likely built in the 40s and had a more modern feel than the other palaces in town.

One of the cool features of the Parkway was a very modernistic smoking lounge downstairs which featured plastic spaceship-like seats that looked like they came from the Mike Douglas TV show.  I've got some distinct memories of a few films seen here.  On one of my birthdays, my mom took me and two classmates here to see "Mary Poppins."  Many moons later, my movie pal Leo and I came here to see "The Exorcist."   The Parkway did last much longer than the other Mount Vernon theaters as I do remember seeing "Ferris Bueller" there.  

But the Parkway is gone.  Dead.  And fitting that it is now....

Moving over to the neighboring Yonkers were two more theaters in walking distance when I was a kid.

The Kimball Theater on Yonkers Avenue was interesting as it was the only movie palace around that featured Saturday afternoon kiddie matinees.  Usually a cartoon, an Abbott and Costello film, and then some vintage horror movie.  This was a frequent...ahem...haunt for me and my grade school buddy Russell.  Years later, I remember seeing "The Odd Couple" there with Leo.  The Kimball eventually shuttered and became...

Even this picture is about 16 or 17 years old as I think the whole thing has burned to the ground.

Now it's nothing.

The movie house that was the longest walk for us was the Kent Theater on McLean Avenue in Yonkers.   I don't remember going there until I was a junior or senior in high school.  I guess that, at some point, I drove there.  I do recall one film I saw there with my neighborhood friend Dolores.   It was "Airport," the very first of the disaster films.  It wasn't a date, but it might have been the first time I went to a movie with a girl.

The Kent was a second run house and that's where you went if you missed seeing the big movies on the RKO or Loews circuit.  Look closely.  I think that's "White Christmas" on the marquee which would mean this is late 1954 or early 1955.  It was a small theater but had a sort of charm that you couldn't escape.  There was also a big clock on the wall that was lit with an advertisement from a local jeweler.  You always knew what time it was at the Kent.  This place died pretty much while I was in college.  These days...

You can still see the tudor awning on the left.  But not the Kent.

But not all the theaters of my past years are gone.  Gloriously, the Bronxville is still there across from the Metro North train station.   I feel so partial to this theater that I will go there to see something even if it is playing in a movie house closer.

Truth be told, I never knew this movie theater existed until I was in college.   I think the first thing I saw there was with my high school best friend Danny..."The Heartbreak Kid" with Charles Grodin.   I remember being astounded that such a marvelous theater had been so close to Mount Vernon and I never went there previously.   It even had the earliest form of stadium seating in the back.

But, since nice things can't last forever, they carved up this auditorium into three screens sometime in the late 70s.   It lost so much charm and history as a result.  Still, I will frequent it mainly because it is still around.  And apparently doing well.

When they tore down the Mount Vernon theaters, the closest one we had near us was the General Cinema theater on Central Avenue in Yonkers.  I think it went up in the 60s and had that new-ish kind of feel.  This was a movie house updated for the Pepsi generation.  Two big auditoriums side-by-side and with balconies.  There was a cool water fountain in the lobby.   It wasn't Loews in Mount Vernon, but it had to suffice.  Plus it was so special that it played movies that were still playing down in Manhattan.   For instance...

I remember my pal Danny and I seeing this Christmas week and we panicked when we smelled smoke in the theater.  Turns out we were sitting close to that old relic...the smoking section.

This movie house was also where I happened to be on opening day of...ta da..."Star Wars."  The movie was playing on both screens there.   

Sadly, they carved the place up into four screens sometime in the 80s.   And, to make matters worse, they shut off the damn water fountain.

Oddly, even this theater couldn't last and closed down a few years back.  Because, after all, we absolutely need one more of these stores...

Woot woot.  We can throw a party but there's nothing left to celebrate when it comes to the movie palaces of our youth.

If there happens to be one still operating near you, please, please, please go there.  And visit often.  That is the only way we can keep them alive.

Dinner last night:  A rarity for me---Big Mac and fries.