Brandon Cinemas 2
70-20 Austin Street,
Forest Hills,
NY
11375
70-20 Austin Street,
Forest Hills,
NY
11375
10 people
favorited this theater
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Although I have made Forest Hills my home for over nine years, I just visited the Brandon for the first time since it was twinned earlier today to see The Town. (I highly recommend this film.) The movie house is very well maintained and the twinning was nicely done. I think I will be visiting this place again very soon.
As a Walter Reade single screen theater, the Continental showed a lot of indie/arty fare. I was only there once, to see the French “La Cage Aux Folles,” with subtitles. All I remember about the interior is that it had an air of subdued “class”. There was, if I remember correctly, an outdoor parking lot that ran up the embankment of the LIRR tracks and partially behind the theater, but don’t quote me.
Ed Miller
Hi! Thank you for posting the advertisement I came across!
This is my Continental Theatre, UA Brandon Cinemas, 70-20 Austin St, Forest Hills, NY flickr photoset, courtesy of Rego-Forest Preservation Council, which I founded and chair:
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You can click the thumbnails to enlarge the photos, and view them in a low, medium, high resolution, or original (maximum) resolution, as well as download them for future reference.
If anyone can contribute any vintage photos or ads to this photoset, I will be happy to give you credit. All images help preserve the spirit of “NY’s 1st split level theater,” and may contribute to other great preservation projects. The marquee, original terrazzo floor out front, and the reverse channel neon sign reading “Continental,” are some of the features that should be retained and appreciated. Let’s be proactive!
Thanks Jeff!! I had so many happy memories from the Continental when I was a teenager….
A reminder of the Brandon’s past is the “Continental” sign which remains on the roof of the theatre:
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Here’s a google street view of the Brandon:
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I spoke with the house manager on duty since I heard the same rumors, he heard nothing about it and the theater have no plans
Did anyone hear rumors about this place closing?
I attended my first and only movie here and in Forest Hills last fallwhen I caught In the Valley of Elah. I did get to meet the doorman and I think that cashier was on hand. It was a colorful experience.
Wow, that brings back memories.
The caption also mispells “Brandon” as “Branford.”
Wow, I can’t believe that after all these years, I never visited the Continental’s page here. I had so many great memories at this theater! Went there so many times as a teenager in the 80’s. I am glad to see that it’s still open, even if changed from the way I remember it.
I remember the Continental to be very clean and well kept, and it’s one of the reasons that I used to take the subway here with my friends when i still lived in Ridgewood. I also patronized the Midway a lot, but we always went for the Continental when a movie we wanted to see was in it.
Well…that’s my nostalgia for today…..
If you are going to the Brandon for an afternoon weekday show, Wed to Sat., say a warm hello and give some acknowledgement to Ralph the 85 years young doorman, a truly iconic long term Forest Hills resident and Continental/Brandon theatre employee…
Also on those same days you may see the cashier, long time UA/Regal employee, Winnie who has worked at the Forest Hills, Midway and Continental/Brandon theatres. Bless ‘em all.
this has got tobe one of the last TWIN theater around under ua name..
The Olympia (former Cameo) has been closed for some time now and the Polk closed only this past February. Now only the Fair remains as XXX house. As for the other theaters depicted in those ads, aside from the Continental/Brandon, only the Center in Sunnyside and the Cinemart in Forest Hills are still showing films (albeit in multiplex format).
Interesting picture. The olympia, Polk and Fair are all now porno theaters
Here are a few early ‘60’s clippings featuring ads for Walter Reade’s Continental and Little Neck Theaters:
LI Star Journal 11/23/63
LI Star Journal 11/25/63
LI Star Journal 5/18/64
I guess these two were it as far as the Reade chain was concerned at the time – at least in Queens. I think the Demille in Times Square and the Coronet on 3rd Ave were Reade houses in Manhattan during this period. Were there any others?
Lost – if you find this, here’s another extended conversation I seem to be having with myself! Where’s my medication?!?
Forgot to add that the newspaper movie clock in that 12/12/80 edition of the News has the Continental as a single theater. I have some newspapers from March of 1982 that indicate the theater as a twin. That pretty much nails down the twinning as occuring sometime in 1981. Perhaps the theater’s description above can be amended to include some of the information provided on this page including the theater’s single screen origins and AKA as well as correcting the photo caption as RobertR suggested in July of 2005, to remove the erroneous reference to the name “Austin”.
According to the following ad, the film played some 82 weeks at Manhattan’s 68th Street Playhouse before finally broadening its release to Times Square and these select nabes:
La Cage Daily News 12/12/80
The Continental had the exclusive outer boroughs booking. Sorry for the blurry image.
Hasn’t UA been bought out by Regal Entertainment?
1968 the Walter Reade years
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1968 the Walter Reade years
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If I remember correctly, this theater had a split balcony, with each section seperated by the projection booth. The theater itself was rather long and narrow with the twin balcony sections being rather shallow (maybe a dozen rows at most with 6 or 8 seats in a row on either side of the aisle). I remember seeing “Car Wash” here with my Uncle Eddie when it was a single screener. When they twinned this, did they split it right down the middle so that each theater has it’s own balcony?
I also remember the parking lot to the right of the theater (just out of frame in the image above) where the driveway was a steep hill up to the lot that ran behind the building back to the LIRR tracks beyond. Sometime after this theater was twinned, they opened the Continental III in a retail space across the street. Immediate competition in this busy and congested shopping area was the old Forest Hills Theater around the corner on 71st Ave (also twinned in the 80’s and now a drug store) and the UA Midway (a single and then a quartet before being gutted and renovated to an all-stadium 9-plex) on Queens Blvd.
When Walter Reade left the Continental Heskel ran it himself for a few years before partnering with UA.
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Also in the photo caption it says this was once known as the Austin, thats not this theatre thats the present Kew Garden Cinemas that used to be called the Austin. Reade opened this as the Continental Cinema in I believe 1957.
Nice personable theatre. Nice personable staff. Rather go here than any cold multiplex. Multiplexes are toooo crowded.