Gables Theatre
2209 Merrick Road,
Merrick,
NY
11566
2209 Merrick Road,
Merrick,
NY
11566
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 26 - 35 of 35 comments
Wow the Gables !!!
View link
It’s interesting that the executive offices of the chain that operated this theatre were next store to the theatre. I’d been in many Prudential houses in my day but it was sadly neglected to put it mildly.
The Prudential home ofice was next door to the Gables.
Executives would screen new and unreleased movies in the mornings.
Many good memories of going to the Merrick gables in the 1950’s – it was old THEN. Highly decorated ceiling, sweeping balcony – likely 1930’s vintage.
I remember going to the Gables quite often in the early 1980s. It was cheap and they had a pretty liberal policy regarding us 13-year-olds getting in to see R-rated movies like Blade Runner and Scarface. I remember the theater itself being dirty but fun, perfect for a teenager. I think it was closed by 1985.
Costas Poulikidis bought the Gables in 1984 with redevelopment in mind:
http://tinyurl.com/22qtmv
A fun 1966 double bill, check out all these second run theatres
View link
The Merrick Mall Cinema was north of Sunrise Highway. I remember going there in the mid-1960’s for Saturday afternoon horror matinees. When I revisited the place ten years ago (after being away for a long time), the site was a flower & gift shop.
The Merrick Theatre was on Merrick Road, in a shopping center on the south side, close to the Freeport border. In the 1970’s they used to show a lot of foreign films there.
My earliest recollections of going to The Merrick Gables was for the mid-60’s reissue of Disney “Cinderella” and the 1966 double-bill of “The Silencers” plus “Murderer’s Row.”
Best regards,
www.Flickhead.com
Shocking to me that more people haven’t written about this theater. I must’ve seen dozens of movies here during the 70’s. No one seems to remember this but during the 70’s, Disney used to re-release virtually it’s entire collection of movies from “Fantasia” to “Bednobs and Broomsticks” and everything in between. The Gables is where I saw a LOT of them for some reason. Saw “Mary Poppins” here in the summer of 1975 and the entire theater (PACKED HOUSE) was clapping along during “Stepping Time”. Beautiful memory.
There used to be three theaters in Merrick. One was The Gables which was on the north side of Merrick Road in one of the main parts of town. The second one was also on Merrick Road about a half mile or so east of the exit/entrance to the Meadowbrook Parkway. The third was just north of Sunrise Highway on (I think) Merrick Avenue in another main part of the town.
It served a purpose back in the 70s and 80s. I think I saw Animal House there at least a half dozen times. For under a buck. Can’t beat that. Grew up in Merrick and there were a few cool neighborhood theaters. Then they all closed one after another. For a while in the 90s there were none. (And parents in the ‘burbs wonder why their kids are so bored out of their minds that they sit on the side of the parkway chugging beers and smoking weed.)