UA Sheepshead Bay Stadium 14
3907 Shore Parkway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11235
3907 Shore Parkway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11235
14 people
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@Kris I wish they still did that :(
They stopped a year or two back iirc
This was originally intended to be built & operated by Loews Theatres not United Artists, anybody know what happened? –
Boxoffice Magazine January 1985 Theatre Construction Roundup
Bernard Myerson. president of Loews Theatres, and the Nakash brothers, owners of Jordache Enterprises, Inc., world famous jeans and apparel manufacturers, recently announced an agreement to build and operate a multi-million-dollar eight-auditorium theatre complex in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn, New York.
The project will be located off the Belt Parkway at Knapp Street on land already purchased for this purpose.
The site now includes a beach club which will be demolished. The luxury theatre will provide parking for approximately 1,000 cars with a multi-level parking structure, and is expected to open in December, 1985.
The theatre will be equipped with push-back seats and the most technically advanced projection and sound including 70mm and Dolby stereo.
Each auditorium will be fully draped and have a different color theme. The lobby will have as its focal point a giant hand-painted movie mural to be executed by famed Tampa muralist, Patrick Casey, and will depict stars whose fame has stood the test of time.
The theatre will also be designed to accommodate the handicapped. The architectural firm of Held and Rubin of East Meadow, Long Island, a firm that has designed a number of Loews' new theatre complexes, will prepare the plans with construction expected to begin in February.
This venture is consistant with Jordache’s policy decision to diversify its operations
Yes at the extreme right of the stairs
Looking at the stair is there a handicap entrance?
To think Brooklyn once had 200 theatres
This theatre has no charm. It lacks class and I almost never go there.
Kris, I noticed that, too, the last (and only) time I was here in 2009 to see “Avatar” in the room that was converted to IMAX. I agree with your take… nothing remarkable about the building or rooms – standard boilerplate modern multiplex – but the painted doors are a nice touch of showmanship in a day when that seems to have all but disappeared. And it doesn’t matter that the paintings are a bit amateurish – that may even lend to their charm.
Though this theater is generally nothing remarkable, one thing I’ve come to appreciate is the how the staff paints the front doors for big “event” movies. I think they’ve been doing this for about two years now; I remember the glass doors displaying the logo for one of the Twilight movies, they decorated them with logos and characters for Toy Story 3, and over the weekend I noticed the doors were done up for Transformers 3. The outer doors had the Transformers logo (which you can kind of see in the photo I took) while the inner doors had some renderings of characters like Optimus Prime and Bumblebee (I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of those, unfortunately).
The last time I was in a Brooklyn movie theatre was at the UA Sheepshead approximately 10 years ago. When I was a kid there werec so many theaters in Brooklyn .Now there are probably less than 10 .
The UA Sheepshead Bay 14 is a place to see a movie, but not necessarily the place to enjoy the movie. The expansion and upgrade about 8 years ago only made matters worse. I share Gringe’s memories of the Century’s Brooklyn theaters with the exception of the Kings Plaza hodge-podge.
I despise this theater, as it is responsible for the closing of many great Brooklyn theaters like the Kingsway. At the time it opened, I was 12 and thought it was the greatest thing… so many movies under one roof. What I didn’t realize at the time was just how cold and dull the multiplex was. There is no personality, and it’s just a place to go and watch a movie, and not a very good (or clean) one at that. I saw many films here between 1987 and 2004… but ask me if I have one solid memory or interesting experience and I couldn’t tell you. I can remember many experiences at theaters such as the Kingsway, The Nostrand, The Brook, etc… but at this place, they all blur together.
This theater opened up in the summer of 1987. I saw Schwarzennegger there in “Predator” the first week it opened. It was an immediate smash and knocked out many nicer places to see a film like the Loews Georgetowne twin. This place was so popular that on Saturday night, even if you lived close by, you had to leave at least 2 hours ahead of time to wait in an enormous line to get into their parking lot. It was the most frustrating experience and took the enjoyment out of going to the movies. Sometimes on a realy crowded night, you had to park blocks away. The more popular it got, the more it went downhill. It was discovered by a massive amount of hoodlums from outside the area. I can remember one blasting rap music in the theater, while an usher was nowhere to be found. I remember boobs shining small lasers at the screen and an idiot, sitting next to my sister, talking on a cell-phone during the last scene in “Titanic.” I moved out of Brooklyn in 1999 and I understand that they have revamped this theater, even making one into an IMAX. To be frank, despite my having seen many films there, I really don’t miss it.
It’s true about the strips of great restaurants, including the best Clam Bar in town, Randazzo’s, has fabulous Fried Calamari.
Main problem with this theater is sound is way too loud, especially in endless previews, but that may not be unusual. I find most movie houses way too loud by now.
I agree that complaining is futile. Yes Sheepshead Bay UA is one of the largest but I disagree that it is one of the cleanest. It is average at best.
I have had a better overall experience in many of the smaller Brooklyn theatres, to name a few; Cobble Hill Cinema, BAM Rose Cinema, The Pavilion and Brooklyn Heights Cinema. Yes, I continue to go to UA occasionally for convenience, usually at off peak times.
Side bar, one of the best movie theaters is the Sunshine in the Lower East Side. Regarding food, this is NYC and there is a plethora of choices at all times.
Everyone needs to stop complaining. Not only is this the biggest theater but its probably one of the cleanest in Brooklyn. The screens are big and the seats are comfortable enough!!! It can get a bit crowded so you cant blame it for not being 100% perfectly clean, they do the best they can. They do have a parking lot, sometimes on the weekends it can be hard to find a space. You have to get there early on the weekends. There is a reason so many people go there and not to one of the other local sh*tty movie theaters. A nice thing about this theater is that it is located across the street from TGI Fridays and a small seafood place. If you don’t want to eat there, there is a whole strips of restaurants and cafes near the canal 5 min away!
The security in this theatre sucks..There was a brawl so bad Friday night we had to leave through the emergency exit before the movie was even over…never seen the end of the new Halloween
Sheepshead Bay UA has become a disappointing theatre. The teenage staff is sometimes pleasant but many have been rude, the popcorn is usually stale, seats are uncomfortable and the bathrooms dirty.
Women of all types never cease to amaze me with their messy toilet habits. Which explains why some of the young staff is rude, who wants to clean up other peoples urine? Also, when it rains the bathrooms have several buckets collecting water from the light fixtures. This is a big safety hazard.
I have been there many times and have learned to accept this dismal excuses for a movie theatre. Sad, yes, but during these hot summer days it is a cool escape from my hot non-air conditioned home. I bring my own snacks and water for sustenance, ignore the terrible sound system which is not monitored and always too painfully loud and I try to look past the occasionally dirty and scratched films.
This theatre has so much potential. It is a real shame that UA and the Sheepshead Bay management have let the film experience of so many go down.
Rockaway, just a few minutes away, one exit off the Belt, is the perfect place for a small boutique style movie theatre. The factory style, as some have described below, robs viewers of a real film experience.
does anyone know which screens are SR+D, dts and SDDS. Number 13 has Dolby Digital Cinema
this theatre may be a “factory” type of place but aside from the crazy friday/saturday night situations i always enjoyed going here….most theatres are crazy on weekend nights…this one was admittedly worse than usual…one friend from rochester said to me once “in rochester if you want to go to the movies, you go……here you get stuck sitting on knapp street for an hour not knowing if you’ll even get in”….but if you went during non rush hour times it was fine…i moved to brooklyn in 2000 and i miss the old UA
I like the place because of its location and the proximity to Randazzo’s Clam Bar, so I’ve gone from far away in Manhattan to relax near the shore. However, I agree with everyone about how hideous it is. The first time I used it, I couldn’t even find it, and walked all the way to the ‘Fun’ place about a ½ mile up. No signs, no nothing. It’s all right once you’re in your seat, no particular disruptive people except for monster/Halloween type things.
It should be listed as now having 14 screens, and not the ten stated.
Is AMC/Loews going to have to sell off a peice of that you think? In New York they may not have a total monopoly but in Boston and Chicago they may. I wonder if we’ll be seeing Clearview Cinemas E-Walk 13 in a few months.
By the beginning of next year, there will only be 2 big theatre operators in NYC, thoese twob being Regal Entertainment Group (Regal Cinemas and United Artists Theatres) and AMC Entertaimnment Co. (AMC [Durwood Theatres-General Cinema Theatres] Theatres, Loews Theatres, Cineplex Odeon Theatres, Magic Johnson Theatres), with Clearview Cinemas in a distance third.
In SE PA, Regal Cinemas was a small player for most of the 1990’s playing second fiddle to AMC Theatres and United Artists (Sameric) Theatres, until acquiring United Artist Theatres to create Regal Entertainment Group.
AMC Theatres itself was a second fiddle in the Philadelphia area for 6 years to Budco Theatres, Sameric Theatres and General Cinema Theatres before acquiring Budco Theatres in 1987 and GCC in 2002.
I too hate all the commercial advertisements, but I enjoy the trailers for upcoming movies. The problem with arriving after the posted start time, if the movie is new or very popular, You won’t find a seat in a good location, or enough seats together for your group, You must come early to sit where you want to, and endure all the crap.
I worked for this theater for about a year and a half – beginning one week before opening. This was considered UA’s flagship theater. We had to shine the marble tiles and polish the brass poles that held the line-control ropes. We had to wear a company-supplied jacket, bowtie, and even WHITE GLOVES. The group of people I worked with (we were all teens) became friends, and some are still friends now. A few couples who started as teen workers even ended up married. The current manager is a friend who has worked there from day one. There is an elderly woman who continues to work there since the beginning, and before that she worked at the Graham Theater in Gerritsen Beach (Mary, short with white hair).
I agree with all the other posts. The place is like a zoo. The bad design, even after renovation, leaves lines of people on top of each other as they wait for movies to start. The parking garage is a joke. I believe it holds the same number of cars the original flat parking lot held, maybe even less.
When it first opened, the front area between the seats and screen was carpeted. All the spilled soda would run down, collect in the carpet, and stink. They removed that carpet, and began shampooing the rest weekly. Now I don’t think they do that anymore, because the whole place stinks again.
The kitchen had mice. If I came in for a morning shift I’d sometimes find holes in the bags of popcorn that had been popped the night before.
The workers don’t care much about their jobs. Why should they? They are treated like sh*t and paid low wages – but that probably happens in most theaters.
At the time it was built, the building cost about 7 million dollars, if I remember correctly. The low quality building had a leaky roof that always needed repair. Theater #3, one of the largest, had to have the entire left side close during heavy rain, due to water pouring in through the foundation. It was discovered that it was caused by cracks in the cement foundation, and improper grading of the property so that water runs toward the wall when it rains. In the end the solution was to install a drainage system with a pump outside the wall, rather than regrade the property. Things like this just did not happen with the old theaters like the Marlboro, Walker, Oriental, and all the other strong, well constructed old buildings.
UA or Regal or whoever they are now should sell this place so it can be converted to a storage facility or warehouse, and reopen the Marlboro, Walker, and any other old theater that is left around Brooklyn that has a chance of being save or converted back to it’s grand old purpose!!!
The UA Sheepshead bay was among the handful of theaters equipped with Cinema Digital Sound (CDS), the 1990-1991 precursor to the contemporary digital sound formats.