UA Movies at Patchogue 13
600 Sunrise Highway,
Patchogue,
NY
11772
600 Sunrise Highway,
Patchogue,
NY
11772
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 241 comments
you captured it perfectly Bob.
i thought some of those impressions were lost on others – but you nailed them!
very touching words,too: those are very nice memories of your parents that you’ll carry forever.
you know what’s funny – i find myself buying back all the films i saw as a kid, and forcing the young ‘uns in the family to revisit them.
and its not a hard sell.
when they visit my house, neices and nephews ASK me for Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, The Pink Panther, Charlie Chaplin, Peter Sellers! Barefoot in the Park is STILL a terrific film, and out on dvd! Walmart sold it at Valentine’s time for under 5 bucks.
Before i started screening for the kids, they’d never heard of the 3 Stooges, or John Wayne! My God, Jerry Lewis! Presley in Viva Las Vegas or Girl Happy. I can’t even imagine growing up in a world without Laurel and Hardy, Mickey Rooney or Gene Kelly.
Last count i heard there were 363 drive ins left in America. I visited one about a year ago in Turro, Cape Cod (?) that showed a double feature, with cartoons and the original intermission films! What a treat! They even had those wonderful weighty speakers! I think there are a few left in Pennsylvania – one owner generously offered to talk to me when i looked into starting one on Long Island once. They really were a special treat for the whole family. There certainly aren’t many left.
omg. i wrote a beautiful elegy to this theater and its wonderful staff, and then checked TERMS OF USE. my essay disappeared.
i rewrote as much as i could remember, then clicked PREVIEW. told me i wasn’t logged in, and wiped me out again.
third time may be lucky but i’m running out of steam here.
when i first drove past the theater last night and read that it was closed, i was heartbroken. at 1 am , i wrote this to a local paper…
For half a century the Patchogue All Weather Indoor/Outdoor Theater was the jewel the surrounding community flocked to every weekend. With speakers that hung heavily from your windows, and the best popcorn in town, Patchogue showed double features with all the intermission cartoons intact and of course Woody Woodpecker cartoons before and after each feature. There was a little park set up with a swingset for kids to play on.
The indoor theater also did a brisk business: you would wend your way through a brightly lit refreshment area and then walk down a long hallway back to the theater.
Mary Poppins, Patton, The Sorcerer, Orca – they all played at the Patchogue indoor/outdoor. The night of my high school graduation , the family packed into the car and we went to see The Big Bus and The Paper Chase. On Sundays, Mom would drop us in her car to see The Sting, Cool Hand Luke, Jeremiah Johnson, The Exorcist.
I saw The Great Gatsby with my sister in the giant indoor theater with only the usher who took a seat, for company. As years went by, they began showing really bad horror films (still to packed audiences). As a budding writer, I would scribble on little pads of paper between shows. The popcorn, as always, remained terrific.
Sometime in the 1980’s they did a curious thing. They demolished the outdoor theater, made the indoor into a multiplex – retaining the great indoor auditorium as “screen 13”.
When I read earlier this year that the theater was being torn down for ‘condo’s’ I resolved to go back to take pictures of that wonderful place. Like everyone else, I procastinated too long, and now the marquee on Sunrise Highway notes that the theater is closed. I really hope someone somewhere (are you listening Newsday?) took pictures of this wonderful theater before it too becomes rubble and another piece of Long Island history exists only in our minds..
A tip of the hat then to a grand old theater, and a million magical memories and impressions that began in the dark of that wonderful cavernous auditorium or outside under the stars of a not-so-distant past.
still not satisfied, i drove by this afternoon as they were taking the letters off the building. some people came out to greet me as i explained that i would love to take a few pics for Cinema Treasures. they called the main office for permission, and we waited over a half hour, talking. turns out they ARE aware of CT , that they objected to some of our sillier comments (management , as anyone in business should know, is not always responsible for all of the directives they are forced to carry out. especially in a merger).
keeping an eye out for ‘some guy in the warehouse’ who might object to pictures, i was permitted to take a few on the fly. The popcorn stand, the smaller theaters, #13, the original, the projectors on the 2nd floor. The place was dark ,the pictures grey and not nearly as detailed were i allowed more time, but to me, they are gold. i wanted to take a picture of the staff – who after days of packing seemed as tired as the building – but i didn’t want to get anyone in trouble. suffice to say, they are as big lovers of film and the film-going experience as any of us . some are going to the Regal in Ronkonkoma. some back out east, some to nassau. We need to support them all. they are terrific dedicated people who sometimes run these theaters in lieu of seeing family. they could have kicked my ass out, but they didn’t. they might have laughed at the woman who went there yesterday in tears, talking about how the theater was part of her life, but they didn’t.
tip of the hat to all the staff at Patchogue, past and present, for keeping that ship afloat for 50 years.
as i left, they sealed the doors for the last time. it sounds silly but i felt a little sense of closure. i drove around the left side of the theater (for the first time) and saw the old building ledge, the old wall. The mound of grass and dirt where the outdoor screen stood. i pulled back for a long shot – that magnificent building – letters off, but the red shadow of the letters still strong. United Artists 13 – the trees, the blue blue skies. Out on the highway, they were pulling the last letters down from the marquee with those long grabber poles.
inside those forever darkened theaters, a little of each of us will always remain.
Absolutely. Ronkonkoma is where most of the clientele will go, it’s only about 10-15 minutes away.
Ronkonkoma has all the new movies…stadium seating and is not as busy as Island 16…clearly the better choice
good choice roe….
west babylon…babylon…sayville last 3 movie theatres in a down
town [and or] main street until you get very east of patchougue..
grew up in west babylon, still don’t know where down town is
kinda' like deer park..have any idea where ua would put a theatre?
some where around lie i would guess..
keep us posted..
I drove by the Patchogue mutiplex on Monday. There is wording on the marquee that it is closed and to “go to Ronkonkoma cinemas”.
I will be going to Sayville and Island 16.
Well when it was a drive in, and you want to go to a drive in to see a particular movie, of course you would travel, as you don’t have too much of a choice. But with the choices of multiplexes out there nowadays, I don’t see many people traveling all the way to Deer Park to see a movie that’s easier seen so much closer….
Long Island needs more theaters………..Any one go the last night to patchogue?
Hahahaha, Deer Park????? That’s about a half hour away!!! If lucky!! I think the Island 16 and the Ronkonkoma will see it first….
As for when the way I pick out a movie I want to see….I first pick out the theater I plan to go to….see if the movie is even playing there….then see if the time is convenient….if any of those things don’t match, I go to the next theater, and do the same. Unfortunately, even when the Patchogue was open, it usually wasn’t my first choice, because of the condition of it…and the screens were much smaller…the lack of stadium seating, etc….. But I would have much rather seen the Patchogue retrofitted and redone with those amenities than see what happened to it…..
So by the way….is it official? did it close yesterday for good? I guess sadly if it’s true, the theater status can be changed to ‘closed"….until the sad day when demolition becomes reality….
DEER PARK??? sorry..thinking out loud…
as for SAYVILLE it’s a bookers dream…
also it could run later shows….
as for sayville vs 13 screens…by the time a movie gets to theatre
13 it’s out on dvd…
here’s the question….do you think most movie goers, have a good idea what they want to see when they select a theatre or
the amount of screens…
HEY LET’S GO TO THE WALLYWOOD CINEMA’S!
what’s playing there?
I DON’T KNOW BUT THEY HAVE 30 SCREENS…
as for island 16, it’s really nice but, it’s like a food cort with theatres on the side…
hey UA..hope DEER PARK is a real deal..
maybe block buster on dpa should become north babylon theatre again.
thinking out loud again.
Sayville will pick up a chunkof this …..new owners there…….
they will go to Ronkonkoma, island 16, and mastic.. until the new UA opens in Deer Park…. that will open in May ‘08.
Perhaps. It’s still open too. But I don’t know how much Sayville’s 3 or 4 screens will replace the 13 screens of the Patchogue.
What about the Sayville Theater?
Probably the Island 16 right down Nichols Rd from the Patchogue. I doubt they will go to the Movieland Cinemas of Mastic. ISome may go to the Regal Ronkonkoma.
Well you have advised that the last day of the Patchogue Theater will be Sept 9, 07. O.K. My next question is where will all the customers now go to see movies? What theaters will pick up the business and what % for each acquiring theater? I also note that the Islip Theater has permanantly closed its doors too. Where will it all end?
It should not be listed. Patchogue WAS scheduled for those events, but they will not be open so they were cancelled. trust me – I am 100% sure. The listings for those events will be removed from all the websites today.
View link
see this link for events at patchogue theater over sept. what is going on?
it is true – patchogue closes its doors on sept 9th.. say goodbye to an era..
btw – we never have used yahoo for our ads. FANDANGO!!!!!!!!!
yup! 100%
But they are advertising special shows in late September on yahoo movies. Are you sure of your Sept 9 date for closing down?
say goodbye sept 9!!!!!!
Okay, that is new…. When I read the article a few weeks ago they were still looking.
the church is now using the Regal Ronkomkoma theatre for services.
Yes, the popcorn is the Patchougue’s one redeeming quality, as its apparent the building isn’t being maintained as well as if the theater was going to remain open, but obviously, who can blame them on some issues of maintenance when it will be closing anyway….
I was hoping it was only rumors that it was going to close, but unfortunately, it appears it’s days are really numbered. Last I heard the church uses one of the auditoriums on Sundays is in a frenzie trying to find someplace else to go for services. They said they have had cooperation with the Island de Lux in Holtsville…but no deal was struck. They were hoping to find something in the Patchogue Medford area as obviously, that’s where much of their congregation is.
But that all aside, that newstory I read appears to be the final nail…the theater is going, and it will be soon.