Comments from HARLOW

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HARLOW
HARLOW commented about Scarsdale Plaza Theatre on Feb 7, 2005 at 6:00 pm

I am shocked at the demoliton of the Scarsdale Plaza! First time I went there was to see 1979’s “ALIEN”. After that, I’d gone many times, enjoying the 99 cents and dollar fifty admission prices. Another movie I’ll remember seeing there was when the theater was about to close – “BIG” with Tom Hanks.

The theater had a really lovely art deco design, as most all of them did built in the ‘20s to '30s. It’s too bad they are nearly gone, since it was a part of America, when movies were in their glory, still some of the best motion pictures ever made shown in them!

I loved the side church-like stained glass window effect, the dark, cozy feeling the theater gave patrons. You don’t have this today at all, even with the comfort of stadium seating. It’s more like a box now, small, medium and large, no personality. The screens are big, great sound system, I suppose, but for the environment around you, to have little or nothing – perhaps some real cheap renderings – it’s really a shame. Young people will never know what it was like.

I also will miss the reasonable prices of popcorn and candy!

It was always great going into the nearby pizza place, meeting people, all of us going to the movies. I can still remember some of the faces, even strangers. Those who ran the place were very polite, always giving people a warm welcome. There were never any problems with the young people there, that I noticed. It was all fun, whatever it was they did out of the ordinary – an expression of how glad they all were going there. It was great seeing families there – the children, when there were pictures for them playing there.

I have yet to drive by where the theater was, and I’m sure I will receive a real shock! So many worthwhile, historic places are being demolished for luxury condos. They almost did it with the Market Diner in New York! They have a ‘stay’ of about three years! It’s 1963 again, that diner. The Scarsdale Plaza will always be to me, the ‘30s, '40s up to the '80s. Now Scarsdale and Eastchester people will have to go to the Fine Arts theater in the area, or what’s on Central Avenue in Yonkers. Those theaters are beginning to look old-fashioned now – even United Artists Movieland, I mean Regal. Central Plaza was rumored to go multi-theater, beyond the four it is now. I’m glad it hasn’t. I see movieland being replaced before Central Plaza, perhaps with the modern multi-level stadium-effect. One of the first multi-threater complexes out in Commack, LI is due to be razed, replaced with one like Holbrook! So much of what I’ve enjoyed so, in movie going, is being taken away. At 65, it is not easy to have to adapt to these changes. Well, I can always have my memories, right? Memories of the Scarsdale Plaza too! It was so great, and a savings! Well worth spending the gas to get there, well, when gas was under a dollar a gallon!