Raceway Cinema

1020 Old Country Road,
Westbury, NY 11590

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rivest266
rivest266 on October 20, 2020 at 2:26 pm

Opened July 12th, 1967. Grand opening ad already up.

Barry170
Barry170 on September 5, 2012 at 7:45 pm

I was an usher at the Raceway Cinema from 1971-1973. It was a wonderful experience. I remember ushering for Deliverance for like 6 weeks straight.

RSB
RSB on December 26, 2011 at 12:30 am

I agree with Marie…the map location shown is way off…I also remember it to be adjacent to Carle Road, just west of Fortunoffs. I never went to this theater, or even noticed it when it was open. I only have vague memories of it being boarded up for quite some time.

rivoli157
rivoli157 on November 18, 2011 at 1:55 pm

I believe I saw “The Lion in Winter” here

Vito
Vito on June 16, 2011 at 3:43 am

rafaelstorm; yes indeed TMM was the opening attraction it was a roadshow reserved seat presentasion which we showed with 4 track mag stereo sound

marie
marie on June 15, 2011 at 7:27 pm

The map location is off… it should be further West… across from Carle Rd in Westbury.

Ed Miller
Ed Miller on May 27, 2010 at 6:11 pm

rvb, I too saw “Thoroughly Modern Mille” at the Raceway when it was a very new house. As a matter of fact, I think that “TMM” was its first attraction. I’m dumbfounded to see that it closed after such a short lifetime. Your mentioning the old Westbury on Post Avenue dredged up memories of a midnight showing of Mick Jagger in “Performance” there.

robboehm
robboehm on December 21, 2009 at 6:29 pm

The theatre was first run, road show in it’s early days. I remember seeing Thoroughly Modern Millie there. I would presume that the Century Roosevelt Field was a contributing factor to it’s demise. The only other theatres in the area were the old Westbury on Post Avenue which was not first run and the Salisbury which resorted to adult films to extend its lifespan.

RobertR
RobertR on September 9, 2008 at 2:39 pm

Remember when theatres would throw in re-issue garbage like this in early December right before they opened their holiday attractions?
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marie
marie on July 9, 2007 at 3:19 pm

I worked at the Raceway Cinema in summer 1975 during the Disney Film festival. At that point, the building was having structural issues… it’s balcony was unavailable to the public as it no longer could support a full seating up there. It was indeed a Mann theater and their film selections during those years weren’t competitive. It began to have the re-issues of SciFi and oldies as did the now defunct Syosset Theater… tho’ that lasted into the 90’s and was THE place on LI to see the original Star Wars’ re-release.
Initially, the movie house was a premier theater with first run, exclusive showings. Tickets had to be purchased in advance and were high priced for the time. It was geared for the Raceway, Island Inn/John Peel Room crowd for a more formal night out. There was a full bar lounge on the second floor balcony overlooking Old Country Road through floor to ceiling plate glass. Pretty swanky.
The structural problems and the beginning of the summer blockbusters took its toll and the theater was sold and, as stated, became the Racket Club. When they refurbished it, they were able to remodel the structure to eliminate the balcony problems.
The Racket Club (and health club… not much of a spa!) lasted a few years before becoming a retail store. It was then torn down when the entire Roosevelt Raceway properties were sold and the current incarnation of retail/restaurants popped up.

RobertR
RobertR on August 28, 2006 at 4:39 pm

Warners trying to make a few pennies opened this wide after it died in first run
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RobertR
RobertR on June 5, 2006 at 6:26 am

So far I have found ads showing it as a National General and BS Moss house. I don’t know how I never saw this place or even attended a movie here. I have a NY Times story somewhere when they first announced building it that I will locate and post.

fred1
fred1 on June 5, 2006 at 5:15 am

Does any know if this was a Mann’s theatre

moviebluedog
moviebluedog on June 5, 2006 at 4:01 am

Here’s an advance ad for the grand opening of the Raceway Cinema. View link

The address is listed as 1020 Old Country Road @ Roosevelt Raceway.

lopez
lopez on June 5, 2006 at 3:57 am

The building was located on Old Country Road, right next to Fortunoff, pretty close to what is now the Borders Book Store building. Theatre was free standing, torn down sometime in the mid 1990’s during the redevlopment of that portion of OCR.

RobertR
RobertR on June 4, 2006 at 1:24 pm

That must be it, I have long been curious exactly where this theatre was and why it seems to not have lasted long. Longislandmovies may be able to shed some light on it.

RobertR
RobertR on June 4, 2006 at 10:03 am

A pair of Avco Embassy comedies
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Michael R. Rambo Jr.
Michael R. Rambo Jr. on August 31, 2005 at 8:05 am

I just looked at the Willy Wonka ad, and it list this theatre as National General’s Raceway Cinema.

RobertR
RobertR on August 31, 2005 at 7:38 am

Im curious about this theatre and when it closed? Can anyone shed any light?

moviebluedog
moviebluedog on August 31, 2005 at 6:28 am

I came across an ad for this theatre which opened on July 12, 1967.

RobertR
RobertR on August 3, 2005 at 3:56 pm

Willy Wonka played here when it was a General Cinema house.
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RobertR
RobertR on June 8, 2005 at 7:58 pm

I just came across an ad from 1971 and it seems at that time the Raceway was being operated by National General Theatres.