Cinema Kings Highway
711 Kings Highway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11223
711 Kings Highway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11223
13 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Brandt Theaters
Architects: Benjamin Schlanger
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Jewel Theatre
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Dec 8, 2011 — Come for the smut, but stay for the classics
The 650-seat Jewel Theatre, which stands a few blocks west of the Kingway Theatre, was opened in 1936. It later became a foreign film house until it was damaged by fire in the 1960’s.
It was completed renovated and reopened as the Cinema Kings Highway with an exclusive Brooklyn showing of "Thoroughly Modern Millie." But in the late-1960’s, the owner found he could make a lot more money running XXX and played "He and She" there for over a year.
The story goes that he ran off with all of the profits and the theatre fell into a dispute over the ownership. Before video shut it down, it was split into two theatres, with regular porn running downstairs and gay porn running in the small balcony. It reopened as a triplex, featuring XXX straight porn in one theatre, gay porn in the second, and obscure foreign classics in the third. This was basically the programming policy. By 2017 it was operating with 4 screens. It was closed on March 16, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The owner sold the building in the summer of 2021 and the closure became permanent.
Contributed by
philipgoldberg
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 243 comments)
Open or still closed? Anyone pass by the theatre lately? If it’s still closed does anyone know if it will ever reopen?
This should be changed to “closed”.
The owner recently talked about having sold it: https://www.rereleasenews.com/2021/04/09/nick-nicolaou-on-the-alpine-cinema-renovations-selling-brooklyns-last-adult-theater-and-more/
A friend told me the theatre is being cleaned out. The end of an era.
is it still closed? google says its open….
Was recently sold for $3.1 million.
No more Brooklyn Cinema. Any other place like that in NYC? I know about the Fair in Queens but I greatly dislike what it has become. I had so much fun at the Brooklyn Cinema. In fact, and not to boast, I became very popular there. I was known as the male version of Vanessa Del Rio, if you know what I mean. We are in the 21st century but I refuse to believe that adult theatres are a thing of the past. You say?
Thanks nycman. I feel the same way. Email me if you would like to chat. BTW I feel the same way about The Fair…gross! Robbrown
Haas the building been torn down?
I believe part of the building is landmarked and cannot be demolished. It can be remodeled as far as I know.