Arion Theatre

Joe Vogel on April 11, 2015 at 10:14 pm

This excerpt from an article in the January 21, 1932, issue of The Daily Star, Long Island City, suggests that the Arion Theatre was actually built around 1915:

“The tearing down this week of the New Columbia Theater, Grand avenue and Sixty-ninth lane, Maspeth, removed another landmark of the days when the section was a sleepy little village.

“The little theater was marked for demolition following protests by the Maspeth Civic and Improvement Association, and other local organisations that it was a fire menace. It had been closed for six years.

“Old-time residents recalled today how it was built sixteen years ago, shortly after the construction of the Arion Theater near the Atateka Democratic Club. Maspeth felt quite proud of its two theaters, although both would fit comfortably in the present Maspeth Theater and leave some space over”

The Maspeth News column of the November 4, 1922, issue of The Newtown Register had this item:

“Mr. Robert Kunze is making extensive alterations to his moving picture theatre located on the ground floor of the Arion building.”

Another newspaper item of the period says that the Arion Theatre was next door to the Arion Building. There was also a place called Arion Hall, and one item referred to Robert Kunze as the proprietor of the Arion Hall and Moving Picture Theatre.