Loew's Metropolitan Theatre
392 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
392 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
20 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 143 comments
I have to agree. A theater converted to a church is “not” lost. This is an excellent example of a beautiful building restored, and still 100% here, even if it’s not a theater anymore. Loews 175th St (United Palace), the Valencia, and a whole string of others are also examples.
The alternative could have been a bad conversion into retail with gutting, or even worse, a pile of rubble.
I was in the restored church the other day, and it is stunning. Even though it’s not a movie theater, there’s still a show going on.
And I believe the theater was twinned – and then quadded — by Loew’s years before Cineplex Odeon took over.
The Loews Metropolitan (or Loews Met as we old Brooklynites used to call it,) was one of 4 beautiful Golden-Age theaters Downtown Brooklyn: The Brooklyn Fox, The Paramount, the RKO Albee and the Loews Met. It was one about 3 blocks from the Albee abd one block from the large A&S department store (now Macys.) Like most golden-age Loews, it was an enormous theater with a large fountain with wishing-well in the inner lobby.) Starting in the early ‘60s, I would sometimes go with my father there and later my friends, taking the number 2 IRT from East New York to get there.
It ususally showed films from MGM, Paramount or Columbia. Among the films I saw there were: “Lawrence of Arabia” (right after its roadshow run,) the Brando “Mutiny on the Bounty.” John Wayne in “Circus World,” Charlton Heston in “Major Dundee” and Jerry Lewis in “Whos Minding the Store.” I seem to recall some Elvis’ films playing there as well, I think “Blue Hawaii.”
As the area started deteriorating in the ‘70s, the Met had to resort to showing double-features of grade-D horror films. (The Albee at the same time was showing Kung-fu and Blaxploitation films.) Soon afterward, it was bought by Cineplex Odeon and converted into 4 theaters. It reopened at Christmas 1978 with great fanfare showcasing “Superman” and Clint Eastwood in “Every Which Way But Loose.” (I was working downtown at the time.) However, it was not to last. When I was working downtown again in 2001, the theater was now closed for good and being converted into a Church, the ultimate fate for many golden-age theaters in deteriorating areas.
The Loews Met was a beautiful theater, that outlasted the other beautiful golden-age theaters in downtown Brooklyn. Now it only lives in our memories.
Great pictures on the page keep them coming.
I don’t reside in Brooklyn, or in the NY-NJ area generally, fairtail, nor am I religions in any way, but thanks for the suggestion.
Oh my warren is starting trouble again. I will pray for you. This is a lovely church. You must pay it a visit one day.
My apologies to you too, saps.
Sorry about that, Lost Memory.
Can I get an amen, somebody?
Didn’t you hear me? (lol)
Oh…my bad. It’s closed. Sorry to see such a gorgeous place close down. Wonder what they’re going to do with it.
What a fantastic-looking theatre! It’s perfect for showing great, golden-oldie-but-goody movie classics as well as lots of other stuff. Glad to hear that it’s still open, even though I don’t reside in the NY-NJ-CT area.
Wow, thanks! It is beautiful!
Another theater saved and restored by a church.
That is one gorgeous house.
Anyone know what the interior of this theater looks like today? Any photos?
The place looked beautiful in the photo Warren posted above. I looked on google street view and the exterior seems to be very well kept. Here’s a link:
View link
Warren: That is a good picture. I like how they gave billing to Gypsy Rose Lee, even though she was only in the movie for one short scene.
Lost, don’t say it…!
I loved this theater, even though I only knew it as quad. There was still plenty of architectural detail to savor. It was my neighborhood house for over 10 years, until it closed. It had bargain prices at the end, but the management refused to advertise that fact on the marquee or anywhere else.
thanks Warren for all of your tips and history about these movie houses.Anniegirl
Since “The People vs. Dr. Kildare” was advertised to follow and then delayed a week, I doubt that “A Woman’s Face†was held as only as filler.
Now to more recent history.
Loews sold the theatre under the provision that it would not remain a movie house. The buyer had arranged to flip it over to a third party who did not have a contract with Loews but had already agreed to lease it to Cineplex Odeon. Although Loews threatened to sue when the CO house was announced, nothing ever came of it.
When CO went in, the theatre still had the original wooden seats, a testament to how neglected some Loews houses were in the late eighties. These seats had mostly been destroyed to avoid any possibility of an immediate re-opening by anyone else. This actually expedited the remodel as CO had no intention of opening the place “as isâ€. Loews got the last laugh, though. Although the theatre was often busy, CO never made a profit due to high rent it had agreed to.
In October 1993 there was a gang shooting inside screen one which lead to several innocent bystanders getting hurt. The local media latched on to the story as another example of Hollywood product leading to teenage violence and blaming the film, (â€Judgment Nightâ€) for inciting the shooting. The following day picketers lined up in front of the theatre demanding it be closed.
In reality, the trailers were still running at the time of the shooting and the film had not yet started. I don’t think the Met ever really recovered from that incident and the politically motivated scandal it generated.
Dear AlAlvarez,
Maybe the movies were held over because of the audiance volume for a particular movie that was appearing at the time. ie Gone with the Wind and others.anniegirl
That must be why the ads read: “FIRST PICTURE IN YEARS TO HOLD A THIRD WEEK AT THE MET!”
…at the theatre this page is about.
“They called her the scarfaced she-devil!”
“A Woman’s Face” was a first-run move-over from the Capitol and this was the first suburban run of the film, with “Washington Melodrama†as a co-feature. The run included the Loews Jersey City and Newark theatres but since it ran for record three weeks it overlapped with the circuit break.
Dear J.F.
When I was a kid of the 1950’s, there was a Bond Mens Clothing Store next to the Met and a Schraffts on the Left of the Met. That Crawford Stores was a Staple store back then and yes Nedick’s was the best.. On that same side of the street stood a Chock full of Nut’s Coffee Shop in the late 60’s. But the Met lived on in the 60’s. I always thought the Met was a exclusive Theater. I always as a kid went to local moviehouses such as the Commodore, Marcy, Republic, Meserole. RKO Greenpoint Theaters in my neighborhood of Williamsburgh and Greenpoint.. It was a treat to go to the Paramount and the Fox and of coarse the Met with my Parents.. Also a treat to go to the Automat on Fulton and Jay Streets. And a real treat to go to Juniors for special occasions..Always good memories revisiting the Brooklyn Memories of Fulton Street. Remember McCrory’s across from Mays Department Stores. I loved the Waffles and Ice Cream they served in front of the store facing Fulton Street.. It was the competition for Woolworths..next to A&S..Speaking of A&S do you remember the downstairs Childrens Department and the Horse ride for the kids while partents shopped for shoes for them? and of coarse the resturant in the basement and the frozen dessert near the back escalater in the luggage department…I spent most of my Saturday’s as a child in A&S with my Mother, sister, and Aunt’s in A&S and sometimes in the Met. Sorry to say the old Fulton Street is not the same anymore..Oh well thanks for the trip down memory lane. anniegirl