Rio Piedras Theatre
912 Broadway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11206
912 Broadway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11206
8 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Century Theaters, Loew's Inc.
Architects: John Bailey McElfatrick
Previous Names: Teller's Broadway Theatre, Loew's Broadway Theatre, Century's Broadway Theatre
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This palatial 2,000-plus seat theatre stood at the busy intersection of Broadway and Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn. Teller’s Broadway Theatre was opened on March 21, 1904, with a production of “Babes in Toyland”. It was operated by Loew’s Inc. from August 1915 when a Welte organ was installed. In 1916 a Moller 2 manual 15 ranks organ was installed and this was replaced by a Moller 3 manual 6 ranks organ in 1918. Loew’s Inc. operated the Broadway Theatre until 1954. From 1955 to 1957 it was operated by Century Theaters.
In 1959 it reopened as the Rio Piedras Theatre playing Spanish language movies. It was closed in 1973.
It was razed in 1998.
Contributed by
philipgoldberg, William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 56 comments)
Saw a number of flms there from the 1940s through the 1950s—-It was a great showplace——Joe From Florida
I remember when the Broadway was torn down in 1998. The last wall to remain up was the procenium arch and stage area. I still remember looking at the theater’s inside, and that wall, out in the sunshine. it was all in clear view from the Myrtle-Bway subway station platform. It was a surreal sight to behold to say the least. I only wish I had my camera with me that day.
Chris
I was only in the Broadway Theater once, and don’t really remember too much about it, other than the fact that it was quite fancy. I think it must have been some time in the 40’s, and I agree it was a showplace.
I do however remember a lot about it from the outside. I lived over on Pilling St as a kid, and I would often go shopping with my mother on Knickerbocker Ave. We would take the Jamaica train to the Myrtle and Broadway elevated station, and get off and take the Myrtle El to Knickerbocker Ave. I remember always looking at the Broadway Theater as it towered above the station. So many memories. This was not far from the Rogers Theater down the street, which I also remember seeing the marquee from passing trains. But the two didn’t compare.
One of the first DVD’s I bought was the movie “Ghost”, because it was filmed in the neighborhood, and you can see this theater in that movie. I am 82 now, and a big fan of old movies. I know isn’t exactly an old movie, but for nostalgia, my daughter bought it for me. My daughter has slowly been helping me build my DVD collection.
So glad to have found this site.
If anyone has any memories to share, my email is
What year did the Broadway close?
A very interesting page – and a wonderful picture, albeit the fact that, as previously noted, the elevated train line mysteriously disappears from the scene.
If I had not stumbled across this picture when viewing some of Jayar’s photos on the Bushwick RKO page, I would never have learned about this fascinating theater. Since I usually search theaters by zip code, the fact that it is not indicated at the top of the page means that I never found the Broadway during my previous searches. To address this, I hope that management will add the Broadway’s zip code – 11206 – to this page.
Built for Leo Teller, the architect was J. B. McElfatrick. It opened March 21, 1904 with “Babes in Toyland.” Drama critic Robert Grau, in 1909, referred to the Broadway as “the best suburban theatre in America.” You can catch a glimpse of it, as the Rio Piedras, in “The French Connection."Â
View link
Somewhere out there are pictures of the theatre when it Rio Piedras, Spanish language programing in the 70’s
Willburg145 – Ask and it shall be given unto you. Uploaded a photo showing the marquee of the Rio Piedras. I found it on a site called Scouting New York which documents locations of films then and now. The film in question for this was the French Connection.
Here’s a stunning photo of the Broadway Theater from the 1940’s
http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/NYCMA~7~7~915237~749025?sort=borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code
For years I wondered what this theater was, the little of what remained of the interior clearly visible from the platform of the Myrtle Ave. station where I always had to transfer trains on the weekend. Riddled with tires and trash, surely the theater gods wept as they did with so many other venues that had once been so beautiful.
My fascination with this venue took place long before the days of cell phones with cameras and, as a frequent-enough visitor to NYC to visit family, never had an actual camera on me to take any pictures. Then, one visit, it was gone.
I eventually discovered what it was through this site, but then lost it again because I couldn’t search for it under the original name (which is what I remembered). Once I located it a second time, I finally created an account here so I could “favorite” it and never lose it again.