Photos: What 10 Old Movie Theaters in Brooklyn Look Like Now
- Forgotten NY
- The Alpine is still a movie theater… for how long?!
Movie theaters used to be everywhere, especially in Brooklyn. Now the borough is lucky to have a dozen, but at one time each neighborhood practically had that many, from grand movie palaces to small neighborhood spots. Technology wasn’t kind to the theater business: the rise of television, the ubiquity of home air conditioning, the advent of cable TV, home theaters, home video, Internet streaming and video-on-demand all contributed to the end of the Movie Theater. But they couldn’t destroy the actual buildings: many old theaters were repurposed as chain pharmacies, big-box stores, gyms, supermarkets, even new churches—all the things you’d say are as rampant in Brooklyn today as movie theaters once were. I rode my bike yesterday from Bay Ridge up into Bensonhurst, back down into Dyker Heights and over into Sunset Park to photograph 10 places where they used to show movies. Here’s what they do there now.
