Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Inside A Former Brooklyn Movie And Rock Palace, Now Showing Furniture
By
Garth Johnston
Published May 22, 2012
Modified May 22, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Gothamist
View all 4
By
Garth Johnston
Published May 22, 2012
Modified May 22, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
New York has had some pretty grand movie theaters over the years, something that can be easy to forget in the age of bland stadium seating and cheap 3-D glasses we live in. Luckily, the old theaters aren't really all gone—they're just resting. The late Loew's Kings Wonder Theater is in the process of being brought back to its glory, but others, like the one above a bodega in the East Village, are set to be demolished. And some are simply in purgatory, like the Loew's 46th Street Theater in Brooklyn. This space is currently being used for furniture storage (sigh), but has miraculously retained some of its original details—according to Cinema Treasures, "Everything between the wall and the original entrance became a retail space. Everything beyond the wall, towards the original screen, has remained relatively intact."
The theater originally opened on October 9th, 1927 as the Universal Theatre, later becoming the Loew's 46th Street. It was the first "atmospheric theater" in the city (they used to project clouds on the ceiling!) but it is possibly most famous for its brief stint in the early 1970s as the Bananafish Garden—sometimes known as the 46th Street Rock Palace—that featured performances by everyone from the Grateful Dead (listen to their 2:30 p.m. set here!) to Steely Dan to the Bee Gees... and yes, the venue was named after the J.D. Salinger short story. There is plenty of video online of the Mahavishnu Orchestra's show at the venue, which closed under community pressure in 1973.
Since then the soaring space has been used for furniture storage, with its lobby now acting as a show room for Regal Furniture. Luckily for the rest of us, photographer Matt Lambros got into the theater itself earlier this year and has posted some gorgeous photographs on his site After The Final Curtain. The detail work they used to put into those theaters is seriously incredible—can you imagine something like this at the Kips Bay theater?
Tagged
46th Street Rock Palace
after the final curtain
bananafish garden
brooklyn
loews
loew's 46th Street
Garth Johnston
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years
Spoiler alert: It's still 26.2 miles.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Oct 14, 2026 at 2:36 p.m. ET
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
"Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger," says the co-owner of Art of Play.
By
Sonia Rao
Arts & Entertainment
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
"Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger," says the co-owner of Art of Play.
By
Sonia Rao
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Is NYC’s hottest attraction the free observation deck at 1 Centre Street?
By
James Ramsay
What happens when NYC kids take lessons in rock music? Really good bands.
By
Jayson Greene
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .