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Let's Save NYC's Oldest Independently Owned Cinema
By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 27, 2014
Modified Feb 27, 2014
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Feb 27, 2014
Modified Feb 27, 2014
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Photo via bitchcakes' flickr
The Brooklyn Heights Cinema is a no frills, not-of-this-time, two screen theater on Henry Street. Within the white brick establishment you'll find a humble snack counter with an aging popcorn machine, and a couple of good pictures rotating in on the screens every month or so. Outside, they often personalize messages on the marquee (recent ones have invited Banksy to paint their walls, and offered Bill Murray free tickets). It is the perfect date theater, the perfect place to see a movie alone, it has been there since 1970, it "is the oldest and longest running independently owned and operated cinema remaining in New York City," and it would be a goddamn travesty if it shut down. So let's save it?
Recently the building went up for sale for $7.5 million, and according to DNAInfo "is alternatively offering it for lease at $30,000 per month." Though they add, "landlord Thomas Caruana supports having Brooklyn Heights Cinema stay in the building, [owner Kenn] Lowy said its future is far from assured."
In an open letter, Lowy said "the landlord has become increasingly frustrated because he cannot get his planned development approved by the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission. This is a plan that we wholeheartedly support. The plan includes the cinema." According to Brownstoner, the plan would be to build a 10,000-square-foot residential building, which would house the cinema on the ground floor—the renderings are part of the real estate listing, which you can see here. Previous attempts to level the landmarked building—built in 1895—have failed. The landlord says Lowy—who is on a month-to-month lease—can "stay until he is ready to move forward." Lowy is currently trying to raise funds for digital projectors, which he believes will help save the cinema:
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brooklyn heights
brooklyn heights cinema
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kenn lowy
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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