Kings Theatre
1027 Flatbush Avenue | also 120 East 22nd Street, 1025 Flatbush Avenue | Flatbush | built 1929
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1919
William Fox buys the Brooklyn City Railroad yard on Flatbush Avenue for a theater that is never finished
Before any theater stood here, the site at 1027 Flatbush Avenue held a Brooklyn City Railroad railyard. William Fox bought it in November 1919 and engaged Thomas Lamb to plan a theater of 3,500 seats, which was never completed. Allied Owners Inc. later took over the site.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1929
Loew's Kings opens with the film Evangeline and Dolores del Rio on stage
The Kings welcomed its first audience at 11 a.m. on September 7, 1929, with the formal dedication held that night, after three postponements. The first show combined the film Evangeline, a stage show, an orchestra and solo organ. Its star, Dolores del Rio, appeared live. The project cost $1.3 million, and when it was finished the New York Herald Tribune described it as Brooklyn's largest residential picture house.
“The theater opened to the public at 11 a.m. on September 7, 1929, and was dedicated that night. The first show was a program that included the film Evangeline…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1929
Rapp and Rapp build a 3,690-seat movie palace with one balcony and a Wonder Morton organ
Rapp and Rapp designed the theater, with interiors supervised by Harold Rambusch and decoration inspired by the Paris Opera and Versailles. It had 3,690 seats on two levels; the single balcony, which held 800, was chosen to improve acoustics. It was the first Loew's theater designed specifically for sound films. The 3,000-pipe Wonder Morton organ cost $75,000.
“The auditorium originally had 3,690 seats across two levels; the balcony had only 800 seats…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1930
Cab Calloway, Bob Hope and Milton Berle are among the Kings' 1930s stage performers
Stage acts at the Kings in the 1930s included Gracie Allen, George Burns, Milton Berle, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope. Over the years it also hosted Chuck Berry, Little Richard and the Nicholas Brothers. By the late 1930s live shows had mostly given way to double features screened close to twelve hours a day.
“During the 1930s, the Kings Theatre's performers included Gracie Allen, Milton Berle, George Burns, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Durante, and Bob Hope.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1974
The Wonder Morton organ is played for the last time, then taken apart and later vandalized
Loew's dismantled the organ in 1974, intending to donate it to Town Hall in Manhattan, but it was never reinstalled and parts were stolen. Collector Donald Schwing had the remains by 1980, and Paul Van Der Molen bought the console in 1998 and rebuilt it in Illinois. His family gave it to the New York Theatre Organ Society in 2011.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1977
The Kings closes for good after its last two films in 1977
The Kings Theatre was sold in May 1977 for $718,385 and reopened that June under the shortened name, without Loew's. It closed on August 30, 1977, because of high costs and low attendance. Its final screenings were The Death of Bruce Lee and Islands in the Stream. It could not be split into a multiplex, since the balcony was too narrow and the orchestra too wide.
“The Kings closed on August 30, 1977; the last films screened there were Islands in the Stream and The Death of Bruce Lee.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1982
Sophie's Choice shoots a scene in the abandoned theater, but the scene is cut
While the theater sat empty and decaying, the filmmakers of Sophie's Choice used it as a location in 1982. The scene shot there was removed from the finished film. Vandals and squatters were damaging the interior in those years.
“The abandoned theater was used as a filming location for the movie Sophie's Choice in 1982; however, the scene shot at the theater was removed from the film.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1999
The city picks Magic Johnson to turn the Kings into a 12-screen multiplex, a plan never carried out
After years of failed redevelopment attempts, the city chose Magic Johnson Theatres and the Plaza Construction Corporation in 1999. Johnson planned a $30 million, 12-screen multiplex, with $2.5 million of city money. Work was due to start in late 1999 but had not begun by October 2000, partly because of financing trouble.
“The city government selected Johnson and the Plaza Construction Corporation as the Kings Theatre's developers in 1999. Johnson planned to construct a 12-screen multiplex there at a cost of $30 million…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2010
Houston's ACE Theatrical Group is chosen to restore the Kings for $70 million
The city announced in February 2010 that ACE Theatrical Group would redevelop the theater. Before work began, workers surveying the interior reportedly found a naked vagrant on the stage, and water had nearly destroyed one side of the auditorium. Work started on January 23, 2013, by which point costs had risen to $94 million, and the final bill was $95 million.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2015
Diana Ross gives the gala reopening performance
The restored theater formally reopened on January 23, 2015, and Diana Ross was chosen as its inaugural artist, giving a gala performance on February 3. Matthew Wolf was hired as executive director. Seating was reduced from the original 3,690 to 3,250.
“The theater formally reopened on January 23, 2015, and Ross gave a gala reopening performance on February 3.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
Diana Ross plays a sold-out show with her daughter as the Kings marks ten years
A Brooklyn Paper report posted on March 3, 2025 describes Ross, then 80, performing for a sold-out house on the second night of her weekend at the theater, as it celebrated its tenth anniversary. Her daughter Rhonda Ross sang a set of her own, and the two performed together for over 30 minutes. Ross invited her grandson and his friends onstage.
Source: brooklynpaper.com
Further reading
- Kings Theatre (Brooklyn)Wikipedia
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