Shore Theater

1301 Surf Avenue | also 2932 Stillwell Avenue | Coney Island | built 1925

Open on the map7 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1924

    May

    Construction starts on the former Culver Depot site, where a holdout resident is paid $5,000 to leave

    The Coney Island Theater went up on the site of the Culver Depot, a rail terminal retired after the subway terminal opened. One resident refused to be evicted, and a court case ended with him being paid $5,000 to go. The Chanin Construction Company began building in May 1924, with architects Paul C. Reilly and Douglas Pairman Hall.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1925

    June 17

    Marcus Loew opens the Coney Island Theater, with the Hilton Sisters on stage the first week

    Marcus Loew himself presided over the opening, promising a crowd of stage, screen and radio stars that included Texas Guinan and Ben Lyon. Builder Irwin Chanin hoped the corner would become a Coney Island version of Broadway and 42nd Street. The Hilton Sisters, Violet and Daisy, took the stage during the first week.

    “The Loew's Coney Island Theater opened on June 17, 1925. Marcus Loew himself presided ... During the first week of operation, the stage was given over to Violet and Daisy Hilton…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1925

    Reilly & Hall design a seven-story brick and terra-cotta theater and office building for Coney Island

    Paul C. Reilly and Douglas Pairman Hall, noted theater architects of the 1920s, faced the building in limestone, brick and terra cotta rather than the wood common at Coney Island. It combined a theater with offices meant for entertainment-industry tenants. The commission's report reads the neo-Renaissance Revival design as a sign of Coney Island's year-round ambitions.

    “Limestone, brick, and terra cotta were used, rather than wood, as had been the custom at Coney Island.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1966

    April

    Burlesque operator Leroy Griffith stages shows at the Shore Theater

    After Loew's lost control of the theater in 1964, it became the Brandt Shore Theater and showed only movies. By the end of 1965 management announced musicals, revues and plays, with offerings such as "The Jewel Box Revue" and "Bagels and Yox". By April 1966 the burlesque operator Leroy C. Griffith was putting on shows there, and films came back alongside the live acts.

    “By April 1966, burlesque operator Leroy C. Griffith was staging shows at the Shore; thereafter, films resumed being shown along with live entertainment.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 1978

    Kansas Fried Chicken owner Horace Bullard buys the theater and fails to turn it into a hotel and casino

    Bullard bought the building in 1978 or 1979, one of many Coney Island properties he acquired. His plan for a hotel and casino did not succeed, and the theater continued to deteriorate. Later, squatters and graffiti writers moved in, and photographs by historian Charles Denson in 2006 showed rubble on the floor. Security increased after a blogger got in and photographed it.

    “The building was sold in 1978 or 1979 to Kansas Fried Chicken owner Horace Bullard ... Bullard unsuccessfully tried to renovate the theater into a hotel and casino.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 2010

    December 14

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the Coney Island Theater Building a landmark

    The commission's report describes the seven-story building as among the largest and most substantial in Coney Island, a product of 1920s hopes for a year-round entertainment district. Nine speakers backed designation at the March 2010 hearing, including representatives of the Historic Districts Council, the Municipal Art Society and Save Coney Island.

    “December 14, 2010, Designation List 436 ... There were nine speakers in favor of designation…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  7. 2016

    January

    Pye Properties buys the Shore Theater for $14 million and plans a boutique hotel

    Developer Pye Properties bought the Shore Theater for $14 million in January 2016. A hotel and entertainment complex were proposed after the sale. In August 2018 a 50-room boutique hotel was announced, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a revised design by Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel Architects in March 2019. The renovation did not begin until early 2023.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 12 buildings with stories in Coney Island