Flatbush Pavilion, 1981

Many thanks to faithful reader "LGR," who brings our attention to a 1981 photograph of the Flatbush Pavilion (a.k.a. Cinema Plaza):

Flatbush Pavilion Theater - 1981
photo: American Classic Images

It is instructive to note the condition of the marquee in 1981, above, compared to the recent views below. All the detailing seems to have been shaved off:

Flatbush Pavilion Theater - 2008

Flatbush Pavilion Theater - now
photo: Google Street View

"LGR" also asks: "Does anyone happen to know where on Flatbush the mezzanine exit from the subway actually let? I simply cannot recall from my hazy youth, but it must have been around here."

Our understanding is that the mezzanine exit was through the closed door with the ornate surround, between Antonio's Pizzeria and American Apparel, shown below. The Park Slope Civic Council has been exploring the possibility of reopening this closed entrance to the 7th Avenue station:

Former entrance - 7th Avenue station
photo: Google Street View

Note that in the 1981 photograph at the top, the door seems still to have been in use. Also note that the classic Antonio's Pizzeria sign seems to be unchanged since 1981!

The StationReporter description for the 7th Avenue station notes that there is an emergency exit at the extreme southern end of the southbound platform. Thus one would expect to find an unmarked door, somewhere on the west side of Flatbush, to the south of the current station entrance. A possible candidate might be the white door with no knob, below:

Emergency exit door?
photo: Google Street View

In Case You Missed It: Flatbush Pavilion

In case you missed it... a note about the Flatbush Pavilion, from an article in today's Times about conversions of old theaters to other uses.

Note that in an earlier post, we incorrectly confused the Flatbush Pavilion with the nearby Plaza Theater, whose entrance was around the corner on Park Place. Commenter LGR pointed out our error at that time; you were right and we were wrong!

Flatbush Pavilion, 1912

Flatbush Pavilion
Park Slope, Brooklyn

ORIGINAL Built in 1912 by John Bunny, a silent-film star who was called Film’s First King of Comedy, it was known as the Bunny Theater until it closed in 1929. After a series of reincarnations — it has been called the Plaza Theater and the Plaza Twin — the Flatbush Pavilion opened in 2001 and ended its run as one of the oldest surviving movie theaters in the city when it closed in 2004.

REMAKE The old lobby’s floor has been redone in glossy blue epoxy and the tin ceiling has been restored, but where the screen once stood there is a stage, populated by mannequins clad in American Apparel leotards and leggings. The former projection booth is now a sound studio for the brand’s Internet radio station, Viva Radio, which has encouraged the rearranging of the letters on the marquee to create poems, jokes or advertisements.