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THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 27, 2005
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Controversial Movie House
Last Art Deco Theater In Queens
by Robert Pozarycki
Outside the crumbling marquee of the Trylon movie theater in Forest Hills, a small but vocal group of about fifteen activists demonstrated against ongoing renovations of the site last Sunday afternoon.
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Protestors made up of community activists as well as members of the Committee to Save the Trylon Theater protested the renovations of the closed movie house last Sunday. They seek to have the Landmarks Preservation Commission preserve the site and declare it a landmark. Currently, the theater is undergoing renovations by a local community group, which the protesters believe is destroying a valuable example of Art Deco architecture.
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“The Trylon is an architectural and historical gem,” said Michael Perlman of the Committee to Save the Trylon Theater. “Pretty soon, it will be no more.”
Donning a mask, Perlman helped lead the protest of the renovations, saying that the original architect “would be turning in his grave.” Carrying signs reading “Now Playing: Gone With the Jackhammer” and “Trylon Trashed: Restore what was lost,” the protesters called upon the city to take action to preserve the marquee and the box office.
Glen Leiner, executive director of the Art Deco Society of New York, told the Times Newsweekly that theaters like the Trylon are few and far between, and that it is necessary to save such historic structures.
“It’s a single-screen movie house, and older theaters are an endangered species,” Leiner said. “Many of them have been creatively re-adapted for new uses, and that is the purpose of our rally.”
Many protesters voiced their frustration with the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission. Mitchell Grubler, director of the Queens Historical Society, stated that though the LPC has repeatedly denied landmark status to the site, the Trylon meets every condition set by the city for designating a landmark.
“We understand that all of the significant architectural elements are going to be destroyed,” Grubler said. “It contains 60-plus years of the community’s personal history who patronized this theater.” Without government intervention, Grubler noted, the Trylon was doomed to be changed beyond comprehension. The protestors called on the city LPC and its director, Robert Tierney, to intervene and halt current construction projects at the site.
The protesters also asked Council Member Melinda Katz to hear their side of the story. Many protesters believe Katz acted too quickly in securing $200,000 in funds to help the new occupants, the Education Center for Russian Jewry, renovate the movie theater.
“It’s ironic that there’s so many historic buildings where there is no money [available],” Grubler noted. “In this case, there is funding allocated by the local council woman. Instead of sympathetically adapting the building for new use, the organization’s intention is to destroy all of the significant features.”
Controversy
The push to save the theater comes as the Education Center for Russian works to convert the theater into a community center. The organization has served Bukharian Jewish residents living in the Forest Hills and Rego Park area for the last twenty years through a wide variety of services from lectures to citizenship classes.
David Alishaev, a member of the organization’s board, stated that the center would serve the entire community with a variety of activities and services open to the public.
“Our facilities would be open to all,” Alishaev said in a phone interview with the Times Newsweekly. “It doesn’t make a difference to us who you are. People can get help and a smile from us.”
Alishaev questioned the motivation of the groups objecting to the plans. With the protests coming six years following the closure of the Trylon, he believes the protests smack of discrimination. He stated that a great majority of the Forest Hills/Rego Park area have accepted the Bukharian Jewish community, and that the protest comes from “a few people trying to distract” completion of the project.
While the protesters showed little objection to the use of the building, they did question the methods of construction on the project.
“We have no problem with this building being adapted for use by the Education Center for Russian Jewry,” Grubler stated. “The issue is the destruction of the building.”
When asked about the methods being used to redevelop the Trylon, Alishaev noted that massive renovations are necessary to rehabilitate the site and bring it up to building codes.
“The building is falling apart,” Alishaev added, stating that the building fails to have a sprinkler system or accessible toilets or entryways for disabled persons.
Protesters, meanwhile, believe that the center could rehabilitate the old Trylon and bring it up to code while preserving the historic feel and architecture of the building.
“There are historic buildings throughout this state and this country that have been brought up to code without destroying the historic features of the building,” Grubler told the Times Newsweekly. Other movie theaters, he noted, have been converted to other uses without destroying its architecture. Grubler believes the Trylon should be treated no differently.
History
The Trylon movie theater opened its doors the day after Christmas, Dec. 26, 1939. According to a fact sheet supplied by Jeff Gottlieb of the Central Queens Historical Association, Trylon refers to the 610-foot-tall obelisk built alongside the 18-story circular Perisphere, which were the trademark symbols of the 1939-40 World’s Fair held at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
Reflecting the theme of the World’s Fair as “a glimpse of the world of tomorrow,” Gottlieb noted that the Trylon was considered by locals as the “Theater of Tomorrow.” The nearly 600 seat theater was constructed in the Art Deco style, a popular architectural movement during the 1920s and 1930s that inspired such projects as the Empire State Building.
“It is Art Deco beautiful with a vertical glass block section and a cast concrete vertical element to give this relatively small theater a larger than life size,” according to Gottlieb. He noted that the 1939 World’s Fair Trylon is memorialized in a motif on the box office and a repetitive chevron pattern on the entranceway floor.
During its time, the Trylon played host to many classic films such as “The Wizard of Oz,” “Gypsy,” and “Drums Along The Mohawk.”
Looking back
Many former patrons gathered at the protest recalled fond memories of the theater. One resident, identified as Joel, lamented the loss of the loss of the movie house. He believes that the Trylon has a significance in Queens’ history, and that something was lost when the theater closed. He also believes that the extensive renovations of the structure are unnecessary to its survival.
“What’s wrong with anything old?” Joel asked. “Just because something is old doesn’t mean you have to tear it down.”
Mildred Press, a Forest Hills resident, also recalls the 50th birthday of the Trylon, celebrated in 1989. A former resident of the Bronx, she also attended movies at the Loews Paradise, one of the largest and oldest movie houses in the entire city.
“They preserved the Paradise,” Press noted, referring to the recent restoration of the theater into a multi-purpose theater and concert hall. “They should preserve the Trylon as well.”