Host Intro: Movie theaters have been on a bumpy road in the years since the pandemic. Multiple independent movie theaters in the city have closed in the last couple years. But one local theater in Queens has been standing strong for nearly 100 years. New York City News Service’s Valerie Conklin went to Kew Gardens to speak with them.
[Ambi: Street]
Narr: On Lefferts Boulevard in Queens, an old art deco building stands out from the other store fronts. It has a red neon sign on its awning that says “Kew Gardens Cinema” and a marquee listing movies the old-fashioned way on either side.
Rodriguez: Mostly you’re grabbing letters and numbers to put up whatever movie is upcoming, and then you just sort them in the right way by date.
Narr: This is Jayden Rodriguez. It’s his turn to switch out the movies displayed on the marquis, which he does by hand.
Rodriguez: So I’m attaching the letter to the stick, which has a suction cup attached to the end of it, which allows me to put the letters up on the sign.
Narr: Inside, there’s a concession counter where you can buy tickets and snacks. Off to one side there’s a lounge where you can kill time while you wait for your movie to start.
Portee: My name’s Jonathan Portee and here at this movie theater, I’m a manager. I sling popcorn and I sell movie tickets.
Narr: According to box office numbers collected by IMDB, ticket sales in the United States have mostly climbed steadily in the last 5 years. They are still a few billion dollars below prepandemic sales. Some theaters in New York City have folded, like one in College Point and one in the South Bronx last year. But Kew Gardens Cinema remain.
Portee: What the owner, the movie theater would like me to say is that it’s been here so long. It’s kind of an undeniable place and it’s a part of many people’s lives in the community. I kind of think though, that they just got lucky. There’s one other movie theater up the block on Metropolitan that kind of competes with us, but where a little bit better. We offer kind of slightly better prices,
AX: trnsaction “Total’s going to be five cash card. That’s amazing. I’ll give you cash. Great. $5 Wednesday, every Wednesday all day long. Who even new?”
Narr: Portee: and then because it’s been here for so long, it’s a little bit more well known.