Boulevard Theatre (Queens)

Boulevard Theatre was an 1,839-seat theater opened in 1926 in the Jackson Heights section of Queens, New York. It now lives on as the Boulevard Latin Cuisine restaurant . Herbert J. Krapp was the building's architect and it was part of the Grob & Knobel circuit. Designed as a playhouse it showed pre-openings headed for Broadway and shows closed out on Broadway. These attractions were shown Monday through Saturday, while vaudeville and a feature movie were shown on Sundays.[1][2]

It eventually became a double-feature movie house, competing with the Jackson Theatre, and was later modified into a triplex as it struggled to survive into the 1980s.[3] It closed and was empty for a decade as neighborhood progression took hold. The owner wanted it demolished, but with community support it was eventually converted into a dinner theater venue serving the area's Hispanic community. The entrance and lobby of the theater is now a restaurant and bar, and three auditoriums in the back are used for plays, concerts, and import films.[1]