8. The Shore Theatre

Image via After The Final Curtain

Coney Island‘s Shore Theatre opened on June 17, 1926 as the Loew’s Coney Island Theatre as both a vaudeville house and movie theater. Eventually the vaudeville was phased out and was strictly a movie theater. The 2, 387-seat theatre was constructed by the same company that demolished the Roxy Theatre in Manhattan, the Chainin Construction Company.

In 1964, it was taken over by Brandt Theatres and subsequently renamed The Shore. In the 1970s, the Shore switched gears and began to cater to its adult audience by showing X-rated films, though that didn’t last long as since it shut down in March 1973. The theater’s exterior facade was landmarked on December 14, 2010, but the interior was not landmarked, leaving it a possible victim of demolition.

This past January, developer Pye Properties bought the theater and said they will convert the Shore back into its former glory, reopening it as a year-round theater.

On our next tour of the Secrets of Coney Island, we’ll be making a stop outside the Shore Theatre.