5. Kew Gardens Cinemas is one of a handful of Art Deco theaters in Queens
Kew Gardens Cinemas is an Art Deco theater built in 1935. Originally called the Austin Theatre because of its proximity to the prominent commercial thoroughfare along Austin Street, the theater was the height of modernity for its time. The Austin Theatre’s interior was decorated with ornate wooden paneling along the walls and a giant mural of a blue-and-pink stork across the ceiling. The theater remained luxurious and successful until the 1960s, when it went into decline, eventually being converted into a porn house in the 1970s.
Then, in the early 2000s, Harvey Elgart and his son Andrew Elgart bought the historic building and began refurbishing it to bring back its 1935 glory. They installed new wood paneling and removed layers of sheetrock from the ceiling to reveal the original stork mural, which survived largely undamaged. Today, the Kew Gardens Cinemas is a modern theater and movie house with a sleek Art Deco aesthetic.
