6. The Queens Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses used to be the Bliss Theatre
Today, the Queens Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses sits in a historic building that used to be the Bliss Theatre. The theater was named after Neziah Bliss, who helped found the Long Island City area. The theater was constructed in 1930 by R. Thomas Short & William Rau, who built many Century Theaters locations. The theater was designed to show movies on a Magnascopic Screen.
The theater’s decorations were stunning but unexpected, drawing from ancient Egyptian motifs and architecture. Murals throughout depicted Egyptian history, though much of this imagery was removed once the Assembly Hall moved in. The theater catered mostly to Sunnyside locals, and even with the shifts in movie distribution in the 1960s, attendance remained the same, leading the theater to shut its doors. The auditorium has mostly been changed, but the exterior remains mostly untouched.