The Old Movie Palace That’s Now A Target #nyc #flatbush #brooklyn #didyouknow #history #theater

If you’re going shopping at this Target in Flatbush, Brooklyn, just off of Church Ave. and East 21st Street, and walk through the large marquee at the entrance, you’ll be standing inside what was once a 3,000-seat movie palace. This was the Keith-Albee Kenmore Theatre.

Opened on September 17, 1928, the theater was designed by architect Eugene DeRosa in the Adam style of architecture, and was built for both movies and vaudeville. Inside, there was a marble-lined lobby, grand staircases, a massive 60-foot dome, and at one time, murals by Hungarian-born artist Willy Pogany.

More than 3,000 people could watch a show here at once. But the golden age of vaudeville didn't last.

By 1932, the Kenmore had become part of the RKO chain and was known as the RKO Keith’s Kenmore. It switched to showing movies exclusively, competing with other giant theaters in Flatbush, including the Loew’s Kings Theater.

In 1999, the theater became the scene of a deadly shooting during the screening of Life. A dispute over a seat escalated into gunfire, leaving one person dead and two others wounded. The NYPD shut the theater down, and despite having operated for more than 70 years, the Kenmore never reopened as a movie theater.

In 2003, the theater was gutted and converted into a Modell’s Sporting Goods store and when Modell’s went bankrupt in 2020, Target moved in.

Sources:
“RKO Keith's Kenmore Theatre” (The New York Chapter of the American Guild of Organists)
“Building of the Day: 2101 Church Avenue” (Brownstoner, Suzanne Spellen, 2011)
“Brooklyn Man, 21, Is Dead After Shooting in a Theater” (New York Times, Kit R. Roane, 1999)
“Target Coming to Church Avenue in Flatbush, Replacing Modell’s” (Bklyner, Billy Richling, 2021)
“New Kenmore Theatre Opens Tomorrow Night” (The Brooklyn Daily Times, 1928)
“New Keith House Opens” (Times Union, 1928)