When Fresh Meadows was once Twin...

WHEN FRESH MEADOWS WAS ONCE TWIN...

By Jerry Saravia

I was a mere 9 years old when I lived in Fresh Meadows, NY in the Queens borough in 1980. I used to live on 194th St. and right across the street was the Queens Fresh Meadows Public Library. A block or two south took me to the one and only Fresh Meadows Twin Theaters. Price of admission for afternoon matinees were two dollars and with my weekly allowance, I would frequent the theater on a weekly basis. The films I had seen there were "Popeye," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Rad" (God, why did I see that? Just because I had a BMX bike?), "The Sword and the Sorcerer," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Hercules," "The Natural," "Misunderstood," "Supergirl," "Nightmare on Elm Street 4," "Terms of Endearment," "A Christmas Story," "Victor, Victoria," "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (about four times), "Always," "Breakin'" I and II, "Hook," "Rambo: First Blood Part II," "Another 48 HRS.," and on and on.

Inside the Fresh Meadows theater (ahhh, the days of balconies)

The inside of the movie theater looked like a palace and the actual screening room was vast, plus the sound system was excellent. It is interesting to note the films they played there because it was only a twin theater until sometime in 1987 or 1988 where they began showing 5 films and it became a Cineplex Odeon Theater (they would include the revolting "Cocktail," the action masterpiece "Die Hard" and the controversial "Mississippi Burning," not to mention "Madame Sousatska"). This may be because further south on the adjacent Horace Harding Expressway they had a multiplex (The Cinema 5 which had a beautiful mural outside of it) where they would show films that the Fresh Meadows theater would not show. For example, the "Superman" flicks were never shown at the Twin, nor were "Star Trek III" or "Star Trek IV" (those two were at the Cinema 5) nor any Elm Street sequels except for Part 4, or Kubrick's "The Shining" or "Full Metal Jacket" (at least this was all true from 1980-1989 when I eventually moved and only visited up until 1991). "The Last Temptation of Christ" may not have made it anywhere in Queens, to the best of my knowledge, since it was playing at one or two exclusive theaters in Manhattan. In fact, I don't think any Martin Scorsese flicks were shown at the Twin during that period except for "Raging Bull."

My memory of the twin theaters was of seeing those big, bright red letters on the marquee which gave me goosebumps every time I passed by there or went to see a film. My favorite memories are of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Rambo: First Blood Part II." I had no desire to see "Raiders" at that time because it looked like a western to me and not very exciting - of course, once I sat down to watch it, the film thrilled and spooked me to such a degree that I was literally grabbing the arms of my seat. Now I can't say I had the same experience with "Rambo" but I do remember my own classmates asking adults to pay for their ticket since it was restricted. Those were the days.

Below are pictures I located online of the various changes Fresh Meadows Twin went through since 1949.

1949 (Note the Meadows sign adjacent to the marquee)

Aerial view, 1951

1976 (Meadows sign still intact although "Rocky" seems to be the only film playing. I could not find any pics from 1980-1989 of the theater but I do remember that they did away with the Meadows sign. Also the Fresh Meadows neon letters from the top of the building were yellow. My apartment faced the back of that theater and had the same letters in yellow).

Today (No longer the twin and the neon letters above are now white which is not as striking) Another interesting change is that "Indy 4" is playing and it is simply called "Indy 4." Back in 1984, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" took over that whole side of the marquee with, again, bright red letters.