Shuttered Port Washington "Beacon Theatre" Sold

By Rupert Deedes

The historic, but long-shuttered Beacon Theatre on Main Street in Port Washington - operated for many years as the Bow Tie Cinema - has been sold, and is scheduled to be rehabilitated.

The original Beacon Theatre was opened in 1927 as a 1,500 seat theatre. When it opened, it was then a large, single screen cinema, showing silent films and "talkies." The original owner was AH Schwartz.

"With the throwing open of the doors to this magnificent theatre, it is in reality significant of throwing open a new door to the town of Port Washington," stated a story published in 1927 in the Port Washington News. A place "where outsiders may enter in and find the hospitality, the loveliness and the homeliness of our wonderful little city.”

Two thousand people attended the opening night of the Beacon Theatre, with crowds lining both sides of Main Street. The premier presentation was a silent film, "The Life of Riley," starring Charles Murray, June Marlowe and George Sidney.

The Beacon went through a series of closings and re-openings, and its conversion into a multiplex in the early 1970's. In 2013, the Beacon was taken over by Bow Tie Cinemas, which ran the threatre as a multiplex movie theatre for five years. Bow Tie pulled-out and closed the Beacon in early 2018. It has been derelict and unused for the past five years. The new owners, Tribeca Mews Ltd. purchased the building and grounds for about $2.85 million, earlier this year. The new owners plan to extensively renovate the building, and are "exploring options" including reviving the building as a movie theatre.