As a five-year, multi-million dollar restoration project of the Brooklyn Paramount has recently finished, the very popular NYC theatre has reopened after a decades-long hiatus.
Originally opened in the 1920s as a movie and vaudeville house, the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre became a respected music venue where stars such as Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Holly, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, etc., have taken the stage.
Since it closed in the 1960s, the space has been a basketball court for Long Island University.
On Wednesday night, Bob Marley’s sons, Damian and Stephen Marley, became the first musicians to perform there in over sixty years.
The theatre has been renovated into a 2,700-capacity music hall, with many of its glimmering and lush architectural features being revived.
Now, the transformed space offers exciting new amenities for contemporary performing artists and audience members while still paying homage to cultural icons of a different time.
Audience members enter the theatre under a brightly lit marquee reminiscent of the building’s original decor. Once inside, people are greeted by a gilded and marble-clad lobby decked with soaring arched ceilings and opulent chandeliers, and on the ceiling, projectors create an entrancing display of patterns and changing visuals.
The Brooklyn Paramount Theatre opened on November 24, 1928, inside an 11-story office building constructed by Paramount Pictures on the Northeast corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue.
It was dubbed “America’s First Theatre Built for Sound,” and with over 4,200 seats, it was the largest theatre in the area in comparison to venues like the Fox Theatre, Metropolitan Theatre, and Albee theatre.
Initially designed by Chicago architecture firm Rapp & Rapp, the intricate interior of the space was filled with Baroque structures and ornamentation.
On opening night, 30,000 people showed up to watch Manhattan Cocktail, a film by one of Hollywood’s few recognized female directors at the time, Dorothy Arzner.
Now, the inaugural line-up at Brooklyn Paramount includes a versatile bunch of performers like Sean Paul, Sting, Norah Jones, Liam Gallagher, and local talent such as Brooklyn-based Diiv and Bronx DJs, The Martinez Brothers. The venue will also host events like talks, podcast shows, and music festivals in the near future.
