[Livetotravel]

Went to see The Dark Knight at the 3:00 PM show in the big room all the way upstairs - it must have need 90 degrees in that hot box for the entire length of the movie. Everyone was sweating profusely and downing tons of water. Afterward a mob scene ensued with people loudly complaining - all to no avail. The best excuses from the "management" - "I just work here" and "there were too many people." Jesus - the biggest movie of the summer and they don't adjust for it!

I loved the movie (Ledger is amazing) but I fucking hate the Pavilion!!!

Go see it in Manhattan. Boycott that dump!
_________________
But that's impossible.

http://unratedunfiltered.com/

[Flexichick]

Hmmm..

1) in that situation, I'd ask for the manager
2) ask for a refund (or at least a pass to see another movie another time)

As for a boycott, unless you specifically tell somebody WHY you are not going to patronize their establishment, they won't make a connection (if they even notice).

Why not call the manager now and explain how disappointed you are in their theatre and the response?
_________________
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball!

[Obamanut]

I saw The Wackness at the Angelika last week and it wasn't much better.. had to strip down to my wife beater.

You are right though, the Pavilion is a dump.

[Nuclear Redaction]

I went to see Wall-E there today. Arrived at 12:45 for a 1:00 show; the movie was in a little theater on the 3rd floor, but when I got to the 2nd floor, they said they were still cleaning the theater. Everyone going to that showing had to wait in the 2nd-floor concession area, where the A/C either wasn't on or was too anemic to make a difference. They finally let us up there at about 12:55, and the trailers didn't start until about 1:05. For a 1:00 show. Good planning, that. At least the A/C was working in the theater itself.
_________________
To have ambition was my ambition -- Gof4

[veets]

On this hot summer evening let us not forget that in the winter there is little/no heat in that theater. I would sit there in a down jacket and scarf for the whole movie and when it was over walk out on the street and warm up. What ashame that the one "neighborhood" movie house in the Slope is so terrible. I gave up over two years ago and haven't been in the place since. Sorry to hear it is just as bad.

[bullyboy]

So how can we communicate this to the ownership of the theater?

[pitu]

[modsquad]

To bad about the Pavilion. I remember when it first opened, one of the best places to go in the whole city. That theater had been closed for many years before they renovated. The 2nd floor was really jumping for awhile. They took over that Kung Fu/blackploitation theater on Flatbush and 7th and turned that around for a few years. I think its a Mandee's now or something like that. I'm pretty sure there were articles about the owner and his love of movies etc. that didn't justify the renovation expense. I think he bailed at some point. Oh well.

[lkpnyc]

I overheard an interesting conversation while at the theater yesterday, which made me feel worse for the people who work there.

I heard a woman employee speaking about another girl that had fainted the day before from the heat in the theater.

We should band together as a community and buy the place out and get in new management.

[raw]

What Livetotravel wrote is 100% true. I was there same bat time and channel.

It was 96°F arond 3 PM.

The owners and managers of Park Slope Pavillion knew darn well every screening of Batman the Dark Night would sell out yesterday.

By the way, I complained and one staff member told me that the owner refused to fix the AC. Another staff member complained about not having an AC to ME -- a customer. The people who work at the Park Slope Pavillion must wear heavy uniforms. Staff and customers were all sweating and miserable. Where is the top jerk who will take responsibility for this???

It is all about money and what the market will bear. The top jerk who runs Park Slope Pavillion knows it is expensive to run air conditioners and knows that people will still keep going to the movies. As long as we all keep going to that cinema, nothing will change.

It would be wonderful if a new (non art house) movie theater with stadium seating and heat in the winter and air conditioners in the summer opened in Park Slope. We have a BIG need in this neighborhood for a movie theater.
_________________
I blame such comments on beer.
© karlthedruid 2007

[bullyboy]

So who owns the Pavilion?

[raw]

[bullyboy]

July 24, 2006:

A real-estate developer with no history as a movie theater owner has bought Park Slope’s Pavilion multiplex — and the sale has local movie-goers worried that he will convert the much-loved theater into a residential building.

But new owner Abraham J. Hidary — who plunked down $16 million for the building last month — told The Brooklyn Papers that he’s in the movie business to stay.

http://www.bigscreen.com/journal.php?id=181

Gotta love the Google...

[bullyboy]

The original article:

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/29/27/29_27nets5.html

[raw]

http://www.hidrockre.com/contact_us.asp
65 West 36th Street, Suite 1200
New York, NY 10018
Tel: 212.563.9200
Fax: 212.563.9290
E-mail: info@hidrock.com

From Crain’s 2006:

www.hidrock.com/press_pdf/100006.pdf

With housing prices in brownstone Brooklyn at
lofty levels, patrons of the Park Slope Pavilion
movie theater often ask anxiously if it will be
converted to condominiums.
The new owner has a reassuring answer, at least
for the short term.

``It would be a great condo conversion at some
point,'' says Abraham J. Hidary, president of
Manhattan-based Hidrock Realty Inc. ``[But] it
is a movie theater, and is going to remain that
way for a long time.''

Mr. Hidary's family-owned real estate firm
agreed in mid-June to pay $16 million for the
35,000-square-foot theater. The deal with seller
One Liberty Properties Inc. of Great Neck, L.I.,
is slated to close in August.

As hot as the housing market is, the property's
$1.1 million rent means it's now more valuable
as a theater than as residences, says Ken
Freeman of Massey Knakal Realty Services,
who brokered the sale. The theater operator,
New Jersey-based Access Integrated
Technologies Inc., has 16 years remaining on its
lease, plus options for two 10-year renewals.
The owner isn't eager to replace concession
stands with gourmet kitchens. ``I've been going
to that theater for years myself,'' says Mr.
Hidary, who lives nearby, off Ocean Parkway.
``I anticipate the theater only doing better as
Park Slope improves, as more people move in.''
Though area real estate values have tripled in the
past decade or so, Mr. Hidary does not believe
that the market has peaked.

``We see a lot of future in Brooklyn,'' the
executive says. ``Brooklyn is now head and
shoulders ahead of the other [outer] boroughs.''
The theater has a rich and checkered history.
First opened in 1928 and named for the brothers
who built it, the Sanders shut in 1978 and was
later seized by the federal government in
connection with a credit-union scandal.
Norman Adie and three partners bought the
property at 188 Prospect Park West in 1993 and
reopened it in 1996, adding a second-floor cafe
before selling to One Liberty in 2002. The eatery
has since closed, but remains intact. Mr. Hidary
says he will press the theater operator to reopen
it.With housing prices in brownstone Brooklyn at
lofty levels, patrons of the Park Slope Pavilion
movie theater often ask anxiously if it will be
converted to condominiums.

The new owner has a reassuring answer, at least
for the short term.

``It would be a great condo conversion at some
point,'' says Abraham J. Hidary, president of
Manhattan-based Hidrock Realty Inc. ``[But] it
is a movie theater, and is going to remain that
way for a long time.''

Mr. Hidary's family-owned real estate firm
agreed in mid-June to pay $16 million for the
35,000-square-foot theater. The deal with seller
One Liberty Properties Inc. of Great Neck, L.I.,
is slated to close in August.

As hot as the housing market is, the property's
$1.1 million rent means it's now more valuable
as a theater than as residences, says Ken
Freeman of Massey Knakal Realty Services,
who brokered the sale. The theater operator,
New Jersey-based Access Integrated
Technologies Inc., has 16 years remaining on its
lease, plus options for two 10-year renewals.
The owner isn't eager to replace concession
stands with gourmet kitchens. ``I've been going
to that theater for years myself,'' says Mr.
Hidary, who lives nearby, off Ocean Parkway.

``I anticipate the theater only doing better as
Park Slope improves, as more people move in.''
Though area real estate values have tripled in the
past decade or so, Mr. Hidary does not believe
that the market has peaked.

``We see a lot of future in Brooklyn,'' the
executive says. ``Brooklyn is now head and
shoulders ahead of the other [outer] boroughs.''
The theater has a rich and checkered history.
First opened in 1928 and named for the brothers
who built it, the Sanders shut in 1978 and was
later seized by the federal government in
connection with a credit-union scandal.
Norman Adie and three partners bought the
property at 188 Prospect Park West in 1993 and
reopened it in 1996, adding a second-floor cafe
before selling to One Liberty in 2002. The eatery
has since closed, but remains intact. Mr. Hidary
says he will press the theater operator to reopen
it.
_________________
I blame such comments on beer.
© karlthedruid 2007

[Livetotravel]

I did complain to the resident management yesterday and was offered no consolation, consideration or relief. I have just sent an e-mail to the address raw provided. I urge all concerned to e-mail Mr Hidary with your concerns and complaints.
_________________
But that's impossible.

http://unratedunfiltered.com/

[alafairnadia]

thanks for the info. I saw cloverfield there and had a similar experience. it was so fucking hot in the theater I stripped down to my final layer (well, not my bra, but you know). when the movie was finished, I got up and literally felt my shirt peeling itself away from the seat. I didn't complain to anyone simply because it didn't seem worth the trouble but I'll toss my word in with everyone else's.
_________________
like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote

[Underhill_MT]

[veets]

I did send a letter to that addy about my complaints. I hope other people take afew minutes and do the same.

[veets]

Summer is a great time to see a movie and the Pavilion is my local theater and I would like to patronize it. However the current conditions in this place make it impossible to enjoy seeing a film. Yes we are having a hot summer hot but it is absolutely essential that whatever needs to be done to keep each of the theaters within the complex at a reasonable temperature.

This is not a situation where the AC is broken and the management can inform a potential patron of the situation and then they get to decide if they want to pay the money and deal with the heat. The temperature of this building is being kept at a level where the enclosed, airless, windowless viewing rooms are just unbearable.

I do have afew other complaints about broken seats and sticky floors but compared to the problem that I have presented above they are trivial.
I know I am not the only person in Brooklyn who has noticed this problem because as I google up various local forums many people are refusing to go to the Pavilion because of the temperature control problem and the shoddy maintenance of the building.

What a shame! This local theater should be the "star" of the neighborhood!

If the owners want to see how a theater should be run go see a movie in BAM. It is the perfection of how to maintain a movie theater in all ways.

I would be interested in hearing from management in relation to these very real complaints I am presenting..


This is copy of the letter I sent.

Will I get a response... we shall see?

[Obamanut]

[shishkab]

"eager"? hardly.

the word used was "anxious".

there's a huge difference.
_________________
Get your paws off my canned chicken

[jeffrey]

Reading the article, it sounds like the NJ-based theater mgmt company that has the long-term lease on the space is the culprit, not the owner.

The owner can put some amount of pressure on them, but let's face it...a lease to operate a business means that the business is at the discretion of the operating company that leases it.

So I'd place all efforts in that direction, to the attention of senior management at their NJ headquarters (as mentioned in the article posted above).

And also send notices of the situation to the Better Business Bureau, as their rating should indeed be affected for negligence like this.
_________________
i extend my battery life by averting extreme injustice and inherent evil

[brooklynpotter]

am i the only one old enough to remember that AC used to be one of the big reasons people went summer movies?

someone needs to call "shame on you". or plan a boycott. or both.
_________________
what would you tell me, if i could hear you speaking?--t.r.

[Drano]

[BrooklynGigCenter]

I'm guessing it wouldn't hurt to put in a complaint to the NYC Health Dept either, especially after that girl passed out....aren't there regulations on this?

[veets]

[pastoralia]

I gave up on the Pavilion years ago...crummy service, clueless employees, and shitty theaters.

While it would be a shame to lose this theater (if it was run better I'd go here instead of UA at Union Square) I wonder why Park Slope doesn't jump on the "Theater Experience" bandwagon that other smaller cities have. A friend of mine went to a movie in Denver where you can pay extra (like $15 total) and be seated at a table with a waiter to bring you drinks and food (for extra, of course). Something like that would totally make me go back to see a movie in a theater instead of waiting for it on Netflix.

Less screaming schmucks would help to.

And if this ass-clown who owns the Pavilion wants to turn it into condos- he's not going to do dick to improve the place...he's hoping everyone stops coming so he can flip it.

[Ruska B]

Did they get new seats in some of the theaters? i took my son there to see Thomas last week and the seats seemed new.

Funny anecdote: last year, a girlfriend and I went to go see "Brave One" (which totally sucked) and there were only 2 other people in the theater, and one of the employees came in a gave us an impromtu comedy routine. It may have been the margaritas, but the kid cracked me up.

I totally relate to the complaints, but I think I have just learned to have such low low expectations of most things, that way I can be pleasantly surprised a little more often ...

[tajmb]

The #63 bus on 5th ave will take you right down to the UA court street theatres. Is that not convenient enough? Oh, and the air conditioning was turned up so high on Sat that I was wishing I'd brought a jacket.

[J0518]

[J0518]

I will say this.....no A/C happens in the best of theaters. I've sat through hot movies at a lot of great NYC theaters. Don't judge them on that.

However, DO judge them ont hat fact that some of those smaller rooms have smaller screens than some of my friends' living rooms.

[veets]

The UA Court Street theater is just a terrible complex. Jo518's description of the matubator in the restroom is a good example of the creepyness of this place.

[Drano]

[J0518]

[Ruska B]

[quote="Drano"][quote="J0518"]take the 2 train to Chambers and go to Battery Park City instead.[/quote]

Shhhhhhh....there's no theater in Battery Park City.[/quote]

There isn't? There used to be, then, up by Stuyvesant. I saw Mel Gibson's Passion there.

[Hamilton]

[quote="J0518"]

[brooklynpotter]

seems this thread made gowanus lounge and gothamist...
http://gothamist.com/2008/07/21/park_slope_pavilion_a_hot_box.php
_________________
what would you tell me, if i could hear you speaking?--t.r.

[Shinybeast]

I just called and asked them if it had been fixed because I would have gone if it had (too lazy to head into Manhattan). She answered, "It's being worked on." And then she actually asked, "Why?" I just said "Thank you" and hung up.

[BrooklynGigCenter]

Eyewitless News loves to cover stuff like this....anybody feel like droppin' a dime on them?

[alafairnadia]

well, I'm planning to go see wanted tomorrow with a friend. hopefully we won't be silly enough to go there.
_________________
like a smoked meat with an earthy youth overnote

[veets]

[ljnd]

Was there last night to see Dark Knight and it seems they've heard the news. The AC was up so high we were shivering.

[Livetotravel]

[BoogieKnight]

Haven't been to the Pavilion in years because they were pissing me off w/ the constant underlighting of their films.

Cheap theaters seem to believe that showing a film at full brightness costs them money in either film wear or light bills, but they always seem to forget that people just stop going to see the damn movies.

UA Court's Hancock was also dimly projected - I hope that was a one-off and not a portend of bullshit to come.