This Main St. theater in Patchogue is in total ruins. Once the large, boring multiplexes took over, these places started dropping like flies. Some have become cinema or theatrical art centers. This one, however, didn't meet such a lucky fate. Perhaps some of you will remember seeing a movie there. Thank you Jeremy, Will and John for these pictures.
UPDATE from Suffolk Life 6/25/07: It will be one year next month that Suffolk County and Brookhaven Town elected officials stood shoulder-to-shoulder at a press conference in front of the Plaza Theatre, announcing that the county would be undertaking condemnation and eminent domain proceedings to acquire the theatre, raze the building and then sell the property to a willing developer.

Last week, elected officials reported that after 20 years, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel for the prime piece of real estate that many are calling one of the biggest "eyesores" on East Main Street's business district.

"Addressing the Plaza Theatre issue was one of the first promises I made to my constituents after being elected," said Suffolk County Legislator Jack Eddington (WF-Patchogue). "I got the unanimous support of the county Legislature, then the county executive, and now it is in the courts for the county to acquire under condemnation."

What, then, is the timeline for condemnation and demolition of the Plaza Theatre? Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said the county expects to acquire the property in 2007, but that certain procedures must be followed. "We are very anxious to proceed with condemnation and to remove this eyesore from the Patchogue community," Levy said. "We're now at a point where an RFP [request for proposal] for a consultant to present an economic development plan is about to be issued." Such a plan is a requirement of condemnation, the county executive explained. "The economic development plan has to show how condemnation will dovetail with the overall plans for the area ... and we hope to have this property vested in Suffolk County by the end of 2007," Levy said.