February 10, 2026

This was the RKO Lawrence Movie Theater. And this is the spot where I fell in love with movies.

My brother Rudy had recently found and texted me this above photo of the RKO in Lawrence, a movie theater we had frequented in our youth, and a whole flood of memories suddenly came rushing back to me. The theater was located at 343 Rockaway Turnpike, Lawrence, NY 11559; a mere few blocks from the Lawrence High School, so it was within walking distance for me. And I went often! So often, that as budding horror obsessed youth, I had to find creative ways to get into R rated movies.

By 12 years old, I was already a huge horror fanatic and hiding copies of FANGORIA magazine in my Trapper Keeper at school, in particular FANGORIA issue #79 with HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS on the cover. (Seriously, I could not wait for that to come out!) The RKO Lawrence trio often opened all the first run horror franchise movies. But alas, back in those days, believe it or not, if you were under 18 years old, you were not getting into that screening without an adult or “legal guardian” over the age of 18 ! My older brother, John, bless him, would try to support my horror fandom and take me to R rated movies at my request. But most times, I just couldn’t wait! I had to see them opening weekend, before anyone at school spoiled the “plot” for me.  Here are a few memorable experiences that are forever burned into my brain.

By the time, LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III hit theaters in January of 1990, I was a full blown CHAINSAW fanatic. When I as finally brave enough to buy a VHS of the original Tobe Hooper classic, it was that Video Treasures version with the light blue cover and an animated version of Leatherface front and center. I loved it then, and love it now! My friends and I eventually made our way to TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 and watched it over and over again. I mean, literally. I still remember sleeping over my friend David Tavormina’s place and instead of sleeping, we just had CHAINSAW 2 on repeat for the entire night.

So, just getting glimpses of images from PART III, paired up with that awesome EXCALIBUR-style teaser trailer, my 14 year old mind was ready to be blown. And here’s the thing, I know that movie was plagued by problems, both in production and post-production. They missed their original release date because the MPAA continually required they cut more from it. But as a young teen, I was completely oblivious to any of that. I waited outside the theater early that Saturday morning and waited until I could find a couple that would let me go in with them. I’d simply say, “hey, can you buy me a ticket and just pretend to be my legal guardian? I won’t sit near you guys or anything. I just need to get in to see this movie!” And 99.9 percent of the time, someone sympathized with me and let me roll on in with them.

It was a great joy many years later to be able to retell this above story to director Jeff Burr, screenwriter David J. Schow, and Benny himself Ken Foree. That movie, at that time, meant the world to me and I loved it with all my heart! Mind Spoiler: I know its nonsensical for Benny to survive, but I didn’t care! He was my hero and he put up a good fight against Leatherface! I’ve paid numerous tributes to it over the years, including a #RESPECT column in honor of Ken Foree, an article that he read and personally reached out to me to thank me for! Our very epic conversation with the late, great Jeff Burr about LEATHERFACE and all of his work is forever preserved in our Icons Of Fright book. And hell, back in 2017, not only did I get to see it on the big screen again in Los Angeles, but I was the one that picked up and gave a ride to writer David J. Schow to attend that very screening! I never could’ve imagined telling 14 year old me as he got out of that screening and braved the harsh mid afternoon sunlight that all of the above was going to happen.

Let me flashback two years prior to 1988 when FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 7: THE NEW BLOOD hit theaters. Yes, it opened at the Lawrence RKO. But again, how was I going to get into this thing?! Well, we had a young volunteer guidance counselor over at Lawrence High School, not much older than most of our graduates! I have no memory of her name or why she was seeing students, my guess is that they assumed teenagers would open up more to someone that seemed like they were in their same age range.

I don’t know how I did it or what the hell I said, but I was beyond enthusiastic for FRIDAY 7 and explaining to anyone that would listen to me why it was so important that we see this showdown between Jason Voorhees and the telekinetic Tina on opening night. I remember telling this guidance counselor that a group of friends and I were going to be outside the theater and we’d really love it if she’d join us. (This was my sly way of implying but not flat out asking her to be our “legal guardian.)

I had no way of knowing if she was even going to show up! All I know is that I convinced ten other 12 year old’s to wait with me outside the theater. And what happened? This guidance counselor came with her boyfriend and they both got us in! And while the details of that screening, some 38 years later, are fuzzy to me, I do remember that the last 20 or so minutes felt like a rock concert; like the greatest boxing match between two adversaries. A true battle between good and evil!

We didn’t know about the MPAA problems the filmmakers had, nor the lack of gore the movie was missing. It still rocked our little minds! And many years later, when we launched the Icons Of Fright website, Tina herself, Lar Park Lincoln, was one of our very first interviews. I think a year after this screening, sometime in ’89 or so was when I attended my first ever Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention in New York City. Lil’ me got to meet Kane Hodder back then who, to me, was Jason. I couldn’t have possibly imagined that 30 years after seeing FRIDAY 7, I’d be hosting the premiere of TO HELL AND BACK: THE KANE HODDER STORY, a documentary about Kane’s incredible life and career that was distributed under my watch by the Dread Presents label. Another full circle moment.

Not all of our temporary “legal guardians” ditched us once we got into the theater. I remember one afternoon waiting to get into a screening of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE! An older gentlemen walked up with his two sons, both roughly about my age. I asked if I could tag along and join and this sweet mustached man politely invited me along. (In my memory, he looked exactly like Lou Brown, the coach that James Gammon played in the movie MAJOR LEAGUE.) When we got in, he invited me to sit in the same row with him and his boys and we were all talking about horror anthologies and why they were so great, citing the GOAT, of course, THE TWILIGHT ZONE. “It’s all about the twist,” the gentlemen explained to me. “If you’ve got a good story, nothing makes it better than a great twist!” And so the lights dimmed and the movie started rolling. TALES has three different stories and one wrap around, and I’ll never forget, I looked over at this fellow at the end of each segment, and he’d twist his wrist while mouthing the words “TWIST” to really punctuate the conclusion of each story! TWIST! My vague memory is we all laughed afterwards about the final fun moments of the film and went our separate ways. To this day, whenever I’m watching a horror anthology segment, I say out loud “TWIST” at the end in honor of that man.

There are so many more movies that come to mind. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 1990. I went with Joey Daniels, because I was just starting to hang out with some of the older metalheads at school, and they were old enough to get me in! I have so many other vague memories; everything from BACK TO THE FUTURE PART 3 to CHANCES ARE with Robert Downey Jr to SIBLING RIVALRY with Kirstie Alley! (Anyone remember that?!)

One of the things I love about theaters, and that came out of my recent experience visiting cinemas in Paris, is to learn a bit of the history of any given location. The Lawrence RKO already has so much personal history for me, as outlined above. But what’s the real story of this place?

According to the Cinema Treasures website, this theater initially opened its doors on August 23rd, 1967 as the RKO Twin Theaters. The first movie to ever play was BAREFOOT IN THE PARK starring Robert Redford, and it alternated on both screens so that it was on the schedule every hour on the hour.

According to that same source, each auditorium during the two-plex days had 750 seats. At one point, they even showed a 70mm print of the original STAR WARS! On February 1, 1980, it was officially converted into a three screen theater, which is just the way I remember it! It officially closed its doors forever on October 19, 2000, later to be replaced by a Duane Reade pharmacy, a supermarket (and Boston Market), and now… nothing.

I tried thinking long and hard about it, and even though this spot may have been where I fell in love with movies, I’m pretty sure I got my love of the movies from my Dad, even though we rarely discussed films. Now that he’s gone, I wish now in retrospect he would’ve shared some of his favorite movie going experiences with me. The only glimpse I got was when he’d occasionally ask me to buy a classic film for him on DVD like THE AFRICAN QUEEN with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

He must have loved movies as much as I did because, as a kid, I remember he worked very, very hard for all the newest home entertainment toys. I remember when he proudly was able to buy a “big screen TV.” He would tape everything off of cable and proudly number the VHS tapes. I still remember the little brown book that cataloged and told us every movie he’d taped, meticulously all in order. God, I wish I still had that. And later, in the late 90s, he bought one of the first DVD projectors. We stationed it in the upstairs living room so that we could project it against the entirety of the wall up there, painted perfectly white for the best possible presentation; and attached to a DTS sound system. My friends would come over and we’d affectionately call it “Wall Nights.” My Dad wouldn’t have gone to all that trouble if it wasn’t to recapture some of his own magical theater going experiences.

He was a big James Bond fan so I remember the very first James Bond movie he took me to see in theaters was THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS in 1987 when I was about 11 years old. Because of this, Timothy Dalton is my favorite James Bond because that’s the first one I saw with my Dad. Around that same time, he took me to see the live-action MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE movie, which he seemed to really enjoy! I don’t know why, but we stuck around until the end credits, a rarity in those days, so we saw Skeletor (Frank Langella) come out of the lava to promise he’d be back. And my Dad kept mimicking his “I’ll be back” line. Great, great memories.

All of the above is why I still believe in the theatrical movie going experience. It means something to me. It means something to a lot of people. I’ll always go to movie theaters and support them in any way that I can. And today, I just wanted to pay tribute to one of the first places that introduced me to that magic.

UPDATE: Here’s what that space looks like as of February 16th, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Douglas Feilich.) Not even the stone wall survived! It’s crazy to think of all the incredible memories people have that came from seeing movies in this space, its incredible history, and today… it’s just… nothing.