C R Y D E R P O I N T 16FEBRUARY Hollywood gives historic Forest Hills movie theater last chance BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ More than 85 years of Forest HIlls history hangs on the success of one weekend. The Cinemart Theater opened in 1927, and for the last eight years, owner Nicolas Nicolaou spent thousands of dollars operating an obsolete theater that didn’t have the technology to feature first-run films. But after making a $300,000 investment to add digital projection — the industry standard — to the theater, Nicolaou is getting a second shot from Hollywood to feature the industry’s latest movies. “After all these years I was ready to throw in the towel, but I was finally able to get another chance for the theater,” said Nicolaou, whose family has owned the place since the 1960s. On Jan. 16th, the historic theater will be featuring Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper,” and if Nicolaou sells enough tickets, the future of the theater will be ensured for another 85 years, the owner said. But if the movie doesn’t draw a large enough audience, Nicolaou may have no choice but to close his five-screen theater since Hollywood studios will likely issue him no other first-run films. “This movie will make or break this theater,” he said as the 11th hour approached. “I hope at the end of the day we will be there and the community has supported us overwhelmingly.” For the past few weeks, Nicolaou has been caught up in a flurry of activity as he prepares the theater and reaches out to the community to increase With the viewing of American Sniper, the owner of the Forest Hills theater is hoping to ensure its future ticket sales. When the dust settles next week, he will know if the movie made enough money to become a first-run theater again. Nicolaou attempted to save the theater in the early 2000s by renovating the theater and creating the Theater Café with a bar, cozy fireplace and 16 cryder point courier | FEBRUARY 2015 | WWW.QUEENSCOURIER.COM THE COURIER/Photo by Eric Jankiewicz sidewalk café. But the renovations and cafe weren’t enough as the industry shifted to digital and the theater lost its right to screen new movies. Forest Hills and Rego Park have witnessed the closure of the Trylon, the Forest Hills, the Drake and the Continental (UA Brandon), according to reports. Popular Mechanics features Queens in ‘best startup cities in America’ list BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA Queens has not only been named the number one destination to visit in the U.S. but, according to one magazine, it’s also among the top places in the country to start a business. In its February issue, currently on newsstands, Popular Mechanics has selected Queens as one of the “14 best startup cities in America.” “No disrespect to San Francisco or Brooklyn, but we wanted to identify the next wave of cities building an ecosystem to turn innovators into entrepreneurs,” the magazine’s editors wrote. Coming in at number 12, Queens was selected for offering lower rents than its outer-borough neighbor to the south, which often overshadows it. The publication highlights QNS Collective, a co-working space that opened in Astoria in 2013, and nonprofit Coalition for Queens for supporting local tech startups. It also mentions Long Island City’s renovated Falchi Building, home to Coalition for Queens, The Food Box, Lyft’s New York City operations and other businesses with room for more tenants. One new business that kicked off in the last year took advantage of the co-working spaces in the area. Long Island City resident Alex Jae Mitchell founded Audiokite.com nine months ago and a month later launched out of a co-working space in Astoria, Create NY Space. His website offers independent musicians feedback on their songs from the public. Mitchell, speaking to The Courier last year about why he decided to launch his business in Queens, said cheaper rent was a motivating factor. “The low rent costs help me put everything I have into my business,” he said. Other locations on Popular Mechanics’ list include St. Louis, Mo.; Asheville, N.C.; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Maine; Baltimore, Md.; Holyoke, Mass.; Boulder, Colo.; Reno, Nev.; Des Moines, Iowa; Cleveland, Ohio; Urbana, Ill.; Detroit, Mich.; and Austin, Texas. Image courtesy of Jamestown Falchi Building
CP022015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above