The Larkfield Theatre in East Northport

(1950's-1985) This was my childhood/ local theater located on Larkfield Road in East Northport. (It was an independent theatre and not a chain--which was a GOOD thing). Movies I have seen there over the years: The Love Bug, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Legend of Boggy Creek, Dumbo, Snowball Express (dumb Disney live action movie), Hair, The Stepford Wives, Midnight Express, The Big Bus, Family Plot, Arnold, The Shining, The Eyes of Laura Mars, Asylum, Mary Poppins, Love at First Bite, Tunnel Vision, Magic, and the Grease/Saturday Night Fever double feature re-release. The "kiddie matinees" ran throughout the summers , with Disney double features for years starting in the early 1970's.

My most memorable time there was when in 1972, my father took me to see Tales From the Crypt, which scared the crap outta me (but I loved it!). Later on in life, I found out that friends of mine (that I had yet to become friends with) were there and called their mother to come pick them up because the intensely horrific theme song used was Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" , and they were almost in tears .
There was a small "Ma & Pa" drug store right next door (althouth it may have been a small Rexell ?) to the Larkfield and it must have killed the concsession stand inside the theatre, because people on line could just walk into there and by a candy bar for 20 cents (the 1974 price of a candy bar!). Fortunately (for the theatre) , the drug store closed at 6:00 PM and was closed Sundays. On the opposite side of the theatre was a decrepit machine shop of some sort--back in the day, East Northport/ Larkfield Road was NOT a shop-and-stroll town at all. The stores and business were scatter-shot, most of the "seedy" looking places were by the train station.
The Larkfield closed in 1985 (about a year or two after the accursed Commack Multiplex opened!) and the last movie that played there was Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion. At one point, a "Church" opened there (huh? SEE PHOTO) for about a year. People I know who had actually been curious ; popped there heads in just to look around said it was "strange". Afterwards it became a horrible & generic "office space" that NOBODY rented for YEARS.

P.S. It was at this theatre , that was the last time I remember buying Bonomo Turkish Taffy (the vanilla flavor was the best!).
Till this day some of my dreams and nightmares still take place in and around this movie theatre! *******************************************************
*****There is an amazing website called Cinema Treasures. com.
Here, you can see posts about any favorite long lost (closed) movie theatres from you past (with pictures too, in some cases). Some of the postings are from people that ran and worked there too, so you get some nice inside stories. *MANY OLD long-gone Long Island
Theatres are listed**