Plans underway to restore, transform closed Beacon Theater in Port Washington 

Moviegoers mourned the Bow Tie Cinema on Main Street in Port Washington when it closed its doors in 2018. It has sat dormant ever since, another symbol of the nationwide decline of the movie theater industry — and a reminder of the loss of one of the peninsula’s most treasured venues.

But before it was a multiplex, the building, which opened in 1927, was known as the Beacon Theater: a glitzy, multiuse entertainment hub with red velvet seats, an orchestra pit, a single screen and a stage that hosted live shows.

Now, Lou B. Branchinelli  is channeling the space’s past — and literally uncovering it bit by bit — as he maps out its future. After a developer purchased the building, Branchinelli leased the space and created Beacon LLC with plans of launching the Beacon Theater of Long Island in 2026 as a dinner theater.

The $15 million venue will host everything from concerts to bar mitzvahs, with a throwback interior that resembles the original design of the theater, Branchinelli said.

“The whole thing is going to look like the 1920s when you walk in,” he said. “We’re looking to do something that is going to redefine dining and entertainment and catering into one facility.”

Branchinelli, who has been producing concerts, shows, private events and more on Long Island for more than two decades, noticed during the pandemic that restaurant owners were starting to bring entertainment to their establishments more frequently. In the absence of freedom of movement because of COVID-19 restrictions, people would sit at their tables for long stretches.

“I think it retrained the customer,” he said. “You would make a whole night of it. … People weren’t going bar hopping or restaurant hopping, or from a restaurant to a show.”

He started brainstorming, and in March 2023 Branchinelli and Brad Thurman, a friend and developer, took a tour of the 30,000-square-foot facility. To Branchinelli’s knowledge, it had always been a movie theater. Then, he took a peek in the supply closet. Behind an opening in the wall was a large white pole, adorned with golden leaves.

He had heard of the old Beacon Theater, he said. He didn’t know he was standing in it.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god,’ ” Branchinelli said.

'The Beacon is under here'

He did an online search and learned the history of the building. The pole, he realized, had been part of the stage. His mind raced with possibilities.

When the building was converted into a full-time movie theater, around the 1970s, its classic infrastructure wasn’t destroyed. It was simply built over, with screens, walls and seats installed on top of the old accouterments. 

“They built multiple movie theater rooms, so they put walls over the old Beacon Theater, and they divided up the rooms and they put it behind Sheetrock,” Branchinelli said. “So when we started opening up the walls, we were like, ‘Oh my god, the Beacon is under here.’ ”

In September 2023 Thurman purchased the building for $2.85 million. Then, last November the Town of North Hempstead’s Board of Zoning Appeals permitted the men to move forward with the project. Around 20 residents came to the Nov. 20 meeting to express their support for it.

“Residents really cared about revitalizing the area and getting a use that they’d enjoy,” said Nancy Shahverdi, the town’s commissioner of planning. “It will attract people from out of town as well, which will help the economy and other businesses in the area.” 

Next on the team’s list is to begin demolition, pending a permit. Branchinelli, who plans to bring on a group of private investors, expects to be granted the permit in the next few weeks.

He is eager to uncover more historical features and find creative ways to work them into the modern infrastructure, drawn up by the Huntington-based mother-daughter design duo Gail Cipriano and Taylor Giamanco.

The designers envision a “super luxe” space, Cipriano said, with a maximum capacity of 468 and the Beacon’s original crest positioned on the outside of the building.

In a Facebook post, Giamanco called the building a “gem from the Gatsby era” and the restoration an “invitation to revive the glamour of the Roaring Twenties.”

Drawing from points elsewhere

“There’s also going to be a big community aspect,” said Leyalanny Mata, a Port Washington resident and the project’s community development consultant. 

The theater is about a five-minute walk from the LIRR, which Mariann Dalimonte, the North Hempstead councilperson representing Port Washington, said could attract visitors from New York City.

“They don’t need a taxi, it’s literally right here,” she said.

Mata said she heard from numerous people eager to see the space once again become an institution. She recalled one woman who said she had seen Bette Davis perform there.

“People have history here,” Mata said. “People remember really amazing stuff here.”

That hint of nostalgia already is in the air: On a frigid early January afternoon, as Branchinelli, Mata, Cipriano and Giamanco conducted tours of the space, “All of Me,” by Frank Sinatra blared through the speaker. “Your goodbye ... left me eyes that cry,” Sinatra crooned, as if taking on the community’s feelings toward the historic building. “How can I … get along … without you?”

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.