Southampton Village Cinema To Be Reborn Under New Management

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — It's good news for cinephiles: The Southampton Village Cinema, shuttered during the pandemic, is set to reopen under new ownership.

The Southampton Village Cinema, an iconic Southampton destination, which was forced to close in March 2020 during the pandemic, has a new owner, Hill Street Cinema LLC, which plans to reopen the historic structure as a theater for movies and cultural events, according to a release.

The purchase from Southold Properties, Inc., went under contract Tuesday for an undisclosed sum, according to the release.

“The purchase was motivated by our fervent desire to preserve this essential component of Southampton Village’s culture as well as reactivating the building’s distinctive architecture, which has anchored the community’s center for many years,” said a Hill Street Cinema spokesperson. “Our cinema has entertained generations of families throughout the East End of Long Island.”

With movie going viewership approaching pre-pandemic levels, movie house audiences are seeking the "glorious theater experience you cannot get from streaming home programming," new owners said.

The colonial-style movie house at 43 Hill St. was constructed by Michael Glynne in 1932 as the 1,062-seat Glynne’s Southampton Theatre, "featuring an opulent auditorium known for its massive chandelier," new owners said.

According to a post on Southampton Patch website, the theater in its heyday “was a magnet not only for Southampton movie buffs but for New York City bigwigs as well and their glamorous girlfriends who arrived in chauffeur-driven limos to preview the best Hollywood had to offer.”

Local resident Richard Zimmer, interviewed for an oral history, said the theater was the first in
line nationally for new movie releases, “and if a movie bombed here, it was dead," Hill Street Cinema LLC said.

The theater subsequently was operated by Prudential Circuit in the 1940s. Next, 50 years later, United Artists Theatres demolished the large auditorium and replaced it with a four-screen multiplex; a fifth screen, converted from a basement dressing room, operated until 1995, the new owners said.

The cinema was last operated by Regal Entertainment Group as the Southampton 4 Theatres.