The only thing certain about the future of the former Bijou/Charles Theatre on Avenue B is that it will soon meet the wrecking ball. The building that suffered significant damage during a 2006 fire will be pulled down and replaced with a seven story residential development, according to EV Grieve. Brooklyn photographer Matt Lambros features a number of recent photos of the structure's interior, after the seats were removed but before the theater-turned-church is completely destroyed. Lambros's photoblog After The Final Curtain details the history of the Bijou Theater?built in 1926, site of some theater labor unrest when protesting projectionists locked themselves in their workspace, an alternative theater that went out of business and sold to a church in 1975, culminating in the 2006 fire. Now the Elim Pentecostal Church is making way for a 42-unit residential development, purportedly with room for the church, although previous negotiations with developers got stuck on details about church signage and whether or not homeless people would be allowed inside the building.
· Another Look Inside the Theater on Avenue B [EVG]
· The Charles (Bijou) Theatre [After The Final Curtain]
· Avenue B Church and Theater Are Being Resurrected [TheVillager]
· One Movie Theater Lives, One Dies [CurbedNY]
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