CEC in Manhattan NYC finally

[Rapid T Rabbit]

At last we now know where the new CEC in Harlem (http://www.harlemfur.com/2006/08/michael_henry_adams_prophecy_c.html) will be.

Here is another mention (http://uptownflavor.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/adopt-a-rat-in-harlem/).

To the first message board above, I replied with the following:


As a former Chuck E. Cheese costume character performer living in Queens (but worked in NJ at the time) I've been following the activity of this restaurant chain for decades. CEC was originally looking to place their Manhattan location(s) in Times Square (at the Paramount Theater building, eventually Hard Rock moved into that space after the WWE restaurant went under) and Herald Square (in the Herald Center building) but eventually decided that they did not want to pay premium Midtown rent. So they wound up going to Harlem instead, even bypassing the Upper West Side.

[pizzacam]

Damn, I'd be scared to go to that one...GHETTO! :lol

[dheineCECfan]

CEC still has no plans to open a Times Square Manhattan location!

[PuroMax]

Richard, since you're the nyc historian, what can you tell us about the Bensonhurst CEC? Did you go there? When/why did it close? Was it operated under the same franchisees as Union etc.? I've grown interested in this phantom store.

[Rapid T Rabbit]

Richard, since you're the nyc historian, what can you tell us about the Bensonhurst CEC? Did you go there? When/why did it close? Was it operated under the same franchisees as Union etc.?
http://www.bobdbob.com/~rtrabbit/personal/pttbklyn.jpg
The PTT in Brooklyn opened in July 1984 about a month before Union NJ but was part of a different franchise that at the time included Commack and later Levittown both on Long Island NY. It closed in mid-1987, appearantly around the same time as its sister locations, and also the same year that Union's sister stores in NJ shut down.

I did visit the place a few times and years later when I worked at Union eventually found out that our head tech did a stint at the Brooklyn PTT. The store was in the former location of Ceasar's Bay Bazaar at the Western end of Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst, just past the Belt Parkway with the rear of the building right up against The Narrows waterway. Pizza Time was on the second floor of the two-story building and next door to a Toys R Us. Inside I remember the place being quite large, about as big as Union NJ. They had the classic balcony show and The Beagles. I was not pleased with the fact that their rather large showroom eventually got designated "for parties only", so anyone not so grouped had to sit in the balcony area much further away from the stage.

After PTT closed, the retail space became an NBO Clothing store, then a K-Mart, and now it is a Kohl's store. The Toys R Us next door should still be there.

By the way Puro, how long was it before your downtown Brooklyn CEC was allowed to reopen by the NYC Health Dept?

[PuroMax]

Wow, somehow I knew you'd be able to talk about this store at length. I wonder why it had such a brief run. Maybe due to bankruptcy complications like MP3AA mentioned earlier with Franchising fees being doubled. That would make sense to me since Union is a rather high volume store, perhaps making it the only store worth keeping open to its owners. It's also very possible that the store just couldn't be run profitably. I guess we'll never really know.

btw. It was about 6 days before the downtown store re-opened, and people still call to find out if its open to this day.

[Rapid T Rabbit]

The Levittown PTT store actually opened after Brooklyn and Union so it had an even shorter run. I remember that store having a rocker stage. Today that location is a Nathan's Hot Dog place with a video game arcade.

Indeed from mid-1987 through 1992, Union may in fact have been the only and longest continuously operating CEC in the entire NYC metropolitan area. After that was when the corporate CEC's started opening up in the region, starting with Wayne NJ in 1992 (replacing the earlier PTT that closed there in 1987).

Read my other posting about PTT's in New Jersey (http://p100.ezboard.com/fshowbizpizzacecboardfrm34.showMessage?topicID=222 .topic)

I don't believe the present CEC in Commack is the same as the PTT that had been there in the 1980's.

[chuckecheesefan98]

I think I went to this location a year ago. PACKED! I didn't even bother going in. The line was out the door! And not one table inside!

[Rapid T Rabbit]

I think I went to this location a year ago. PACKED! I didn't even bother going in. The line was out the door! And not one table inside!

Are you referring to Union NJ? I remember when I used to work there on Sundays how we actually got traffic from families who couldn't get into the Edison NJ store some miles down the Garden State Parkway because that smaller store was packed with a line going outside.

[chuckecheesefan98]

Are you referring to Union NJ? I remember when I used to work there on Sundays how we actually got traffic from families who couldn't get into the Edison NJ store some miles down the Garden State Parkway because that smaller store was packed with a line going outside.

No, I was somewhere in NY. My father said it was Brooklyn, but I know we were on the second floor.

[Rapid T Rabbit]

No, I was somewhere in NY. My father said it was Brooklyn, but I know we were on the second floor.

Yes, that be Atlantic Terminal in downtown Brooklyn. PuroMax used to work there,