By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

Sept. 10, 2025: Last week I had the absolute delight to sit in a rocking chair under the most beautiful pergola on our own stretch of Paris, Parkway Road, and visit with Bob Krause, the owner of Mrs. Morgan’s Flower Shop.

Bob asked to get together to talk about the 100th anniversary of his shop, occurring October of next year, and to plan ahead for a real celebration on the West Side of the Village.

Walk Down Memory Lane

We got to reminiscing about the shop and its storied history, including creating the flowers for Senator and Mrs. Ted Kennedy’s wedding, with the bride Joan Bennett, a Village resident and his dad buying the shop from the original and incredibly lovely Mrs. Morgan, whose family was so involved in the Village, especially at Christ Church.

As we started to go back in time, who should serendipitously walk by but Phil Koutsis, the owner for decades of Pete’s Park Place Tavern, and like Bob who is, often called Bob Morgan, Phil was always known as Pete despite his given name!

Having only lived here 37 years, I was clearly the newbie as we went down memory lane. Conversation went from the fact that we had seven, can you believe it, seven gas stations in the Village? two butchers, a lunch counter at Woolworths which was considered to serve the best egg salad in town as well as a rival for the best fountain cokes at Bellis’ Pharmacy, where our Greek restaurant is today.

Many of us can remember Sportscraft, which is now the soccer store and in between was the incredibly wonderful bridal shop that honestly introduced this Village to the simplistic beauty of Vera Wang.

Sportscraft sold that indispensable college necessity: the Lanz nightgown (which anyone who was 'cool' knew to wear backwards!) and I am still wearing a cashmere sweater set that I bought there 30+ years ago with the same pearl necklace. I know this surprises no one!!

Our conversation just reminded me how important a role our Village institutions play in our lives and our fond memories. We seem to hyper focus, as we should, on the traditions of our religious and other nonprofits and forget a bit our merchant history and some of the iconic establishments that define our Village.

Who could forget the son/mother duo at Fierson’s where you literally bought  the First Communion dress, the Easter bonnet and white ankle socks with ruffles all while Helen, the parking enforcement czar, was laser focused on your parking meter.

My magical visit just reminded me how grateful I am not only for Bob “Morgan” Krause and his decades of kindness to this Village but for our iconic bookstore and our movie theater, which is also going to have its hundredth anniversary next year.

Having a locally owned bookstore and a movie theater is a rare treasure these days — not to mention Continental, our beauty parlor of over 60 years, faithfully keeping many of us eternally blonde!

Important Event on September 19th

Given that our movie theater has a very important fundraiser coming up on Friday the 19^th of this month, I thought it most timely to focus on their storied history.

To refresh, the Bronxville Theatre opened on what was called the Brick Row on Kraft Avenue in September 1926 with live shows as well as music, art and theater. It started with a massive single screen with seating for up to 1100 people attracting visitors from all over Westchester and the Bronx.

In the mid-80s, it was purchased by United Artist and converted into the triplex that we know today followed by Bowtie Cinema ownership.

Bowtie was unfortunately caught in the Covid epidemic, which hurt the movie industry as hard as any in the country. That shut down caused the viability of our storied institution to be threatened, and the sadness in the Village was palpable as there was not a person who had lived here for any stretch of time who did not reminisce about having a birthday party, a first date, a special memory as the theater has always been a part of the fabric of our treasured small town life. Not only are the memories strong, but the synergy of having a theater in such a small community is beneficial as folks who come to the theater often walk about, stop and shop or peek in a window only to return later to shop. Waiting for show time, they may have a coffee, ice cream or pre or post meal or drink.

Looking desperately for a White Knight, our theater was truly rescued by the Pelham Picture House family and its supporters. The Picture House has a very successful history in Pelham of creating a shared community experience for diverse audiences through film, educational programs and unique culture offerings and their model was exactly what we envisioned for Bronxville. We have truly found the perfect partner with the same goals – small town preservation while creating an oasis of culture, conversation and arts education.

But the theater business as you all know has been tough going. Many of you supported its revitalization in 2022 at a launch party with a capacity crowd at the fundraiser and this relationship has proven a synergistic success. But sometimes we all forget that it is a not-for-profit operation and that it counts on us just like our other nonprofits in the Village, be it the Hospice, Gramatan Village, The Senior Citizens Council, you name it, for our continued support. Without you, we wouldn’t have a theater.

Please consider supporting our annual community event on the 19^th. It will be a night of music, special screening and local libations and food from La Casa and The Taco Project. Tickets can be purchased at www.ThePictureHouse.org and your dollars will support all of the following programs as our theatre is so much more than a movie house.

Free Senior Cinema (Sept-June) offered every Tuesday for community seniors, with chair yoga also offered monthly by Thrive fitness.

TPH Inclusive screenings thanks to Junior League of Bronxville community grant - offering sensory-friendly cinema experience for all.

Other Community Screenings - including 'Left Behind' - inspiring education documentary screening sponsored by and hosted with Prep Academy Tutors (April 2025).

TPH School holiday break and summer camps (Oct 2024-Sept 2025 and continuing this fall/winter/spring) - for elementary through high school students - including animation classes, comic book making, and even a collaborative high-school documentary film camp.

Free Member screenings - special nights out for TPH members offered throughout the spring and summer (May-August 2025).

Bronxville Wellness Festival (June 2025) - On Saturday, June 7th, the Bronxville Chamber hosted the first annual Bronxville Wellness Festival. The event featured tables with more than 20 local BXV vendors in the wellness space.

Willow Garden Memory Care Dementia Friendly Screening - (Aug 2025) - TPH Bronxville hosted the first-ever, dementia-friendly film screening in Westchester in August. The Alzheimer’s Association and Willow Garden Memory Care sponsored this event.

PJs at the Picture House (Dec 2024) – in partnership with Bronxville Chamber of Commerce, Village Design Studio, and The Hackett Home team at Compass.

Bronxville Adult School classes in winter/spring - including TPH educator-led courses on screenwriting, film noir and westerns.

Bronxville School Spring into the Arts - performances and open mic night (March 2025).

Marquee Night Gala at the Bronxville Field Club - featuring filmmaker Trudie Styler (March 2025).

Westchester Italian Film Festival (April 2025).

New partnership with The Community Fund of Bronxville, Eastchester, and Tuckahoe supporting education and wellness efforts with TPH.

Collaboration with Bronxville Historical Conservancy, including BHC's special screening of Downton Abbey film this September.

Hosted 60 birthday parties so far in 2025.

New sponsorship from NYP-Westchester - as a supporter of our education initiatives and community events - and offering TPH benefits for NYP employees.