Two years ago the Shore Theater in Coney Island (formally the Loew’s Coney Island) was declared an historic landmark. Well, its exterior was. The inside of the former vaudeville and movie palace was left to fend to itself, as it has been doing since the 1970s. Despite the theater’s dominating presence in Coney Island’s amusement area, the interior has been pretty much lost to the public. Until now.

Photographer Matt Lambros of After The Final Curtain recently got into the theater and has just posted his pictures online: the Renaissance revival space is, like so many old theaters, truly stunning even in its decrepitude. The architects at Reilly & Hall knew what they were doing when they designed the space in the 1920s (the theater opened June 17, 1925 and after many iterations closed for good in March of 1973).

….more on/via gothamist