Completed in 1925, it was one of several structures that was intended to boost the development of Coney Island as a year-round entertainment destination.

[5]: 182 [6]: 71 [7] A series of fires in the resorts in the 1880s and 1890s opened up large tracts of land for the development of theme parks, of which several had been built by the first decade of the 20th century.

[8]: 147–150 [9]: 11 [10]: 50  Further redevelopment of Coney Island came with the opening of the New York City Subway to Stillwell Avenue in 1920 and the completion of the Riegelmann Boardwalk three years later.

With this came the construction of structures such as Child's Restaurant on the Boardwalk, the Half Moon Hotel, Stauch's Baths, and various amusement rides and theaters, all during the Jazz Age in the 1920s.

[14][15] The theater also included offices intended for entertainment companies as well as shops on the Stillwell and Surf Avenue frontages.

[13] The attendees on its opening day included Johnny Hines, Barbara La Marr, Mae Busch, Ben Lyon, Texas Guinan, Dorothy Mackaill, Virginia Lee Corbin, and John Lowe.

[20] Burlesque performances staged by Leroy Griffith were added in April 1966,[21] and films alongside the live entertainment would start soon afterward.

[11]: 6 [22] The building was sold in 1978 or 1979 to Kansas Fried Chicken owner Horace Bullard, who had bought numerous properties in Coney Island.

[24] Squatters and graffiti writers started to frequent the structure,[25] and while the electricity still worked, the floor was littered with rubble, according to pictures taken in 2006 by area historian Charles Denson.

Above the ground floor is a double-height piano nobile along the southern and part of the eastern and western facades, which contains semicircular-topped windows corresponding to the bays below.

Dressed stone also surrounds another doorway under the marquee, as well as the piers at the extreme ends on the Surf and Stillwell Avenue facades.

[11]: 7  A vertical sign with the words "SHORE" was located at the southeastern corner, near the intersection of Surf and Stillwell Avenues, but was damaged and not replaced after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The northern part of the facade consists of a windowless blank wall with an emergency staircase from the theater affixed to it.

[32] According to a blog post by Denson, there was also a mosaic fountain at the mezzanine level, marble columns, and a lobby ceiling with nautical-themed lighting fixtures.