Brooklyn's Kings Theatre offers tours of its historical architecture

A Brooklyn theater that's nearly a century old is offering tours to visitors.
The Kings Theatre on Flatbush Avenue is full of history, from the architecture to the names who have graced the stage, such as Toni Braxton and Chaka Khan.
Bil-Quis Coleman is a historic tour guide who takes people back in time to when the theater first opened in 1929. She says the fact that the theater is nearly a century old is what impresses most visitors.
When the theater closed in 1977, it went into disrepair as its plaster ceiling wore down and its foundation began to fail.
It went under renovations in 2010, and developers wanted to maintain as much as the original design as possible. It's simple staples, like the patterns on its carpets, remain the same to this day.
In order to bring back the 1929 design, a renovation worth $96 million updated the buildings infrastructure, including their air conditioning systems. The HVAC system was also put into place for sanitization.
As the Kings Theatre holds tours twice a month, director of marketing Kate Hesler says shows have gone on without a hitch since the theater shuttered its doors due to COVID.
“Entertainment, especially in New York, has come back really strong and there's a hunger for it. People from the tri-state are traveling back into Manhattan and Brooklyn to attend shows. It's something that can't be replaced on screen,” Hesler says.