Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
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Thanks gentlemen, I knew I find a windfall of
knowledge among you.
Thanks Bway and Lostmemeory for the Belvedere, when I mentioned
the Miller theatre, I remember an abandoned building on Saratoga
Ave along the B7 busline.
I may have been mistaken with the Cosby title, the one you mentioned
Bway is the show CBS televised in the 90’s.
The along Ave. M is the NBC show that garnered strong ratings in
the 80’s. I remember seeing Cosby signing autographs on M and 14st.
By the way the church did a superb job on the renovations of the
former Belvedere.
Lou, actually, the studios where “The Cosby Show” was filmed was the Kaufmann-Astoria Studios in Queens.
As for the Belvedere, as Lost Memory stated, is the one across from the supermarket. In that section on this site, i have posted some recent photos of the theater, complete with the sign you remembered.
Gentlemen, PeterK, Bway, lostmemory
May I pick your brains.
There is a former theatre in Glendale across the street
from StopnShop on Myrtle Ave, it now houses the church
Christ Tabernacle.
From the facade on the top, I think it read “Miller Theatre”.
It looks like it was from the 20’s.
Any history on it ?
Nice pictures Lostmemory, the Vitagraph smokestack picture brought
back some memories, isn’t that the NBC Brooklyn studios where
the Cosby show was filmed during the 80’s ?.
From 84 -90 I lived on Ocean Ave off Ave. M, where I enjoyed
watching movies at the Kingsway.
It was and still a great neighborhood to live in.
lostmemory, I think there was, and I think it was adjacent to a mass transit line. I seem to recall it being mentioned in the excellent PBS documentary, “A Walk Through Brooklyn Part I” with Dick Hartman and Barry Lewis.
Ah yes, Lou, with that you are correct. Yes, the area directly around the Ridgewood, and especially around the Madison is sort of Seedy, and gets better as you cross Cypress Ave. But even there it never got as bad as Bushwick. The “nicer part” of Ridgewood is now mostly Polish, Puerto Rican, Romainian, and “former-countries-of-the-former Yogoslavia”. It’s actually nicer than about 10 years ago where it could have gone either way (the buildings were starting to show a lot of wear and tear – they never had abandoned buildings there, but they looked “worn”.). Over the last 10 years the new wave of inhabitants has really been fixing up a lot of the homes.
Tom, I would love to see the Ridgewood renovated, as everyone seems to agree here is that we all have an affection to the Ridgewood theater, but we all agree it is in terrible need of a rehab. It’s quite unfortunate that the madison was not converted to a church like the Loews Gates was. At least the Gates is intact, and could potentially become a theater again, unlike the Madison that became a gutted burnt-out hulk by the 80’s.
Ridgewood was built mostly with the labor of Eastern Europeans. It seems that it has come full circle. Perhaps it is a good sign of things to come. Maybe even the return of lost movie theatres in Ridgewood.
Thanks Bway for your response,
You are correct about the perplexed part of Ridgewood needing
gentrification, I should have been more clearer.
Here’s what I meant.
There are actually two Ridgewoods, the former are the neighborhoods
beginning after Irving or Wyckoff that stretches to Seneca or
Forest Avenue. these neighborhoods are more hispanic, bargain 99ct
stores and bodegas. This is where the Ridgewood and the now defunct
Madison are located.
After Forest Ave, up to Fresh Pond rd, Metropolitan Ave and where
Glendale begins is called Upper Ridgewood, code name for legacy
residents,quiet and safer. This is the part of Ridgewood I lived
in, in the early 90’s.
Which by the way is also changing, the Italians and Germans are
moving out and the Romanians and Eastern Europeans are moving in.
I guess everything runs in cycles.
I meant to say above, “Who Knows, it may be possible to show movies in the Loews gates, unlike it’s gutted relatives, the RKO Bushwick and the Madison.
I agree with all your observations about the Ridgewood theater, although, you last sentence is a bit perplexing. Ridgewood has always been a viable, and decent working class neighborhood. it never fell like Bushwick did, so really doesn’t “need” gentrification. While Myrtle Ave between where the Ridgewood theater is to where the Madison is did get a bit “seedy”, and still is, the rest of Ridgewood is a good neighborhood. And it’s even better than it was 10 years ago.
But anyway, I also agree, it’s an absolute shame that the Madison Theater was lost. The Loew’s Gates however, although not a movie theater anymore, does exist as a church. It’s interior is intact, and the church maintains the building beautifully. Who knows, at least unlike it’s neighbor the RKO Bushwick and it’s further cousin the Madison are both standing, but completely gutted of it’s interior. The RKO Bushwick has been beautifully restored on the exterior, and is now a school, although it’s glorious interior is lost.
I just visited Monica’s website tribute to the Ridgewood Theatre,
Its a very site which details her love and honor for this theatre.
The last time I visited this theatre was in the late 80’s and even
in that time, I felt the conditions were deplorable and rancid.
But it still did business, even with its cramped, partitioned,
five closets.
I remember going to the Ridgewood in the 70’s to see action flicks
when it was just one screen.
Its still here and God bless its longevity, I wish I can say the same for the Loews Gates and RKO Madison.
I forsee its future when Ridgewood gets gentrified after Bushwick,
It will be a moviehouse ala Angelika.
Actually, it’s not all THAT bad. I googled the information you gave, and found the site where they sell them. Apparently they are $4.00 a piece for slides, which is not outrageous, but then they stick you with a $6.00 handling fee for all orders. I guess I’ll have to wait to see the interior of the Ridgewood in it’s prime a little while longer….
I figured as much. I only vaguely remember the Ridgewood theater as a “chopped up” theater from all the times I went to it in the 80’s (last time about 15 years ago), and remember it even less as “one” theater from the 70’s!
Wow Warren, I would love to see photos of the interior of the Ridgewood. I wish they showed samples in whatever catalog you saw this in.
The Ridgewood theatre is a difficult theatre to establish an opening date for. It opened as a vaudeville house and remained so for many years. The official listing as a full time movie theatre is given as 1925. The reference to a Ridgewood 3 theatre being listed as closed may be answered this way, it refers to a 3 screen theatre as being closed just as the original one screen Ridgewood theatre is listed by some as closed. I have seen current listings for this theatre as the Ridgewood 5 theatre in reference to its current five screens. I do not agree with this sort of listing but that is the way many refer to it. The Ridgewood theatre and the Rko Madison theatre are also listed as Myrtle theatres using an old address system. No mention of Brooklyn is made only the term old address is used.
ridgewood theatre opened in 1917 as a vaudeville house
Ridgewood 3 was the way the theatre was billed in the years it operated as a triplex.
Ridgewood 3 may be a reference to the Ridgewood when it was a triplex as opposed to a five-plex, as in summer 1981.
The RKO Alden did not even have a Jamaica Avenue entrance when first built, it was open on the 164th Street side. When Loews opened the Valenica RKO took a lease on a store and put up a marquee, and made a new front entrance. The Utopia theatre also had a thin tiny front that went to the rear where most of the theatre was built.
Man theaters appear uch smaller than they really are from the street. I guess that was to mazimize the profits of the “main drag”, in this case Myrtle Ave, and have most of the building itself located on the side streets (in this case Madison St and Cypres Ave). The theater itself occupies almost the entire block fronting on Madison St and as you said, half of Cypress Ave.
Other theaters that did this were the Loew’s Gates on Broadway, which also only occupies a small little piece of Broadway (keeping most of the block open for profitable stores on the “main drag”), and it’s building is mostly on the side street, but allowing it to have Broadway Address. The former Meserole Theater in Greenpoint also occupies a very small part of Manhattan Ave, while the theater expands behind the stores adjoining it on Manhattan Ave. The Madison Theater also did this. While it has (had) a pretty impressive and large facade facing Myrtle Ave, again, the theater itself is located behind the stores built on Myrtle Ave. This is a small sample, but there are many theaters that were built in the same way, sort of “hidden” behind the streets their front entrances were on.
Man theaters appear uch smaller than they really are from the street. I guess that was to mazimize the profits of the “main drag”, in this case Myrtle Ave, and have most of the building itself located on the side streets (in this case Madison St and Cypres Ave). The theater itself occupies almost the entire block fronting on Madison St and as you said, half of Cypress Ave.
Other theaters that did this were the Loew’s Gates on Broadway, which also only occupies a small little piece of Broadway (keeping most of the block open for profitable stores on the “main drag”), and it’s building is mostly on the side street, but alowing it to have Broadway Address. The former Meserole Theater in Greenpoint also occupies a very small part of Manhattan Ave, while the theater expands behind the stores adjoining it on Manhattan Ave. The Madison Theater also did this. While it has (had) a pretty impressive and large facade facing Myrtle Ave, again, the theater itself is located behind the stores built on Myrtle Ave. This is a small sample, but there are many theaters that were built in the same way, sort of “hidden” behind the streets their front entrances were on.
Is it even run by a chain?
No the Ridgewood is run as an independant by the Diaz brothers who also own the Jackson & Plaza.
Amazingly, and I can’t really believe it, what with all the interest in this theater and the 100’s of responses, we actually don’t have the seat count for this theater, the style, or the chain if it has one!
Is it even run by a chain?
I had been in the theater countless times, but I was only a kid when I was in it when it was “one” theater. I don’t really remember the “style”, and I haven’t been in it for over 15 years to even remember the style from the remnants you can see in the now smaller theaters. As for the number of seats that should be pretty straight forward “somewhere” to get that on the top of the page.
Thanks. It has to be just the lobby though as a 40X100 lot. There is no way the approximately 2000 seat Ridgewood theater is a 40 foot lot. The lobby alone is 100 feet long (why I think it’s the lobby that’s 40X100). It’s not a regular square lot. From the front, the Ridgewood looks as wide as any other store on the block, but remember that the theater actually takes over all the space behind the stores to the left of it, and then extends all the way to madison St, which is quite a ways down Myrtle Ave, because the Ridgewood is in the middle of the block. It also extends all the way to Cypress Ave.