With regard to Penn Station, the irony of ironies is that, of course, the Dolans are now looking to build yet another new MSG elsewhere and trash the current one. And as most of you must know, the old GPO across the street is to be converted into a new Moynahan Station to partially make up for demolishing Penn Station. So we can look forward to waiting until whatever they build to replace the RKO Keith’s outliving its usefulness and being demolished as well — possibly within our own lifetimes. Hey, it will soon happen to Shea Stadium (built the same time as MSG). Welcome to the disposable city.
In the early 70s, I used to walk home at night from my girlfriend’s near Northern Blvd. in Jackson Heights, all the way up Junction Blvd. to 57th Ave. in Elmhurst. I guess that’s about 20 blocks. I usually intended to take the Junction Blvd. bus, but I would start walking and usually, the bus either never passed me, or did so only after I was practically home! Of course, I was a LOT younger then… (I never had a problem — although I was once mugged in broad daylight on my way to Newtown High School!)
Come now, gentlemen. He’s going to the Fair, after all. This is a classy establishment. I would not travel there in anything less than a chaffeured limo. Eight-block walk, indeed!
Interesting that signs saying “prostitution and public lewdness prohibited” were needed, because as far as I know, prostitution and public lewdness are prohibited EVERYWHERE in the city. What’s next, a sign saying “murder and assault not allowed on premises”? Did these folks think the Fair Theater was located outside the coastal waters of the U.S.?
Great reminiscence, BrooklynJim — only incidentally related to the Elmwood, but still nice to hear. I used to listen to Jean Shepherd every night at 10;15 on WOR, and read the book (which was really more of a series of short stories) when I was in 6th grade. But I have to admit, this movie was so far below the radar, I didn’t even realize until I saw it on TV years later that it was based on Shepherd’s stories!
The underside looks a bit better (though it appears the paint that was peeling was similar to what was just added) but overall it looks really bad. Wrong paint, wrong colors.
I don’t understand your objection, Warren. It seems to me what Lost Memory suggested, and what I also suggested, was simply to add Queens to the addresses of all the theaters that are in Queens. Why would you think that would mean you’d have to then add the neighborhood names to all the addresses in the other four boroughs? The first idea would help to simplify the search process and ensure inclusion of all the Queens theaters in a single search; your corollary would only add an unnecessary layer and become an added burden that would lead to mass confusion. Nobody suggested doing anything other than adding “Queens” to the Queens neighborhood addresses; there’s no reason why you’d then have to do the reverse for everyplace else in the city.
It would make sense to simply amend all the Queens theaters by adding Queens to the address, so you could have both the community and the borough and make searching easier. However, just posting this under this one theater obviously makes no sense. It has to go on the Home Page somehow, or in posting instructions (even though it applies to only one borough in one city!). What I don’t know is, who has the access rights to all the original postings and needs to be notified so they can be changed?
Lost Memory is right, although this never occurred to me until now. I grew up in the Bronx and Queens. Every other borough uses just the name of the borough in the mailing address, along with the Zip Code. Only in Queens does everybody insist on using the name of the individual post office along with the Zip Code — Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst, Bayside, etc. I’m really not sure why this is, but it’s a hard habit to break. (I even recall that originally, long before Zip Codes, the Bronx didn’t have its own post office, and was simply addressed as “New York, NY” with the two-digit postal zone.)
You know, that’s not a bad idea. Jane Hansen does an occasional series that runs Saturdays at 7 on WNBC-4, “Jane Hansen’s New York” that would be perfect. She once did a show on the hidden levels at Grand Central Station, and another on the abandoned High Line in Manhattan. Everybody should send e-mails to her at WNBC-TV with this suggestion!
p.s. I still can’t get anything but blank pages at Local Live — and I am using Safari.
Ed, I was going to make the same reference…I don’t recall if Fitzgerald actually mentions the North Shore while he’s talking about Queens, but if I remember correctly, Jay Gatsby drivies out Northern Blvd. on his way to Big Egg and Little Egg (Great Neck and Little Neck) after passing through the Valley of Ashes (Corona) where the optometrist’s advertising sign with the big eyes stares down over everything. I can’t remember anything else in the book, but that scene has stuck with me for nearly 40 years!
Here’s a possibility. Those are awfully big letters, and I know that wall faces west…it is, of course, visible from down Northern Blvd. which would have been the major east-west road prior to the construction of the major parkways in the late 30s, or the expressways that came in the 60s. With that “North Shore” reference, I would assume the sign was intended to grab the attention of motorists heading further out on Long Island, with a geographical reference to Flushing that would be relevant to travelers. For that audience, the place reference was probably more important than the actual theater name.
Agreed, those are great photos.
What’s also interesting about that sign — though I’m not sure what era it’s from — is that for as long as I can recall (which is between 45 and 50 years) the “North Shore” has referred to Long Island. I don’t remember ever hearing Northern Queens referred to as the North Shore, or Flushing being lumped in with the rest of Long Island (even though, technically, it is). Since we know it was originally the Keith-Albee, and by the 60s was the RKO Keith’s, does anybody have any idea whether the RKO Flushing name was ever actually on the marquee, or did they just paint it on the building at some point?
I attempted posting this yesterday, but apparently it didn’t take. Does anyone have any (recent) photos showing the rear of the building? I’m trying to figure out why all these photos make it look like the building is intact, yet earlier posts describe partial demolition and deterioration with the auditorium open to the elements. Where, exactly, is the destruction — is it entirely from a hole in the roof?
I don’t understand why the church won’t permit interior photographs. You’d think if they’re proud of the restoration work, they would be willing to show it off.
Note the following about the article link above:
1. The article is in New York magazine, not the New Yorker
2. The caption in the article’s initial group of illustrations is incorrect; that’s the new Mets stadium at bottom right, not top right
3. The author may or may not know what she’s talking about regarding the RKO Plaza; given her remark about “The Mets’ new and disappointingly retro-style stadium (why do we still mourn Ebbets Field?)” one doubts she would even give a rat’s rear end about whether or not the RKO Keith’s is actually being preserved.
Not me. But I find it ironic that the ad says “The computerized fight sports fans will be talking about for years!” Anybody heard anybody talk about this lately? Or ever?
Mark, if your building had a play area, it had to be one of the buildings that fronted on either 58th, 59th or 60th Ave. — they had play areas between them. Junction Blvd. was the main street that ran down under the LIE and to the intersection with 63rd Dr. at Queens Blvd., where Alexander’s was. But if you followed 59th Ave. it also took you to Queens Blvd., which ran through the area on the diagonal — only you wound up where the Queens Center Mall is now (built c. 1971).
Hey Mark, I also lived in Rego Park Gardens at that time, in the Athens building — the only one that faced Junction Blvd. Yes, as I noted above, used to play around in there all time.
With regard to Penn Station, the irony of ironies is that, of course, the Dolans are now looking to build yet another new MSG elsewhere and trash the current one. And as most of you must know, the old GPO across the street is to be converted into a new Moynahan Station to partially make up for demolishing Penn Station. So we can look forward to waiting until whatever they build to replace the RKO Keith’s outliving its usefulness and being demolished as well — possibly within our own lifetimes. Hey, it will soon happen to Shea Stadium (built the same time as MSG). Welcome to the disposable city.
In the early 70s, I used to walk home at night from my girlfriend’s near Northern Blvd. in Jackson Heights, all the way up Junction Blvd. to 57th Ave. in Elmhurst. I guess that’s about 20 blocks. I usually intended to take the Junction Blvd. bus, but I would start walking and usually, the bus either never passed me, or did so only after I was practically home! Of course, I was a LOT younger then… (I never had a problem — although I was once mugged in broad daylight on my way to Newtown High School!)
You certainly wouldn’t want to land a helicopter on the roof — there’s a drag queen up there!
Come now, gentlemen. He’s going to the Fair, after all. This is a classy establishment. I would not travel there in anything less than a chaffeured limo. Eight-block walk, indeed!
Interesting that signs saying “prostitution and public lewdness prohibited” were needed, because as far as I know, prostitution and public lewdness are prohibited EVERYWHERE in the city. What’s next, a sign saying “murder and assault not allowed on premises”? Did these folks think the Fair Theater was located outside the coastal waters of the U.S.?
Great reminiscence, BrooklynJim — only incidentally related to the Elmwood, but still nice to hear. I used to listen to Jean Shepherd every night at 10;15 on WOR, and read the book (which was really more of a series of short stories) when I was in 6th grade. But I have to admit, this movie was so far below the radar, I didn’t even realize until I saw it on TV years later that it was based on Shepherd’s stories!
The underside looks a bit better (though it appears the paint that was peeling was similar to what was just added) but overall it looks really bad. Wrong paint, wrong colors.
I don’t understand your objection, Warren. It seems to me what Lost Memory suggested, and what I also suggested, was simply to add Queens to the addresses of all the theaters that are in Queens. Why would you think that would mean you’d have to then add the neighborhood names to all the addresses in the other four boroughs? The first idea would help to simplify the search process and ensure inclusion of all the Queens theaters in a single search; your corollary would only add an unnecessary layer and become an added burden that would lead to mass confusion. Nobody suggested doing anything other than adding “Queens” to the Queens neighborhood addresses; there’s no reason why you’d then have to do the reverse for everyplace else in the city.
It would make sense to simply amend all the Queens theaters by adding Queens to the address, so you could have both the community and the borough and make searching easier. However, just posting this under this one theater obviously makes no sense. It has to go on the Home Page somehow, or in posting instructions (even though it applies to only one borough in one city!). What I don’t know is, who has the access rights to all the original postings and needs to be notified so they can be changed?
Lost Memory is right, although this never occurred to me until now. I grew up in the Bronx and Queens. Every other borough uses just the name of the borough in the mailing address, along with the Zip Code. Only in Queens does everybody insist on using the name of the individual post office along with the Zip Code — Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst, Bayside, etc. I’m really not sure why this is, but it’s a hard habit to break. (I even recall that originally, long before Zip Codes, the Bronx didn’t have its own post office, and was simply addressed as “New York, NY” with the two-digit postal zone.)
Ed, thanks for those incredible photos. Certainly looks, on the surface at least, like the building is structurally sound. What a waste!
You know, that’s not a bad idea. Jane Hansen does an occasional series that runs Saturdays at 7 on WNBC-4, “Jane Hansen’s New York” that would be perfect. She once did a show on the hidden levels at Grand Central Station, and another on the abandoned High Line in Manhattan. Everybody should send e-mails to her at WNBC-TV with this suggestion!
p.s. I still can’t get anything but blank pages at Local Live — and I am using Safari.
Bway, all I get with those links are blank screens. Are they perhaps not Mac friendly?
Ed, I was going to make the same reference…I don’t recall if Fitzgerald actually mentions the North Shore while he’s talking about Queens, but if I remember correctly, Jay Gatsby drivies out Northern Blvd. on his way to Big Egg and Little Egg (Great Neck and Little Neck) after passing through the Valley of Ashes (Corona) where the optometrist’s advertising sign with the big eyes stares down over everything. I can’t remember anything else in the book, but that scene has stuck with me for nearly 40 years!
Here’s a possibility. Those are awfully big letters, and I know that wall faces west…it is, of course, visible from down Northern Blvd. which would have been the major east-west road prior to the construction of the major parkways in the late 30s, or the expressways that came in the 60s. With that “North Shore” reference, I would assume the sign was intended to grab the attention of motorists heading further out on Long Island, with a geographical reference to Flushing that would be relevant to travelers. For that audience, the place reference was probably more important than the actual theater name.
Agreed, those are great photos.
What’s also interesting about that sign — though I’m not sure what era it’s from — is that for as long as I can recall (which is between 45 and 50 years) the “North Shore” has referred to Long Island. I don’t remember ever hearing Northern Queens referred to as the North Shore, or Flushing being lumped in with the rest of Long Island (even though, technically, it is). Since we know it was originally the Keith-Albee, and by the 60s was the RKO Keith’s, does anybody have any idea whether the RKO Flushing name was ever actually on the marquee, or did they just paint it on the building at some point?
I attempted posting this yesterday, but apparently it didn’t take. Does anyone have any (recent) photos showing the rear of the building? I’m trying to figure out why all these photos make it look like the building is intact, yet earlier posts describe partial demolition and deterioration with the auditorium open to the elements. Where, exactly, is the destruction — is it entirely from a hole in the roof?
I don’t understand why the church won’t permit interior photographs. You’d think if they’re proud of the restoration work, they would be willing to show it off.
Note the following about the article link above:
1. The article is in New York magazine, not the New Yorker
2. The caption in the article’s initial group of illustrations is incorrect; that’s the new Mets stadium at bottom right, not top right
3. The author may or may not know what she’s talking about regarding the RKO Plaza; given her remark about “The Mets’ new and disappointingly retro-style stadium (why do we still mourn Ebbets Field?)” one doubts she would even give a rat’s rear end about whether or not the RKO Keith’s is actually being preserved.
The one thing that jumps out at me? Every single picture, with the exception of The Elephant Man, is rated “R”.
Not me. But I find it ironic that the ad says “The computerized fight sports fans will be talking about for years!” Anybody heard anybody talk about this lately? Or ever?
Mark, if your building had a play area, it had to be one of the buildings that fronted on either 58th, 59th or 60th Ave. — they had play areas between them. Junction Blvd. was the main street that ran down under the LIE and to the intersection with 63rd Dr. at Queens Blvd., where Alexander’s was. But if you followed 59th Ave. it also took you to Queens Blvd., which ran through the area on the diagonal — only you wound up where the Queens Center Mall is now (built c. 1971).
Think hard, Ed — did she take you to see “Willard” or were you actually seeing rats? ;)
Hey Mark, I also lived in Rego Park Gardens at that time, in the Athens building — the only one that faced Junction Blvd. Yes, as I noted above, used to play around in there all time.
Aw, don’t be too hard on Kevin. He tries hard.