RKO Keith's Richmond Hill Theatre

Brooklyn Jim: That theater was the Loew’s Kameo, and it still exists as a church. I used to teach 4th grade at St. Gregory’s School on New York Avenue & St. John’s Place from ‘68 to '74. Would love to see the inside of the Kameo, as I still live in “South Brooklyn”.

Sure is, robbie. The Highland Park reservoir has three large sections, but two are now completely drained, looking like barren forests, and the middle one only appears to be at 20% capacity. Were you referring to the paintball battlefields employed there now?

My cousin Carol Lee got married at St. Michael’s in ‘64, and my “former” sister (totally looney toons – LOL!) attended her final two years of high school there, as Saints by Flushing or Lorimer had closed its doors.

Jim- right you are. the second park was the upper park. the indian bridge, reservoir, ball field. many great memories there in the early years. later it was a battleground. i went to st. michael’s grammar school then Lane….life education 101…robbie

Correct on my H.S. colors! I still have a white varsity sweater with blue trim, but I’d be hard-pressed to get them buttons to close.

“Pezzonovante” is an Italian expression meaning “ninety pennies.” In the old days, when folks were poor, the big shots would walk around, jingling 90 pennies in their pants pockets to impress everyone else. So I used it here figuratively as the big shot bosses of the Vatican.

Episcopal and Lutherans seem to share that humorous phrase. The other way I put it is to say “catholic with a small c.” Back in Queen of All Saints, across from Rudy Giuliani’s alma mater, Bishop Loughlin, I used to be tortured by the good Sisters of St. Joseph. Later, without too much disrespect intended, our gang referred to them as “penquins” and also the “Little Sisters of the Bleeding Feet.” Somehow, I feel I’m gonna pay dearly for having a warped sense of humor about all this…

Crown Heights and Park Slope were already in ethnic transition during my HS years (‘59-'63). The area then was about half black, half Jewish. Today’s very orthodox Hassadim have supplanted the older Jewish folks who’d lived there.

Now here’s where I need some help: I saw “the Time Machine” in 1960 with Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux at a decent-size Loew’s theater on Eastern Parkway and Nostrand, but for the life of me, I cannot think of its name over the last week or two! Ayudu! (Help!)

That theater was the site of a few of my dates then – for under $5! Check it out: subway fare for 2 at 15 cents each way (60 cents), dinner for two at a Chinese restaurant – with tip – came to $2.50 (the meal was $1.10 each) and the movie admission, 60 – 75 cents each. Do the math, guys. LOL!

Robbie, the Indian Bridge is still there and lookin' good – I took a walk across it (in CA tennies, of all things) during Brooklyn’s last snowstorm on 3/2/06. We used to refer to the lower level of Highland Park as “Lowland Park,” if that’s what you meant by “second park.”

‘Tonino, paisan, que se dice? Yep, I remember so many of those great festas in the old days, not only in the neighborhood, but also over in Little Italy, Manhattan. Gad, you described multiple scenes outta “The Godfather” Trilogy! They were real, especially the statues and the dollars! As for St. Rita’s, always a strong Italian-American enclave, I tried to get my 91 year old mom a copy of THE TABLET last trip, but no luck. They may have already wrapped yesterday’s fish in them. Had to get one at St. Michael’s, a bit farther down on Atlantic Ave. (And a good fish place on the block before it! Lobster tails 6 for $10!)

I graduated from Brooklyn Prep (the Jesuits), Nostrand & Carroll, in Crown Heights back in ‘63.

PKoch, a few years ago, I got tired of fighting the pezzonovante in the Vatican, so I switched over to a Lutheran church close by: “Catholic – Lite!”

ENY was a great Italian neighborhood. Had family on Linwood St. My uncle used to make guinea red wine. A tanker, like a fuel truck, used to pump the raw mash through thick hoses into his casks. Everyone saved the gallon bottles he gave them to be refilled next year. I was baptized and received communion at the RC church just off Atlantic Ave, St Rita’s I think.

. And of course the fantastic feasts. I think they were on Pitkin Ave. I can still smell the peppers and sausages and picture the Saint paraded down the street clothed in dolla bills. And the smoke from cooking and fireworks, and concessions and rides.

I knew it only as a neighborhood called Easknewyork, only realized it meant East New York in recent years.

I lived up on Highland Blvd., robbie, formerly “Politician’s Row” in the bad old days. Was there from ‘58-'78, then off to sunny but sterile La La Land. Laughed my sorry butt off when I saw on the street signs that H.B. is now alternately known as Vito P. Battista Blvd.!!!

It’s startin' to look like old home week around here…

Great links for those old photos, especially the old Myrtle Ave.-Ridgewood trolley shots of the ‘30s & '40s! QJ – midway between the #15, KK and J, Peter. And KenRoe sure gets around, too. A few weeks ago on eBay, I won a couple of DVD-Rs from a guy in Jersey, subwayal from Morris Plains, and these had B&W and color movies of Ridgewood and Richmond Hill from those eras. It was similar to owning a time machine, I swear.

Singer Jimmy Dean (“Big Bad John,” “North to Alaska”) had a big hit in ‘60 called “Sink the Bismarck,” based on the movie at that time. A bunch of us young teens from East New York took the #15 (now J) el train out to 121st St., then doubled back a couple of blocks to the RKO Keith’s to see it. It seems that as we got older, and with some additional expendible dough, we started to grow farther and further (taste-wise) from our own cinema roots, working our way into newer neighborhoods to check what they had going for themselves. (Wait’ll I eventually get to my Brigette Bardot story at a theater in Jamaica. Peter, remember the Legion of Decency’s “Condemned List” in The Tablet? Heh heh…)

Jahn’s was a cool ice cream joint. I was surprised on a recent trip to see that it was still around. (Farrell’s by Fascist Valley is the San Diego equivalent of free birthday sundaes and Kitchen Sinks. I couldn’t ever finish one, either.)

One time on summer vacation, a few of us were experimenting with the NYC transit system and ended up by the RKO Keith’s, but it was the one in Flushing. Our first reaction? “Where the @$#*&! did Jahn’s go???”

Here’s the richmond Hill website:
View link

You’re welcome. Have you been to the Richmond Hill Historical Society’s website ? If not, perhaps Bway could direct you.

I remember reading that Teddy Roosevelt once campaigned for President from the elevated platform of the Richmond Hill LIRR station, then went across Myrtle Avenue to the upstairs floor of the Triangle, changed his clothes, then headed into Manhattan, early in the 20th century.

Could the Triangle Ballroom have been located above the Triangle Hofbrau Restaurant, the “triangle” being formed by 117th Street, Myrtle Avenue, and Jamaica Avenue ? It used to be Doyle’s Triangle Hotel.

“The Kitchen Sink” – as in the biggest, most outrageous ice cream sundae ever…and if you could actually finish it by yourself, you got it for free!

That’s roughly how I felt, seeing there was a prizefight showing on the orchestra level of the Ridgewood on Tuesday, June 17, 1980, while “Friday The 13th” was shown above on the balcony level, after having opened there on, of course, Friday, June 13, 1980.

Anniegirl, Jahn’s may disappoint you if you go there now. I was last there Saturday April 4, 2004, and it was darker, quieter and emptier than the last few funeral homes I’ve been in !