Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
favorited this theater
Showing 376 - 400 of 2,835 comments
The owners and prospective tenants do not envision it reopening as a movie theater, and if it did take on such a function, it would not be the major source of capital, and would occasionally include a screening. The vision of the owners and prospective tenants is performing arts with other community functions. This is a diverse city for the arts, and bringing an increase in the arts to Queens will be a throwback to the theater’s early Vaudeville days, and help make the community and surrounding community’s a greater destination, as well as improve property values and boost jobs. A performing arts center can perform economic wonders if developed sensitively and creatively.
This is all well and good, but let’s remember that the owner of the Ridgewood Theatre will NOT re-open it as a cinema until he is convinced that he will make money in doing so.
That is not a judgment, either good or bad, on him. That is merely how our capitalist economy works.
Thank you for sharing the updated theater website! I will once again bring it to the owners' and prospective tenants' attention.
Another theatre you may want them to see is the Riviera Theatre in N Tonawanda NY right next to Niagara Fall. 1300 seat Venue and still fully functional along with a Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ.
www.rivieratheatre.org
Hi Michael,
In an e-mail, I have shared some case studies with the Ridgewood Theatre owners and prospective performing arts tenants. It indicated how other endangered theaters were spared and restored with the community and governmental intervention, by applying for grants, holding fundraisers, recruiting volunteers, and hiring architects who are out of work, and willing to take on noble projects pro-bono or low pay, to boost their experience. I will look into the Strand in RI as well. Thank you!
Michael
Hi Michael,
I hope all goes well for old Ridgewood and I hope the owners will not be put off or deterred since the news of the Loews Kings $70,000,000 restoration. There is more then enough room for performing art centers in a city as big as NYC. I was recently in Providence Rhode Island. The Strand was built in the early 1900’s and showed it’s last movie in 1978. It is now a club on certain days and a concert venue on others. Most of the seats on the mail floor are gone but it still maintains all the seats in the balcony and has a fully functional stage. Maybe you can get the owners of Ridgewood to take a look at the place to see a good example of how to save a classic theatre.
Michael
I will add that you also invested the time to take questions from NY Times reporter Anne Barnard, which was very helpful. I will inform everyone how they can help with the cause, as soon as new developments in need of “power to the people” unfold.
Thanks, Mike. I’d like to go on doing what I can to help.
Thank you, but you are also a “trouper,” since you delivered a superb testimony in front of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, based on its architectural significance, your sentiment, and the need to preserve such theatrical historic gems.
Mike, I think you’re one of the real “troupers” here, not me. I merely walk by once a month because it’s on my way.
You’re welcome, Mike, and thanks again for all your hard work.
Thank you for your monthly observations! I am working with the owners and prospective tenants, and it may be reused as a performing arts center with community spaces, housed in a restored theater. It is a long process, but not impossible with creative visions and continued dedication.
You’re welcome, Panzer65. My pleasure. BTW, I think it’s spelled “trouper”, but I know what you mean. I can easily walk past and observe the Ridgewood Theatre once a month. Therefore, I will continue to post these updates.
Landmark preservation and designation is all well and good, but I’ll believe that something is being done with the Ridgewood Theatre, besides talk and posting, when I see it with my own eyes.
Peter, you are truly a trooper…..thanks for the updates!!!!
I passed by the Ridgewood Theatre about 10:50 a.m. this morning, Friday May 21 2010.
Call (917) 578 7701 is no longer on the marquee.
The gate was down, closing off the outer lobby. No posters in the windows of the box office. Three doors to the inner lobby were open. I could feel cold air wafting out. Either the air conditioner was on inside, or else it was the cooler air of the last few days, especially this raw, rainy, windy past Tuesday, May 18, 2010.
Between the gate and the doors to the inner lobby, in the outer lobby, was a pink play dollhouse and a bicycle.
I could see no activity within the inner lobby.
Thanks, LuisV. I’m glad to read we’re in agreement on this.
Agreed Peter K! I would be very pleased to have the Ridgewood back as a functioning movie theater as, at the time of its closing, the theater with the longest amount of time that it actually showed movies. That in itself is quite historic. Panzer65 also makes an excellent point. This theater is so old that it truly was one of the first of its kind and it wouldn’t contain all of the flourishes that came to symbolize the theaters of the roaring 20’s, escapist 30’s and art deco 40’s. It is why it was so important that the exterior, which is quite handsome, be designated as a landmark. It is more because of its historical significance than to its actual architecture.
Thanks for your quip, Dramatrauma. I know Veggie Tales very well !
LuisV, I don’t think anyone thinks the interior of the Ridgewood Theatre is an architectural marvel. It’s just that, unlike other theatres, we haven’t seen many images of its interior in all its former one-screen glory.
I think the other main concern about the Ridgewood is that it be restored soon to an open, functioning, in-business movie theatre, in an area where one is sorely needed and hopefully missed.
Thanks for the pics. The staircase and teh ceiling look like two different eras. The ceiling reminds of Civil War era American theaters rather than a picture palace.
Plusthe years of (apparently) painting over the dings gouges and nicks in the staircase.
Hmmm, the signage reminds me. Ive been meaning to rent
“Rambo: A Veggie Tale ” for awhile now.
Agreed, Luis V., actually reading the CT page for Ridgewood, it appears that it was modeled after the Mark Strand theater in Manhattan, which was one of the earliest forms of purpose built theaters for motion pictures.Perhaps that may contribute to the historical nature of its landmark status.
Thanks, jwbailer !
Panzer65, less of a mystery than the RKO Madison Theatre, which was made into a store on the ground level.
I’m pretty sure I saw these photos posted previously, but nonetheless, it is nice to have them reposted. That said, and I don’t want to be seen as negative, but from what I have seen in photos and have read, this theater interior just doesn’t begin to compare to the other true palaces of New York. The New Amsterdam, Hollywood, Radio City, all five of the Loews Wonder Theaters, The St. George, The Elmwood, The Brooklyn Paramount, The Loews Coney Island (Shore Theater), The Ziegfeld, Beacon, The Jackson, RKO Keiths Richmond Hill and the newly “discovered” diamond in the rough, The Loews Canal. These are all spectacular architectural triumphs. The interior of the Ridgewood, sadly, is ho hum at best. There are no photos of the interior from back in its prime, but I just don’t see how this theater is in the same league as the ones I just mentioned.
I do believe that the exterior should have been landmarked and I am happy that that has happened, but so many of the theaters above lack interior designations.
The Ridgewood absolutely is historic and I don’t take that away from it, but architecturally speaking, it just doesn’t measure up.
Outstanding!! But just like the Madison..there’s still a mystery lurking beyond that door and staircase!!! How I miss those cozy confines.
Some how..some way..some one will post an interior photo of our beloved Ridgewood..believe!!!!
Thanks anyway !