Rivoli Theatre

I was just browsing on history for my daughters talent class “History of Ridgewwod” came across plenty of Theaters in Ridgewood. Read on the comments of “The Rivioli” and realized I once attended a service at this church. It is a Spanish Pentacostal church. I can’t promise but will try to get a picture taken from the inside. Will be glad to try and help. The time I entered the church it’s interior was very gorgeous and theater-like. Knew at first site that it was a theater. Hopefully I can help you guys.

Here’s a current view of the Rivoli Theater taken today.

Click Here for Link

The theater is now a church. The building seems to be deteriorating. It has been heavily altered on the exterior. I couldn’t even tell where the original main entrance was.

For those present and former Bushwick and Ridgewood residents who wish to express their condolences and get-well wishes to Monsignor James Kelly of St, Brigid parish, the address is :

St. Brigid Rectory
409 Linden Street
Brooklyn, New York 11237

I have not been in the Madison in many years, but here’s what I remember. When it was Consumers, only the lobby area and part of the area under the balcony was used. Consumers was a “Service Merchandise” type of place, where you would write down what you want on a form, and they then bring it to you from the back. I assume the main part of the theater was used for the storage of the merchandise.
When it became Odd-Lot, you were able to access a much larger part of the building. If I remember correctly, if you looked up at the ceiling, you could see the curve of the balcony on the low ceiling part of the store. Then there was a higher drop ceiling too, presumably in the main auditorium area. It is doubtful that the Odd-Lot store took up the entire auditorium, although certainly did seem to occupy at least part of it. I remember very clearly the “low ceiling” and the slightly “higher ceiling”.
It is highly likely that much of the ceiling and at least the higher portions of the walls of the Madison Theater, as well as the balcony areas still exist. However, they are probably in shambles if they do still exist, what with the passage of time, neglect, conversion to either retail space or storage space, and also the fire that occured in the late 70’s.
I have never been in the Liberty Dept Store (which is now in the Madison), so don’t know if that store takes up more or less space than Odd-Lot did (the last time I was in there was for Odd-Lot).

Thanks Peter for the information. I guess the exterior was much more ornate than it is now too.
Heh, now there are three theaters that I would “almost” be tempted to go to church services just to see the interior, the Loews Gates, the Valencia, and now the Rivoli. I guess I would stick out at a Spanish church though – “Iglesia Pentecostal”, seeing that I don’t speak Spanish – I can say, “No Hablo Esponial”, and a few other phrases, but about that’s it….

It was probably way too big, it was just wishful thinking, as I am sorry it is gone. Although the large and ornate Valencia in Jamaica become a church, so I guess it would have been possible, although unlikely.
This site lists the Madison as 2760 seats! Wow, I wasn’t too far off saying “5 Rivolis”. If you take into consideration the much higher roof of the Madison too, it just may be that much bigger! In the link above that I posted, it also shows the Madison way in the distance. It looks like a monster it was so big! It does sort of dwarf the modest Rivoli in that photo.
Thanks, I will be interested in what your uncle says about the theater.

You are very welcome.
By the way, do you or anyone else know when the Rivoli closed to showing movies?
Speaking of churches, I wish the Madison Theater a bit east on Myrtle Ave would have been converted to a church. What a shame that beautiful theater’s interior was destroyed. Although not a theater, a church at least preserves a theater in the short term.
Do you know anything about the interior of the Rivoli when it was a theater? It couldn’t have been all that big, as when seeing it right before driving by the Madison Theater (Liberty Dept Store) this morning, it almost seemed that 5 Rivolis could fit into the Madison, both in height and width!

I was in Bushwick today, and decided to drive past the Rivoli Theater. The building is almost unrecoginzable as a theater. It’s exterior has been heavily altered. I couldn’t even tell on the ground if the theater originally fronted on Myrtle Ave or the side street the way it’s been altered! The only thing giving it’s status away is the high roofline (as seen in the above link).
Anyway, the marquee is long removed, and a sign above the nondescript door reads “Iglesia Pentecostal”. So obviously, the Rivoli has a similar fate as many other old theaters….it’s now a church (Iglesia is Spanish for “church”).
I guess that may be good news. While it’s not a theater, churches are usually very “kind” to the integrity of an old theater as it’s one of the few post-theater uses that does the least harm to an interior of a theater as theaters lend themselves very well to churches. Of course, I have no idea if it’s been maintained well though on the interior. Although the exterior has been heavily altered, it is in fairly good shape.

Here’s a photo of the el next at Knickerbocker Ave station, and the Rivoli is in view to the right of the el:

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?32005

The Rivoli Theatre was also known as the Myrtle Theatre in the early 30’s and it seated around 900 people.