Irving Theatre
1533-1537 Myrtle Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11237
1533-1537 Myrtle Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11237
2 people
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Showing 26 - 48 of 48 comments
Is there any current word on this theater? Someone mentioned above that it is now a 99 cents store. Or at least as of last Novemeber.
Hi Magic, Eddie, Bill, Sally, Astyanaax or whatever your name really is!
The Irving was a dump and that is being kind
Actually, in the description above, the status above should be changed to “closed”, but the demolished could be taken off, as we discovered some months ago that the building was not demolished. I guess the function should also be changed to retail as opposed to “unknown”.
Thanks very much for the report! I took the photo linked above back in September, and there was a sign on the building that said it was for sale or rent. The store must have come in soon after I snapped the photo.
The building that once housed the Irving / Mozart is now open for business as a 99 cent store. I was inside the building this afternoon and am reporting that there is little, if any, evidence that this was once a theater. The building has two floors and windows were punched into the side walls. The first floor has a drop ceiling and flat walls. At the front, near the entrance was a rather ancient staircase, which I took the liberty of climbing to the second level. The staircase could date back to its movie house days and may have led to rest rooms or a small balcony. The second floor was empty wall to wall with an ancient wooden floor, which could date back to the 1940’s, when, supposedly, the building ceased to function as a movie theater. There were no vestiges of the projection booth or a proscenium arch. As mentioned above, the only clues to its being a theater are the knobs on the facade used to support the marquee.
Thank you Peter. I actually only changed my screen name, but even so, only posted here once or twice before today anyway, and I didn’t like my other name.
Great site, I joined a few weeks ago, but only read occasionally.
Brooklyn-Queens, welcome to Cinema Treasures ! I hope you like it here. I’ve had lots of fun with it, and have posted here a lot.
From the photo, it still seems like a quite attractive building (aside from the barred windows), and it’s not in that bad of shape.
Knitting mill is quite possible, as Ridgewood abounded, and still abounds, with them.
Wow, I always thought the building in your photo was a theater when I used to go by there years ago. I think it was a knitting mill for a while.
I wonder what still exists of the theater ornamentation inside. The above listing should be changed to “closed” – but not demolished.
Thanks, ErwinM. Just joking !
For the record, the Arion in Middle Village was never an “Aryan” theater (even though the words sound the same). As far as I know, they never played German language films from at least the mid 1930’s on. It was almost always a subrun house that ran double features and was supposedly the first theater on Long Island to be wired for sound and play “The Jazz Singer”. So even in the 1920’s it was playing American movies.
So perhaps the Irving was once the true “Aryan” theater, as opposed to the Arion, in Middle Village, or the Wagner, in Wyckoff Heights !
I asked a friend about this, and he claimed this is a photo of the Irving (Mozart) Theater. The marquee was where that sign is now. You can still see the attachments on the wall between the upper windows where the “cables” held up the marquee.
The gas station on the small triangle property to the left of the Irving theater may have been part of the property at one time, but must have been sold off in the 50’s. Although the building appears to be vacant, it does appear in half way decent condition.
So the mystery has finally been solved for the Irving, aka mysterious “Mozart” theater. Now just imagine the people piling in the front doors (you can see where they’ve been rebricked) to watch the “Nazi” propaganda films that were claimed to be played here in the years before WWII.
I guess we should have the above reference changed to just “closed” instead of “closed/demolished”.
Bway, I think that’s more than a coincidence. I was going to remark that I see a slight similarity in design and construction of the Luxor and Wyckoff Theaters.
Thanks for the photo.
Alright. As you guys may have noticed, I went on a “cinematreasure” hunt today in Bushwick and Ridgewood, and took photos of most of the Bushwick and Ridgewood Theaters or sites. i still have a few more to do, but will probably post the others tomorrow, like the two Imperial, Alahambra, Luxor, Willoughby, etc. I did most of the others (southwest of the Ridgewood Theater anyway), so check all the Bushwick/Ridgewood theater sections if interested. I should have them uploaded by tomorrow.
Anyway, this brings us to the Mysterious Mozart Theater, aka the Irving theater. I had thought this theater was demolished, but now I am not so sure, because of the building in the below link. Yes, there is a gas station on the small triangled corner, however, this building is right next to it, and looks like many of the old small theaters in the area, like the Luxor, Wyckoff, Imperial, etc (see photos I upload tomorrow).
Could this building, right at the location the Irving/Mozart theater was at actually be the Irving, still standing?
What do you guys think?
Here’s the link to what is by the gas station we had “thought” was the Irving. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but it sure looks like the other 1910’s and 1920’s Ridgewood and Bushwick small theaters do. Or is it just a coincidence that this building at the Irving site looks so similar to the Luxor, the Imperial, and the Wyckoff?
Click here for the Link
The site of the gas station is the site of the Mozart-Irving theater. We discovered that during a discussion in the (where else) Ridgewood Theater section. Erwin thankfully took the information we gathered there, and used it for his nice description above.
The website I found with that “Nazi” reference was for a Nazi propaganda film called “Victory in the West” which played (according to the author at the Mozart right up until the point when the US entered the war. Of course I don’t know what kind of film that is, or if the aurthor was correct (or it was just his opinion).
The following information was contributed on the CHOPIN Theater (Brookyn,NY) page by cjdv on 8/3/04
“The Irving Theatre opened on April 11th, 1914 with the Irving Airdome next door. The outdoor theatre was listed as being larger with a seating capacity of 1,600 compared to the 595 for the indoor space. It was listed as the Mozart when it closed in 1942.â€
Was the theater or the airdome’s name listed as the Mozart ? ?
If it was the Irving Theater’s name being changed to the Mozart, then the change must have been for a relatively short period of time. My parents always referred to the theater as the Irving, which they attended from late 1937 to late 1939. They never mentioned anything about “Nazi†films playing there, just the usual quota of musical comedies, operetta films, dramas, comedies and inevitable “mountain†films. However, since they were made while the Nazi regime was in power, one could classify them as such.
Oh, I forgot, here are the links to the Rivoli and the Chopin (where the Mozart conversation started)
/theaters/7087/
/theaters/4669/
Erwin, I’m glad you added the Irving theater. I just noticed it.
What led me to the Irving again is an interesting conversation that is going on in the Chopin Theater in Greenpoint’s listing.
Someone brought up the “Mozart Theater” on Myrtle Ave. I am trying to figure out if the Mozart was either the Irving or Rivoli Theaters on Myrtle Ave. The only information I was able to find out about the Mozart is that it was south of the intersection of Myrtle and Wyckoff, and that it was in Bushwick on Myrtle. I am wondering if the Mozart is an entirely different theater.
Cooincidentally, it seems to have a similar history as the Irving theater. I did find out that the “Mozart” also played “German” films, but they were more described as “Nazi” films in some strange website I found it under, in the years before WWII. No mention of the address though. It does sound like a cooincidence that both the Irving and Mozart (if they were seperate theaters) both seemed to play “German” films, although it is also no surprise if it was two seperate theaters as both Bushwick and Ridgewood were heavily German in those years.
Further comments concerning the Irving submitted by Warren, Bway, Peter K and Erwin M can be found on the Ridgewood Theater page on this website starting at Comment #45. A rather interesting read and a great example of the meeting of the minds to solve a mystery theater.