Evergreen Theatre

The Evergreen Airdome has a closing date of 1925. That is not for the Evergreen theatre which has a closing date of 1928.

the grandview was not your folly look elsewhere

My aunt worked here the year the market crashed and lost her job I think it closed a year later Im told it was a nice movie house back in the day

Through private email, lostmemory and I have determined that the Evergreen Theater sat on the lots that the CTown now occupies. The Bank sits on the lot of the Evergreen Airdrome. There is a parking lot behind the bank that was also probably part of the airdrome.
The first thing to go up after the wooden structures that originally replaced the park was the Evergreen Airdrome, around 1911 (the site of the bank). In 1913, the owners of the Evergreen Airdrome built the indoor Evergreen (where the CTown now sits). Some time around 1914-1916, the Matthews company built their apartment 6 family homes next to the indoor Evergreen Theater. In 1915 some expansion to the theater did take place, however I seriously doubt it was a “1500” seat expansion, as the Times Newsweekly originally reported. That would have made the Evergreen theater have 2700 seats, only 100 or so less than the montserous Madison Theater down the street, of course totally unrealistic. More likely, the expansion in 1915 brought the theater UP to 1500 sseats, and that may or not be a number combined with the outdoor airdrome next to it.

In the early 1920’s or so the Evergreen and Airdrome were sold to take advantage of the high values inn Ridgewood at the time. I assume at that point that the Airdrome stopped functioning, but the Evergreen indoor Theater probably continued showing movies, or was used as some other temporary function. In the meantime, the Airdrome was razed, and the Manhattan Banck built their bank abutting the Evergreen theater. The Evergreen’s building survived into the 1930’s, but probably fell into disrepair during the Depression. By the 1940’s the Evergreen was razed, and the new “stores” building was built on it’s site, the building that now houses CTown.
The Evergreen Theater building did stand between the 6 family homes and the bank for a few years, and they witnessed it’s demolition.

Personally, I believe the Evergreen was right next to the Matthews flat (930 Seneca). There may have been an alley or so. I think your current theory is correct. The airdrome was there first, so that probably occupied the corner. Then they built the interior theater next to that. Since the owner owned all four lots, I am sure that the Airdrome could have taken a lot and an half, or even two lots. It had to be a bit wider than the bank is now, as that is a very narrow building, unsuitable for a theater, even an exterior one, although do remember that there is a parking lot behind the bank, which may have been part of the airdrome too.

Quote: One other item I came across was in Oct 1957 a Bohack is listed at 924 Seneca ave. As far as I know, there is no 924 listed today so C-Town or most likely Trunz expanded that store later on.

Actually, Bohack itself mst have expanded into the old toystore, taking up the entire building, as that is the way I remember Bohack when it closed, that whole building. Associated, Trunz, and later CTown take up the exact same square footage as the Bohack did when it closed.

Actually, 930 Seneca is the first Matthews flat next to the CTown. It has commercial designation now, even though it was built as the typical 6 family house originally.
It’s tax designation is “S9.2A – 2+ Families W/Store”. Of course the ground level used to be apartments originally though. 920 is listed as “K1.4 – 1-Story Store Building”

Oh, just to add, the building I used to live in was a Matthews flat on Putnam Ave, and the tax record lists it as being built in 1932. However, the original deed says it was built in 1915. The deed is accurate. For some reason the tax records for many buildings say the 1930’s.

At the turn of the century there was a park located in the area known today as Seneca Avenue and Myrtle Avenue. It was privately owned and the owner sold off the property in lots. Records from that era are missing or incomplete at best. The first building erected was listed as a large wooden commercial structure on the site where the bank is located today. Another wooden commercial structure was built adjoining that one. Their use is undocumented but possibly the first structure was used as a hotel or restaurant. Around 1908 the remaing lots on that street were purchased for the building of the cold water apartments know as flats. Had the other structures not been standing there would have been more flats built as apartments were in high demand.
The second structure adjoining the flats was either sold or possibly a fire destroyed it and the Air-Drome was built on that location next to the flats. At some point in 1912 the owner of the Air-Drome acquired the remaining property and erected the Evergreen Theatre on the corner of Seneca Avenue and Myrtle Avenue. Many wooden structures were sold and demolished during that time period due to new stringent building and fire codes. In my opinion the land that the Evergreen sat upon was worth considerable money and the owner simply took advantage of the economic times of the day and sold the property. The theatre itself did not fail.

Yes, I do believe that the entire structure that is the CTown now was built as one structure, but lostmemory is on to something too about his corner idea. The truth is though, that the bank dates to the late 20’s. But that doesn’t mean that it was ever next to either of the theaters. The bank could have been built after both the indoor and outdoor theaters were razed, as the theater property was sold in the early 20’s. It is safe to say that the Matthews 6 family homes were there before the theater closed, because those type of buildings were built in the 1910’s. When the theater property was closed, the buyer could have just torn everything down, subdivided the lots, and then sold one of them to the Chase Manhattan bank to build the bank, which they did in the late 20’s. It is safe to say that the structure that is now the C Town was built probably post 1940, as they wouldn’t have built a building like that prior.

C-Town did not combine the two stores. It was already one store while Bohack was still in it. I don’t know when the toy store left, but it was before Bohack left. Bohack, when it closed was definitely that entire building, and had been for years. After Bohack, Associated supermarket took over the store. Shorty after that, Trunz moved in it from across the street (they were orignally around where one of the shoe stores are now on the Duane Reade block) into the Bohack-CTown Building. Some time around 1990 or so, Trunz went out of business, and CTown then moved in.
I’m not saying that that CTown building was not two stores at some time, but I am 100% sure that that building is one structure(although two stores), and was built at the same time.

Lostmemory, yes, it is very plausible that the outdoor and indoor theaters operated at the same time, for the exact reason you stated…no air conditioning!
The COlonial theater on Broadway in Bed-Stuy also operated an outdoor theater at the same time as the indoor theater.

That makes a lot of sense. I always assumed that’s what the article meant. It was probably supposed to read, “…it was expaned ‘to’ 1500 seats”, not ‘by’ 1500 seats". The theater would have been “huge” if the theater was 1200 seats, and then expanded “by” 1500 seats. That would have made the Evergreen have “2700” seats! The RKO Madison “only” had just under 2800 seats, and that therater was a huge monster.