Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
favorited this theater
Showing 476 - 500 of 2,835 comments
This is the Ridgewood Theatre Individual Landmark Designation Report, courtesy of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission:
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Can someone please describe the original configuration of the auditorium? “Panzer65” and I would appreciate any interior photos, besides the more current theater lobby photos. It would be helpful for the Friends of The Ridgewood Theatre preservation cause. Contact me at Thank you!
Does anyone have interior photos of the orchestra? I would love to see that chandelier again.
Thanks, Chuck1231. This is how the Ridgewood Theatre looks now.
NY 1 Video, “Ridgewood Theatre Given Landmark Status” by CeFaan Kim: http://www.ny1.com/content/112136/story
Times Ledger, “City Landmarks Ridgewood Theatre, PS 66” by Philip Newman & Contributing Writer Jeremy Walsh: View link
Queens Chronicle, “Historic Building Gets Preservation Nod” by Michael Lanza: View link
“if the Ridgewood Theatre is revamped properly, Ridgewood may just become a budding Bushwick, its arts-obsessed Brooklyn neighbor.”
Interesting. A friend of mine at work has referred to Ridgewood as “suburban Bushwick”. Ridgewood never fell into ruin the way Bushwick did, but it can use all the help it can get.
The former Ridgewood Times building becoming condos is quite a difference from when it was Bushwick High Annex thirty years ago.
My Cornelia street neighbors and I always felt oppressed and endangered by the presence of that school on the corner of our home block.
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The Q Note was established in February 2009, and does a superb job in capturing the fundamentals of Queens in a creative manner.
Reproduced with permission from webmaster & author Alia Akkam:
« The Quickie: (January 14 â€" 17)
How to Change History
The Ridgewood Theatre was once a cultural mecca. It may just get a new life. Photo: Courtesy of Michael Perlman
Michael Perlman was devastated when the Trylon Theater in his native Forest Hills shut down. The demise of this Art Deco treasure, with its mosaic ticket booth and terrazzo floor bearing a 3-D mirror image of the 1939 World’s Fair monument of the same name, awakened his inner preservationist. With the Trylon’s entrance pavilion jackhammered away in 2005, three years later Perlman made it his mission to ensure another of the borough’s ailing cultural institutions wouldn’t meet the same fate.
Picture it: It’s Queens, circa 1916, and the sumptuous Ridgewood Theatre, a 2,500-seat palace devoted to vaudeville, built by the Levy Brothers and designed by Thomas White Lamb â€" who would go on to lend his savvy to Manhattan’s Ziegfeld â€" arrives. The community laps up the entertainment, and continues to make it a regular hangout as it morphs into a cinema haven.
Like many of the city’s once glorious cultural bastions, the Ridgewood Theatre gradually decayed, until it suddenly shut down in March 2008. Perlman then established Friends of the Ridgewood Theatre, and for nearly two years found himself in the midst of a grassroots letter campaign and petition drive. Yesterday, crucial steps were taken to protect the iconic venue, deemed the longest continuously operated first-run neighborhood theater throughout the city â€" if not the country â€" thanks to Perlman’s efforts: The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission awarded the three-story venue individual landmark status for its glam façade, chock full of geometric patterns, medallions, and a frieze.
“I admired the varied history of the Ridgewood Theatre, and most of all, the intricate and clever craftsmanship exhibited on the facade and in the theater lobby,†Perlman explains. “The facade is ornate, and is comprised of glazed terracotta and Indiana limestone, and its Classical Revival style intrigued and communicated with me. It was ‘a calling.’ Theaters of this caliber are few and far between today, although they are still very much cornerstones of Americana.â€
But what’s next for the building? Although City Council still needs to give the potential landmark its blessing, all is expected to fall into place. There are even whisperings that as early as summer of this year a renovated building may debut as a retail and movie hybrid. Perlman’s vision is more ambitious: “I wonder if the co-owners have considered creatively and adaptively reusing it as a performing arts venue and movie theater. I view this combination as an even more economically viable venture, and would be somewhat reflective of the origins of the Ridgewood Theatre.â€
Given the active efforts of local planning organizations and the construction of the Times Building condos, if the Ridgewood Theatre is revamped properly, Ridgewood may just become a budding Bushwick, its arts-obsessed Brooklyn neighbor.
Thank you “East Coast Rocker” & John for your kind words! Thank you for contributing to this noble preserve cause as well. CM Crowley was also present at the LPC Public Meeting yesterday, and vowed that she would guide the designation through City Council. I am confident with all the positivity, the other agencies will sign off as well, and Individual Landmark status will remain.
It is still of interest to designate the mostly intact theater lobby an Interior Landmark. The owners don’t plan on altering that in a negative way, but one can never be certain if it’s not landmarked, as what happened to the Elmwood and Trylon Theaters. By law, an Interior Landmark must be open to the public, and the LPC said they cannot survey it and calendar it for a public hearing, since the theater is not open at the time. Let’s have good faith in the Ridgewood Theatre owners, and help them in any way we can.
It would be an economic advantage to the owners if the Ridgewood Theatre was nominated and placed on the State & National Register of Historic Places, as it would be eligible for federal grants and tax credits for restoration work and historically-sensitive renovations; not to mention national prestige. I hope to hear everyone’s thoughts.
The Friends of The Ridgewood Theatre MySpace Page has been updated, with a slightly revised mission statement: www.myspace.com/ridgewoodtheatre
Thank you!
This whole experience has been very satisfying and well worth the effort. Congratulations to all who contributed to this significant achievement.
While the City Planning Commission and the City Council must also approve this proposal before the Ridgewood actually becomes an official landmark, the fact that absolutely no opposition has emerged bodes very well that these remaining hurdles will be ovrcome. We must, however, take nothing for granted.
But for now, let us just bask in this wonderful accomplishment.
Congrats Michael. Job well done. To bad the Madison could not have gotten it as well.
Thank you!
Nice work, guys!
Thank you very much! There is also a well-written article in The Epoch Times by Jack Phillips, titled “Historic Theater Kept For Preservation”
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That is excellent news!
I’m glad to read the good news, Michael. Thanks for posting it. Sorry I wasn’t at the hearing yesterday.
P.S. On the NYC Department of Buildings website, the Ridgewood Theatre is no longer listed as C for calendared, but is now excitingly listed as L for Landmark!
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Thank you for your message, Bway & Peter (I must have missed you).
THE RESULTS ARE IN………..
I attended the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s 1/12/10 Public Meeting, and I am elated to report that the historic Ridgewood Theatre was unanimously voted by commissioners as an Individual Landmark!!! My nearly 2-year effort under Friends of The Ridgewood Theatre as Chairman (since March 2008), in affiliation with various preservation and cultural groups, members of Cinema Treasures, and a mass audience, truly paid off! Now if only the LPC would change their position towards some other potential Queens landmarks, as well as that of other boroughs, in which properties clearly conform to the architectural and cultural provisions of the Landmarks Law.
I took some photos, which are as follows: View link
The last 5 photos are from the designation, and they are titled in case the order changes when I need to update the photoset. The Ridgewood Theatre cause can be perceived as a case study in landmarking, advocacy, and community bond. It took a while to achieve landmark status. This is another chapter in the Ridgewood Theatre’s long, varied, and distinctive history, considering that it was deemed the “longest continuosuly operating first-run theater countrywide” upon its closure.
Now we must make sure that it remains in a good state of preservation in the long-term. It is essential to continue to be proactive. Thank you very much, everyone, for your support to date! Let’s call it “a great beginning.”
Just saw this message today, so of course, I can’t make it now….but I can’t wait to hear your reports from those that were there!
Michael, I’ll see you at the Municipal Building tomorrow.
Thank you for your wishes and your help and support to date! I am still hoping to acquire vintage photos of the interior. If you would like to join me after the Jan 12th LPC Public Meeting for lunch at a great multicultural restaurant nearby, please let me know. I hope we can celebrate its landmarking victory. “Knock on wood!”
That is wonderful news! Thanks so much.
Now the ONLY thing we still need to see is a long awaited historical photo of the interior!!
This is great news Michael. Hopefully, things will go very uneventfully on Tuesday and the designation will be secured. I am looking forward to reading the designation report.
THE NEWS WE HAVE BEEN ANTICIPATING!!!… If you would like to join me at the LPC public meeting on Tues, Jan 12th, and for lunch afterwards at a great multicultural restaurant nearby, please e-mail me at
Nearly 2-Year Landmarking Cause In The Making, Boils Down To 1 Day:
Commissioners To Vote on Historic Ridgewood Theatre
RIDGEWOOD, NY (Jan 12, 2010) â€" Queensâ€\ historic Ridgewood Theatre (55-27 Myrtle Ave) closed its doors in March 2008 without warning, but patrons & preservationists are now elated that the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a Public Meeting, where Commissioners will vote whether to designate the theater as Queensâ€\ newest Individual Landmark (façade). The Public Meeting for the Ridgewood Theatre (Agenda Item #3, LP-2325) is set for Tues, January 12, 2010 from 10:15 AM â€" 10:25 AM at the Municipal Building, 1 Centre St, 9th Floor North, NY, NY 10007: View link
A hearing was held on March 24, 2009 as a result of a Request For Evaluation form and research, a letter campaign, a petition drive, and a MySpace Group coordinated by Friends of The Ridgewood Theatre, which was founded by Preservationist Michael Perlman after the theaterâ€\s closure in 2008. Testimony in support of Individual Landmark status was diverse and abundantly positive, and also included written testimony from Thomas A. Lamb, the great-grandson of Architect Thomas W. Lamb, who was tracked down by Chair Perlman. Co-owner Mario Saggese expressed his support for landmarking the façade, and also said the owners envision a historically-sensitive plan for the downstairs auditorium space consisting of retail to make it economically viable, with modern screens upstairs.
Opening its doors on December 23, 1916 and closing in March 2008, the Ridgewood Theatre was deemed “the longest continuously operating first-run neighborhood theater citywide, and potentially throughout the U.S.†It staged Vaudeville, silent films, saw the advent of photoplays, the first ‘100% All-Talkingâ€\ feature, Lights of New York (1928), & Technicolor. Its original seating capacity was 2,500, but currently contains 5 screens and seats 1,950.
Modeled after Times Squareâ€\s long-demolished Mark Strand Theatre (the Worldâ€\s 1st movie palace), the $250,000 Classical Revival gem was designed by Americaâ€\s foremost theater architect, Thomas White Lamb, & built by the Levy Brothers. The 3-story Indiana limestone & terra cotta façade is highly ornate, incorporating unique geometric patterns, medallions, a frieze, pilasters, and proudly boasts Ridgewood Theatre across the top. Interior murals originally depicted the history of Ridgewood.
Perlman explains: “Theaters are the ‘ultimate public institutionsâ€\ which bridge the generations, as they foster community growth and pride, harbor countless memories, and often exhibit the work of our countryâ€\s most skillful architects. Commissioned architects hoped to leave a long-lasting impression of grandeur, confidence, serenity, and comfort; a bold step away from the pressures of society.â€
Perlman further explains “With the onset of DVDs, and vastly improved home entertainment centers, movie theaters with a minimal number of screens are a highly endangered species citywide. When sacrificed in the name of progress, their loss is most heartfelt. Local theaters with an unfortunate fate include the Oasis, Parthenon, Irving, & RKO Madison Theatre (retail), but the Ridgewood Theatre can be economically viable if preserved and adaptively reused for theater-related purposes. It would contribute to an up & coming neighborhood and a diverse borough.â€
Historic & recent Ridgewood Theatre photos, courtesy of Chair Michael Perlman, Friends of Ridgewood Theatre: View link
Online Petition: View link
Friends of The Ridgewood Theatre MySpace Group: www.myspace.com/ridgewoodtheatre
Friends of The Ridgewood Theatre, Chair
Four Borough Preservation Alliance Corp, Queens VP
Rego-Forest Preservation Council, Chair
Queens Preservation Council, Bd. of Dir.
Central Queens Historical Association, Bd of Dir
Thank you, John, Michael and Michael, for your input !
I also hope the LPC will put a fire under this issue. We got it on the list but since then the wheels seem to have slowed down to a crawl. When I got to speak to Jenny of LPC she said they would work on it as fast as they could but it is not fast enough.
Happy New Year 2010 to all
Michael