Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
favorited this theater
Showing 576 - 600 of 2,835 comments
Good talking to you Peter. Thanks for the spelling correction re Pythian Temple. I think I created one typo by trying to correct anther one. Anyhow, the NYT link appears below.
What you saw at the Ridgewood confirms what I saw last Saturday. Unfortunately, no one was there to show you around. The fact that the owner is no longer trying to sell or rent the place indicates that the essentials for the new relationship – or at least one would hope that this the case.
View link
Thanks, John D.
I think you meant the Pythian Temple.
Please post a link to ther New York Times Real Estate article if you can.
I walked past the Ridgewood Theatre about 11:15 a.m. last Friday and had a look at it.
There is now no phone number on the marquee. I saw no new penetrations of, or construction of storefronts within, the brick walls on Cypress Avenue and Madison Street. The front mesh gate was down. Two of he doors to the outer lobby were open. I looked inside.
The doors to the two first floor cinemas were open, and there were names of films above each one, probably left from when it last functioned as a theater on March 8 2008. I should have written them down, but did not. The name over the door to Cinema 1 to the left was something like
THE P ARITANS
I do not recall the film name above the door to Cinema 2 to the right.
Tomorrow’s NYT’s Real Estate section has a very interesting article, on page 5, about one of Thomas Lamb’s most significant works – the Pyhian Temple, which is situated at 135 West 70th St. and will soon complete a major exterior renovation. Since this building never housed a movie theater, it obviously has no page dedicated to it on CT. However, as a major Lamb creation that many of us “film types” might not be aware of – I know I wasn’t – the article is certainly worth a look. This is especially the case as the Ridgewood’s landmark designation proceeds. Hope you also enjoy it.
Bway, have you posted this news of Bushwick Buddies yet ?
This is all great news, John D, which I thank you for sharing. I will have a look myself, hopefully inside, when I’m in Ridgewood this Friday morning.
LM, while I could only lightly touch on the implementation schedule, the impression that I got is that the movie theaters will come on board before the catering hall and that it will take about one year for the latter to occur. So hopefully, movies could return by the end of the year – or at about the time – in December – when the Ridgewood originally opened.
Panger, while the the old chandelier is long gone, the plan apparently is to install a new one in the lobby.
Bway, since the “ceiling” of the old theaters 1 and 2 has not been altered, I could not see how the upper space was partitioned or what remains of the old arch. Hopefully, more info will emerge as the project advances.
Thank you so much John for letting us know. This is tremendously good news!!! I do remember being able to see the original ceiling in the balcony theaters, such as the center dome, but of course, it was cut up by the “fake” walls between the three balcony theaters.
I don’t remember what the ceiling in the orchestra level theaters looked like, as it’s been so long since I have been in there. Did the procenium arch still exist? I think it’s great that that orchestra will be used as a catering hall, I can’t think of anything that would be a better use other than a theater itself, or a church……so we should be happy about this news. A catering hall is a great use of a large space like that. It will also be able to keep some of the original ornamentation intact. It must have been interesting to see the Ridgewood back as one open space downstairs. I haven’t seen that since the early hall sounds like80’s!! DCould you see how the balcony was partitioned off when looking up to it?
Thanks again John for this great news!!!they will be able to use some of the remaining ornamentation. it’s also great that the downstairs is one large space again. This will be interesting to see as it progresses.
Thanks again John!!
Thats great news John..too bad you did not have a camera to document Ridgewood’s past. I remember from Ridgewood’s single screen days it had a huge chandelier, was it still intact?
Sorry for the double submission, but this seemed to occur automatically. It was not just that I was presenting something that cannot be stated too often! But, sorry anyway.
Since I had some free time today, I made a quick visit to the Ridgewood. I may have hit the jackpot!
While the marquee remains bare, one of the front doors was open and someone who described himelf as the manager of the renovation came out to talk to me and eventually invite me in. As one who grew up in Bushwick and held his graduation from JHS 291 here in the late 1970’s, he had very fond memories of the Ridgewood and was very enthusiastic about the plans to bring it back. Here are a few details:
The two theaters on the first floor will be converted into a large catering hall, which will feature the restoration of as much of the old ornaments and design as possible. In addition to doing the usual catering business, this facility will also schedule live events, like concerts. Given the far more radical alterations that other forms of retail use would have demanded, this is terrific news.
The entrance to the catering hall will be via the rear doors on Cypress Ave. This will enable the Myrtle Ave. entrance and the lobby to exclusively serve the movie-going audience.
The lobby will be renovated to bring back its former glory. The old rug will be removed, the underlying marble floor will be restored and a new chandelier installed.
The alterations that were made to the upper theaters – which will continue to show movies – will be stripped back and the underlying decorations restored to the extent possible.
The supervisor informed me that the restoration plan had been discussed with local Community Board 5 and been favorably received. He also noted that some funding streams had been tapped to further support the venture, but we did not have any time to discuss the specifics of this further.
Given the scope of the plan, the project will not become operational for at least another six months. (One year seems a more reasonable estimate, at least for full operation.) But, given the benefits to be gained here, ths delay will be more than worth it.
The supervisor also expressed interest in receiving any old pictures of the Ridgewood that anyone has so that they could be mounted in the lobby. I gave him the Cinema Treasures web page connection and also told him that I would ask the persons who possess the pictures to share them.
The highlight of the visit was a tour of the lobby and first floor theaters. The lobby has not been touched since the closing. While it obviously needs work, there is no reason why a full restoration cannot occur here. The partition separating theaters one and two has already been removed. Otherwise, everything is “as is”. It was very interesting to view two movie screens lined up side by side separated by – nothing!
While this is obviously not a done deal and disappoints can always occur, this seems to represent pretty solid evidence of a very positive turn for the best. So I am very happy to be the bearer of good news for a change!
PS. LM, I would not expect to see any new developments on the landmarking front until the fall, when the commission will vote on the proposal. But all developments in this endeavor have been positive – especially the stuff noted above – and no opposition whatsoever has emerged. So things look great here.
Since I had some free time today, I made a quick visit to the Ridgewood. I may have hit the jackpot!
While the marquee remains bare, one of the front doors was open and someone who described himelf as the manager of the renovation came out to talk to me and eventually invite me in. As one who grew up in Bushwick and held his graduation from JHS 291 here in the late 1970’s, he had very fond memories of the Ridgewood and was very enthusiastic about the plans to bring it back. Here are a few details:
The two theaters on the first floor will be converted into a large catering hall, which will feature the restoration of as much of the old ornaments and design as possible. In addition to doing the usual catering business, this facility will also schedule live events, like concerts. Given the far more radical alterations that other forms of retail use would have demanded, this is terrific news.
The entrance to the catering hall will be via the rear doors on Cypress Ave. This will enable the Myrtle Ave. entrance and the lobby to exclusively serve the movie-going audience.
The lobby will be renovated to bring back its former glory. The old rug will be removed, the underlying marble floor will be restored and a new chandelier installed.
The alterations that were made to the upper theaters – which will continue to show movies – will be stripped back and the underlying decorations restored to the extent possible.
The supervisor informed me that the restoration plan had been discussed with local Community Board 5 and been favorably received. He also noted that some funding streams had been tapped to further support the venture, but we did not have any time to discuss the specifics of this further.
Given the scope of the plan, the project will not become operational for at least another six months. (One year seems a more reasonable estimate, at least for full operation.) But, given the benefits to be gained here, ths delay will be more than worth it.
The supervisor also expressed interest in receiving any old pictures of the Ridgewood that anyone has so that they could be mounted in the lobby. I gave him the Cinema Treasures web page connection and also told him that I would ask the persons who possess the pictures to share them.
The highlight of the visit was a tour of the lobby and first floor theaters. The lobby has not been touched since the closing. While it obviously needs work, there is no reason why a full restoration cannot occur here. The partition separating theaters one and two has already been removed. Otherwise, everything is “as is”. It was very interesting to view two movie screens lined up side by side separated by – nothing!
While this is obviously not a done deal and disappoints can always occur, this seems to represent pretty solid evidence of a very positive turn for the best. So I am very happy to be the bearer of good news for a change!
PS. LM, I would not expect to see any new developments on the landmarking front until the fall, when the commission will vote on the proposal. But all developments in this endeavor have been positive – especially the stuff noted above – and no opposition whatsoever has emerged. So things look great here.
None that I’m aware of, LM.
I don’t know, John, but I’ll be walking by there next Friday, June 19th, and will report here what I’ve seen, as I always do.
It is now June 12. Has anything new occurred here, or is the site still vacant as described by Peter in his last post?
Jose_M, I look down your old block of Halsey St. every month when I pop out of the subway at Wyckoff and Halsey to bank at Ridgewood Savings Bank. My cousin Joseph was baptized at St. Martin of Tours Church and my parents used to live two doors down from the church on Weirfield Street, across Weirfield St. from Irving Square (Halsey) Park.
I remember them very well, Jose_M, and welcome to Cinema Treasures !
You may be interested in checking out and joining Bushwick Buddies at :
http://www.bushwickbuddies.com
for some more great neighborhood chat.
Regarding the Ridgewood Theatre, I walked by it at about 11:45 a.m. EDT Friday May 22 2009. The front mesh gate was still down, but two doors to the outer lobby were open. The phone number
917 578 7701
was still on the marquee. Otherwise, no change since my last visit on Friday April 24 2009. I did not walk around to see what was going on, if anything, with the Cypress Avenue and Madison Street sides of the building.
Back in 1971 I lived at 1326 Halsey st. and attended St. Martin of Tours School, so after school on Fridays we used to walk to myrtle ave and watch movies like “Taste the blood of Dracula” starring Christopher Lee. Not to mention “Willard” and “Ben” the rat movies…anybody out there remember those days??
Thanks for the good news, Fred. I testified at that March 24 2009 hearing.
NYC is considering the Ridgewood for landmark status View link
You and me both, Bway. We shall see.
Unfortunately, if they were going to reopen the balcony theaters by this coming July, you would think work would be done by now on refurbishing them. I hope the reopening does come to pass…..
When I last passed by the Ridgewood Theatre this past Friday April 24 2009 I noticed that the message that was on the marquee in March 2008, shortly after it had closed on March 9, 2008, is once again back up on the marquee :
FOR LEASE 917 578 7701
I have not yet called this number to see what’s up.
Lost, check out the Majestic Theater page….since the email notifications links were broken, I don’t think you have notifications turned on yet for that theater, but I am sure you will be eager to see what’s posted there:
/theaters/7895/
The marquee shown in the 1967 photo collapsed in the blizzard of February 9-10, 1969. I remember it well, was living nearby when it happened, and have written and posted about it many times. One of my e-mails about it was printed in the “Old Timer / Our Neighborhood” column of the Times Newsweekly shortly after the Ridgewood Theatre’s 90th anniversary in December 2006.
I totally agree, the Ridgewood looked much better with that marquee, than the current one. It wasn’t really “removed”, it collapsed in a late 1960s' snowstorm, and fell to the ground. Luckily no one was under it at the time!