Ridgewood Theatre

johndereszewski on March 31, 2009 at 11:31 am

Montrose Ave. was the closest “L” – or, as we all referred to it, Canarsie – train stop.

Getting a little back to topic, Trinity was situated around the corner from the Rainbow Theatre, which had just concluded its cinematic life when my time there started and had turned into a church. I think it is still functioning as such, though I believe the owner is trying to market it for a more profitable use.

My route from Greenpoint to Trinity was the Graham Ave. bus, which took me passed the old Graham Ave. movie house. At that time, the Graham was showing third or fourth run triple bills and had yet to embark on its final – and far more seedy – cinematic career. It is now a medical clinic affiliated with Woodhull hospital. (About a year ago, I entered a few comments about the Graham that you might find interesting.)

Talk soon.

johndereszewski on March 30, 2009 at 8:23 pm

It closed in 1972, four years after I graduated in 1968. MHT was situated in Williamsburg, on Montrose Ave. and Graham Ave. You do not remember it?

johndereszewski on March 30, 2009 at 4:03 pm

Peter, at least SFP still exists, albeit in a far removed – almost alien – location. At least allow me some retroactive bragging rights!

johndereszewski on March 30, 2009 at 2:28 pm

Peter, I have absolutely no problem with your modest borrowings from my testimony. Imitation is, as we all know, the highest form of flattery. Besides, your comments regarding your personal experiences at the Ridgewood – from Captain Morgan and beyond – were absolutely priceless. Finally, as a Most Holy Trinity grad, I am extremely happy to be contribute my wisdom to our poor St. Francis Prep associates.

If it is true that the owner will develop the new retail along Cypress Ave., this makes a virtue of the fact that only a narrow part of the theater opens on the main street. This contrasts with the Forest Hills, where the very wide street frontage provided an open invitation to total alteration. On the other hand, I wonder if the old real estate dictum of “location, location, location” will ultimately trump the “wisdom” of focusing the retail development on the “side street”. Only time will tell.

Finally Peter, the Zorro like unmasking of you as both PKoch and PeterK reminds me of a passage in an old Woody Allen New Yorker short story. In presenting the origins of the Russian Revolution, he noted that the peasants revolted when they realized that the Tsar and the Czar were the same person!

Talk soon.

Luis Vazquez on March 30, 2009 at 12:15 pm

Thanks Peter for you great testimony and for putting a personal touch on the landmarking process. Also, I just realized that Peter K is PKoch. I had wondered what happended to pkoch. I’m very happy to see that you are continuing to contribute your knowledge and insight. Thanks again!

wally 75 on March 29, 2009 at 10:56 pm

life in the ridge one more time….

johndereszewski on March 29, 2009 at 10:24 am

A good article in yesterday’s NYT, featuring our Peter Koch, in case you missed it.

View link

PeterKoch on March 27, 2009 at 9:36 pm

Here is the written testimony I submitted to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commision on Friday March 27 2009 :

Chairperson Tierney and members of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, I am pleased to offer the following testimony in support of the designation of the historic Ridgewood Theatre as a New York City landmark, as a follow-up to my in-person verbal testimony this past Tuesday March 24th 2009.

My name is Peter Koch. I am a current resident of Dobbs Ferry NY who grew up in Bushwick and Ridgewood. I lived in Ridgewood from my birth in mid-November 1955 until my father and I sold our Ridgewood home at the end of May 1999, 83 % of my life to date. I am a civil engineer by degree and work experience, but am also an avid amateur urban archaeologist. I am extremely nostalgic about my home neighborhood of Ridgewood. About Halloween 1977, the last of Ridgewood’s other movie showplaces, the palatial RKO Madison, closed its doors for good during a period of profound urban decay following the looting, burning and destruction of Bushwick caused by the July 1977 NYC blackout. The Madison now stands as a much-defaced shadow of its former glory. Yet the Ridgewood survived and continued to serve this community until only one year ago. Hopefully, the Commission’s actions will not only preserve this wonderful edifice but encourage the realization of a future cinematic and theatrical history for the Ridgewood.

The fact that the Commission has moved so positively and expeditiously in calendaring this item is commendable and underlines its commitment to historic preservation that is neither Manhattan-based nor of “high” social status. Such actions only enhance the Commission’s role as a truly City-wide guardian of New York’s many historic treasures.

The Ridgewood Theatre was a second home to me, from the first film I remember seeing there, “Morgan The Pirate”, starring Steve Reeves, in the summer of 1961, as a boy of five, to the last film I saw there, “The Bourne Ulitmatum”, on the last Saturday of August 2007, with two friends I had made on the Cinema Treasure fansite, six and a half months before it closed on Sunday March 9th 2008. Between those two times my family, friends and I saw hundreds of films there. Time and space do not permit me to elaborate on the cultural and entertainment value and importance of the Ridgewood Theatre to me and my friends and family, but one can get an idea from reading the many posts on the Ridgewood Theatre page on the Cinema Treasures fansite. It is one of the longest, if not THE longest, pages on that fan site. Admittedly, many posts are off-topic and are not movie-related, but ALL posts have served to bring and hold together the cyber-community of former and current Ridgewood residents. The number and enthusiasm of these many posts is evidence of both the strength of the Ridgewood cyber-community and the importance of the Ridgewood Theatre itself to that community.

In my humble opinion, it simply makes no sense for there to be no functioning Ridgewood Theatre in Ridgewood. With the loss of the Oasis, Madison, Parthenon, Grandview, Irving, Wyckoff, Acme, Glenwood and Arion Theatres, and most recently the Elmwood in Elmhurst, not to mention the Bushwick movie palaces of the RKO Bushwick, and Loews Gates and Colonial Theatres, now a school and churches respectively, there is no other theatre besides the Ridgewood within a 3 ½ mile radius of itself. The closest is the new Atlas Park Cinema at Cooper Avenue and 80th Street in Glendale 3 ½ miles to the east northeast. Then there are only the Midway Theatre and Brandon Cinemas in Forest Hills 4 miles to the northeast, the Linden Boulevard Multiplex five miles to the southeast, the cinemas of downtown Brooklyn 4 miles due west on Myrtle Avenue, and the cinemas of Jackson Heights 4 miles to the north. None are within walking distance of Ridgewood. It simply makes no sense for the diverse, bustling, gentrifying and growing community of Ridgewood to be without a cinema within walking distance of most of its residents. The Ridgewood Theatre is located near the western end of the Myrtle Avenue “miracle mile” of shopping, and conveniently only a few blocks from the bus and subway hub of Myrtle and Wyckoff Avenues and Palmetto Street which features stations of the M and L lines, and the B-26, B-13, B-52. B-54, Q-55 and Q-58 MTA buses.

When one turns to the Ridgewood’s historic and social role in its host community and the extraordinary impact it had has upon Ridgewood’s past and current residents, the case for designation becomes even more profound. From the date it helped usher in the Christmas season of 1916, the Ridgewood has played a central role in the community’s cultural, entertainment and economic life. This remained the case despite major changes in the community’s ethnic and economic make up, as the Ridgewood adapted itself to meet differing needs and preferences. This is a key reason why the Ridgewood was able to maintain itself â€" until last year – as the longest continuously operated movie theater, not only in NYC but in the USA as well.

While I realize that only the exterior of the Ridgewood is currently being considered for designation, I also believe that the approval of this action will create strong incentives for the voluntary preservation of additional portions of the old theater, particular the distinguished and largely intact inner lobby. In addition, landmarks preservation might also encourage the future cinematic and/or theatrical utilization of at least a portion of this theater, as mentioned by Mario Saggese, a co-owner of the Ridgewood Theatre, at the March 24th 2009 hearing.

To quote Michael Perlman, my fellow advocate of the Ridgewood Theatre’s preservation : “Theaters are the ‘ultimate public institutions’ which bridge the generations, as they foster community growth and pride, harbor countless memories, and often exhibit the work of our country’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. When sacrificed in the name of progress, their loss is most heartfelt. Local theaters with an unfortunate fate include the Oasis, Parthenon, Irving, and 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 and coming neighborhood and a diverse borough, and would boost jobs.”

A job boost is sorely needed in our current economy, and the re-opening of the Ridgewood Theatre, as part retail and part cinema, would be, to use the current terminology, an ideal “stimulus” to the economy of Ridgewood.

After the RKO Madison Theatre stopped showing films around Halloween 1977, on the last Saturday of February 1978, I walked past the Madison Theatre and sadly saw the derelict hulk it had become. On its front was a sign that read :

THIS IS HOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD STARTS TO DECAY ! IF THIS BOTHERS YOU, CALL (phone # for community action)

I never did, but, fourteen months later, in early April 1979, after the RKO Madison had been burned by an internal fire, I stood sadly on the sidewalk once again, looking into the charred remains within. An elderly man joined me and remarked wistfully and sadly “what a beautiful show house that once was”. Truer words were never spoken.

I don’t want the Ridgewood Theatre to suffer that sad fate of the RKO Madison Theatre if I can help it.

For these reasons, I congratulate the Commission for scheduling this item for consideration and strongly urge that you promptly act to make the landmarks designation of the Ridgewood Theatre a reality.

Thank you for your attention.

PeterKoch on March 26, 2009 at 10:10 am

You’re welcome, Bway, I will keep you posted (literally). I agree with what you’ve said in your post above.

PeterKoch on March 25, 2009 at 6:07 pm

My written testimony will focus on why it makes no sense for Ridgewood to be without a Ridgewood Theatre, when it can so easily be re-opened and restored to function as a theatre, and how I do not wish the Ridgewood Theater to suffer the fate of the RKO Madison Theatre, if I can help it.

Luis Vazquez on March 25, 2009 at 11:19 am

While it is great news that the owner does not oppose the facades designation and that the theater is reopening, I am concerned with how the retail space is going to be configured. I am not familiar with the theater itself so will the retail take up the orchestra section and the lobby?

Mike (saps) on March 25, 2009 at 8:37 am

From today’s New York Post:

ACT 2 FOR OLD-TIME THEATER
RIDGEWOOD TO REOPEN

The Ridgewood Theatre the oldest continuously operating movie house in the nation until it closed a year ago will get an encore, its new owner said yesterday at a hearing before the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Opened as a vaudeville theater in 1916 and surviving every trend in moviemaking history, the limestone theater on Myrtle Avenue in Queens will reopen in July with a three-screen cinema on the upper level and a mix of shops on the first floor.

Mario Saggese, a co-owner of the Ridgewood, insisted that the only way the neighborhood theater could be financially viable is with the addition of a retail complex.

“It would be a financial hardship to have to operate it without that retail,” Saggese said after a hearing on a proposal to landmark the exterior of the building.

The landmarks commission is considering historic designation for the theater’s limestone facade. Saggese said he and co-owner Anthony Motalbano wouldn’t oppose the designation as long as it’s only for the building’s exterior.

After numerous renovations, including the conversion of the 2,500-seat theater into a five-screen multiplex decades ago, Saggese said there’s not much left of the historic interior to save anyway.

“But if we do pull down sheet rock and find a statue or other ornaments still there, we will definitely preserve them,” Saggese said.

The Ridgewood was one of more than 300 theaters across the nation designed by renowned architect Thomas Lamb.

Just a handful remain, including the Ziegfeld in Midtown.

A vote on the theater’s landmark status will be set for later this spring, said landmarks spokeswoman Lisi de Bourbon.

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