Evergreen Theatre

RidgewoodBill on September 5, 2004 at 9:30 pm

Payton’s Fulton Street theater was used for vaudeville & burlesque. There were no motion pictures shown in that theatre.

Bway on August 31, 2004 at 3:27 pm

When they subdivided up many of the farms in Ridgewood, many times the farms were divided into 20 or 25 foot lots. The address numbers correspond to whatever the lots were divided into (they could have been as small as 10 or 20 foot lots sometimes). Some buildings took up two lots. Of course the theater would have taken up a few lots, hense a few numbers.
Also, many times they went up 100 each cross street. I don’t know if that was true in the Brooklyn numbering system (which Seneca never lost), but it is true in the Queens system to an extent.

I guess it’s not really necessary to have an entry for the Van Cortlandt. Since there was nothing more than an “open air” theater, there’s not to much else to say, other than what was mentioned here. I guess if more information is determined, we can always add a entry.

Bway on August 31, 2004 at 2:31 pm

There is some confusion on when the Evergreen Airdrome. We started a whole discussion on it at the Ridgewood Theatre Section (scroll down to August 31).
Anyway, the Evergreen Theater was located at the site that is now where the Banco Popular (Former Chase manhattan Bandk) building, and the C-Town Supermarket is at the intersection of Myrtle, Seneca, and Hancock St.

Actually, the homes to the left of “C-Town” are Standard Matthews Flat 6 Family homes. Most of the Matthew flats were built in Ridgewood in 1914-1919. I’m thinking those tenaments were probably built while the Evergreen building was still standing, as I don’t believe the Evergreen was torn down before 1925, although the property was sold some time in late 1921. They are probably on the site of the Airdrome.
Those Matthew Flat houses were converted into stores on the ground level (at least some of them), but many still retain their original stoops and original railings with posts at the end!
Anyway, I theorize that the Airdrome part of the Evergreen was on the site of those Matthews buildings, and the Evergreen Theater was build to the right of the Airdrome (where the banck and supermarket are now). The Airdrome property was developed sooner than the theater property, so the Matthews 6 family homes were probably built attached to the theater building, probably between 1917 and 1921. Matthews didn’t build that sort of building in Ridgewood later than the early 1920’s, and most were built in the 19teens.
The Chase Manhattan Bank building was built in the late 1920’s, and that is presumably right after the old Evergreen was razed.

The Bank Building is listed as 918 Seneca, the C-Town is listed as 928 Seneca, and the first Matthews building is listed as 930 Seneca. 926 is now a dead address, but falls on the supermarket property – obviously the theater took up a few address numbers.