Veyong, I can’t be sure of the exact date. Mabe it was 1960 but I do know it was at the Valencia. The El train was still there. The electric buses were running on Jamacia Ave. I can still see the goldfish in the lobby, the huge Ben-Hur posters and billboards in and outside the theater and I was so impressed with the woodcarvings all over the walls.
Another note to PKock and HeMan re: anti-aircraft guns. I just checked with my father-in-law who told me when he came home from the war, he remembers 90mm guns in Aqueduct Racetrack and more in Hamilton Beach on Crossbay Blvd. where there now is a VFW all by itself.
to PKoch. I wasn’t around yet during the war but I did hear this story when I was a kid living in the neighborhood. It might or might not be true. Also I was in the Valencia only one time and that was to see Ben Hur in 1959.
Just a note to PKock and HeMan re: your post in July. I have heard that there was an anti-aircraft battery where Aqueduct Racetrack is today. I never heard anything about baisley pond park having one. I lived just across Rockaway Blvd. from the park in the early 50’s.
I do not remember much re: the Alan Freed shows but there is a Alan Freed web site that has just about everything about him with photos of those days. Don’t have the web address handy but you can find it by doing a search.
The photo in Warren’s posting of Dec 6th could not be this Park Theatre. Facing the entrance, it was located on the right end of the block and did not have such a fancy entrance.
I remember a Park Theatre which was located just off Rockaway Blvd. East of the Van Wick Expressway. I don’t remember the exact block it was on, the last time I was inside was to see Old Yella and I remember very little about the inside of the building. I was about 6 years old at the time. I do know that the building was taken down in the early 60’s and was left as an empty lot for many years. It may still be a empty lot.
For the exact wording talk to your accountant but if you are not a “not for profit business” you can collet money and then use it to to restoration and then at the end of your year have that amount taken off your taxes as a business expence for building upkeep. Again talk to your accountant on the exact way this can be done so you will not have any problems down the road.
In an answer to Justin Fencsak. I believe It’s mostly the cost factor holding them back from producing more shows. I do remember only one year they brought back the Easter show. Guess they didn’t fill as many seats as they expected. I have performed on the Great Stage and boy it is a thrill the stand there and look out at almost 6,000 people. I’m sure a lot of acts would love to put their show on there but like any other business, you want to make some money. So they will go for the smaller places like the 1,200 to 1,5000 seat houses which cost a lot less and the real big acts would want to go for something like MSG. Even for RMH to produce a show the cost is great on a day to day basis and a BIG outlay of cash way before the people sit in the seats. But most of us here can remember seeing a movie and the stage show for $1.25 (general admission) if you stood on line for hours in the cold and snow.
In answer to saps, I’ve been told that the show went well. Folding chairs to sit on but everything went off without a hitch. Even the Wurlitzer was used before the shows.
Now the bad news. I’ve just learned that the organ concert for April 29 has been put off for awhile. I will put up a posting here when they reschedule it. In the mean time, if you’d like to see some of these places that are still used and sometimes show silent movies with the organ as they did in the old days. Go to www.nytos.org/
I should have some info on the show by the end of this week. But if your in the neighborhood on Sunday, April 29th there will be a concert on the Mighty Wurlitzer 4/26 opus 1984 organ which is the originial organ installed at the Brooklyn Paramount by Wurlitzer and is in originial condition. The concert will start at 3PM. Admission is $12.00 for nonmembers of the NYTOS org. The concert will be of course in the old Paramount auditorium which is now a gym but you can still see a lot of the old Paramount which is left and not covered over or has not been removed. Also it is OK to bring a camera. The doors are still located at the corner of Flatbush and Dekalb Ave. You can also check with www.nytos.org/ for directions and more information on this concert and others which are presented in other theaters around the area. Hope to see some of you there.
I looked at the photo under the highest magnification that I could and detected that there are no words on the marquee. I’ve used this many times before to detect the approx. year of the photo but in this case the Peerless was closed and empty. Many church groups use the marquee to call attention that a church is there.
In answer to Vito, I’ve been there many times. I help take care of the pipe organ from time to time so I can tell you that the theatre is a gym. No seats with a wood basketball court floor and no stage. The walls have been covered over with drywall part way up. The rest of the walls and ceiling are still there. The first mezz. has been removed. The way the conversion was done you could still make a good theatre out of it but the flyspace above the stage will now be limited. I’d love to help them convert it back though. I do want to say that I hope the show does well because it’s for charity but the sound (with all that wood and nothing to hold it back)
will be echoing all over the place. For someone who with their mind
can see through all of this it would be an experiance. I know it was for me the first time I went in there.
As someone who has been there many times over the past few years helping to take care of the pipe organ I can tell you that I would not pay that kind of money to see a show sitting on either a folding chair or a bleacher seat. There is no stage, no sloped floor, no lighting or anything else to deaden the sound. It’s a gym1 The first mez. is gone and the walls have been sheetrocked about 12 feet up. The 2nd and 3rd mez. are closed off. Thats what makes the organ sound so great. I thought about putting on an oldies show there years ago but I’ll wait and see if they take all that wood out and but seats back in. At this time no one knows for sure what they intend to do with the building. As for now, you would be listening to the music in an echo chamber. Sound bouncing all over the place. Sorry, I’ll put a show there only when the people can sit proper and hear proper.
Veyong, I can’t be sure of the exact date. Mabe it was 1960 but I do know it was at the Valencia. The El train was still there. The electric buses were running on Jamacia Ave. I can still see the goldfish in the lobby, the huge Ben-Hur posters and billboards in and outside the theater and I was so impressed with the woodcarvings all over the walls.
Another note to PKock and HeMan re: anti-aircraft guns. I just checked with my father-in-law who told me when he came home from the war, he remembers 90mm guns in Aqueduct Racetrack and more in Hamilton Beach on Crossbay Blvd. where there now is a VFW all by itself.
to PKoch. I wasn’t around yet during the war but I did hear this story when I was a kid living in the neighborhood. It might or might not be true. Also I was in the Valencia only one time and that was to see Ben Hur in 1959.
Just a note to PKock and HeMan re: your post in July. I have heard that there was an anti-aircraft battery where Aqueduct Racetrack is today. I never heard anything about baisley pond park having one. I lived just across Rockaway Blvd. from the park in the early 50’s.
To Dave,
I do not remember much re: the Alan Freed shows but there is a Alan Freed web site that has just about everything about him with photos of those days. Don’t have the web address handy but you can find it by doing a search.
To Mariec53, Murry the K shows were at the Brooklyn Fox about 2 blocks away. Allen Freed did shows at the Paramount.
The photo in Warren’s posting of Dec 6th could not be this Park Theatre. Facing the entrance, it was located on the right end of the block and did not have such a fancy entrance.
I remember a Park Theatre which was located just off Rockaway Blvd. East of the Van Wick Expressway. I don’t remember the exact block it was on, the last time I was inside was to see Old Yella and I remember very little about the inside of the building. I was about 6 years old at the time. I do know that the building was taken down in the early 60’s and was left as an empty lot for many years. It may still be a empty lot.
For the exact wording talk to your accountant but if you are not a “not for profit business” you can collet money and then use it to to restoration and then at the end of your year have that amount taken off your taxes as a business expence for building upkeep. Again talk to your accountant on the exact way this can be done so you will not have any problems down the road.
In an answer to Justin Fencsak. I believe It’s mostly the cost factor holding them back from producing more shows. I do remember only one year they brought back the Easter show. Guess they didn’t fill as many seats as they expected. I have performed on the Great Stage and boy it is a thrill the stand there and look out at almost 6,000 people. I’m sure a lot of acts would love to put their show on there but like any other business, you want to make some money. So they will go for the smaller places like the 1,200 to 1,5000 seat houses which cost a lot less and the real big acts would want to go for something like MSG. Even for RMH to produce a show the cost is great on a day to day basis and a BIG outlay of cash way before the people sit in the seats. But most of us here can remember seeing a movie and the stage show for $1.25 (general admission) if you stood on line for hours in the cold and snow.
Yes it has been cancelled for now but they want to reschedule in the near future. I will put a post up again as soon as they have a new date.
In answer to saps, I’ve been told that the show went well. Folding chairs to sit on but everything went off without a hitch. Even the Wurlitzer was used before the shows.
Now the bad news. I’ve just learned that the organ concert for April 29 has been put off for awhile. I will put up a posting here when they reschedule it. In the mean time, if you’d like to see some of these places that are still used and sometimes show silent movies with the organ as they did in the old days. Go to www.nytos.org/
I should have some info on the show by the end of this week. But if your in the neighborhood on Sunday, April 29th there will be a concert on the Mighty Wurlitzer 4/26 opus 1984 organ which is the originial organ installed at the Brooklyn Paramount by Wurlitzer and is in originial condition. The concert will start at 3PM. Admission is $12.00 for nonmembers of the NYTOS org. The concert will be of course in the old Paramount auditorium which is now a gym but you can still see a lot of the old Paramount which is left and not covered over or has not been removed. Also it is OK to bring a camera. The doors are still located at the corner of Flatbush and Dekalb Ave. You can also check with www.nytos.org/ for directions and more information on this concert and others which are presented in other theaters around the area. Hope to see some of you there.
I looked at the photo under the highest magnification that I could and detected that there are no words on the marquee. I’ve used this many times before to detect the approx. year of the photo but in this case the Peerless was closed and empty. Many church groups use the marquee to call attention that a church is there.
In answer to Vito, I’ve been there many times. I help take care of the pipe organ from time to time so I can tell you that the theatre is a gym. No seats with a wood basketball court floor and no stage. The walls have been covered over with drywall part way up. The rest of the walls and ceiling are still there. The first mezz. has been removed. The way the conversion was done you could still make a good theatre out of it but the flyspace above the stage will now be limited. I’d love to help them convert it back though. I do want to say that I hope the show does well because it’s for charity but the sound (with all that wood and nothing to hold it back)
will be echoing all over the place. For someone who with their mind
can see through all of this it would be an experiance. I know it was for me the first time I went in there.
As someone who has been there many times over the past few years helping to take care of the pipe organ I can tell you that I would not pay that kind of money to see a show sitting on either a folding chair or a bleacher seat. There is no stage, no sloped floor, no lighting or anything else to deaden the sound. It’s a gym1 The first mez. is gone and the walls have been sheetrocked about 12 feet up. The 2nd and 3rd mez. are closed off. Thats what makes the organ sound so great. I thought about putting on an oldies show there years ago but I’ll wait and see if they take all that wood out and but seats back in. At this time no one knows for sure what they intend to do with the building. As for now, you would be listening to the music in an echo chamber. Sound bouncing all over the place. Sorry, I’ll put a show there only when the people can sit proper and hear proper.