Glenwood Theatre
60-60 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
60-60 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
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I bowled at the Glenwood at age 10 ½ in spring 1966 with my parents.
WHEN BIG AND NOT SO BIG THEATRE CHAINS CLOSE A THEATRE…THEY SOME TIMES, IF SELLING THE THEATRE, A CLAUSE IT CAN’T BE USED AS A THEATRE
FOR 50 YEARS… SO IT WON’T GET IN THE WAY OF THE NEW MULTIPLEX THEY PUT UP IN THE SAME TOWN…
ABOUT THE GLENWOOD….I’M TRYING TO REMEMBER..I WAS VERY YOUNG WHEN MY GRANDFATHER TOOK ME BOWLING THERE…
I THINK THE BALCONY HAD TABLES AND CHAIRS YOU COULD BUY SNACKS AND WATCH THE BOWLERS BELOW..CAN ANYONE REMEMER..I WAS UNDER 10 AT THE TIME..
WALLY1975
Unfortunately, I am sure a lot of theaters may have had that clause added to it when they closed.
That building was torn down and the new post office built in it’s place.
Ghost A Go Go, eh ? Thanks, RobertR !
You could see this playing here :)
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Thank you, cjdv, for mentioning the local newspaper, the Weekly Chat. My dad remembers it as “The Daily Chat”, and his mom reading it regularly. He remembers it was delivered by truck from Weirfield St. and Broadway in his old home neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, adjacent to Ridgewood, Queens. This was confirmed by a photo I saw in a book titled, “Welcome Back To Brooklyn !” that I browsed a year or two ago in the NYC Transit Museum Store in Grand Central Station.
In the Weekly Chat, for September 6, 1929, there is a joint ad for the Fox Glenwood and the Fox Parthenon. Both theatres showing the exact same films—Wednesday-Saturday it is Lon Chaney in “Thunder”. Across the bottom of the ad: “Buy Fox Thrift Books and Save Money”.
I remember the bowling alley. It had an upstairs where the bar was I think. i played in a league there in the late 60’s (As a kid) The golden pins was our name. (I sucked). the upstairs would be off limits at night I remember and I believe completely closed in its later years.
I do remember sneaking around by the pin retrieval machines when we could, but never saw any remenants of a movie theatre.
Dan G
mury, i’m a free lance writer and i’d love to ask you a few questions about your experiences in 1946. if interested please contact me at
The Glenwood theatre on Flatbush avenue is listed as opening in 1930.
P.S. on the Flatbush Glenwood, it opened as the Antoinette Theatre in the early 1920’s and then renamed the Glenwood.
The Greatest Show on Earth was a Cecil B DeMille feature that was released in the early fifties. Your mother may have seen it a few years later at the Glenwood theatre as the Glenwood theatre closed mid to late fifties.
My mother recently said that she thinks she saw The Greatest Show on Earth at the Glenwood and that she remembers it was years after it played everywhere else.
This Glenwood theatre opened in 1930 and closed in the mid to late fifties. The other Glenwood theatre located on FlatBush avenue also opened in 1930 and but closed sooner in 1950.
In the 50s they still showed those horror flicks in reruns not a bad movie place
Thank you, BobbyC, for all this detailed info on a theater in my home neighborhood, yet way before my time : “so near, yet so far”.
I often went to the Glenwood in the 1940 era. As you entered you walked straight ahead to the ticket taker. The foyer had posters of coming attractions. Once past him, the candy stand was on the immediate left. If you walked straight ahead you would go directly into the ladies room. To the right of that was a staircase that went up to the mens room and projection booth. Candy used to be a nickle and the Glenwood had the innovation of selling frozen Milky Ways on a stick for six cents. By law there was a childrens section, where a matron had to be in attendance, for unescorted children. That was usually on the left bank of seats, halfway down and to the screen. There would be Saturday matinees with prizes for the first 50 or so kids. Kid movies would be shown, like Dracula, Frankenstein, Abbot and Costello, a three stooge two reeler, cartoons and a chapter from a serial. Great days, gentler times.
Bob Conner
And your next stop was Vietnam ?
Thank you, lostmemory. Apparently, the name “Evergreen” as part of Ridgewood-Bushwick history goes beyond just the name of an avenue.
I wonder what part the Evergreen Steam Stone Works had in the building of Ridgewood. It was conveniently located near the Connecting Railroad / LIRR Bay Ridge Branch, as was the A & P warehouse further southwest on Decatur Street, that was burned by the mob in early April 1968. You may remember that fire. I did.
Sorry, Bway, I don’t remember any details of the interior. I barely remember the marquee, that it said “Glenwood”, and that it was dull red and off-white.
I bowled at the Glenwood with my mother and cousins one afternoon in fall of 1980 or 1981. I only remember the alleys themselves, and the area where you sat while waiting for your turn. I also vaguely remember where you bought refreshments. I don’t remember anything else about the building. I didn’t even know it was theater back then.
Did the ceiling still have the plasterwork or still in view? Was there any other parts of the theater still showing it’s heritage as a theater (balcony, etc)? Was it an ornate theater when it was still a theater?
I do remember very very clearly the old marquee. It was similar to the Oasis' with the name “Glenwood” in little bulbs on the front. I believe it was a pretty elaborate marquee, and that lasted right till the end when the building was razed.
I bowled at the Glenwood with my parents in either fall 1965 or spring 1966.
Muray
Can you tell me what the interior was like and what kind of a run were they on? Do you know when the theatre was converted to a bowling alley. It had to be late 50’s or very early 60’s. I guess later on they had air conditioning or they would not have even stayed open into the 50’s.
I was the assistant manager of the Glenwood Theater in Ridgewood, Queens located at Myrtle Ave. near Fresh Pond Road in 1946. The theater was not air conditioned and my boss, the manager would not allow me to take my coat off. The parent company, Randforce, was so tight they had a pay phone in the office. If you had to make a call you deposited a nickle than wrote out a petty cash slip to be be refunded by the company. Every night around 10 PM they would call in and ask “HOW MUCH?” meaning what was the box office receipts for the day. My salary was $40.00 per week. The projectionists, who were union members made $90,00 per week. This was my final shot at Show Business.