Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1,126 - 1,150 of 2,835 comments
Great, Panzer56. Thank you!
Also, thanks for your compliment on my public appeal, PKoch. It is my pleasure!
Indeed, curiosity does pay off, and I will make future attempts to see if any of the doors to the theater are open and report back.
Thanks for your report, Panzer65! I encourage you to pay a visit to the theater. Curiosity pays off sometimes.
Probably not, Panzer65, because you can always go back to the Ridgewood Theatre to see what’s going on there.
PKoch,
I’m hoping this was not a situation that I will keep telling myself that I should have done, much like visiting the Madison as an active theater.
Thank you for posting your observation, Panzer65. I can’t tell you what to do, but I wish you had stopped to look inside, and had asked those gentlemen what was going on.
I passed by the Ridgewood Theater today, May 13,on Cypress Ave and Madison St., the door to the stage house was open ,with a group of middle aged gentlemen standing outside, looking dismayed. If I was not attending to my company business, I would have stopped to look inside, to take in the one part of the theater I would have never seen. Perhaps there was some preliminary construction work going on.
Excellent work, Michael. Thanks for writing and posting it, and for including a link to the Times Newsweekly “Our Neighborhood” article about the 90th anniversary of the Ridgewood Theatre, which mentioned me by name, and included what I had to say about the Ridgewood Theatre, along with those “historic images”.
Everyone, please read my public appeal for the Ridgewood Theatre, where I am seeking an art-related tenant. This was composed voluntarily, as a director on the board of Queens Preservation Council:
http://cinematreasures.org/news/19023_0_1_0_C/
Thank you for your verification, BrooklynJim. It’s a shame the management didn’t market the theater correctly, especially around the 90th anniversary season.
Thanks, BrooklynJim. I didn’t know about that civic plaque at Myrtle and Palmetto that listed the RKO Madison, but not the Ridgewood.
NativeForestHiller: To answer your recent question, I never had any personal contact with the two Hispanic owners. Was referring only to the many CT posts regarding them and their lack of vision during ‘06-'07, and wasn’t aware (as others astutely were) of yet another change of ownership hands since then.
Recent posters (Bway, PKoch, Lost Memory, Warren, frankie and you) all have valid observations. On my last trip to NY, I attended a screening of “I Am Legend” on 23 Dec 07 and was in the company of some half-dozen patrons on that chilly afternoon. When I spoke about the theater’s longevity with staff in the lobby, they were excited, yet surprised that they heard nothing about it from management. I also pointed out to them the civic plaque at Myrtle and Palmetto that listed the RKO Madison, but contained nary a word about its older neighbor two blocks away. Apparently, no one of note attended civic meetings at the time or followed their progress in the papers.
Or even cared…
Bway, thanks for pointing out that the Ridgewood Theatre didn’t have the amenities that most movie goers have come to expect. Also, most, if not virtually all, of the people who now live within walking distance of the Ridgewood Theatre do not, and perhaps could not possibly have, the nostalgic fascination for the Ridgewood Theatre that we, who are from Ridgewood, and grew up there, and are regular posters on Cinema Treasures, have.
A great assessment, Bway! I couldn’t agree with you more. The Ridgewood Theatre needs a sensitive tenant/tenants, and an architect with a vision to respect its history while moving into the future. It has been accomplished in various states, and there’s no reason why the same can’t be accomplished here. I am working on finding an art-related tenant, as part of my Queens Preservation Council role. If anyone knows of someone, please don’t hesitate to contact me at
Frankie, I don’t feel the end of “cinema” is here. People have NOT stopped going to the movies…..but how they go has changed a lot.
My local multiplex cinema, which is a NA ‘Cinema de Lux", is PACKED on any given night, and often movies go sold out. Cinema de Lux offeres modern theaters, with large comfortable seating, a bar, mall style food court, and lots of amenities that attract people.
There is no indication at many multiplexes that “movies are on the way out”. people still enjoy the act of “going out” to a movie. Single screen theaters obviously are a thing of the past, and it appears even cut up “5 screen” theaters such as the Ridgewood can’t survive, in the way they were (although cutting it up allowed it to survive when most other single screens went out of business).
But people have come to expect much better amenities than the Ridgewood offered. The Ridgewood was in terrible need of refurbishment. Let’s face it, it was run down.
That combined with what people have come to expect….modern auditoriums with stadium seating, well kept theaters, comfortable chairs, etc, etc….all things the Ridgewood didn’t have.
I mentioned many times that the Atlas Park Terminal Theater in glendale WAS the final nail in the coffin for the Ridgewood, but people didn’t believe me. I said even in the 80’s I left the Ridgewood for “better pastures”, in my case that meant going to the “cleaner” and better kept Forest Hills Theaters like the COntinental (now Brandon), and the Midway (now also refurbished).
Movie-going is not dead, it’s alive. Perhaps not like the 50’s, but it is alive….but people have come to expect higher standards.
Frankie, enjoy seeing “King Kong” at the Loew’s Jersey City on June 14th. I would join you there if I was able to, but I won’t be. Perhaps Bway would like to join you.
As you pointed out in so many words, we were given a hint of the future several times at the Ridgewood last year, with only two to five people in the audience watching a movie.
I believe I asked the question before the theater closed: How can it keep going ? Now we see it can’t, because movie-going is no longer an entertainment priority for people. When I’m the only person watching “Smart People” at the Pavilion, what hope is there for the future ? I predict a time without movie theaters. If people would rather buy pirated copies of Indy 4 on the street rather than go see it at the Ridgewood,——give it up. I’m going to see “King Kong” at the Loew’s Jersey City on June 14th. Are you goin, P. Koch ? Brooklyn Jim ? Lost Memory ?
Those are all good questions to ask, BrooklynJim, and I thank you for posting them here. I hope we all get answers to them, and that something constructive is soon done with the Ridgewood Theatre.
BrooklynJim, have you spoken with the owner who was in place since last year? Please share the background info on item #1.
As saddened as I’ve been to read about the closing and/or demise of the Ridgewood after 91 years of continuous operation, I don’t wish to bemoan its fate and to speculate on what it will turn into in the days, weeks, and months yet to come.
Regarding its closing, several questions need to be asked:
1) The owners adamantly rejected the concept of landmarking. That was their right and privilege of ownership to do so. But why did no one around these two men wise them up to the concepts of creative advertising and promotions to help keep this theater afloat? And if people did do so, why wasn’t that advice taken?
2) Why didn’t the residents of this tightly-knit community offer ongoing support to the Ridgewood by patronizing it more often?
I have no answers, at least none that I can post without getting my sorry butt permanently kicked off CT!
Let’s gather some data. What has happened to and with the Ridgewood Theatre since it showed its last movies on Sunday March 9, 2008 ?
If it keeps the Ridgewood open as a theater instead of “just another store”, I’m open to any suggestions! Anything using the Ridgewood as a “theater” is better than the alternative…. I don’t want to see the Ridgewood go the way of the Madison or the Oasis, where you can buy curtains in the Madison, or NyQuil in the Oasis….
Grover Cleveland High School had its graduation ceremony at the RKO Madison Theatre in 1965 and 1972.
Polish rap is heard at night near Forest Avenue and Grove Street, so how about Polish rap and hip hop concerts at the Ridgewood Theatre ?
Yes, I think a few of the local high schools used the old Madison Theater for graduation ceremonies. I know Bushwick High School did, as well as others. I believe someone told me that the Ridgewood was also used way back when too for graduation. This of course was long before it was cut into a multiplex.
I think it could be very useful if the orchestra level was made back into one theater. I don’t think the Balcony would need to be restored back, it would be more profitable remaining three auditoriums and perhaps still used for movies up there.
My mother mentioned to be that one of our neighbors participated in a talent show at the Ridgewood several years ago.
It could also be used for graduation ceremonies and assemblies for local schools.