Comments from Bway

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Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Mar 27, 2008 at 3:55 pm

How farback does the www.timesnewsweekly.com website go back? The Times Newsweekly is the current name for the Ridgwood times. How else does someone have access to it’s microfilm?

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Bushwick Theatre on Mar 27, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Here’s a current view of the side of the Bushwick theater I took yesterday when walking by. The building had amazing detail:

Click here to see photo

Bway
Bway commented about Monroe Theatre on Mar 27, 2008 at 3:27 pm

Here’s a current view of the old Monroe Theater location.
The RKO Bushwick’s doors peak at the left, with it’s disticntive cherobs holding the “B” for Bushwick:

Click here to see photo

Bway
Bway commented about Rio Piedras Theatre on Mar 27, 2008 at 1:18 pm

Here’s a photo of the old Loews Broadway Theater site I took yesterday. It appears that they recently put up construction barricades on the site, so it appears they will be building something there soon. This is stockton St looking towards Broadway. The theater was once on the right:

Click here for photo

Bway
Bway commented about Eagle Theater on Mar 25, 2008 at 10:24 am

Warren, are you using the right links for us to see the photos you use on Photobucket? Recently, I can’t access any of your links. However, the links to mine still appear to work (see my Sept 23, 2004 post above with a link to a photo).
I am mentioning this, because I have noticed it at most of your recent links, they don’t seem to be working, but it doesn’t appear to be a universal problem, as I am not having any trouble accessing anyone else’s photobucket links.

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Mar 25, 2008 at 9:59 am

Here’s the exact link, for when the “local news” links change:

View link

Bway
Bway commented about Evergreen Theatre on Mar 24, 2008 at 3:53 pm

I don’t think you would need a seperate listing for the “Evergreen Park” as it was the outdoor version of the Evergreen Theater.

As for the Van Cortlandt AirDrome, if it was to be placed at Myrtle and 60th St, instead of one block west at Myrtle and 71st Ave, that would put the AirDrome right around where the Ritz Theater was. I wonder if the Ritz Theater (listed on this site already) was built on the site of the old Van Cortlandt AirDrome.

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Mar 20, 2008 at 7:09 pm

It makes me sick to my stomach to see those photos. It’s amazing the Ridgewood Theater has lasted so long, and is still relatively intact, and now all of a sudden it could be lost. It will be a travesty if after all these years now the place will be gutted.

By the way, someone else posted photos of the interior of one of the balcony theaters, and the upstairs balcony mezzanine, bit I didn’t find them above, but I am sure the links are still up there.

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Mar 20, 2008 at 8:20 am

The original ceiling dome is still exposed in at least the upstairs balcony theaters, I don’t know about downstairs. They didn’t cover over original features for the most part when multiplexing the place. For example, if you are in the right balcony theater, the wall on your right will be original, as well as the ceiling, and the left wall (fake wall) of course would be sheetrock. But a lot of the original plaster is exposed, at least from what I remember, and it’s been a while.

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Mar 19, 2008 at 1:05 am

Oh my GOD!! This is HORRIBLE! I can’t believe it’s actualy over….after all these years. Seeing that banner on the marquee makes me sick to my stomach!!

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Amusement Palace on Mar 11, 2008 at 8:18 pm

Thanks Lost for finding out about the history of that corner. Like I said, I remember that corner since I was a kid, and always wondered why it was “empty”. I never knew a theater was once there.

Bway
Bway commented about Playpen Theatre on Mar 11, 2008 at 8:18 pm

Heh, it seems so strange with the neon lights out. I must have walked passed it more times than I can count over the years. I haven’t been by since it’s been knocked down. that will be even stranger…

Bway
Bway commented about Kimball Theatre on Mar 11, 2008 at 8:10 pm

Roger, yes, for anyone looking, sometimes the East view has the old version, and sometimes it shows the new version. So if you keep flicking back and forth from north to east, you will get two seperate east views.

Bway
Bway commented about Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre on Mar 11, 2008 at 8:04 pm

Thanks flyman!
I went to a few concerts there over the years and was always interested in it’s history. I figured it never showed film, as it’s not on this site. Anyone know of any photos online of the Manhattan Opera House, aka Hammerstein Ballroom?

Bway
Bway commented about Kimball Theatre on Mar 11, 2008 at 7:35 pm

Thanks Roger.

Yes, if you look at the theater with North on top, it shows the theater completely gutted after the fire, although the outside brick walls still stand:=. The lobby roof seems to remain:
View link

However, if you switch to east or west, it shows the theater still intact before the fire:
View link

Bway
Bway commented about Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts on Mar 6, 2008 at 1:05 pm

I went to a public hearing the other day about development in Patchogue at it’s four corners, but the hearing was held in the Patchogue Theater, so while in there, I took the opportunity to get some interior photos of the place. They did a beautiful job restoring the place. It had been cut up into a multiplex before the renovations. The only unfortunate aspect is that the front stage lighting covers the top of the procenium arch, but I guess that is necessary of course for the stage productions. Other than that, a beautiful job:

Click Here for Front Main View
Front Left View
Ceiling View
Front Right View
Right and Back View
Stage View
Stage View

Bway
Bway commented about UA Movies at Patchogue 13 on Mar 6, 2008 at 12:58 pm

The status of this theater needs to be changed to “closed”, as the theater closed last year, and the lot is all gated up. It may even be demolished, but that’s not confirmed yet. It is definitely closed though.

Bway
Bway commented about Germania Air-Drome on Feb 17, 2008 at 5:28 pm

Ooops, sorry, I had Woodward on my mind from the Ridgewood Amusement! Here’s the proper corner. I am going to assume that it was on the lower corner, the south corner or Greene and Fairview, as that is a larger apartment building of bricks, which doesn’t match the 3 other corners which are older wooden frame buildings.
That larger apartment building was built later than the other three corners. Woodframe tenemants were outlawed around 1900 or so, so it’s so it’s safe to say that they were there already when the Airdrome was built on the other corner in 1915. The brick building was built some time after the Airdrome closed.

View link

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Amusement Palace on Feb 17, 2008 at 3:46 pm

This photo flips the view around a little, with South on top:

View link

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Amusement Palace on Feb 16, 2008 at 1:58 pm

Ooops, wrong corner….the garages are the site of the Germania Air-Drome. The corner to it’s left is the site of the Ridgewood Amusement Palace, where those newer homes are located.
When I was a kid, that was an empty lot. I remember wondering over there a few times. The homes were built there over the last three years or so.

Bway
Bway commented about Germania Air-Drome on Feb 16, 2008 at 1:56 pm

It looks like the Germainia Air-Drome was replaced by a bunch of garages at some point:

View link

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Amusement Palace on Feb 16, 2008 at 1:54 pm

It looks like at some point the Ridgewood Amusement Palace was torn down and replaced with a whole bunch of garages:

View link

Bway
Bway commented about UA Forest Hills Twin Theatre on Feb 16, 2008 at 1:43 pm

I lived in Ridgewood, and by the time my friends and I were old enough to take the subway on our own, we stopped going to the Ridgewood Theater, and often began taking the subway to the Forest Hills Theaters….The Midway, Continental (at the time), Trylon….although I never visited the Forest Hills Theater.
Of course in our case we had to take the L train to Lorimer ST for the G to Forest Hills.

Bway
Bway commented about Ritz Theatre on Feb 13, 2008 at 12:33 pm

Thanks Lost…. The Masquerade is still operating there, so it’s been there about 20 years already!

Bway
Bway commented about Joy Theater on Feb 13, 2008 at 12:19 pm

The Joy looked pretty sad about 4 years ago when I last saw it, but as I expected, it has fallen even further into decline. At least 4 years ago, it was still usable, as although it was closed, they used it for a Superbowl party back then when I was there, where the Superbowl was projected onto the screen. However, after the flood, it’s not so great condition before, only got exponential worse.
Here’s a photo I took of the Joy Theater about two weeks ago when I was in New Orleans for Mardis Gras. New Orleans looked good…at least the touristy areas like the French Quarter, Downtown, and the Garden District looked as beautiful as usual…. They need our tourist dollars desperately, so please visit New Orleans, they are ready and waiting, and there’s nothing wrong with the areas anyone would visit as a tourist.

But since they did get some water along Canal St during the flood, the theaters along Canal suffered greatly. Even though it wasn’t terribly flooded like other areas, remember a foot of water on Canal St is brutal for the theaters, which remember, you enter at ground level into, but SLOPE down to the stage…so a foot of water may not seem like much outside….but as it rushes into a theater towards the stage, it inundates an orchestra level…. All four of the theaters along Canal, the Saenger, the State, and the Joy are now closed (the Joy was closed prior to the flood, but usable). The Orpehum alos had serious damage, but I forgot to check the place out to see if it reopened.

Anyway, here’s a photo of the sad Joy Theater, which certainly saw better days. It’s status can also be changed to closed until further notice too….it even had a for sale sign on it….
Excuse the quality as I took it with from the Canal St Streetcar:

Click here for some current photos of the Joy Theater:

Click for Photo 1

Click for Photo 2

Click for Photo 3