Comments from Bway

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Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Sep 5, 2007 at 8:14 pm

Thanks for posting that here, I have been commenting between the two theaters, I I guess I didn’t even know where I posted that message….which is more appropriate here than in the RIdgewood’s section.

Yes, I am trying hard to remember, but there’s no area where the grand staircase could be sheetrocked in, so I believe it’s jackhammered out. The current stairway was probably an exit staircase that left you in the outer lobby (like the Ridgewood). The grand staircase would have been in the inner lobby, but today, that would be right in the middle of the store, and there are no obstructions, it’s a clear, large store, all open. My conclusion is that the grand stairway was jackhammered out.
Those doors that open to outside, that are usually open, I believe are the old emergency doors that went out under the Juliet balconies, there is also a storage area there, which according to Warren’s photo from the 20’s, was an area already there in the theater days.

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Bushwick Theatre on Sep 5, 2007 at 5:47 pm

Wow, I didn’t realize the Bushwick Theater had two balconies. There’s an image posted way up above here (I don’t know if the link still works) that shows the procenium arch taken from way up high in the Bushwick’s balcony. You get vertigo just looking at the photo (I wonder if “Vertigo” ever played at the Bushwick, haha). Anyway, it seemed to be a very steep balcony, but now that you said there may have been two, that does make sense. I think I also vaguely remember seeing the second balcony in the movie ‘The Believers", which was filmed inside and outside of the old Bushwick Theater in the earlu 1980’s, the scene when the cops come when they are performing human sacrifice on the stage of the RKO Bushwick.

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Sep 5, 2007 at 5:44 pm

Thanks Jim…. Wow, if that door was slightly ajar when I was in there, perhaps if I had the “big ones”, I’d pretend like I thought that door was a continuation of the furniture area….and open it. They did have a door open at the far end of the furniture are the day I was there that led to another stairway. I assume it’s an old emergency stairway from the theater days. I did poke my head in, and it was very old plaster, but not ornate plaster, and had a simple (but very old) railing in it….I think that stairway was probably one of the ones that led from the upper balcony emergency doors. The stairway went both up and down from the landing where the furniture area is.
Furthermore, I believe PKoch is right, while the stairway in the Liberty Dept store that you use to go up to the furniture area probably dates to the theater days, I too now believe that was an exit stairway from the balcony, that led to the OUTER lobby in the theater days, such as the one in the Ridgewood Theater. It’s too close to be the Grand Staircase from the Inner Lobby area that used to have the high ceiling. I am beginning to believe that the ornate white marble Grand Staircase was either jackhammered out, or they sheetrocked the area of it in….I don’t know where it could have been thiniking of the layout of the store, so I fear it may be the former….

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Sep 5, 2007 at 4:08 pm

Yes, all I want to do is open that door….even if just for a few minutes….

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Sep 4, 2007 at 8:43 pm

Brooklyn Jim, I will certainly try and make it “next time”. I didn’t realize that that was the date you guys finally decided on…but even if I did, I wouldn’t have been able to make it anyway, as I had tickets to a football game that day… I haven’t been inside the Ridewood Theater since 1991, so I really am anxious to see it again. But from what it sounds like from Peter’s description in an email he sent me, and what was written here, it sounds like it is just like I remembered it in 1991, and all through the 80’s. Of course for you, last there in 1977, before it was multiplexed, it must have been quite different.
I heard you guys also visited the Liberty Dept Store, the infamous Madison Theater too…I’d love to hear your comments over on that page, and some of our theories (like the one I just posted in the Madison’s section) about Liberty Dept store’s furniture area up there.

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Sep 4, 2007 at 8:21 pm

If you look closely at the image that Warren posted, and Panzer reposted, notice that there are three entrances with ballistrade railings into the balcony. From that point, you could either go up to a high balcony seat, or below to the lower balcony. I believe that the door in the furniture area leads to that middle opening with the ballistrade railing around it. If you opened that door, you would probably see the area that was the sloped lower end of the balcony. The furniture department is directly next to that area, and that was the old balcony mezzanine area. Above the current furniture area would be the upper part of the old balcony.

Looking further at that photo, notice the curver of the balcony. That curve is readily noticable currently in the Liberty department store. Currently, right at the area where that plaster edge of the balcony ends, and the small railing is, is where the fake drop ceiling cuts through the theater over the old hig ceiling area. Then, they also added another, but lower drop ceiling where the the lighting is under the balcony, and that extends all the way into what was once the inner and outer lobbies.

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Sep 4, 2007 at 6:54 pm

Panzer, I also am stumped on the balcony. My assumption, as I speculated here somewhere before, is that when you get to the top of the stairway into the furniture dept, that you are actually in the balcony MEZZZANINE, and not the actual balcony. I am convinced that behind that door on the left up there when you come up, leads into the space that used to be the balcony, the sloped area. I severely doubt they leveled anything up there, I believe that that space is actually the balcony mezzaine. Perhaps when someone else visits the site, they can shed some more light on their idea.

By the way peter, did you ever get over to the Madison again the other day to see the edge of the balcony curve through the store from the orchestra level?

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Sep 3, 2007 at 7:56 am

Warren, the whole store is open to the public. I have described here many times how you CAN see the curve of the balcony in the store…. The curve cuts right through the store. In the inner and outer lobby area, and the auditorium area that was below the balcony, the drop ceiling is about 2 to 3 feet lower than if you walk into the area of the store that was away from the balcony. The curving swoop of the entire balcony can be seen, and then they have a fake drop ceiling in the rest of the theater is a little bit higer than the area that was below the balcony. There is NO mistaking the balcony, and that was there since it was Odd Lot….and through the Busy Bee Flea Market era too before Liberty. The only time that only the lobby areas was open was back around 1980 when it was a COnsumers store. That’s the only time there was a wall blocking off the former lobby area from the rest of the theater, and the theater itself was used as the warehouse. But ever since Odd Lot, the entire theater (or at least most of it) was open to the public. The balcony itself has just recently reopened again, about a year ago, but had been opened on and off in the past as retail space over the years (I think they used in the Busy Bee Flea Market era too).
The balcony is the only area that confuses me. I “think” that the furniture store only uses the former balcony mezzanine area, and that a wall was put up to block that off from the actual balcony area, which would be much more sloped, and i “think” the rest of the balcony is behind a door that would be on your left when you are in the furniture area up there….and behind that door is probably what is left of the balcony, if not all of it. On the other side of that door “could” also be in view the ceiling dome of the theater too…but that of course, I have no idea. Either way, only part of the balcony seating area, if any is used for the furniture store. That’s the only part that I can’t figure out….but when you go, you will see that most if not all of the orchestra level of the Madison is used for the store. I too want to go in there one day with my camera in the near future, but will look forward to anyone else’s comments or photos when/if they go to the Liberty Dept store….

Bway
Bway commented about Grandview Theater on Aug 31, 2007 at 8:15 pm

Early afternoon movies are often dead (excuse the pun), so the experience at the Ridgewood probably is no surprise. I remember going in the 80’s there, and it wasn’t busy at the early screenings, but then again, neither were the Continental or Midway either when I used to go their daytimes…. It could also be why last winter the Ridgewood only was open evenings. It’s summer now, but once the kids go back to school, it probably won’t pay to open mid days.

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Aug 30, 2007 at 2:03 pm

The “Up From Flames” exhibit was a wonderful exhibit at the Brooklyn Historical Society on Pierrepont St in Downtown Brooklyn. I attended it in August, but it just ended last weekend. I believe it’s still up and there are sobering photos on their website, which is www.upfromflames.com

Bway
Bway commented about Oasis Theatre on Aug 30, 2007 at 2:00 pm

Just to add, I was able to look in from Fresh Pond Rd, as after the fire, and when the demolition crews were there, they had taken down the lobby area, and all the stores that butted up against the Oasis on the Fresh Pond Rd side. There was a huge gash in the side of the building at that time where the stores were facing Fresh Pond Rd, and the interior was open to the outside for a short time, so I peaked in. At that point, I thought the whole building was coming down. It’s sad to see it as it is now as the CVS, but I guess it’s better than the alternative, which would have been complete demolition.

Bway
Bway commented about Oasis Theatre on Aug 30, 2007 at 1:51 pm

Panzer, I enjoyed your commentsw from May too. I have to agree, the Oasis was also my favorite theater. I was too young to attach to the Madison, and didn’t go there too often, and the Ridgewood wasn’t as intimate as the Oasis, I have good memories there, but it’s not quite on the status of the Oasis to me. The Oasis was my absolute favorite theater, and probably is to this day. I have so many good memories there, first as a theater, and later as the roller rink.

I don’t feel the Oasis closing to movies was the end of it’s “good years” like it was for the Madison. Sure, it was a downgrade, but I don’t think it was a bad end (at least not until after the roller rink closed). My biggest memory is those huge stained glass light fixture sconses that were way up high near the ceiling. There were about 5 or 6 on each side. They were always on when you came in for movies, and would slowly dim as the previews came on, and later darken for the movie….and always on again when the movie was over…. They lasted into the roller rink days. In fact, the theater was completely intact in the roller rink days, aside from teh seats gone, and the floor leveled. Even the balcony was intact, complete with seats up there yet. The theater did deteriorate fast in between the movie era and the roller rink era, when it was the rock concert venue, the outside looked like hell in that time. Of course, the worst was yet to come when the roller rink closed, and the poor theater sat there abandoned, and of course, just like the Madison, although at least after some happy years as the roller rink, the Oasis' fate was fire, and that was really a sad end for a great old building. It’s such a shadow of itself now with the lobby area a parking lot, and the shell there as a CVS…with not a hint of the beautiful place it once was inside. I wonder what if anything remains of the Oasis' dome in the auditorium. I do remember looking in after it burned, and the beautiful old stained glass light fixtures were gone, just marks were they once were, in a sea of blackness.

Bway
Bway commented about Irving Theatre on Aug 29, 2007 at 2:23 pm

Here’s a photo of the Irving-Mozart Theater I took about 2 weeks ago…. It is now a dollar store on the main level, and a gym on the second floor. Compare to the wreck it was in my August 3, 2004 photos I posted above….

I went into the theater, and some features remain, like the theater’s original oak floor in the front (stage) side of the building. They did eliminate the slope by removing part of the floor in the back of the theater, and that now makes you have to walk down a ramp from sidewalk level, and slowly decends in the store. There is an old stairway in the back that leads up to othe gym, but it’s hard to say if it’s original or not. I don’t know if the upstairs was a balcony or not, or if it was just offices or something when it was a theater.

Click here for photo

Bway
Bway commented about Acme Theatre on Aug 29, 2007 at 2:17 pm

There were boarded up windows according to my photos from Oct 6, 2004 (posted above), so they probably just opened them, and put new windows in.

Bway
Bway commented about Oasis Theatre on Aug 29, 2007 at 2:16 pm

I don’t know the exact date, but I still saw movies there in 1977, and perhaps even early 1978 (not 100% sure of the exact year, but it was close in there). It became a rock concert venue for a short time, but that didn’t last long due to complaints from the neighborhood, and the crowd, and “type” of crowd it attracted.
It was the roller rink by at least 1982 (whn I started to go there), but it could have been 1981 when it opened.

Bway
Bway commented about Acme Theatre on Aug 29, 2007 at 11:32 am

Here’s a photo of the Acme Theater taken yesterday….now a Mets Food Supermarket:

Click here for photo taken yesterday

Compare to the wreck it used to look like when I took a photo of the building back in 2004….see my Oct 6, 2004 post on this page for a photo of the building then.

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Aug 27, 2007 at 10:06 pm

Sorry typo, I meant “woundn’t have been able to come to Ridgewood before that”, haha.

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Aug 27, 2007 at 10:03 pm

I am glad everyone enjoyed the trip back to the Ridgewood. I didn’t know that Saturday was the day everyone finally decided on, but as Peter said, I wouldn’t have been able to come anyway that day unfortunately, even had I known, as I went to the jets-Giants football game on Saturday, and would have been able to come to Ridgewood before that… From what it sounds like, the Ridgewood Theater sounds exactly like I remember it when I was last in it in summer of 1991. I too remember that round ceiling in the middle balcony theater, with the two sides cut off (the remaining portion of which can be seen in either side balcony theater by the way).

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Aug 27, 2007 at 9:55 pm

Panzer, if I am not mistaken, Byhoff Bros Record Store was a few blocks further east of the Ridgewood on Myrtle Ave, between Seneca and Onderdonk Aves…

Bway
Bway commented about Commack Multiplex Cinemas on Aug 26, 2007 at 7:30 pm

I was by this building yesterday on the LIE, and there is a big banner draped across the front of the building:

“Coming Soon: Cinema de Lux: Stadium Seating”

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Bushwick Theatre on Aug 26, 2007 at 7:28 pm

Thanks Ed and Lost for the help….it sure looks like all those old theaters of the era. The address I gave as ‘403" is what the building now has on the front of the building when I was by the other day. It has been fixed up since the photo I originally posted.

Bway
Bway commented about UA Movies at Patchogue 13 on Aug 26, 2007 at 7:21 pm

Okay, that is new…. When I read the article a few weeks ago they were still looking.

Bway
Bway commented about UA Movies at Patchogue 13 on Aug 23, 2007 at 10:41 pm

Yes, the popcorn is the Patchougue’s one redeeming quality, as its apparent the building isn’t being maintained as well as if the theater was going to remain open, but obviously, who can blame them on some issues of maintenance when it will be closing anyway….
I was hoping it was only rumors that it was going to close, but unfortunately, it appears it’s days are really numbered. Last I heard the church uses one of the auditoriums on Sundays is in a frenzie trying to find someplace else to go for services. They said they have had cooperation with the Island de Lux in Holtsville…but no deal was struck. They were hoping to find something in the Patchogue Medford area as obviously, that’s where much of their congregation is.

But that all aside, that newstory I read appears to be the final nail…the theater is going, and it will be soon.

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Aug 23, 2007 at 10:36 pm

That is extremely odd clipping Panzer. For one, I don’t understand why the Oasis is listed in Brooklyn. Two, how can there be two “Ridgewood” theaters playing two different movies at the same time? The Ridgewood wasn’t multiplexed until some years later (and even if it was, they wouldn’t have listed the balcony in Brooklyn, and the orchestra level in Queens! So what was playing Smokey and the Bandit, and what was playing Sasquatch….that is the question. Was it the Madison in it’s last stand?

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Bushwick Theatre on Aug 23, 2007 at 10:15 pm

I don’t know where else to ask this, but since the Bushwick Theater is well….Bushwick….I figured I would ask here.
I found a small, old theater building at 403 Evergreen Ave in Bushwick, at the corner of Grove. Do any of you guys with one of those old books try and look up what it was? It’s similar in style to many of the other small, old theaters in Bushwick, like the Luxor, the Irving/Mozart, the Wyckoff, etc, etc. I have an old photo of it from about two years ago, but it looks much better now, as it’s been all fixed up, and is currently being used as a church. Any information on it would be greatly appreciated. Here’s the photo of the theater from about two years ago:

Photo of Theater at 403 Evergreen Ave at Grove