Thanks for the info, Bway. I think that Karl Ehmer ad, the standing pig in the butcher hat and apron, is still painted on the building near where the Oasis Theater used to be, on the east side of Fresh Pond Road, facing north.
Rapid Robert, I asked my dad yesterday, and he does not remember Dracula attacking a heroine in bed being enacted live on the stage of the RKO Madison Theater.
Thanks, AprilW, for your concern about, and interest in, the preservation of the Ridgewood Theater. I am interested in forming a group to meet with the community board and BID, just to talk and see where a group could go with this, although I’m not sure how much clout I would have, as I no longer live in Ridgewood, or anywhere else in NYC. I work in NYC, though (lower Manhattan)and look east out my office windows to Ridgewood every day. Landmarks such as Woodhull Hospital (Flushing Avenue and Bway, stop on the J, M and Z lines) and the ENY subway yard radio transmitter tower are clearly visible from my office windows.
It would also be interesting for me to meet Gary Giordano face to face again, as he and I both graduated Saint Francis Prep in June 1973, if he is the same person as the Community Board 5 Gary Giordano mentioned here.
Thanks for posting the link, Warren. My dad remembers those RKO Madison stage presentations well, including the then-controversial film “Pinky” being introduced live on stage at the RKO Madison by none other than Ed Sullivan, Mr. “Rilly Big Shew” himself.
My dad also remembers attending live Shakespeare at the RKO Madison.
Thanks for the info on Whitestone Cinemas. My wife and I had discussed seeing a film there when my father lived near there in a nursing home on Union Street in Flushing, but we never did.
I, too, remember the Adventurer’s Inn (combination eatery and amusement park) in College Point, with the smiling boy pirate logo, although my family and I usually went to the Adventurer’s Inn on Route 110 near Amityville, Long Island, instead.
Yes, I think the small cinema on Main Street in the mostly Hassidic neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills still shows first run films. I saw the James Bond film with Timothy Dalton as Bond and Mariam Dyabo as the cellist, there, in August 1987, “Disclosure” there in January 1995 and “The Bridges Of Madison County” there in June 1995.
I’m sure it was. My family’s roots, on my mom’s side, are in St. Stanislaus Kostka Church at Humboldt and Driggs. My mom’s family lived at 254 Kingsland Avenue in Greenpoint before moving to 412 Harman St. in Bushwick, about 1925.
Thanks, guys. I had never thought of the Madison as more community-oriented than the Ridgewood, but it makes sense, now that you mention it. The greatest “community” aspect of the Ridgewood Theater I can recall was the guest appearance of Batman and Robin there in summer 1966 for the debut of the Adam West – Burt Ward “Batman” film.
Anniegirl, by Saint Anthony’s Church, do you mean St. Anthony Of Padua in Greenpoint ? A block east of Manhattan Avenue, between Greenpoint Avenue and Calyer St. ?
Thanks, Warren, I was thinking of Brooklyn and Queens collectively.
I was also thinking that some physical dimensions could be carefully scaled from an aerial photo.
Good point, and good question ! Which was the largest, not necessarily in terms of total number of seats, but in area or volume ? Aerial photos with scales would be a big help in judging that. A few that come to mind besides the RKO Madison are the Valencia, and the other four “wonder theaters” that opened in 1929-30, and Loew’s Oriental in Bensonhurst.
Dear Anniegirl : I am probably not the Peter K from Williamsburgh that you are remembering, because of the difference in our ages. You graduated grade school in 1960, and I graduated in 1969 (St. Brigid Parochial School in Ridgewood, Queens). I then attended St. Francis Prep in Williamsburg, Bklyn (186 North 6th St.) from September 1969 to June 1973.
Yes, Greenpoint has changed much. It is now like Greenwich Village in Manhattan with all the young artists and musicians.
Bway, thanks for pointing that out about the RKO Bushwick, that it sits on its own little block, its true size unobscured by adjacent buildings. One gets a good impression of its true size walking around the sides and back of it, on Howard Avenue and then Madison Street. It also looks ominous and creepy in its pre-renovation condition, from those points of view, in those shots of it at dusk from Matthew Melnick’s “Lost Brooklyn Trips” website.
Yet, one gets a good idea of the Ridgewood’s true size from Cypress Avenue and Madison Street, and of the Madison, both from Madison Street, and from Wyckoff Avenue, looking at it across that parking lot.
Good story, WRLynch, and thanks for posting it. I am about your age. The rule was against ladies (adult women) wearing shorts, yet your pre-adolescent sister was (at first) denied admission. Ironic, in that you and your sister probably would have been safer inside the Crossbay than sitting outside, and also ironic in light of at least the last thirty years of child pornography.
Thanks for the info, Bway. I think that Karl Ehmer ad, the standing pig in the butcher hat and apron, is still painted on the building near where the Oasis Theater used to be, on the east side of Fresh Pond Road, facing north.
It was once defaced with graffiti, reading :
EAT MY MEAT ! I’LL PORK YA !
which I think is gone now.
Hello, all. I am glad to have read all that is going on to save and preserve the Ridgewood Theater. Please let me know what I can do to help.
Thank you, AL. You have my solemn promise that I will do NOTHING to leak this out. I want NO harm to come to the Ridgewood Theater.
ALtheFilmguy, how much clout do you have to achieve this, and what % chance success do you estimate you have to save the Ridgewood Theater ?
That is almost too good to be true. ALtheFilmGuy, how do you know this ?
Rapid Robert, I asked my dad yesterday, and he does not remember Dracula attacking a heroine in bed being enacted live on the stage of the RKO Madison Theater.
Thanks, AprilW, for your concern about, and interest in, the preservation of the Ridgewood Theater. I am interested in forming a group to meet with the community board and BID, just to talk and see where a group could go with this, although I’m not sure how much clout I would have, as I no longer live in Ridgewood, or anywhere else in NYC. I work in NYC, though (lower Manhattan)and look east out my office windows to Ridgewood every day. Landmarks such as Woodhull Hospital (Flushing Avenue and Bway, stop on the J, M and Z lines) and the ENY subway yard radio transmitter tower are clearly visible from my office windows.
It would also be interesting for me to meet Gary Giordano face to face again, as he and I both graduated Saint Francis Prep in June 1973, if he is the same person as the Community Board 5 Gary Giordano mentioned here.
Thanks for posting this story, LindaP, and “Thank Heaven For Little Girls” such as you once were !
How was your visit with your Mom in Ozone Park ?
Rapid Robert, I will ask him about it this weekend !
Thanks for posting the link, Warren. My dad remembers those RKO Madison stage presentations well, including the then-controversial film “Pinky” being introduced live on stage at the RKO Madison by none other than Ed Sullivan, Mr. “Rilly Big Shew” himself.
My dad also remembers attending live Shakespeare at the RKO Madison.
I’ve always remembered the Route 110 place as Adventurer’s. Perhaps it was also known as Adventurer’s Adventure Land.
Thanks for the info on Whitestone Cinemas. My wife and I had discussed seeing a film there when my father lived near there in a nursing home on Union Street in Flushing, but we never did.
I, too, remember the Adventurer’s Inn (combination eatery and amusement park) in College Point, with the smiling boy pirate logo, although my family and I usually went to the Adventurer’s Inn on Route 110 near Amityville, Long Island, instead.
Yes, I think the small cinema on Main Street in the mostly Hassidic neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills still shows first run films. I saw the James Bond film with Timothy Dalton as Bond and Mariam Dyabo as the cellist, there, in August 1987, “Disclosure” there in January 1995 and “The Bridges Of Madison County” there in June 1995.
I think I remember that visit of the Pope. October 1979, wasn’t it ?
I’m sure it was. My family’s roots, on my mom’s side, are in St. Stanislaus Kostka Church at Humboldt and Driggs. My mom’s family lived at 254 Kingsland Avenue in Greenpoint before moving to 412 Harman St. in Bushwick, about 1925.
Thanks, guys. I had never thought of the Madison as more community-oriented than the Ridgewood, but it makes sense, now that you mention it. The greatest “community” aspect of the Ridgewood Theater I can recall was the guest appearance of Batman and Robin there in summer 1966 for the debut of the Adam West – Burt Ward “Batman” film.
Anniegirl, by Saint Anthony’s Church, do you mean St. Anthony Of Padua in Greenpoint ? A block east of Manhattan Avenue, between Greenpoint Avenue and Calyer St. ?
Thanks, Warren, I was thinking of Brooklyn and Queens collectively.
I was also thinking that some physical dimensions could be carefully scaled from an aerial photo.
Thanks, Warren ! To quote Ed Sullivan, it looks like a “RILLY BIG SHEW !”(or is it SHOE ?)
Good point, and good question ! Which was the largest, not necessarily in terms of total number of seats, but in area or volume ? Aerial photos with scales would be a big help in judging that. A few that come to mind besides the RKO Madison are the Valencia, and the other four “wonder theaters” that opened in 1929-30, and Loew’s Oriental in Bensonhurst.
Dear Anniegirl : I am probably not the Peter K from Williamsburgh that you are remembering, because of the difference in our ages. You graduated grade school in 1960, and I graduated in 1969 (St. Brigid Parochial School in Ridgewood, Queens). I then attended St. Francis Prep in Williamsburg, Bklyn (186 North 6th St.) from September 1969 to June 1973.
Yes, Greenpoint has changed much. It is now like Greenwich Village in Manhattan with all the young artists and musicians.
Bway, thanks for pointing that out about the RKO Bushwick, that it sits on its own little block, its true size unobscured by adjacent buildings. One gets a good impression of its true size walking around the sides and back of it, on Howard Avenue and then Madison Street. It also looks ominous and creepy in its pre-renovation condition, from those points of view, in those shots of it at dusk from Matthew Melnick’s “Lost Brooklyn Trips” website.
Yet, one gets a good idea of the Ridgewood’s true size from Cypress Avenue and Madison Street, and of the Madison, both from Madison Street, and from Wyckoff Avenue, looking at it across that parking lot.
Good story, WRLynch, and thanks for posting it. I am about your age. The rule was against ladies (adult women) wearing shorts, yet your pre-adolescent sister was (at first) denied admission. Ironic, in that you and your sister probably would have been safer inside the Crossbay than sitting outside, and also ironic in light of at least the last thirty years of child pornography.
Thanks, Bway !