Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
favorited this theater
Showing 2,026 - 2,050 of 2,835 comments
“Greetings, all you most eloquent and prosaic Ridgewood Rascals…”
Oh, is that what we are ? I like the name, a worthy successor to NY’s own “Young Rascals” :
“How can I be sure, on a site that’s constantly changing ?”
I thought Phil Silvers was Sergeant Bilko.
“And I do like your "Ridgewood Theatre II” (the voyage home) concept. Who out there would ever know? Or care? Classic!"
I would, and I said so, above.
“a box of band aids and a can of WD40”
If that, or duct tape, doesn’t work, put a little Windex on it !
Lost Memory, “auto-purging” is far less painful than having one’s lungs ripped out. LOL! Nah, it’s a simple command or keystroke (“delete”) that makes everything go “Sayonara.” It’s not like we’d be writing for posterity there.
And I do like your “Ridgewood Theatre II” (the voyage home) concept. Who out there would ever know? Or care? Classic! :)
[bTW, I found your Hatlo History over on Cinart.]
Greetings, all you most eloquent and prosaic Ridgewood Rascals…
LM, re your 8/2 post (the 4:28 PM one), just wanted to add that with computer programming, virtually anything is possible, as we’ve seen.
1) A forum/inquiry/research page would, of course, be open to entries by all.
2) The webmeisters could program it in such a way that all contents would be auto-purged at midnight at month’s end, thus creating room for the next onslaught of questions, searches for old flames, neighborhood memories, for cussin' out malcontents and spamming hucksters, etc. If someone posted a query late in any given month and went unanswered, he/she could repost it the following month. Same goes for a lively thread.
This is the germ of an idea whose time may finally have arrived. Let’s keep pushing for this – or something like it.
What about Al Lewis as Schnauzer ?
“Call it, Ridgewood Theater II, the voyage home!”
Good one, Lost ! Are you a Star Trek fan ?
“They” ?
“We love ‘they’ !"
"And we want you to love ‘they’ too !”
“We Love You”, Jagger-Richards, August 1967.
Flip side of “Dandelion”, the first Stones tune I dug, around Labor Day 1967.
I wouldn’t want the Ridgewood page cleaned of all the off-topic stuff. Also, in the process of reading and weeding through it, Bryan might become fascinated by the off-topic ramblings and musings of us Ridgewoodites, and, instead of getting rid of it, might want to memorialize it as an amazing “cyber-wailing wall” by-product of the Ridgewood Theater page ! Sort of like a spy “going native”, and becoming part of the culture he or she was assigned to spy on.
Have you ever wondered WHY it was the Ridgewood Theater page, and not that of some other theater (the Curran Theater in San Francisco comes to mind) that became so huge, and attracted all that off-topic discussion ?
To help answer this question, perhaps we need, or should have, a bar graph comparing the sizes of the 20 or 50 or so largest Cinema Treasures site pages.
EdSolero, thanks for the info on Barney Miller. What did your uncle think about “Night Court” ?
Sorry I forgot about “Basic Instinct II”.
LOL, Lost… And if Barney’s not around, ask for Fish or Chano. You know, my uncle was a NYC police detective for 25 years and he says that “Barney Miller” was hands down the most realistic cop show ever put on TV!
PKoch may be right. We need to spare the Ridgewood from all this off topic discussion. Let’s go pillage and plunder another theater page’s bandwitdth! Seriously, one of us should make a suggestion via email to Bryan, Ross or Patrick about creating a discussion/research page… or something! I’m not sure we can ask to have this page cleaned up as it would take considerable time for Bryan to weed out the off-topic posts.
For the Curran Theater in San Francisco, contact Detective Nick Curran, SFPD.
That is, of course, if Catherine Tramell hasn’t ice-picked him to death yet out of “Basic Instinct”. LOL.
It’s beginning to seem like we need a separate page to accomodate our discussion of current and potential over-posting problems on this site.
Hmmm. Well, you might be right. Something might have gone wrong, though I find it odd that the problem would occur twice in so short a time. You might want to try contacting the site administrator. I don’t know why there isn’t a direct link to do so – at least I haven’t been able to find it – but if you click on any link posted on the home page, you’ll see a link named “report” at the bottom of the description. Click on “report” to open a contact form and describe your problem.
Just a suggestion.
More new theatres are listed EdSolero. The UA Court Street Stadium 12 which I added myself and the UA Farmingdale Stadium 10 which Bway added himself are still absent from the listing. Perhaps we should add them both again.
Yes. It’s like what has been said about churches : the church is not, first and foremost, a building. The building is where the church meets. The church is really a faith community of people.
I think you hit on it quite nicely and succinctly, Bway. We have to look beyond the mere brick and mortar of these buildings when considering the definition of the term “Cinema Treasure”.
I also agree with Ed. There are many happy memories in even the strip mall 1960’s strip mall theaters too, and under many of those theaters you will read comments from people who have fond memories inside those walls, just like someone who has great memories of the Loews Valencia. Is that 1960’s shopping mall theater a “cinema treasure” in terms of the bricks and plaster? Probably not, but the value of those theaters go beyond just the paster, bricks, and gold lef paint, and to those that hold fond memories inside seeing movies, they are a “cinema treasure”.
QUOTE by Ed:
“That place would probably have to be a pay-site and would likely be a very dry and scholarly forum for only the most serious and studious of movie theater enthusiasts”
Yes, and it would completely lose the human-ness of this site. Cinematour has a forum, with a more elite “into” it crowd, and it lacks the inviting nature of this site. I would never even consider posting there, or even really reading through that site.
QUOTE by PKoch:
*The important thing is, I think, is that they both show movies. In fifty years, they may be as much “cinema treasures” to the people who are then posting on this site, who saw movies there as kids, as the Ridgewood and RKO Madison Theaters are to us now. *
Exactly. And you don’t even have to wait 50 years. There are many 1970’s non-descript architectually theaters that people talk very fondly of on this site already. I even have fond memories of movies in 1980’s multiplexes. You can’t help it happening.
I think that a real large solution that would end, or at least cut down on the rampant messages such as happened in the Ridgewood Theater (just using this theater as an example, it happens in many, many other theaters too), that goes beyond the Ridgewood Theater itself as a topic would be to have some sort of place within the site that the membership could discuss topics, perhaps cinema related, but not necessarily on topic to individual theaters themselves, would b to have some sort of forum where the membership could talk. Obviously, people have formed freindships within many of these theater sections, and since there is no place to discuss movies, or good times around a theater, outside it’s walls in the neighborhood, etc, you get what happened here in the Ridgewood Theater.
The truth is, there is just so much you can talk about the bricks and plaster of these “cinema treasures” themselves, before you run out of things to say, and the community here obviously has a desire to talk with eachother, just witness the Ridgewood Theater section (as well as many other theaters all over the site where this has happened).
Thank you, EdSolero. I agree with you completely.
“I mean, I’d hardly argue that the Cinema City 5 in Fresh Meadows or B.S. Moss' Movieworld in Douglaston should be considered a treasure!”
The important thing is, I think, is that they both show movies. In fifty years, they may be as much “cinema treasures” to the people who are then posting on this site, who saw movies there as kids, as the Ridgewood and RKO Madison Theaters are to us now.
Warren… your posts on this site have been extraordinarily illuminating and I have great admiration for the many hours of research and field reconnaissance you’ve spent accumulating the information you’ve been kind enough to share with the CT community. However, I think you’re being a bit of a stick in the mud in this instance. Like it or not, this site has become a place to celebrate the theatrical exhibition of film. And that seems to suit the site’s developers – and many of its members – quite nicely. It seems like you’d like to impose your own narrowly focused idea of what this site should be upon the rest of us. It’s not that I don’t see your point – I mean, I’d hardly argue that the Cinema City 5 in Fresh Meadows or B.S. Moss' Movieworld in Douglaston should be considered a treasure! However, in their wisdom (and despite what their original intentions for the site may have been), Ross and Patrick decided long ago to turn the reigns of the site over to the membership and democratic rule has prevailed ever since.
And when you think about it, is there really any other way to go? I mean, even if we eliminate all the storefront conversions, shoebox ‘60’s era twins, basement porn pits and faceless modern megaplexes, wouldn’t the concept of a “cinema treasure” still be too subjective to boil down to a set of universal criteria? In the end, the final call to submit or reject would still be one individual’s opinion – and there’d probably be controversy on some of those decisions as well. I can definitely envision the kind of site you have in mind, Warren… but I don’t think this will ever be that place. That place would probably have to be a pay-site and would likely be a very dry and scholarly forum for only the most serious and studious of movie theater enthusiasts. I suspect it would lack a lot of the charm and warmth and passion you find on this site. It would be like history class – all about dates and facts and seating capacities with none of the personal color that brings to life the memories of these very special public gathering spaces.
I really hope that the day never comes when Ross and Patrick are convinced to set some sort of bar for theater acceptability and then go back to scrub the site free of all non-conforming submissions and commentary threads. A lot of heartfelt musings and recollections would be lost only because they pertain to theaters that some would dismiss as having never been more than unremarkable late-run nabes. And I’m really hopeful that creating some sort of community chat space here will help dilute some of the more tangential conversations in the individual theater pages while maintaining a space where those of us who enjoy each others company in cyberspace can still shoot the breeze.
Meanwhile, let’s leave it to Ross and Patrick to determine what kind of volume and traffic this site can handle and let them address the membership directly if our ramblings are somehow having an adverse affect on the website’s stability and continued existence.
“The site has become an invaluable source of information.”
Bway, I agree, and it is information that is not readily available elsewhere. I have re-established face-to-face contact with one old friend, and have made a new one, who, like the old friend, went back decades into my family history, as a direct result of this site, and of this Ridgewood Theater page.
The size of this page, and the in-depth nature of many of the comments, is a direct testimony to the size and endurance of the cyber-community of Ridgewood Theater patrons, both past and present.
Yes, like it or not, the mega-plexes ARE, for better or worse, where most people see movies nowadays, and should be discussed here, as well as the older movie houses that so many of us are so openly nostalgic about. Some of the mega-plexes may only be “concrete bunkers at the end of the shopping mall”, as Jay Leno once so aptly put it, but, because they are in the shopping mall, they are an important part of today’s communities, especially those of teenagers and younger people.
I was pleasantly surprised when I visited the Atlas Park Shopping Mall in Glendale, Queens, along with its 8-plex cinema, this past July 15th. I felt like I was in a brand-new shopping mall in the college town of Davis, California. The cinema, rather than a concrete bunker, was on the second floor level, reached by stairs, escalator, and elevators, and had (to me) aesthetically pleasing inner and outer lobbies, the former having a pleasing elliptical shape, reminiscent of the elliptical lobby of the original balcony of the Ridgewood Theater.
Precisely because of how valuable the information on this site is, I don’t think ANY theater should be deleted from it.
Like it or not, the current movie going experience does involve the mega-plexes as well as the old “cinema treasures”. There are many people here interested in commenting on the “mega-plexes” as well as the old palaces. And for better or worse, all the little tiny neighborhood theaters, which wouldn’t exactly be considered a “treasure”, are just as much a part of the historical movie going experience as a great like Radio City Music Hall will be. Each type of theater does have it’s place.
The data contained in the pages of this site, as well as many of the comments have become an invaluable source of information. Amazingly, someone searching google for some obscure little movie house often comes up with THIS very site in one of the first few search results found. This site comes up in those searches. I have accidentally come up with this site in search results, when I wasn’t even looking for a particular theater, and just doing similar searches on google.
The site has become an invaluable source of information.
Not to mention that, as far as I know, CT “management” is not reaping a single dime from the site. On the contrary, they are probably incurring a great deal of expenditure to make this very large database available – at no charge, mind you – to its members. They created this great cyber playground and have handed it over to the members to do with as they please. Some might say that amounts to anarchy rather than democracy, but I don’t feel that Ross or Patrick owe us anything. And I think there’s plenty of room for the more academically inclined among us as well as the more sentimental and long winded!
Having said that, we sure could use a chat area to dilute the tangential conversations that occur on pages like the Ridgewood. I don’t think it’s too far off the mark to provide some local color and flavor by referencing a neighborhood memory here or there – but we must do so judiciously. When the conversation becomes a catch-up session or “do you remember so-and-so”, well… even I’d have to agree that is too far of a stretch and should be picked up in an email chat.
As for a comment clean-up… That was done here once before when the site was much smaller than it is now. I think back around 2003 or so. During that time a lot of multiple entries were consolidated and many comments that had been made on specific theaters had been rolled into the theater descriptions (I can see a bit of one of my old comments, for instance, rolled into the description for the 42nd Street Apollo Theater). Some of those entries are distinguished by listing multiple members or the more generic “Cinema Treasures” in the “Contributed by” line. I seem to recall the site was down for quite a while during that particular cleanup. Such an undertaking now would require considerable man-hours. Unless Patrick and Ross are willing to trust a team of volunteers from the membership ranks, it would also cost a considerable amount of money.
Restrictions on the number of movie houses on the site is a management decision. In the absence of technical and cost information, I think there is no reason that the site can not have a goal of listing every movie house that ever existed.
Agreed that there is a lot of extraneous information on some pages, most of which is present on the Ridgewood page. As I pointed out above, this could largely be avoided in future postings by adding a forum, or dummy theater, dedicated to non-specific theater related talk. Posting guidelines would probably also have to be upgraded
I agree that an effort should be made to expunge extraneous, off-topic, information. This should be performed by management, or a committee delegated by management for that purpose. This should probably be done in two phases. The first phase could be performed by a committee with limited management oversight. It would involve deleting chat-type information undeniably off-topic related to areas such as old neighborhoods, schools, chums, etc.
The second phase would involve updating individual theater descriptions based upon a complete review of its comments. This would require more active management direction and review. The number of comments ultimately retained would be related to the number whose content was not rolled into the description because they presented an interesting recollection or exchange between posters unique to the theater.
So, despite what Warren says, I feel that management is being very open and democratic in suggesting that posters “write a replacement and we’ll publish it.” I trust management’s response to Warren was primarily driven by their need to be diplomatic.
Thanx for your response EdSolero. I will give it more time. This is a movie theatre website. It seems silly to ask people not to add more theatres.
Oh I almost forgot. The UA Farmingdale Stadium 10 that bway added is gone too. Maybe this website don’t like New York theatres. haha
Mike. Have patience. Bryan Krefft (CT’s administrative ace in the hole) has to review the submission for acceptability (making sure nothing naughty or offensive gets through) before it will post to the live site. Give it a couple of days and you should see it.
I just seen the new theater list and the UA Court Street Stadium 12 that I added isn’t there. How come it didn’t make the list. Should I add it again. Lot’s of strange things happen on this website. Not all for the good either.
Good one lostmemory and right on target. The cranky fella should be removed from Cinema Treasures. He incites trouble in other theatre pages besides the Ridgewood theatre. If your not going to add that theatre ‘Tonino I will do it for you.
That’s the very same one. It was rented to the Florida Rep by the town of Fort Myers beginning in 1998. I’m trying to contact the producer/director – wife/husband team who are the current owners. I will also check at our beach library, as well as the one downtown where there may be a few oldtimers.
It is a very neat little theater. You can’t imagine how surprised I was that it was not yet listed on CT. And of course, how thrilled I am now that I can make a lasting contribution to CT.
Somehow, I don’t think this is what I meant when I used to tell people to “get a life”.
Temporary Resident Historian for the Arcade Theater.
Ciao, and augurri
It took the last comment to remind me that I had a new theater. Since those who frequent the Ridgewood are CT’s cognoscenti, I thought I’d give you folk’s a heads up. The Arcade Theater in Fort Myers, FL, is a 393 seat theater buily in 1908. It’s restoration was started by contributions raised by Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1991. It is the home of the Florida repertory Theater.
The Arcade exudes the feel-good warmth of the movie houses of my youth. Elegant in its simplicity, it reminds me of the Goodspeed Opera House, E Hadddam, CT, stripped of its opulence. You can not imagine how good it makes me feel to see an old movie house restored to its former glory in a related contemporary use.
Can any of you point me to references which might assist me in identifying its style, architect, etc?