Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
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I agree, that’s what I have been saying a few times when the subject comes up. I wish there was a place we could discuss theater topics, not necessarily in reference to any particular theater already on the site, such as that above. I found a few theater buildings on Third Ave I wanted to ask about, and also there’s one on Evergreen Ave in Broolyn, but it’s hard to ask about mystery theaters without bogging down another theater (like the Ridgewood here), which really has nothing to do with the Ridgewood. And this comes up in many theaters.
Regarding York/Yorke Theatres in NYC….The American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915 lists a York Theatre, 189 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan, NY.
This is still listed in Film Daily Yearbook’s 1926 and 1927 with a seating capacity of 300 but has gone from listings in 1930.
In those same two F.D.Y. is also the Yorke Theatre,723 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY with a seating capacity of 1,260 This remains listed thru 1941. From 1943 it is listed as the Park Theatre and continues as this until at least 1950. It has gone from listings by 1957. I don’t see it listed on Cinematreasures at this present time.
The York Theatre, 1187 First Avenue, Manhattan is the one already listed on CinemaTreasures. This was known as the Victor Theatre in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915. Then the East End Theatre from at least 1926 thru 1930 (in 1941 it is the York and is still listed as the York in 1957).
I wish there was a specific queries page on the Cinema Treasures site where these types of questions could be posted. It would then save blocking up specific theatres with postings that are nothing to do with them.
My 1935 edition of “A Complete Street Guide to Brooklyn” confirms KenRoe’s info on Brooklyn’s Crystal Theatre, 327 Washington St., which began at East River South and continued to 340 at Fulton St. At #325, it was one block east of Court St. & Myrtle Ave. (by the Fulton El) and one block west of Adams (by the Myrtle El. It shouldn’t be confused with Washington Ave. which was on the other side of Ft. Greene Park in the Clinton Hill section.
There was no entry for the R.H. Jacobs Brooklyn Theatre.
FYI, while viewing my DVDs of Brooklyn Trolley Lines Vols. 1 & 4 (DE-40 & DE-43) this morning, I discovered some additional theater gems from the cameras of Carl Groh, George Kuhn, Vincent Seyfried, Harvey Mordetsky and Arthur F. Ferguson:
Several B&W views of the Farragut Theater (1401 Flatbush Ave.) c. late ‘40s/very early '50s. Two good shots from the front and one from the rear, complete with its high water tower.
Myrtle Ave. in Ridgewood in color. An 8000 car turns onto Myrtle from Palmetto and passes some stores: A “Shoe Re-Building” store on the corner, then Optimo Cigars and the Ridgewood Florist, all just prior to the RKO Madison, also visible. From the other side of the street, another trolley passes Howard Clothes in the distance, then right past the Ridgewood Theater, RCA Ulan & Co., an A&P grocery and Roman style clothiers.
From the Downtown Brooklyn section, there was a split second shot of the Boro Hall Theatre’s marquee at 102 Court St. Featured were Ty Power and Gene Tierney in “Son of Fury” (‘42) and “Niagara” ('53). [Couldn’t locate a CT entry for the Boro Hall.]
On Vol. 4 (B&W), there was the elusive Rugby Theater on Utica!
For anyone interested in a catalog, contact Victor Gordon, Jr. at:
Rail Tapes
2570 Colvin Hill Rd.
Danby, VT 05739
(802) 293-5421
I can’t see the Towne Theatre, Brooklyn listed on Cinematreasures under that name or its previous name Crystal Theatre. It is the Crystal Theatre, Washington Street nr. Fulton Place with 500 seats in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook (not listed in 1926) and is still the Crystal, 327 Washington Street with a seating capacity of 529 in the 1930 edition of F.D.Y. By 1941 it has the name Towne Theatre, same address and same seating capacity. It has gone from listings by 1957.
Sorry I can’t find anything on the Brooklyn Theatre aka R.H. Jacobs Brooklyn Theatre at either a Washington St. or Ave address.
Every time I saw those two flicks I remember thinking how the U.S. distributor must have sloppily botched the title job on each movie and switched them completely around! I mean, the title “Chinese Connection” is obviously a play on the film “French Connection” yet it is “Fists of Fury” that is about a drug lord (I’ve also seen it titled “The Big Boss”). Meanwhile, in the movie “Chinese Connection”, the camera focuses on Lee’s “fists of fury” in several optical shots. I wonder if they ever corrected those titles when they came out on DVD… I haven’t seen them since that 1980 re-release.
In any event, I remember thinking that the one where he avenges the death of his teacher and fights the burly Russian guy at the end was the superior film. What fun going to the movies was in those days!
Yes. I remember seeing “Death Wish II” at the Ridgewood in early April or late March of 1982. I also remember a Bruce Lee double bill, “Fists Of Fury” and “Chinese Connection”, at the Ridgewood around November 10, 1980. Thank you, Ed, for jogging my memory.
If you check out the “Movie Directory” section in the lower center portion of the follwing page from a December 1980 newspaper, you’ll see the Ridgewood is listed under Brooklyn with a single screen playing a “classic” kung-fu/horror double feature:
Daily News 12/14/80
“Humanoids from the Deep”!!! Ha… for the Doug McClure fans out there. Plus you got the ulta-violence of “Shogun Assassin”! The program had just changed on Friday 12/12/80. The week before the twin bill consisted of Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” and the boring Egyptian-tomb-desecrating Charlton Heston horror flick “The Awakening”.
Anyway… I’m guessing that the films played in the balcony theater while the orchestra was being divided, since PKoch has a memory of the theater being a twin already in June of 1980. I’m surprised the split wasn’t completed in time for the Holiday season, though it’s possible that the downstairs theaters were ready for business by the following weekend (December 19th).
Here’s a March of 1982 listing showing three auditoriums(far right column):
NY Post 3/10/82
Three theaters, but the same seedy mix of martial arts and violent exploitation – gotta love it!
Bway, the first partitioning between orchestra and balcony I was aware of was on Tuesday, June 17, 1980, when I saw “Friday The 13th” at the Ridgewood on the as yet-undivided balcony level, with that beautiful elliptical lobby, and there was a boxing match on closed circuit TV on the orchestra level.
Peter, I wasn’t in the balcony past the late 70’s, so it it could very well be that the balcony was already partitioned off when I saw ET. I really can’t remember. I could swear the double features were the first time I saw a movie downstairs, mwith that being divided up, but again, I was young, and perhaps it was a different movie. I clearly remember the unpainted sheetrock wall, and it was the downstairs left theater that I remember seeing that….but whether it was with the Fly or nor, I can’t really clearly remember.
As I have already posted, I think the Ridgewood was already a 2- or 3-plex by the time I saw “Blow Out” there in late July 1981, because “The Wolfen” was showing there also. Earlier, on Friday March 13 1981, when I saw “The Howling” there, it may have only been one theater, or at least the lower, orchestra, level was still undivided, but I cannot be sure. I am sure the orchestra level had been divided into two cinemas by the time I saw “Superman III” and “Twilight Zone : The Movie” there, June 18 and 24, 1983, respectively.
Bway; You are correct regarding the orignal decorative treatments on the original side walls and ceilings of the two outer balcony screens. It is a large panel on the side-wall (maybe this contained a painted mural when the theatre first opened?) The sheet-rock walls which divide off the centrally located screen are plain with no decoration.
However in the larger center screen in the balcony, the sheet-rock walls have plain panels fixed to them all along both walls. OK, they are cheap looking, but do relieve the monotony of a plain walled auditorium, which at least in this screen also has the large central ceiling dome from the original 1916 decoration of the theatre
Ohh, and I forgot to mention….as for seeing the inside of the Ridgewood again….for me it’s a little different because even though I did go to many movies int he Ridgewood when it was still one theater, and remember it, I also went to many movies (probably many more) when it was already cut up through out the 80’s, so I remember that pretty clearly too, and perhaps even more vividly than when it was one theater, so to me, it is like visiting that old girlfriend when she was already “old and used up”, and still looks like I last remembered.
Lost, yes, all the “decorative” elements of the theater like the plaster ceiling, etc is all original. From what I remember from the 80’s, the “multiplexing false walls” are all just plain sheetrocked walls, without ornamentation of course. So when you sit in the theater, let’s say the right balcony theater, the right wall would be a fancy plaster wall (painted of course in high, high gloss dark paint just like everything else), the ceiling would be all original, and the left wall would be a plain non descript sheetrock wall, also painted the same color as the original wall in dark high gloss paint.
When I saw the movie downstairs, when it was first multiplexed (again, I “think” that was the time I saw the Fly-Alien double featute it was a sheetrock wall that cut the downstairs in half, and at that time, it was still bare sheetrock with joint compound, if I remember correctly….it was even before they painted it, so it must have been pretty early on.
I’m sorry, it must have been Aliens, not Alien that I saw the double feature with. That was 1986, so it must have been around 1985 that they cut the Ridgewood up. (I estimate 1985, because it was the first time I went to see a movie in it as a cut up theater…but it could have been done the prior year). I saw ET there too, and I “think” it was still one theater at the time. That was 1982.
I am not sure what the process of cutting the Ridgewood up was. I know it briefly became a “3-Plex” originally. I don’t remember what configuration that was though.
Does anyone remember what they cut up first? Did they do the downstairs as two and the balcony as one before cutting up the balcony to make a total of 5 auditoriums? I remember very clearly that the end of the marquee on the Ridgewood (the part that faced front had “3-Plex” on it).
Warren, thanks. That’s just how I remember the ceiling dome from the last time I was in the center balcony theater. I think I described the dome above somewhere.
Now Warren….the thing we are awaiting more than anything would be interior HISTORIC photos!! And you are probably one of the few that can come up with them! Please, if you ever come across them, many of us would be so grateful to see it as one theater. I only vaguely remember it as one theater, as I was quite young when I went to movies there as a single theater.
I think I remember it first broken up around the time I saw Alien and The Fly in a double feature. I “think” that’s the first time I was in there as a multiplex, and it was the downstairs left theater that I saw it in. I remember thinking to myself that this wall down the center really ruins the theater. It was a sheetrock wall, pretty fresh, and my father and I sat in the section right next to the wall (which would have been the middle of the orchestra level had it not been broken up. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Thanks, Warren. Does adding light to the photos make them grainier, or does it bring out the graininess that is already there, making it easier to see ?
Lost, the Ridgewood looked much like it does now in Ken’s photos back in the late 80’s and early 90’s when I was last in there. Although however, it appears cleaner in the photos! Apparently it may even be better maintained than back then.
I can’t rememeber what the original color scheme was when it was still one theater, before it was cut up, however, it was blue already in the late 80’s when they cut it up. The railing ballistrades were painted brown. The floor in the halls was similar to what you would see gym, as mentioned.
The carpet was stripped out already when it was multiplexed, and the floors painted back then already too.
The floor covering on the foyer floor is similar to a rubberised linoleum. Inside the auditoriums the concrete stairs/steppings have floor paint, with no covering or carpeting.
Great pix, KenRoe! Can’t believe how the Ridgewood has changed since my last visit in 1977. Am in agreement with Lost Memory that it looks as if it may very well have a few more years to go. Sincerely hope it lasts well beyond its centennial.
And speaking of “a few more years to go,” you may want to consider seeing and meeting a few actors up there in years: Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, June (“Rocky & Bullwinkle”) Foray, Elena Verdugo, Irene (“Flashdance”) Cara and many others at the Hilton Burbank Airport Hotel and Convention Center 7/15-16. If you plan to vacation in the SoCal/LA/Burbank area by mid-month, hit the URL below and scroll down for additional details:
http://www.hollywoodcollectorshow.com
Thanks for the great pix, KenRoe. I wish you a safe trip back to the U.K.
Warren…. I am posting the images on the Rugby page to seek confirmation from those who have posted about that theater. Until I have some additional corroboration, the photos will remain in a general “Brooklyn Theaters” folder on my photobucket account. I’ll try to contact Orlando as well. Thanks for the tip.
RobertR… Thanks for offering the Rugby as the identity of that mystery marquee I posted a few days ago! And thanks to everyone for their help in trying to nail that one down. You say you’re pretty sure, so I will post the photos on the Rugby page and see if I can get anyone else to concur.
Thanks again!
And great photos as always, KenRoe!
I just took a look at Ken’s photos of the Ridgewood. It is a time capsule. It might not be a period movie palace fans like much. But there was a time when triplexed, quaded and five-plexed former movie palaces were common. I’m sure many people in the 70’s and 80’s created great memories in places like this. Hope it manages to stay open.
Wow, this photo almost gave me the chills:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/181117558/
The right hand balcony theater is the one I probably saw the most movies in back in the 80’s. I remember seeing Beverly Hills Cop II in there, and this is the theater that the person i was with and I came to see Beverly Hills Cop II one afternoon. It was a bright, hot summer day, and we were slightly late, and we ran right from outside to the right balcony. The movie had already started, and our eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness (after being outside in the bright sun), and it was SO dark. We couldn’t see a thing! And the balcony has these little steps every so often, and we were literally crawling and stumbling trying to find a seat! We actually almost sat on someone! Finally, we stumbled to empty seats, and began watching the movie. About 15 minutes later, to my horror, I looked over to the aisle, and it was not as dark as we thought when we came in once our eyes adjusted, and the people in the theater must have been laughing at us as we did that spectacle up the aisle, as they could certainly see us!
I also saw one of the Friday the 13th movies in this theater (I think #5 or #6). We sat in the first row behind that ballistrade railing. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Finally (in addition to many other movies, but those are the ones I remember most in the right balcony) was the last movie I saw at the Ridgewood…..Problem Child with John Ritter. That was also in the right balcony.
I really have to take Ken’s advice and go back one day.
Ken, thank you so much for the photos. The place looks exactly like I remember it. It has changed very little over the last 15 years since I saw a movie there.
And You are absolutely correct. If the Ridgewood is so “near and dear” to so many people here (and obviously it is, hense perhaps one of the theaters on this site with the most comments), many of us should be embarrased that we have not seen a movie in the theater in so long (me included).
We all lament the loss of so many theaters, and comment on “if only we could go and see a movie at the Madison Theater, or the Roxy in Manhattan, or fill in the blank with any demolished or gutted theater, and here we are with a theater that many of us cherish from our childhoods, but yet so many of us say (again me included), it’s been 20, 30 years since we set foot inside. Why is that? The Ridgewood is STILL playing movies and we all have the opportunity to see one there. Why is it that everyone states how they only wish they can see a movie at the Oriental, or the Loews 46th St, or againb, fill in any name here, and yet here we have a theater that is still open to the public, but how many of us actually have seen a movie there lately. We really should be embarrased that someone can come across the ocean to a theater that holds so many memories to so many of us, but we don’t go, when to some of us it is perhaps only an hour away from us….