Thank you, thank you, thank you Ken for posting photos of the interior or the Ridgewood Theater!!! It’s been over 15 years since I have been in there, and the lobby is JUST how I remember it!!! it appears to have a good amount of it’s ornamentation yet. It actually looks better kept than the 80’s!! (It was pretty run down back then).
Oh, the good times I have had in that theater.
Did you get any photos of the auditorium you went into? Or did you just step into the lobby to take the photos, and not see a movie?
Thank you, thank you, thank you Ken for posting photos of the interior or the Ridgewood Theater!!! It’s been over 15 years since I have been in there, and the lobby is JUST how I remember it!!! it appears to have a good amount of it’s ornamentation yet. It actually looks better kept than the 80’s!! (It was pretty run down back then).
Oh, the good times I have had in that theater.
Did you get any photos of the auditorium you went into? Or did you just step into the lobby to take the photos, and not see a movie?
Oh, and Warren, I forgot to comment on your comment about the movies on the Jackson’s marquee in the current photos…..it appears perhaps all three are fitting for the theater’s present state!! Irony is not even the word!
Thank you Warren, what an elegant interior it had! And the beautiful marquee! Compared to what is there today! Thanks for the photos.
From what I gather, the front part fo the Jackson is still intact, meaning the procenium arch, and all the plasterwork, because the multiplexing took place in the back of the theater?
What exactly is the Eagle being used for. From the posts above it appears to show foreign or Indian films? Does it show normal movies too? What is the condition of the inside?
As for the condition, it appears the owners of the Jackson (which also own the Ridgewood Theater) don’t seem to take much better care of the place than the Ridgewood Theater. In fact, on the exterior, the Ridgewood seems to be in better shape (and that’s saying a lot).
Thanks very much Warren, those are the first I have seen of it. did the Jackson have a balcony? It seems sort of too low, unless that’s just an illusion of just the lobby being low.
I don’t have any of the interior, but if you are looking for a theater highly intact inside (and out), check out the RKO Kieth’s Richmond Hill. While the seats have been removed, most of the interior of that theater is completely intact. And it was never multiplexed, so even more intact.
Here’s a link: /theaters/3972/
As for the Jackson, I too would be interested in seeing photos of the inside. I don’t know how much of the original ornamentation survived the multiplexing.
Haha, it’s lucky I have been keeping up with the Ridgewood Theater’s section here all along, as if I just stumbled upon this page for the first time, I would probably be insane by the time I got to this message way down here.
The silence of the Ridgewood Theater is suddenly broken as a man named Warren runs down the aisle towards the Ridgewood’s emergency exit doors. The theater briefly lights up from the daylight oustide as the doors swing open, and Warren goes screaming out onto Madison St……
Well that is better than everyday a ridiculous schedule like that. Thanks for the update. Not that it’s too encouraging, as like I said, in all the years, the Ridgewood never was closed during the day like this, any day of the week. Perhaps when school is out they will revert back to a normal schedule again. Not that that should be too encouraging either, as most other theaters have matinees everyday, regardless of school being open or not.
Well one bright note should be that while the Ridgewood appears to have one theater of it’s 5 (at least currently) for the new Spanish film listed, at least they play their English movies without Spanish subtitles like their sister theater, the Jackson, does. That may be because Ridgewood, while has a large Hispanic population, also has a large Easter European population, (very large Polish influx population in recent years), so Spanish subtitles would still probably be inappropriate for the Ridgewood Theater.
Congratulations. The database gets better each day. Now that most of the “major” theaters had been already added, the continuous addition of the smaller, lesser known theaters is what makes the site even better.
MrBilly, I’m not worried about Myrtle Ave itself, the new mall will not really effect it badly, as Myrtle Ave doesn’t really even have the type of stores that will be going into the Atlas Terminal (Borders, etc).
However, my worry all along has been for the Ridgewood Theater itself. The Ridgewood theater’s management has been cutting back the showtimes more and more over the last few months.
For Example, this is there current schedule:
16 Blocks (PG-13) 6:00, 8:00
El Sueno del regreso (NR) 8:05
Hills Have Eyes, The ® 6:00, 8:05
Shaggy Dog, The (PG) 6:05, 8:00
Ultraviolet (PG-13) 6:05, 8:05
And apparently, as you noted, they are not even open every day! How in the world can they swing a profit on a schedule like that? Obviously, they felt it wasn’t worth it to stay open during the day, and not even every day, otherwise they would be open daytimes too. This is only a recent change, the theater was always open during the day before this. The Ridgewood can’t afford to lose whatever patronage it has (which apparently isn’t that large to begin with judging by the schedule). Even if they lose a quarter of it’s current patronage to the Atlas Terminal Theater, it could be deadly.
PKoch, Paul Stier (talked about in the link Lost provided) designed a good portion of the bay window style houses in Ridgewood. I can’t say that he actually designed the homes on your block (I am familiar with your old block), but I certainly lean towards him as the builder.
I lived in a Matthews Flat 6 family house, and my block was built between 1914-1915, as were the adjoining blocks. A good friend of mine lived in a Stier house, and it was built in 1910.
Ridgewood’s boom began when the Myrtle El was extended from Downtown Brooklyn, onto the “dummy” tracks. The catch was, that those elevated trains decended from the el, at Wyckoff Ave, and ran on the ground to Metropolitan Ave. Those el trains (on the ground)are what spurred the boom in Ridgewood. Eventurally, in 1915, the el itself was extended.
The seating capacity probably decreased as they kept cutting the theater up. I am not sure if the 1950 is the current seating. But of course, the walls all through the theater cutting it up into a 5 plex have taken away seating from the original number.
The 1673 Myrtle Ave number is before the Queens section of Myrtle Ave was brought into the Queens numbering system, as of course, regardless of how the Ridgewood (or Madison) Theaters were listed, are physically in Queens, and always have been.
While we are all sad that the Elmwood will no longer be showing movies anymore, I am so glad that it is in good hands in it’s new life. May you have many years of happiness in the old theater as your new church. It’s the next best thing after it’s original use for the building. It’s so nice to see it is in loving hands, and not going to be gutted for retail.
Thanks for all the updates. It’s very sad to see.
If the Orpheum is in such bad shape, I’d hate to see what the abandoned Joy Theater must look like inside. When I was in New Orleans about 2 years ago, they opened it for a SuperBowl Party, but now the interior (that was neglected even before the flood) must be totally trashed, and especially more so.
Disney doesn’t do anything small, so I don’t really know if “counting it’s pennies” would be what is the problem here. Look at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, and what they invested in that.
They invested so much on the interior of the New Amsterdam, it just boggles my mind that it would just be “cheapness” that would stop them from doing the exterior. It has to be something more.
I agree Ed. The theater was a movie house for most of it’s life, but it’s interior was the interior it has now. I just don’t feel the 1930’s exterior is appropriate considering what the interior is like. The restored the theater to it’s original design, and that should have included the exterior too.
As for a tribute to the former days of cinema, that’s all well and good too, however, let’s think of a legit theater (take your pick) that was multiplexed, and it spend most of it’s life in that multiplexed form showing movies. Then it closes, and it comes time to renovate the theater. Just because for most of it’s life it was multiplexed, would that mean you don’t restore it to it’s former glory, and just leave let’s say the balcony walled off or something, just because that’s a “tribute” to the cinema days?
I feel that’s the same situation here. Why not restore the theater to it’s ORIGINAL glory, even if it spent most of it’s life with it’s bland plain, cinema exterior?
Thank you, thank you, thank you Ken for posting photos of the interior or the Ridgewood Theater!!! It’s been over 15 years since I have been in there, and the lobby is JUST how I remember it!!! it appears to have a good amount of it’s ornamentation yet. It actually looks better kept than the 80’s!! (It was pretty run down back then).
Oh, the good times I have had in that theater.
Did you get any photos of the auditorium you went into? Or did you just step into the lobby to take the photos, and not see a movie?
Thank you, thank you, thank you Ken for posting photos of the interior or the Ridgewood Theater!!! It’s been over 15 years since I have been in there, and the lobby is JUST how I remember it!!! it appears to have a good amount of it’s ornamentation yet. It actually looks better kept than the 80’s!! (It was pretty run down back then).
Oh, the good times I have had in that theater.
Did you get any photos of the auditorium you went into? Or did you just step into the lobby to take the photos, and not see a movie?
Oh, and Warren, I forgot to comment on your comment about the movies on the Jackson’s marquee in the current photos…..it appears perhaps all three are fitting for the theater’s present state!! Irony is not even the word!
Thank you Warren, what an elegant interior it had! And the beautiful marquee! Compared to what is there today! Thanks for the photos.
From what I gather, the front part fo the Jackson is still intact, meaning the procenium arch, and all the plasterwork, because the multiplexing took place in the back of the theater?
What exactly is the Eagle being used for. From the posts above it appears to show foreign or Indian films? Does it show normal movies too? What is the condition of the inside?
To add to Lost’s list of photos, here’s another photo of the Eagle:
Fourth photo down on this page:
View link
As for the condition, it appears the owners of the Jackson (which also own the Ridgewood Theater) don’t seem to take much better care of the place than the Ridgewood Theater. In fact, on the exterior, the Ridgewood seems to be in better shape (and that’s saying a lot).
Thanks very much Warren, those are the first I have seen of it. did the Jackson have a balcony? It seems sort of too low, unless that’s just an illusion of just the lobby being low.
I don’t have any of the interior, but if you are looking for a theater highly intact inside (and out), check out the RKO Kieth’s Richmond Hill. While the seats have been removed, most of the interior of that theater is completely intact. And it was never multiplexed, so even more intact.
Here’s a link:
/theaters/3972/
As for the Jackson, I too would be interested in seeing photos of the inside. I don’t know how much of the original ornamentation survived the multiplexing.
IINM, NA is planning to build a new multiplex in the parking lot of the current one, and then tear the old building down.
Haha, it’s lucky I have been keeping up with the Ridgewood Theater’s section here all along, as if I just stumbled upon this page for the first time, I would probably be insane by the time I got to this message way down here.
The silence of the Ridgewood Theater is suddenly broken as a man named Warren runs down the aisle towards the Ridgewood’s emergency exit doors. The theater briefly lights up from the daylight oustide as the doors swing open, and Warren goes screaming out onto Madison St……
Well that is better than everyday a ridiculous schedule like that. Thanks for the update. Not that it’s too encouraging, as like I said, in all the years, the Ridgewood never was closed during the day like this, any day of the week. Perhaps when school is out they will revert back to a normal schedule again. Not that that should be too encouraging either, as most other theaters have matinees everyday, regardless of school being open or not.
Well one bright note should be that while the Ridgewood appears to have one theater of it’s 5 (at least currently) for the new Spanish film listed, at least they play their English movies without Spanish subtitles like their sister theater, the Jackson, does. That may be because Ridgewood, while has a large Hispanic population, also has a large Easter European population, (very large Polish influx population in recent years), so Spanish subtitles would still probably be inappropriate for the Ridgewood Theater.
Congratulations. The database gets better each day. Now that most of the “major” theaters had been already added, the continuous addition of the smaller, lesser known theaters is what makes the site even better.
MrBilly, I’m not worried about Myrtle Ave itself, the new mall will not really effect it badly, as Myrtle Ave doesn’t really even have the type of stores that will be going into the Atlas Terminal (Borders, etc).
However, my worry all along has been for the Ridgewood Theater itself. The Ridgewood theater’s management has been cutting back the showtimes more and more over the last few months.
For Example, this is there current schedule:
16 Blocks (PG-13) 6:00, 8:00
El Sueno del regreso (NR) 8:05
Hills Have Eyes, The ® 6:00, 8:05
Shaggy Dog, The (PG) 6:05, 8:00
Ultraviolet (PG-13) 6:05, 8:05
And apparently, as you noted, they are not even open every day! How in the world can they swing a profit on a schedule like that? Obviously, they felt it wasn’t worth it to stay open during the day, and not even every day, otherwise they would be open daytimes too. This is only a recent change, the theater was always open during the day before this. The Ridgewood can’t afford to lose whatever patronage it has (which apparently isn’t that large to begin with judging by the schedule). Even if they lose a quarter of it’s current patronage to the Atlas Terminal Theater, it could be deadly.
The Garden Theater is that large ornate building seen just in front of the train.
PKoch, Paul Stier (talked about in the link Lost provided) designed a good portion of the bay window style houses in Ridgewood. I can’t say that he actually designed the homes on your block (I am familiar with your old block), but I certainly lean towards him as the builder.
I lived in a Matthews Flat 6 family house, and my block was built between 1914-1915, as were the adjoining blocks. A good friend of mine lived in a Stier house, and it was built in 1910.
Ridgewood’s boom began when the Myrtle El was extended from Downtown Brooklyn, onto the “dummy” tracks. The catch was, that those elevated trains decended from the el, at Wyckoff Ave, and ran on the ground to Metropolitan Ave. Those el trains (on the ground)are what spurred the boom in Ridgewood. Eventurally, in 1915, the el itself was extended.
The seating capacity probably decreased as they kept cutting the theater up. I am not sure if the 1950 is the current seating. But of course, the walls all through the theater cutting it up into a 5 plex have taken away seating from the original number.
The 1673 Myrtle Ave number is before the Queens section of Myrtle Ave was brought into the Queens numbering system, as of course, regardless of how the Ridgewood (or Madison) Theaters were listed, are physically in Queens, and always have been.
Any photos available of the progress inside?
While we are all sad that the Elmwood will no longer be showing movies anymore, I am so glad that it is in good hands in it’s new life. May you have many years of happiness in the old theater as your new church. It’s the next best thing after it’s original use for the building. It’s so nice to see it is in loving hands, and not going to be gutted for retail.
Thanks for all the updates. It’s very sad to see.
If the Orpheum is in such bad shape, I’d hate to see what the abandoned Joy Theater must look like inside. When I was in New Orleans about 2 years ago, they opened it for a SuperBowl Party, but now the interior (that was neglected even before the flood) must be totally trashed, and especially more so.
Here’s some great photos of the Empire in the “old 42nd St” from the 70’s and 80’s. I really don’t think I’d want to go back to that:
http://www.digeronimopa.com/projects/42nd.htm
Here’s some great photos of the Empire in the “old 42nd St” from the 70’s and 80’s. I really don’t think I’d want to go back to that:
http://www.digeronimopa.com/projects/42nd.htm
Disney doesn’t do anything small, so I don’t really know if “counting it’s pennies” would be what is the problem here. Look at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, and what they invested in that.
They invested so much on the interior of the New Amsterdam, it just boggles my mind that it would just be “cheapness” that would stop them from doing the exterior. It has to be something more.
I agree Ed. The theater was a movie house for most of it’s life, but it’s interior was the interior it has now. I just don’t feel the 1930’s exterior is appropriate considering what the interior is like. The restored the theater to it’s original design, and that should have included the exterior too.
As for a tribute to the former days of cinema, that’s all well and good too, however, let’s think of a legit theater (take your pick) that was multiplexed, and it spend most of it’s life in that multiplexed form showing movies. Then it closes, and it comes time to renovate the theater. Just because for most of it’s life it was multiplexed, would that mean you don’t restore it to it’s former glory, and just leave let’s say the balcony walled off or something, just because that’s a “tribute” to the cinema days?
I feel that’s the same situation here. Why not restore the theater to it’s ORIGINAL glory, even if it spent most of it’s life with it’s bland plain, cinema exterior?