The Edwards theaters around there seem to be really nicely built.
I went to an Edwards Theater near Arrowhead park (in the shopping center with the Acapulco Restaurant) on I believe State College Blvd when I was there this past winter. It was really nice, and the marquee out front was built in a retro style, with lots of neon.
Unfortunately, I don’t know if that particular theater is listed on this site. I don’t think it is, but since i don’t live there, I don’t know too much about it (like the true name of it to search for it).
If anyone does know, can you please search for it, and add it if it’s not on the site?
Haha! Yeah, when they wanted the opera people at the Madison, they told them the theater was in Queens (and rightfully so, since the theater IS in Queens). Then when it was back to movies, they went back to the Brooklyn “farce”.
I agree with Robert, it’s hard to imagine this kind of a spread today almost ANYWHERE in the outer boroughs, much less that part of Ridgewood, near the Bushwick border! What about the “Arion” singers by the German-American society! Hahahaha!
The theater appears pretty well kept. There is another theater in the area, a free standing theater that is still open, and appears to have been multiplexed. Off hand, I don’t know what the name of it or it’s exact town is off hand.
I only mentioned the RKO Bushwick, because if they were able to save that building, which sat derilict for decades, and I can’t imagine that the Forest Hills theater, that was being used for movies just the year prior would be in such bad condition that they couldn’t use the shell.
However, perhaps, construction costs to convert would have been higher to convert as opposed to demolish and rebuild, so I guess that;s why they did it that way.
I have no idea what happened to the Forest Hills Theater, but anyone familiar with the old RKO Bushwick Theater, and how decrepit that was, and if they were able to save the shell of that for a school, and it looks great now, I would assume they could save almost anything. But again, I don’t know the circumstances of this theater, so can’t say.
Hmmm, according to the original entry on the site, it says that Duane reade opened in the old auditorium, and that Staples opened up in the upper part of the building. Why would they tear the other three walls of the old building down, just to build a similar building behind the original front wall?
—I haven’t a clue, but I am just speculating here.
Billy, sounds quite reasonable to me. I know of a few buildings where the upper floors or floor of a building had burned, and they later demolished the upper floors, but kept the lower floors. It is quite possible that the shell of of the Evergreen Theater is in fact the current building…..
Haha. The Oasis is even close to Brooklyn! Again, obviously there must have been some sort of economic advantage in advertising so many of these Queens Theaters (such as the Madison, Ridgewood, Oasis – all in Queens) as “Brooklyn”.
Although granted, we still have the old “Brooklyn zip code”, even though in Queens) for Glendale and Ridgewood up until the early 80’s. This was discussed in mass in the Ridgewood Theater section. That could also be the reason.
Thanks for all the information Bill. It all makes perfect sense, and probably what I imagined in my theaory about the whole thing. The only missing link was of course, if the Bohack/CTown store was the actual Theater building converted to retail (similar to the Associated supermarket in the Starr Theater), or if it was a replacement building. And I had wondered why they would have torn the old theater down if it was in fact a replacement building. The fire makes perfect sense, and is the missing link.
Gustave, are you sure you are thinking of the Plaza? I think you may be thinking of the old Ward and Glynne’s Patchogue theater (now the Patchogue Theater for the Performing Arts), which was in fact spectacular, and glorious inside. The Patchogue Theater has been meticulously restored.
AFAIK, I believe the Plaza was quite plain inside, and very average, again, typical “60’s” construction.
I think you are confusing the Plaza Theater with the Patchogue Theater further down on Main St:
Unfortunately, I don’t know when they took the vertical sign down. Perhaps it did fall down when the marquee caved in.
…now, a quick question. Since those no place on the site to talk about “random” things, not under a specific theater, I figured I’d ask here because the Ridgewood theater section has become sort of the “research area” for all the surrounding theaters.
Anyway, I had a business meeting in Ridgewood this morning, and to beat traffic, I drove in early, so to kill a little time I drove a little around Bushwick a bit. At Evergreen and Grove, I found this theater building. It definitely has all the lines of an old theater. I don’t know if this theater is listed on the site, or what the name of it is, but would love to find out….so if anyone has any information about this theater, pleas post the information, so we can add it to the site if it hasn’t been added already.
Here’s two angles of the building:
It is on the southeast corner of Grove and Evergreen, facing Evergreen.
I don’t actually know if it was demolished or not. I took a photo o the location last year, and it appears to be a new building. However, there is a chance they just put a new brick venier on the old theater. My gut is that it’s demolished and replaced, however, I really can’t say either way:
Ignore the last part of this comment, I was copying and pasting this from the Wagner Theater when I made this post in error….only this part of the above post applies to the Mozart/Irving:
I past by the Wagner last week, and peaked in the 99 cents store as I drove by (I was stuck at the light at the corner anyway). It has glass doors now, and inside it has a drop ceiling. A quick glance doesn’t reveal any original interior, and there is a fake drop ceiling in the store.
I past by the Wagner last week, and peaked in the 99 cents store as I drove by (I was stuck at the light at the corner anyway). It has glass doors now, and inside it has a drop ceiling. A quick glance doesn’t reveal any original interior, and there is a fake drop ceiling in the store.
As for the Brooklyn thing, this theater is the one in the immediate area out of all the ones that they adevertised in Brooklyn, but are really in Queens (Parthenon, Madison, Ridgewood, Oasis (how dumb), etc, and then the one that is CLEARLY in Brooklyn, the Wagner, they say is in Queens!
Heh, I like lostmemory’s comment….put porn in the theater, and then, and only then say it’s in Queens…..
Ugh. Erwin, you are absolutely correct. I posted this in the wrong section! This was in fact meant for the Irving Mozart. I will copy and post my post and post it in the Irving Theater section. I have no idea how i wound up posting this here.
In fact, you are correct, what was once the Wagner theater has been demolished, and is in fact the Woman’s Health Center.
Lost, the original marquee is definitely different looking than the way it looked when it fell down. If the photo I am thinking of is the one I think you mean (it has a trolley in it), the Ridgewood name looked much different in the old photo linked above. It was much less ornate in the 40’s, and the two o’s in Ridgewood were I believe linked together. Although I think it is also seen in a photo from the 60’s I have (which also may be the one you are talking about).
Perhaps it’s the same marquee structure in both photos, but in the latter, it may have been stripped and redone.
I drove by the other day, and there is now grafitti all over the bricks above the marquee. It seems that it gets worse every day.
Gust, I never found the building all that attractive, I find it to be
60’s construction at it’s blandest, but granted, it looked much better when it was open.
Wow, I just noticed the old photo of the Oasis' exterior. The marquee seen in that photo is not the one that survived to the end. I don’t know when the original one was replaced, but the one I remember in the 70’s and 80’s, was a trapezoid shaped one (skinnier near the street, and then wider as it approaced the building). On the skinny end at the street was a large “Oasis” sign in orange/gold bulbs or neon. While the structure of the marquee survived into the roller skating days, it was stripped, and got a white background, and “Oasis Roller World” put on the marquee, with the large “O” in Oasis having a desert scene with palm trees, etc in it. That was the logo of the roller rink, and the chips they would give you for your shoe check had that desert scene on it.
After the Oasis building burned in the late 90’s, they removed the stores that fronted on Fresh Pond Road, the Oasis lobby, and the whole right side of the building.
Interestingly, I took my photo last year in the exact location that Warren’s old photo was taken in.
Compare my photo to the old one that Warren posted:
Thanks Warren, keep the theaters you do find coming, they are great.
Anyway, as for the Ridgewood-Glendale thing, I have never seen Fresh Pond Rd listed as Glendale, and I had lived in Ridgewood for over almost 25 years before I left there some years ago. Lost Memory is right, it is the Railroad tracks that divide Ridgewood and Glendale, as far as I know.
The Oasis is and was in Ridgewood.
Oh, and just to add, that “lattice” thing over the stage as seen in the first photo, I also remember quite well. While the screen eventually became flush with that above, it was there all through the movie days. If, I’m not mistaken also lasted to the roller rink days. When it was a skating rink, they had neon dancing Egyptians in the stage area, and you were able to sit up on the stage to take a break from the skating in front of them.
Warren! Where are you finding these! These are great, they brought back SO many memories. I remember those long skinny “sconce” lights on the sides between the “tapestry” areas. Those ornate “sconces” lasted right into the roller skating rink days. When I saw movies in there, I remember them being bright when you walked in, and then they would dim them very very dim for the movie, but they would never be completely off. In the roller rink days they were still there, and while the whole place was lined with disco lights, they did occasionally turn those sconses on, or make them flash during some of the songs. At the end of the roller sessions, they would usually play “New York, New York”, and then have those sconses on during that song, and as you left.
Under the balcony were these ornate ceiling lights in the back of the theater that also survived into the roller rink days. I believe they had a purple glow to them, but I can’t remember if that was both in the movie days, or they were made to have a purple glow in the roller rink days.
I was never in the balcony during the movie days that I remember, but it was completely intact, complete with seats right to the end of the roller rink days. When skating there, I remember looking up and seeing all the seats up there, covered with cobwebs. it was all left open in full view from below.
This is the best group of photos yet! I have no idea where you are finding them, but hopefully you will come up with the Ridgewood theater eventually….
Thanks so much for posting these photos of the Midway Warren. I always enjoyed that theater as a teenager, unfortunately, it was already cut up by then. I have seen movies in all of the 4 theaters it was cut up into, and can actually visualize them from your old photos in their respective spots.
In the 80’s, I always found the Midway very well kept, and always enjoyed going there. I remember the lobby like it was yesterday.
I have not been back to the Midway since they redid it into the stadium theater it is now.
I also can’t believe that out of all the time I was on this site, I never visted the Midway’s section until today!
Thanks for posting those warren. Yes, the theater hasn’t changed all that much at all, at least structurally. I was in there last June. They now show slides of sales on in the center area between the columns, on a large screen. The two adjoining arches are also still there. A disco ball (from the roller skating days) hangs in the place of the chandelier. The biggest difference is the paint scheme… While all the ornamentation of the plasterwork remains on the walls and ceilings, it is painted beige and a dark unattractive brown. Just those two colors, so of course it isn’t as “ornate” looking anymore. (Picture the interior beige color of the RKO Keith’s which also has all it’s ornamentation surviving, but painted a plain beige, so everything is one color).
The balcony is still there, although they put a wall up from the railing to the ceiling, so you can’t see it.
Other than that, it’s a real credit to the pharmacy company that they preserved as much as they did.
Warren, did you take any photos inside when you were in there?
I love the second photo! Thanks for posting! The photo is about 10 years old, I wonder what it looks like now.
The Edwards theaters around there seem to be really nicely built.
I went to an Edwards Theater near Arrowhead park (in the shopping center with the Acapulco Restaurant) on I believe State College Blvd when I was there this past winter. It was really nice, and the marquee out front was built in a retro style, with lots of neon.
Unfortunately, I don’t know if that particular theater is listed on this site. I don’t think it is, but since i don’t live there, I don’t know too much about it (like the true name of it to search for it).
If anyone does know, can you please search for it, and add it if it’s not on the site?
Haha! Yeah, when they wanted the opera people at the Madison, they told them the theater was in Queens (and rightfully so, since the theater IS in Queens). Then when it was back to movies, they went back to the Brooklyn “farce”.
I agree with Robert, it’s hard to imagine this kind of a spread today almost ANYWHERE in the outer boroughs, much less that part of Ridgewood, near the Bushwick border! What about the “Arion” singers by the German-American society! Hahahaha!
The theater appears pretty well kept. There is another theater in the area, a free standing theater that is still open, and appears to have been multiplexed. Off hand, I don’t know what the name of it or it’s exact town is off hand.
I only mentioned the RKO Bushwick, because if they were able to save that building, which sat derilict for decades, and I can’t imagine that the Forest Hills theater, that was being used for movies just the year prior would be in such bad condition that they couldn’t use the shell.
However, perhaps, construction costs to convert would have been higher to convert as opposed to demolish and rebuild, so I guess that;s why they did it that way.
I have no idea what happened to the Forest Hills Theater, but anyone familiar with the old RKO Bushwick Theater, and how decrepit that was, and if they were able to save the shell of that for a school, and it looks great now, I would assume they could save almost anything. But again, I don’t know the circumstances of this theater, so can’t say.
Hmmm, according to the original entry on the site, it says that Duane reade opened in the old auditorium, and that Staples opened up in the upper part of the building. Why would they tear the other three walls of the old building down, just to build a similar building behind the original front wall?
—I haven’t a clue, but I am just speculating here.
Billy, sounds quite reasonable to me. I know of a few buildings where the upper floors or floor of a building had burned, and they later demolished the upper floors, but kept the lower floors. It is quite possible that the shell of of the Evergreen Theater is in fact the current building…..
Haha. The Oasis is even close to Brooklyn! Again, obviously there must have been some sort of economic advantage in advertising so many of these Queens Theaters (such as the Madison, Ridgewood, Oasis – all in Queens) as “Brooklyn”.
Although granted, we still have the old “Brooklyn zip code”, even though in Queens) for Glendale and Ridgewood up until the early 80’s. This was discussed in mass in the Ridgewood Theater section. That could also be the reason.
Thanks for all the information Bill. It all makes perfect sense, and probably what I imagined in my theaory about the whole thing. The only missing link was of course, if the Bohack/CTown store was the actual Theater building converted to retail (similar to the Associated supermarket in the Starr Theater), or if it was a replacement building. And I had wondered why they would have torn the old theater down if it was in fact a replacement building. The fire makes perfect sense, and is the missing link.
Gustave, are you sure you are thinking of the Plaza? I think you may be thinking of the old Ward and Glynne’s Patchogue theater (now the Patchogue Theater for the Performing Arts), which was in fact spectacular, and glorious inside. The Patchogue Theater has been meticulously restored.
AFAIK, I believe the Plaza was quite plain inside, and very average, again, typical “60’s” construction.
I think you are confusing the Plaza Theater with the Patchogue Theater further down on Main St:
/theaters/7402/
Unfortunately, I don’t know when they took the vertical sign down. Perhaps it did fall down when the marquee caved in.
…now, a quick question. Since those no place on the site to talk about “random” things, not under a specific theater, I figured I’d ask here because the Ridgewood theater section has become sort of the “research area” for all the surrounding theaters.
Anyway, I had a business meeting in Ridgewood this morning, and to beat traffic, I drove in early, so to kill a little time I drove a little around Bushwick a bit. At Evergreen and Grove, I found this theater building. It definitely has all the lines of an old theater. I don’t know if this theater is listed on the site, or what the name of it is, but would love to find out….so if anyone has any information about this theater, pleas post the information, so we can add it to the site if it hasn’t been added already.
Here’s two angles of the building:
It is on the southeast corner of Grove and Evergreen, facing Evergreen.
Click here for photo 1
Click here for photo 2
I don’t actually know if it was demolished or not. I took a photo o the location last year, and it appears to be a new building. However, there is a chance they just put a new brick venier on the old theater. My gut is that it’s demolished and replaced, however, I really can’t say either way:
Click here for photo I took last year
Ignore the last part of this comment, I was copying and pasting this from the Wagner Theater when I made this post in error….only this part of the above post applies to the Mozart/Irving:
I past by the Wagner last week, and peaked in the 99 cents store as I drove by (I was stuck at the light at the corner anyway). It has glass doors now, and inside it has a drop ceiling. A quick glance doesn’t reveal any original interior, and there is a fake drop ceiling in the store.
I past by the Wagner last week, and peaked in the 99 cents store as I drove by (I was stuck at the light at the corner anyway). It has glass doors now, and inside it has a drop ceiling. A quick glance doesn’t reveal any original interior, and there is a fake drop ceiling in the store.
As for the Brooklyn thing, this theater is the one in the immediate area out of all the ones that they adevertised in Brooklyn, but are really in Queens (Parthenon, Madison, Ridgewood, Oasis (how dumb), etc, and then the one that is CLEARLY in Brooklyn, the Wagner, they say is in Queens!
Heh, I like lostmemory’s comment….put porn in the theater, and then, and only then say it’s in Queens…..
Ugh. Erwin, you are absolutely correct. I posted this in the wrong section! This was in fact meant for the Irving Mozart. I will copy and post my post and post it in the Irving Theater section. I have no idea how i wound up posting this here.
In fact, you are correct, what was once the Wagner theater has been demolished, and is in fact the Woman’s Health Center.
Lost, the original marquee is definitely different looking than the way it looked when it fell down. If the photo I am thinking of is the one I think you mean (it has a trolley in it), the Ridgewood name looked much different in the old photo linked above. It was much less ornate in the 40’s, and the two o’s in Ridgewood were I believe linked together. Although I think it is also seen in a photo from the 60’s I have (which also may be the one you are talking about).
Perhaps it’s the same marquee structure in both photos, but in the latter, it may have been stripped and redone.
I drove by the other day, and there is now grafitti all over the bricks above the marquee. It seems that it gets worse every day.
Gust, I never found the building all that attractive, I find it to be
60’s construction at it’s blandest, but granted, it looked much better when it was open.
Wow, I just noticed the old photo of the Oasis' exterior. The marquee seen in that photo is not the one that survived to the end. I don’t know when the original one was replaced, but the one I remember in the 70’s and 80’s, was a trapezoid shaped one (skinnier near the street, and then wider as it approaced the building). On the skinny end at the street was a large “Oasis” sign in orange/gold bulbs or neon. While the structure of the marquee survived into the roller skating days, it was stripped, and got a white background, and “Oasis Roller World” put on the marquee, with the large “O” in Oasis having a desert scene with palm trees, etc in it. That was the logo of the roller rink, and the chips they would give you for your shoe check had that desert scene on it.
After the Oasis building burned in the late 90’s, they removed the stores that fronted on Fresh Pond Road, the Oasis lobby, and the whole right side of the building.
Interestingly, I took my photo last year in the exact location that Warren’s old photo was taken in.
Compare my photo to the old one that Warren posted:
Click here for Warren’s link to the old photo
Click here for my current photo taken last year
Thanks Warren, keep the theaters you do find coming, they are great.
Anyway, as for the Ridgewood-Glendale thing, I have never seen Fresh Pond Rd listed as Glendale, and I had lived in Ridgewood for over almost 25 years before I left there some years ago. Lost Memory is right, it is the Railroad tracks that divide Ridgewood and Glendale, as far as I know.
The Oasis is and was in Ridgewood.
Oh, and just to add, that “lattice” thing over the stage as seen in the first photo, I also remember quite well. While the screen eventually became flush with that above, it was there all through the movie days. If, I’m not mistaken also lasted to the roller rink days. When it was a skating rink, they had neon dancing Egyptians in the stage area, and you were able to sit up on the stage to take a break from the skating in front of them.
Warren! Where are you finding these! These are great, they brought back SO many memories. I remember those long skinny “sconce” lights on the sides between the “tapestry” areas. Those ornate “sconces” lasted right into the roller skating rink days. When I saw movies in there, I remember them being bright when you walked in, and then they would dim them very very dim for the movie, but they would never be completely off. In the roller rink days they were still there, and while the whole place was lined with disco lights, they did occasionally turn those sconses on, or make them flash during some of the songs. At the end of the roller sessions, they would usually play “New York, New York”, and then have those sconses on during that song, and as you left.
Under the balcony were these ornate ceiling lights in the back of the theater that also survived into the roller rink days. I believe they had a purple glow to them, but I can’t remember if that was both in the movie days, or they were made to have a purple glow in the roller rink days.
I was never in the balcony during the movie days that I remember, but it was completely intact, complete with seats right to the end of the roller rink days. When skating there, I remember looking up and seeing all the seats up there, covered with cobwebs. it was all left open in full view from below.
This is the best group of photos yet! I have no idea where you are finding them, but hopefully you will come up with the Ridgewood theater eventually….
Thanks so much for posting these photos of the Midway Warren. I always enjoyed that theater as a teenager, unfortunately, it was already cut up by then. I have seen movies in all of the 4 theaters it was cut up into, and can actually visualize them from your old photos in their respective spots.
In the 80’s, I always found the Midway very well kept, and always enjoyed going there. I remember the lobby like it was yesterday.
I have not been back to the Midway since they redid it into the stadium theater it is now.
I also can’t believe that out of all the time I was on this site, I never visted the Midway’s section until today!
Thanks for posting those warren. Yes, the theater hasn’t changed all that much at all, at least structurally. I was in there last June. They now show slides of sales on in the center area between the columns, on a large screen. The two adjoining arches are also still there. A disco ball (from the roller skating days) hangs in the place of the chandelier. The biggest difference is the paint scheme… While all the ornamentation of the plasterwork remains on the walls and ceilings, it is painted beige and a dark unattractive brown. Just those two colors, so of course it isn’t as “ornate” looking anymore. (Picture the interior beige color of the RKO Keith’s which also has all it’s ornamentation surviving, but painted a plain beige, so everything is one color).
The balcony is still there, although they put a wall up from the railing to the ceiling, so you can’t see it.
Other than that, it’s a real credit to the pharmacy company that they preserved as much as they did.