Ridgewood Theatre

Bill, I wish you well with the software-aided music you are now composing. Perhaps you didn’t have Br. A. Edward for humanities that year.

I said hello to Gasper Ilasi for you at lunch today, but he unfortunately did not remember you from the Prep, glee club or otherwise, although I tried to jog his memory.

Peter, I remember the Math Fair quite well, and feeling like I was an outsider at the event. I was,and still am, a bit of a rennaisence person, dabling in lots of related areas. I don’t remember the conversation regarding Xenakis, but I’m not surprised; I’m still composing music, but now with the aid of software. But Br. A. Edward doesn’t ring a bell; sorry.

The third 5 and 10 between Forest and Onderdonk was McCrory’s in the 70’s and 80’s. I don’t know if that’s the one you mean. I don’t remember a HL Green. Anyway, in the late 90’s, McCrory’s closed and it became a “junk store” for about a year or two. In the mid 90’s, it was combined with the store to it’s left, and “The Fair” left it’s famous corner at Onderdonk and Myrtle, and moved into the old McCrory’s space.

I’ve gone back and read more of the vast quantity of postings, and memories have flooded my grain of Ridgewood. I remember walking over to Myrtle Avenue, and walking up and down, checking out the shops, such as Woolworths. I remember shoveling snow for shops during the Winter, and burying myself in the kid’s section of the Queens Library (on what street I can’t remember) in a big old building.

BTW, I lived on Seneca next to the “el” and later on Menahan just of of Seneca.

Welcome, Bill Joel, SFP Class of 1972 ! This is Peter Koch, SFP Class of 1973. This Ridgewood Theater page was quite a “wailing wall"
of SFP, St. Brigid and St. Matthias graduates for awhile !

Last Friday I attended the wake of John J. Pinzel, SFP Class of 1973.
John died August 29 2005 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Thanks to this site, I have re-established personal contact with your fellow former glee club member, Gasper Ilasi, SFP Class of 1973.
I expect to have lunch with him tomorrow.

Bill, have you been teased alot re : singer, songwriter, pianist Billy Joel ?

For some reason, I believe this was an “inside job”, someone that knew her. That’s usually what murders like this turn out to be. Murders like that, althought of course a very unpleasant occurance, doesn’t make the place any less safe for other people.

BTW, Donna Gibson : I graduated St. Brigid in June 1969

Peter Koch

Hey Bill, the name Patti Conte sounds very familiar to me and since I graduated SBS in 1972, I’m thinking your sister may have been a classmate of mine. Would you mind asking her if she remembers Donna Gibson? I hung out with Joanne Gallo, Theresa Feil and Julie Endrizzi, among others, if that might help refresh her memory. Maybe she could drop me a line at ohdonna_ny @ yahoo . com. (I apologize for using this board for this purpose. It won’t happen again!)

Donna Gibson

Hi everyone! I read all these pages in three installments-what interesting information about the theater and the block it sits on, and all that St. Brigid’s stuff (I graduated from SBS in 1971). Here are a few items I jotted down as I went along.

To weezah who posted on 4/5/04 that the Ridgewood was in a terrible neighborhood: If you think this is a bad area you should have walked the streets of Bushwick or Bed Sty in the late 70’s and 80’s. I assure you that as recently as 40 years ago Ridgewood was a solid working class area that was unusually clean for New York City. As the years have gone by I admit there has been quite a decline but this area has never hit rock bottom. Happily it seems like it is on the upswing again and may see better days.

to lostmemory…that was a fascinating story about the early days of the Ridgewood, the holding company and the Fox affiliation. Now, I recall either the marquee that fell down or the vertical sign included the name of the “Loew’s” chain. Does anyone else recall that (April-you lived across the street)? If so, when did the Loew’s affiliation start and end? Wasn’t Loew’s the chain that owned MGM and distributed their movies?

Sadly, no matter how hard I try I can not remember much about the inside of the theater. I was there many, many times in childhood and all I can really recall is the staircase to the balcony that was near the lobby entrance. I think there was also a clock on the left side of the stage that was lit up with cobalt blue neon lights-that is about all I can remember about the interior of this theater.

I grew up less than two blocks from here and I remember there was a series of fire escapes on Madison St-I will have to look next time I am there to see if they still exist in their original form. I did not witness the marquee falling like April, but I remember that snowstorm (we were janitors for our 6 family house and there was a lot of shoveling involved). I was sent to the fruit store across from the theater (Putnam & Myrtle) the Saturday after it happened and recall that incident was all the workers in the store could talk about.

One personal story about the Ridgewood. My parents divorced in the early 60’s. My dad worked near the SS Kresges on Myrtle Avenue and used to have coffee or lunch at the counter there. He got friendly with Ann, the waitress behind the counter. One day in the fall of 1965 I am with my dad at Kresge’s and she asks him what he is doing this coming weekend. He said I am taking my kids to the Ridgewood on Sunday to see (Disney’s) Cinderella. Okay. Come Sunday we are in the (smoking section) balcony waiting for the movie to come on and along comes Ann with her 5 year old daughter in tow (she was also divorced). We all met up, not quite by chance. This was their first date, with 3 kids along! We went out after the show for something to eat. Let’s just say they will be married 40 years next April!!

Peter K & the St. Brigid’s crowd…Peter, your memory is just amazing-how do you remember all those dates? I remember many of the teachers mentioned like Miss Vitollo, Sr. Mary Sylvia and Sr. Mary Helen. My mom considers Sister Mary Irene a near saint for a kind gesture she once made to our family.
Cathy Anguin, I remember you and you were in my sister’s (Patricia Conte) class I believe. We lived on the next block up from you (1713 Woodbine) and I remember the North’s were a large family on your block, and I went to school with your neighbor Kevin Kingsley. Does anyone remember “Mizz Stuart’s” candy store on Wyckoff between Grove & Linden?
Also-I well remember saving up to buy a single at Action Records which was right near the “Times Triangle” that is now called something else. Early in this post the Kreuscher’s Hotel & Arcade was mentioned-Action records was on the site of this hotel’s building that burned in the mid 60’s. It is now a GNC store. I also remember Byhoff Brothers Records further up the Avenue.
Someone mentioned John Dafgard who worked at the Ridgewood Savings Bank. I bet he is the same guy he lived on my block at 1705 Woodbine. He had a really nice family and I was friendlier with his brother Tommy (who once had a teen romance with my sister). You may know his nickname as Rocky, but I think his family called him ‘Jack’.
Thanks for all the research and information on the theater’s history from the very beginning. Maybe it will eventually thrive again. Regards from Bill Conte

Correct. The stage end of the building is on Cypress Avenue, as shown in the photo, with one end on the south corner of Cypress Avenue and Madison Street. The Madison Street side has the fire escape and exits.

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.

Hi lostmemory
Where didn’t I live in Ridgewood. My parents moved around a lot! When I was small I remember we lived on Harman Street and Woodward. I remember playing in that big empty lot across the street from Grover Cleveland. They used to have carnivals there every so often with lots of rides and candies. Later on we lived at 555 Onderdonk Avenue, and then later still at Fairview and Grove.
I recently asked my mother if she remembered the exact addresses of where we used to live, but unfortunately she didn’t. I just know that Ridgewood, growing up, seemed like a perfect little community. Everyone knew everyone else and we kids felt safe going out and playing stoop ball or hopscotch, or riding our bikes in the streets (something you don’t see any more these days).
Carol

Yes it was the Oasis Roller Rink for a few years.