Grandview Theater
659 Grandview Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
659 Grandview Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
2 people
favorited this theater
Small neighborhood theater dating back to at least April 1912 in the Ridgewood section of Queens. In the days of the silents, movies were shown outdoors during the hot summer months due to lack of air conditioning. Closed late-1940’s to early-1950’s and converted to a funeral home, now known as Ridgewood Chapels.
Contributed by
Erwin Markisch
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Recent comments (view all 116 comments)
Thank you so much for posting your charming and poignant memories of the Grandview, once upon a time, and welcome to Cinema Treasures !
No such hide-away for ladies' hats …. my dad, about twenty years your senior, remembers the message “Ladies please remove your hats” on movie screens. The indoor / outdoor theatre he remembers was the Colonial, in his old home neighborhood of Bushwick, adjoining Ridgewood to the southwest. There is a page for the Colonial on Cinema Treasures. It was on the block bounded by Broadway, Rockaway Avenue, and Chauncey Street. The outdoor screen there must have been an outside wall of the Colonial. My dad remembers folks sitting on their fire escapes on Rockaway Avenue, watching outdoor summer movies for free.
Please join Bway and myself on Bushwick Buddies :
www.bushwickbuddies.com
for more talk of theatres, and of the neighborhoods of Ridgewood and Bushwick. Your input would be most welcome there.
There is plenty more for your reading and (hopefully) posting pleasure on the pages for the Ridgewood, Madison, Oasis, Parthenon, Glenwood, Belvedere, Wyckoff, Wagner, etc. theatres here on Cinema Treasures.
Again, welcome, and I look forward to seeing more posts from you.
Alas, the Ridgewood Theatre’s last day of showing movies was Sunday, March 9, 2008.
Peter….thank you for your warm and overly generous comments. I’ll look forward to accepting your kind invitation to visit ‘Bushwickbuddies’. I’ll also take your encouraging suggestion regarding future comments. Perhaps one of the the Myrtle Ave ‘palaces’ will be next to cross the stream (screen?) of my memory.
You’re most welcome, once upon a time. I look forward to more posts from you. I think you’ll enjoy this site.
I haven’t even mentioned the Bushwick theatres yet, but I’ve put a lot of myself into those, too.
Thanks, Warren. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I look through that issue.
Warren..thank you…I was about to Post the following when your most recent and confirming comments popped in ahead of it
A plausible tie-in as to a joint ownership of the Grandview, Majestic and Belvedere theaters might be; during the 1940’s and (very) early’50’s, all three had their Coming Attractions leaflets processed from the same Printing Company. The folded, single sheet ‘Programs’ were of a deep blue color with the same format and I recall, each of the three theaters were listed on the lower back page.
No, Warren, I think it only meant that there was more money to be made with those buildings waking the dead than showing movies to the living.
Peter..Might I suggest…the outcome of those movie houses is now a..Dead Issue…:)
Good one, once upon a time !
Here’s a street view of the Grandview Theater:
View link
A Grandview Theatre located at Gates Avenue and Grandview Avenue was advertising in April of 1912.