Evergreen Theatre
926 Seneca Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
926 Seneca Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Evergreen Airdrome
Nearby Theaters
The Evergreen Theatre had a relatively short life. It was built in 1911 near the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Seneca Avenue in the Ridgewood section of Queens. It was originally opened as the Evergreen Airdrome, and was an open-air theater. Two years later the Evergreen Theatre was built and opened on October 4, 1913 right next to the Airdrome. Two years later, the Evergreen Theatre was enlarged.
The owners of the Evergreen Theatre also built and operated the Van Cortlandt Airdrome at corner of Van Cortlandt Avenue (now 71st Avenue) and Myrtle Avenue. The Van Cortlandt was never expanded beyone an open air theater.
It is not clear whether the Evergreen Airdrome and Evergreen Theatre operated at the same time. But there were two seperate screens, one in the theater and one in the open air theater. It is doubtful that anything beyond silent movies played there. My opinion is that when they built the Evergreen Theatre in 1913 at the corner of Myrtle and Seneca, they discontinued the use of the Evergreen Airdrome adjacent to it.
In late 1921 the Evergreen Theater was sold and soon after, the building was razed.
Contributed by
Chris
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Recent comments (view all 55 comments)
I don’t think you would need a seperate listing for the “Evergreen Park” as it was the outdoor version of the Evergreen Theater.
As for the Van Cortlandt AirDrome, if it was to be placed at Myrtle and 60th St, instead of one block west at Myrtle and 71st Ave, that would put the AirDrome right around where the Ritz Theater was. I wonder if the Ritz Theater (listed on this site already) was built on the site of the old Van Cortlandt AirDrome.
There is a photo of the Evergreen Theatre in the 100-year anniversary supplement of the Times Newsweekly (formerly the Ridgewood Times)dated October 23, 2008. Perhaps a link to it will be posted here on the Evergreen Theatre page.
I don’t know how big that area between the bank and the theater was. It could have been along the whole property, or it may just have been a few feet in from the sidewalk to an emergency exit or something. But in any event, chances are slim that the first floor of the supermarket is the first floor of the Evergreen. If anything, it could be, as well as the basement, but there’s no way to tell for sure.
Was this the theater that had the roof cave in in a snowstorm? Wasn’t there also a fire?
There’s a story and photo of the Evergreen in this weeks Timesnewsweekly in the “Neighborhood” section. The online version of the should be online in about a week.
That’s very strange, as I remember the article. The photo showed the Evergreen next to the Bank building.
I looked at he archives too. I remember the article in print….
Yes, I think it was. Some of the weeks don’t have a “neighborhood” section on the online directory, so I think what you said may be the case.
Very interesting article. The original name for Seneca Ave is Covert St (that’s why the first article mentions Covert St). The article also mentions Van Cortland Ave, which today is known as 71 Ave.
The enclosed Evergreen Theatre opened on October 4, 1913.
Wow, an AMAZING photo of the Evergreen Building in the NYC Archives from the 1930’s.
http://nycma.lunaimaging.com:8181/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size3/NYCMA~9~9/1119/nynyma_rec0040_4_03561_0027.jpg