Ritz Theater
60-15 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
60-15 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
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A STUNNING photo of the Ritz Theater in the 1930’s. It was already a furniture store by that point, however, the furniture store used the vertical sign of the old theater, although marquee was removed. Very rare photo from the NYC Archives:
http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/detail/NYCMA~9~9~564888~1124940?sort=borough%2Cblock%2Clot%2Czip_code
The Ritz Theater has finally lost it’s early 80’s facade renovation, and been heavily altered on the front, and now has windows on the upper floors which makes it much more attractive. It’s currently for sale for over 3 Million. http://www.masseyknakal.com/listings/detail.aspx?lst=16760
This building is currently for sale.
You could own the old Ritz Theater building if you have about $3.8 million handy. Click link below for a photo of the Ritz as it is today:
View link
Does anyone know when the Ritz closed as a theater?
Here’s a link to a view of the former Ritz Theater on Myrtle Ave at 71st Ave. It is currently a Blockbuster Video Store (Isn’t that Ironic).
Before Blockbuster, it was “Roman Furniture”. The building was completely redone and resufaced in the late 70’s or early 80’s when Roman Furniture moved in. Before Roman Furniture, it was a different furniture store, and it still had the marquee out front. The marquee lasted until at least the mid 70’s, I remember it well, and remember watching them remove it when I was at the A&P store across the street with my mother.
Notice how it is a much smaller building than the Ridgewood or Madison Theater buildings of course, but it is still quite a bit bigger than the neighboring stores (at least one floor higher too). The former theater building towers over the adjoining buildings, and also runs street-to-street.
Here’s the link to the aerial view of the former Ritz Theater. The Ritz is the building with the blue awning in front – Blockbuster Blue:
West on top:
View link
Another angle, with north on top:
View link
Here is a photo of the old Ritz Theater building taken yesterday, now housing the Blockbuster Video. The facade of the building was resurfaced in the early 80’s when it was still “Roman Furniture”. The marquee was also removed at that point.
Click Here for Link to photo
I would believe that at the very least the Airdromes were constructed of wood. You raise an interesting point about the Van Cortlandt Airdrome being closed and not sold. Perhaps it was retained for its land. I will continue to investigate this matter.
Lost, thanks for the great information on this theater.
The Van Cortlandt Airdrome is shown as closed in 1920 but was not sold until 1921 along with the two Evergreen Theatres. It is therefore unlikely that the Ritz Theatre operated at the same time as the Van Cortlandt Airdrome.
Very good lastmemory. Both Evergreen Theatres were sold in 1921 to raise capitol for the building purposes further up Myrtle Avenue. The link between the Airdrome and Ritz Theatre is obvious to me. I would also like to speculate on the fate of the Evergreen Theatre. It could have been a hastily built theatre that could not meet more stringent building codes in the late 1920’s and therefore had to be razed. Hartmann must have seen the writing on the wall. Why else would you sell a 1200+ seat theatre like the Evergreen to build a theatre like the Ritz which had half the seating? Do we even know if the Evergreen Theatre was brick or perhaps a wooden structure which would make it unacceptable in the late 1920’s due to strict fire codes implemented in NYC.
When I collect enough data on the Van Cortlandt Airdrome I will be happy to add it Bway.
Tom, if you want to add it….
I don’t anything else about it other than was mentioned in the Evergreen Theater section.
Since the Van Cortlandt Airdrome was seperate theatre it should be accorded its own listing just like any other theatre.
Yeah, that’s probably enough for the Van Cortlandt Airdrome. It was very short lived, and probably a ramshackle building. The triangled block is quite small, so the airdrome couldn’t have even been all that large. I guess it’s probably enough to mention it under the Evergreen Theater section. I don’t think there’s much else to even say about the theater, which was probably nothing more than an open air theater with bench seats. I still do believe though that the Ritz Theater was probably the “indoor” part of the Van Cortlandt Airdrome, as most of the outdoor “summer” theaters had indoor counterparts, and seeing that “Van Cortlandt Amusements” built the Ritz, it’s probably too much of a cooincidence not to be the case.
I do not see a listing for the Van Cortlandt Airdrome on Cinema Treasures.
So there were still theatres showing only silent films into the 30’s?
In all likeliness, the theater only lasted about 10 years or so.
What with all the competition that popped up after the opening up of the Ritz, like the Glenwood across the street, the Belvedere and Oasis not far away, and the major players, the Madison and the Ridgewood Theatre, the 600 seat Ritz didn’t have a chance, so they probably didn’t think it would be worth it to convert from silent films.
As for the Van Cortlandt Amusement Co/Van Cortlandt Airdrome possible connection, I think it’s quite possible, and probably likely. Many of the open air theaters had “all weather” indoor theaters built next door to their open air theaters. The Evergreen and Grandview Theaters in Ridgewood are examples. The Van Cortlandt Airdrome was only a few hundred feet away, in the triangle block formed by what is now 71 Ave, 60th, and Myrtle Ave (Flowerama now occupies this old airdrome site). Since it was a very small triangled block, I speculate that the Ritz could have been the “indoor” part of Van Cortlandt Airdrome.
I show an opening date of 1922 with no listing for this theatre after 1932.