Lostmemory, yes, it is very plausible that the outdoor and indoor theaters operated at the same time, for the exact reason you stated…no air conditioning!
The COlonial theater on Broadway in Bed-Stuy also operated an outdoor theater at the same time as the indoor theater.
Sounds very possible. Just to add one thing though. The Bohack was the size that the CTown is now, at least since the 70’s anyway. I am pretty sure that the current CTown building is one structure. It may have been two stores at one time, but I’m positive that the building was built in once section. The bank building is a really small structure.
I’m thinking that the “indoor” theater probably was on the site of the current CTown building, but that would still leave a really small space (the bank building) for the open air theater. However, I do believe there is a small parking lot on the property yet too, so maybe that was part of the outdoor theater.
I really don’t think the property where the Matthew Flat homes was ever part of the Evergreen Theaters property, as they do probably date to around 1914-1918.
That makes a lot of sense. I always assumed that’s what the article meant. It was probably supposed to read, “…it was expaned ‘to’ 1500 seats”, not ‘by’ 1500 seats". The theater would have been “huge” if the theater was 1200 seats, and then expanded “by” 1500 seats. That would have made the Evergreen have “2700” seats! The RKO Madison “only” had just under 2800 seats, and that therater was a huge monster.
It’s roofline is visable in quite a few photos taken from the Wyckoff Ave M Line El station. Here’s a few from nycsubway.org:
It’s seen to the left of the M train in this one, “Ridgewood Bingo” on the sign. You can’t even tell it was a theater if you look at it from street level.
[url]http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1409[/url]
It’s also partially visable on the left in this old image from the 60’s.
[url]http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2123[/url]
Okay, I feel like a fool now. Obviously, this is the Casino near the Kosciuszko St station.
Now I am still confused. What was the name of the Casino in Downtown Brooklyn that I can’t find it? Was that “Inmann’s Casino”.
Also, I believe the proper name for this theater is the “New Casino” rather than Casino. Warren should be able to help us whether it should be “New Casino” or “Casino”, or even “DeKalb” as he suggested. It’s a tough call as I believe when it closed it’s doors it was simply “Casino”. It’s hard to find some theaters here when you look for them under their former names.
I am having trouble finding the “New Casino” theater on this site, the one that was located at the Kosciuszko St El station on the Broadway El. I was almost certain there was an entry made for it months ago when we discussed this here. Was it known as a different name? What was it’s address?
Well since the “Ridgewood Folly” is a real theater, and really one of the first that showed films, maybe the address can be changed to just “Ridgewood, Queens”, as I have seen with other theaters here occasionally. The address can be filled in when someone that knows about that fact sees the listing for it, or one of us discover the proper address.
Warren, there is a Ridgewood Historical Society.
As for the Ridgewood Folley, I have no idea if the location given is accurate. In an above post, I did show the location of where that address would exist. If the Ridgewood Folley’s address is correct, it would be right where I mentioned above, and had to be torn down very early in the century, as the buildings that are on that location now are your “typical” Ridgewood commercial buildings on Myrtle Ave (apartments over stores), and definitely date to Ridgewood’s “building era” in the 1910’s to early 1920’s.
Well, I am hoping this is true, but if it is, the Ridgewod Folly would have been at the corner of Centre Street and Myrtle Ave, accross from where Woolworth’s used to be. I can’t think what is there now, but I do know that a standard storefront building with apartments above is there now. I believe “Pants Pantry” at that corner was in that building at one time, but don’t know it that is still the store that is in that store.
Well, another member of the “research team” is back from vacation. I must do much “catch-up” before I can continue the research…. I see a lot has been done since I have last viewed the site. I have to look in the “new theaters” section when I get some more time!
My goodness, you guys are making me want to go back in time and really visit Broadway! The hamburgers sound so good.
Anyway, a little of trivia speaking of the RKO Bushwick and Mae West. Mae West is buried in the mausoleum in Cypress Hills Cemetery – Just down the J train from the RKO Bushwick….
Here’s a link below to a photo of the theater that I posted in the Rivoli Section: /theaters/7087/
The address is 1374 Myrtle Ave. The theater was at the Knickerbocker Ave el station, but not Knickerbocker Ave. It was near the south exit of the Knickerbokcer Ave el station as seen in the photo below. I guess that exit was for Himrod or Harmon St. Click here for photo: http://images.nycsubway.org//i32000/img_32005.jpg
The station seen is Knickerbocker Ave, and the Rivoli Theater is to the right.
There is some confusion about a theater called “The Knickerbocker”. Does anyone know if the Rivoli was at some time called the “Knickerbocker” in addition to being known as “The Myrtle”?
No, I have seen the building. It is at the abandoned exit side of the Knickerbocker station, which is Wilson. There is a photo of part of the building in the photo in the link I provided in the Rivoli section of this site: /theaters/7087/
The Rivoli was a church when I drove past a few weeks ago. The builing is hard to tell that it was a theater left remaining. The building has been painted pink.
I tried sugesting this earlier, but could the Knickerbocker Theater be the Rivoli Theater? Click link to find out more about it on this site. The Rivoli Theater building is now a church, and is ight at the Knickerbocker-Myrtle El station.
The site of the gas station is the site of the Mozart-Irving theater. We discovered that during a discussion in the (where else) Ridgewood Theater section. Erwin thankfully took the information we gathered there, and used it for his nice description above.
Yes, I remember us talking about the Mozart/Irving. I can’t bear to go through the Ridgewood Theater section to find it though. Warren is correct, you will find all about the Mozart if you go to the Irving theater section. I don’t know if it was also called the “Knickerbocker” at some point too.
I wish there was a section on this site where we could discuss these “mysteries” and general discussion without ruining a theater section. (Not that I didn’t find the Ridgewood section is “ruined”, I enjoyed everything in it, but at this point, it is impossible for newcomers to really even discuss the Ridgewood Theater there anymore). Oh well. It was worth it, we have gotten so much information about all these other Bishwick and Ridgewood theaters now.
Rose, those are great stories. Please tell us about your trip today if you get over there!
It’s amazing what a robust area Broadway was in the past. I am so thankful it is finally improving again after so many years of neglect…it’s literally rising from the ashes.
I wonder if you know anything about “Bargain Town” between Kosciuszko and Myrtle stations. That building was painted in candy stripes, but was abandoned and boarded in the 80’s. I used to look in the gaping holes of the former windows while driving past on J trains. The building now is quote attractive with arched windows on the top floor, and I believe is loft apartments now. There are even half doric columns on the corners of the building. I bring this up because Peter and I had at first mistaken this building for the “New Casino” theater before discovering where it is (also a school now).
Thanks so much Rose for adding your memories and input.
The RKO Bushwick had interested me ever since I first noticed it from the J train one day in the early 80’s, when it was an abandoned wreck. I really wish I had seen the interior of it before it was gutted. I have only one photo of the interior of it from the 1920’s, and it was a beautiful place indeed. I have never been able to see interior photos of it from the 80’s or 90’s when it was in ruin, although did get a glimpse of it in “The Believers” that was filmed both inside and outside the RKO Bushwick (see the Bushwick section for more on that movie).
It’s amazing that the curtain of the Empire survived to it'c conversion to a church. Few even survive the conversion to movie theater! The RKO Keiths Richmond Hill’s painted curtain also survived it’s conversion to “bingo hall”. It was still there last time I was in there in the late 80’s, but don’t know if it’s still there today.
No one has actually narrowed the Monroe’s location down. Some say it is demolished and others, like Apollo say it’s still there. I will have to go see one day.
It certainly is. Thanks for the history lesson. Brooklyn really fascinates me, and I am always hearing information on the history. I will have to drive by the Empire when I get a chance one day. It is amazing how many of these theaters survive as churches. Riding through the neighborhood shows many “real” church buildings, but apparently there are so many churches added to the neighborhood too, both with storefront churches, and all these theaters that are churches now.
One church that always interested me, not too far from the Loew’s Gates is a large abandoned church that can be seen from the el platform at Myrtle-Bway. It looks like it was a Catholic church but is all boarded up now.
When they subdivided up many of the farms in Ridgewood, many times the farms were divided into 20 or 25 foot lots. The address numbers correspond to whatever the lots were divided into (they could have been as small as 10 or 20 foot lots sometimes). Some buildings took up two lots. Of course the theater would have taken up a few lots, hense a few numbers.
Also, many times they went up 100 each cross street. I don’t know if that was true in the Brooklyn numbering system (which Seneca never lost), but it is true in the Queens system to an extent.
I guess it’s not really necessary to have an entry for the Van Cortlandt. Since there was nothing more than an “open air” theater, there’s not to much else to say, other than what was mentioned here. I guess if more information is determined, we can always add a entry.
I have only been in the theater once, and it was to see the 101 Dalmatians – the one with actors, not the animated version.
It was a beautiful place indeed, although I preferred the Chinese Theater across the street.
Lostmemory, yes, it is very plausible that the outdoor and indoor theaters operated at the same time, for the exact reason you stated…no air conditioning!
The COlonial theater on Broadway in Bed-Stuy also operated an outdoor theater at the same time as the indoor theater.
Sounds very possible. Just to add one thing though. The Bohack was the size that the CTown is now, at least since the 70’s anyway. I am pretty sure that the current CTown building is one structure. It may have been two stores at one time, but I’m positive that the building was built in once section. The bank building is a really small structure.
I’m thinking that the “indoor” theater probably was on the site of the current CTown building, but that would still leave a really small space (the bank building) for the open air theater. However, I do believe there is a small parking lot on the property yet too, so maybe that was part of the outdoor theater.
I really don’t think the property where the Matthew Flat homes was ever part of the Evergreen Theaters property, as they do probably date to around 1914-1918.
That makes a lot of sense. I always assumed that’s what the article meant. It was probably supposed to read, “…it was expaned ‘to’ 1500 seats”, not ‘by’ 1500 seats". The theater would have been “huge” if the theater was 1200 seats, and then expanded “by” 1500 seats. That would have made the Evergreen have “2700” seats! The RKO Madison “only” had just under 2800 seats, and that therater was a huge monster.
It’s roofline is visable in quite a few photos taken from the Wyckoff Ave M Line El station. Here’s a few from nycsubway.org:
It’s seen to the left of the M train in this one, “Ridgewood Bingo” on the sign. You can’t even tell it was a theater if you look at it from street level.
[url]http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1409[/url]
It’s also partially visable on the left in this old image from the 60’s.
[url]http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2123[/url]
Okay, I feel like a fool now. Obviously, this is the Casino near the Kosciuszko St station.
Now I am still confused. What was the name of the Casino in Downtown Brooklyn that I can’t find it? Was that “Inmann’s Casino”.
Also, I believe the proper name for this theater is the “New Casino” rather than Casino. Warren should be able to help us whether it should be “New Casino” or “Casino”, or even “DeKalb” as he suggested. It’s a tough call as I believe when it closed it’s doors it was simply “Casino”. It’s hard to find some theaters here when you look for them under their former names.
I am having trouble finding the “New Casino” theater on this site, the one that was located at the Kosciuszko St El station on the Broadway El. I was almost certain there was an entry made for it months ago when we discussed this here. Was it known as a different name? What was it’s address?
Well since the “Ridgewood Folly” is a real theater, and really one of the first that showed films, maybe the address can be changed to just “Ridgewood, Queens”, as I have seen with other theaters here occasionally. The address can be filled in when someone that knows about that fact sees the listing for it, or one of us discover the proper address.
Warren, there is a Ridgewood Historical Society.
As for the Ridgewood Folley, I have no idea if the location given is accurate. In an above post, I did show the location of where that address would exist. If the Ridgewood Folley’s address is correct, it would be right where I mentioned above, and had to be torn down very early in the century, as the buildings that are on that location now are your “typical” Ridgewood commercial buildings on Myrtle Ave (apartments over stores), and definitely date to Ridgewood’s “building era” in the 1910’s to early 1920’s.
It has been a very fun and cooperative group until this point. I don’t know what his problem is. Anyway, 99% of this group is a pleasure to talk with.
Well, I am hoping this is true, but if it is, the Ridgewod Folly would have been at the corner of Centre Street and Myrtle Ave, accross from where Woolworth’s used to be. I can’t think what is there now, but I do know that a standard storefront building with apartments above is there now. I believe “Pants Pantry” at that corner was in that building at one time, but don’t know it that is still the store that is in that store.
Well, another member of the “research team” is back from vacation. I must do much “catch-up” before I can continue the research…. I see a lot has been done since I have last viewed the site. I have to look in the “new theaters” section when I get some more time!
My goodness, you guys are making me want to go back in time and really visit Broadway! The hamburgers sound so good.
Anyway, a little of trivia speaking of the RKO Bushwick and Mae West. Mae West is buried in the mausoleum in Cypress Hills Cemetery – Just down the J train from the RKO Bushwick….
Here’s a link below to a photo of the theater that I posted in the Rivoli Section:
/theaters/7087/
The address is 1374 Myrtle Ave. The theater was at the Knickerbocker Ave el station, but not Knickerbocker Ave. It was near the south exit of the Knickerbokcer Ave el station as seen in the photo below. I guess that exit was for Himrod or Harmon St. Click here for photo:
http://images.nycsubway.org//i32000/img_32005.jpg
The station seen is Knickerbocker Ave, and the Rivoli Theater is to the right.
There is some confusion about a theater called “The Knickerbocker”. Does anyone know if the Rivoli was at some time called the “Knickerbocker” in addition to being known as “The Myrtle”?
No, I have seen the building. It is at the abandoned exit side of the Knickerbocker station, which is Wilson. There is a photo of part of the building in the photo in the link I provided in the Rivoli section of this site:
/theaters/7087/
The Rivoli was a church when I drove past a few weeks ago. The builing is hard to tell that it was a theater left remaining. The building has been painted pink.
I tried sugesting this earlier, but could the Knickerbocker Theater be the Rivoli Theater? Click link to find out more about it on this site. The Rivoli Theater building is now a church, and is ight at the Knickerbocker-Myrtle El station.
The site of the gas station is the site of the Mozart-Irving theater. We discovered that during a discussion in the (where else) Ridgewood Theater section. Erwin thankfully took the information we gathered there, and used it for his nice description above.
Yes, I remember us talking about the Mozart/Irving. I can’t bear to go through the Ridgewood Theater section to find it though. Warren is correct, you will find all about the Mozart if you go to the Irving theater section. I don’t know if it was also called the “Knickerbocker” at some point too.
I wish there was a section on this site where we could discuss these “mysteries” and general discussion without ruining a theater section. (Not that I didn’t find the Ridgewood section is “ruined”, I enjoyed everything in it, but at this point, it is impossible for newcomers to really even discuss the Ridgewood Theater there anymore). Oh well. It was worth it, we have gotten so much information about all these other Bishwick and Ridgewood theaters now.
Rose, those are great stories. Please tell us about your trip today if you get over there!
It’s amazing what a robust area Broadway was in the past. I am so thankful it is finally improving again after so many years of neglect…it’s literally rising from the ashes.
I wonder if you know anything about “Bargain Town” between Kosciuszko and Myrtle stations. That building was painted in candy stripes, but was abandoned and boarded in the 80’s. I used to look in the gaping holes of the former windows while driving past on J trains. The building now is quote attractive with arched windows on the top floor, and I believe is loft apartments now. There are even half doric columns on the corners of the building. I bring this up because Peter and I had at first mistaken this building for the “New Casino” theater before discovering where it is (also a school now).
Thanks so much Rose for adding your memories and input.
The RKO Bushwick had interested me ever since I first noticed it from the J train one day in the early 80’s, when it was an abandoned wreck. I really wish I had seen the interior of it before it was gutted. I have only one photo of the interior of it from the 1920’s, and it was a beautiful place indeed. I have never been able to see interior photos of it from the 80’s or 90’s when it was in ruin, although did get a glimpse of it in “The Believers” that was filmed both inside and outside the RKO Bushwick (see the Bushwick section for more on that movie).
It’s amazing that the curtain of the Empire survived to it'c conversion to a church. Few even survive the conversion to movie theater! The RKO Keiths Richmond Hill’s painted curtain also survived it’s conversion to “bingo hall”. It was still there last time I was in there in the late 80’s, but don’t know if it’s still there today.
No one has actually narrowed the Monroe’s location down. Some say it is demolished and others, like Apollo say it’s still there. I will have to go see one day.
It certainly is. Thanks for the history lesson. Brooklyn really fascinates me, and I am always hearing information on the history. I will have to drive by the Empire when I get a chance one day. It is amazing how many of these theaters survive as churches. Riding through the neighborhood shows many “real” church buildings, but apparently there are so many churches added to the neighborhood too, both with storefront churches, and all these theaters that are churches now.
One church that always interested me, not too far from the Loew’s Gates is a large abandoned church that can be seen from the el platform at Myrtle-Bway. It looks like it was a Catholic church but is all boarded up now.
Thanks Apollo, I would love to hear about the building Rose described, and if it was a theater.
When they subdivided up many of the farms in Ridgewood, many times the farms were divided into 20 or 25 foot lots. The address numbers correspond to whatever the lots were divided into (they could have been as small as 10 or 20 foot lots sometimes). Some buildings took up two lots. Of course the theater would have taken up a few lots, hense a few numbers.
Also, many times they went up 100 each cross street. I don’t know if that was true in the Brooklyn numbering system (which Seneca never lost), but it is true in the Queens system to an extent.
I guess it’s not really necessary to have an entry for the Van Cortlandt. Since there was nothing more than an “open air” theater, there’s not to much else to say, other than what was mentioned here. I guess if more information is determined, we can always add a entry.
Did this theater have an Egyptian flair to it? I’m just gathering that from the name of the theater.
I have only been in the theater once, and it was to see the 101 Dalmatians – the one with actors, not the animated version.
It was a beautiful place indeed, although I preferred the Chinese Theater across the street.