Erwin, I’m glad you added the Irving theater. I just noticed it.
What led me to the Irving again is an interesting conversation that is going on in the Chopin Theater in Greenpoint’s listing.
Someone brought up the “Mozart Theater” on Myrtle Ave. I am trying to figure out if the Mozart was either the Irving or Rivoli Theaters on Myrtle Ave. The only information I was able to find out about the Mozart is that it was south of the intersection of Myrtle and Wyckoff, and that it was in Bushwick on Myrtle. I am wondering if the Mozart is an entirely different theater.
Cooincidentally, it seems to have a similar history as the Irving theater. I did find out that the “Mozart” also played “German” films, but they were more described as “Nazi” films in some strange website I found it under, in the years before WWII. No mention of the address though. It does sound like a cooincidence that both the Irving and Mozart (if they were seperate theaters) both seemed to play “German” films, although it is also no surprise if it was two seperate theaters as both Bushwick and Ridgewood were heavily German in those years.
I did a little bit of reasearch for the Mozart theater. I was not able to find too much information. cinematour.com just lists it as “Myrtle Ave” in Brooklyn.
The only other information I found out about it is from some strange website that stated that it was “Southwest of the Schwaben Hall” that used to be at the corner of Myrtle and Wyckoff Aves, and it used to show Nazi movies in the years leading up to WWII. If it’s south west of the intersection of Myrtle and Wyckoff, it could also be the “Irving Theater” which was at 1525 Myrtle Ave where the gas station and quickmart are now near the Knickerbocker Ave station.
Could “The Mozart” have been the Rivoli Theater at the Knickerbocker Ave el station?
See link: /theaters/7087/
Was the “Mozart” you are thinking of under the el section of Myrtle Ave, or past Wyckoff where there is no el?
The only other theaters I can think of in RIdgewood were the Glenwood, the Madison, The Ridgewood, The Parthenon (near Myrtle at Wyckoff), the Wagner.
I think there may have been a theater (or open air theater) at Seneca and Myrtle at one time many many years where the C-Town and Banco Popular is now (which used to be the Chase manhattan Bank)
Debra, that is a good book, I own a copy of that.
As for the trees on Madison Street behind the Ridgewood Theater, they were planted about 20-25 years ago, around 1981. All of Ridgewood seemed to get trees over night that year.
Nah, the Brookhaven Multiplex was built on formerly wooded land back in the 80’s. Not near the north shore in Port Jefferson. Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about the “Brookhaven” theater you are talking about.
I guess I could go off topic for a post here too, since I LOVE Corato Pizza too.
The Myrle Ave near Fresh Pond Rd Corato’s is stil there.
The Corato’s on Fresh Pond Road near the M line el has moved across the street into the old Masbach’s Restaurant building.
As far as I know, the one near the Madison Theater is also still there, I thought I saw it the other day when I was there, but the other two for sure are still open.
Actually, I don’t really think it was either, but Warren had mentioned a thread on some Queens history board, and someone there had mentioned the idea.
Actually, originally i had completely discounted the idea, but when I went by the store the other day, I was a bit taken back by the fact that the back of the store had a really high ceiling (at least it looked that way through the windows). It seemed like a bit more than your average “apartments over stores” that I had originally described the building as.
The truth is, it probably just has a fancy marquee from when it was Triangle Furniture, although who knows, maybe it was some really small theater before it became Triangle Furniture, so many years ago.
That’s right, I forgot that the Arion also became a drug store. Where was the Chopin that is now a Burger King? Are there any features left there, or has it been gutted?
Wow, I have to check that theater out!
Apparently coversion to a roller rink was kind to the Meserole. Interstingly, the Oasis theater had a similar fate, although the Meserole seems to have had a better fortune in the end. The Oasis was converted to a concert venue, and then shartly after, a roller rink. I have made many comments on the Oasis on the Oasis page. (also note that a former worker said that all they did was fill in the sloped floor of the auditorium with sand when they converted the Oasis to a roller rink, and part of the seating area still existed under the floor in hidden rooms! See here: /theaters/4624/
Anyway, in the end, the Oasis burned, and is now a drug store, CVS, just like the meserole, however no ornamentation still exists visable. Most of the Oasis was torn down (lobby, etc), however since the main auditorium is what is left, and houses the CVS, it is possible that maybe the ceiling may exist above the drop ceiling there.
I will definitely stop by the Meserole. Finally, a theater that is readily available for viewing as a store, where the theater has been preserved a bit (unlike the Madison Theater in Ridgewood, and the Oasis, both of which are stores, but have no hint of their theater days – although you can see the balcony outline at the Madison is visable).
Mark, did you ever get into the 46th Street theater to get some photos, as you mentioned you may do above? I would love to see them if you did! I only discovered the theater on this past weekend’s BU gate car MOD trip, and of course chose Fort Hamilton Parkway station to get off for the one photo runby I got off the train for because of the theater.
Here’s a link to a photo taken Saturday:
There is no way a company can make money on a one screen theater like that anymore with all the multiplexes around unfortunately.
It’s not just the fascade that is left, the entire main auditorium still exists as the “lobby” of the AMC.
Oh, and to add, I was thinking about it some more, The Ridgewood Theater used to be surrounded by other theaters, I can’t think of one nearby right now, and that is going into Queens or Brooklyn around it!
The Atlas terminal is quite a way away from the Ridgewood though. It’s possible that it would be damaged by it, but then again, The Ridgewood is the only theater for the Brooklyn area around there too. The Ridgewood’s location could save it further.
I believe the Village of Patchogue owns the theater, as they are the ones who spent all the money to refurbish it. I think they have a company though that runs the theater though. The Gateway Playhouse from Bellport used to run it when it first reopened, bu they no longer do.
I am almost certain though that the Village owns it though.
Today I had a chance to see the main level of the Ridgewood theater for the first time in 20 years!! (The last few movies I had seem there, also over 15 years ago, always seemed to be in one of the balcony theaters).
Anyway, I didn’t see a movie there, but got a great peak inside. I was in Ridgewood today, and had some time to kill, so decided to take a walk over to the Madison Theater to check out what can still be seen now that it’s the Liberty Dept store (see the Madison’s section for those comments). On my way back, I decided to take Madison Street around the back of the Ridgewood theater. Workers were repairing one of the emergency exit doors, and the doors were wide open to the left (if facing front) orchestra theaters.
I peaked in, and so many memories came rushing back. I immediately envisioned in my head sitting in the theater when it was still one theater, and looking at that exact same exit door from the indside.
A column still stands adjacent to the door (one of two columns that were on either side of the original large theater’s stage when it was one theater).
The theater looked to be in pretty decent shape inside. It appeared clean, and well cared for. Of course it was pretty dark inside, and I couldn’t stay too long as the workers were on their way back to finish repairing the doors. But it was sure nice to see the inside again.
I’m sorry, my sense of direction must’ve been mixed up when I typed the above information; the Brookhaven Multiplex is/was on the South Service Road, not the North Service Rd.
For those interested in further comments on the Madison Theater, I visited the building today. See the Madison Theater for my comment on it (I guess that’s more appropriate than continuing here under the Rivoli about it). /theaters/4621/
I was able to find a little bit more out about the Madison today (Warren and I were talking about it under the Rivoli theater the other day).
Anyway, I was in Ridgewood today, and was able to find some time for a walk on Myrtle Ave. I finally went into the Liberty Dept Store. I haven’t been in the building since it was Odd Lot, and that must have been the late 80’s. Well, the Liberty Dept Store is huge. It takes up the entire Madison’s lobby area, the entire area under the balcony and more than ½ of the main auditorium of the Madison, probably ¾ of it. It is exactly how I remember it from the Odd-Lot days. The old balcony stairway is still there, altough has modern stairs and railing (no sign of the Madison marble or railing). The stairway was wide open with a chain across it (man was I tempted to go up there!!!). You can clearly see the curve of the huge balcony right through the middle of the store. There is a drop ceiling under the balcony area, and in the old lobby area. You can no longer tell where the lobby ended, and the area under the balcony in the theater began. Past the balcony, the wall of the balcony (which is sheetrocked) goes up about 3 or 4 feet, and then another higher drop ceiling is the “fake ceiling” for the area of the store in the main auditorium.
They built an office or managers room in the left hand part of the theater, and that goes towards the old stage area. The door was open,and the room is sheetrocked. Then on the right hand side of the theater a huge storage room is located. That door was also open, and had a drop ceiling also, and sheetrocked walls. There is a door that goes outside from there too, presumably one of the former emergency exit doors.
The entire store is sheetrocked, and the store takes up the bulk of the former theater. If there is any part of the theater not in public view, it would be the huge stage area, and possibly a little more around the bend in the storage room that I could not see.
Aside from the totally modernized stairway (hard to imagine that it was once the Madison’s ornate marble stairway), and the curvatire of the balcony, there is NOTHING visable of the old theater. All the walls in the store itself, the office, and the storage room were completely sheetrocked with drop ceilings. The store does take up most of orchestra level of the theater, as well as the entire lobby. If anything at all still exists of the Madison, it can only be the top of the walls, the top of the procenium arch, and the ceiling, and possibly the balcony area (was it one or two balconies), that’s it. At least the mystery of whether Liberty Dept Store occupies the main auditorium or not is solved….now one of us has to get the management of the store to let us go up theat stairway!!!
I remember walking by on the sidestreet in the early 80’s, and the side doors to the “Tabernacle of Prayer” being open. I couldn’t believe the ornateness of the the theater. Unfortuntaely, I had never seen a movie there.
Yes, the Drake was used in Howard Stern’s movie “Private Parts”. In addition, the Drake is currently used as the catering hall portion of Joe Abbracamento’s Restaurant. The lobby seems to have been redone sort of fancy in “catering hall” style.
The one and only time I was there was when I saw “Annie” there in the early or mid 80’s. I only vaguely remember the interior, but don’t remember it being anything “that” special.
I have not been in the Madison in many years, but here’s what I remember. When it was Consumers, only the lobby area and part of the area under the balcony was used. Consumers was a “Service Merchandise” type of place, where you would write down what you want on a form, and they then bring it to you from the back. I assume the main part of the theater was used for the storage of the merchandise.
When it became Odd-Lot, you were able to access a much larger part of the building. If I remember correctly, if you looked up at the ceiling, you could see the curve of the balcony on the low ceiling part of the store. Then there was a higher drop ceiling too, presumably in the main auditorium area. It is doubtful that the Odd-Lot store took up the entire auditorium, although certainly did seem to occupy at least part of it. I remember very clearly the “low ceiling” and the slightly “higher ceiling”.
It is highly likely that much of the ceiling and at least the higher portions of the walls of the Madison Theater, as well as the balcony areas still exist. However, they are probably in shambles if they do still exist, what with the passage of time, neglect, conversion to either retail space or storage space, and also the fire that occured in the late 70’s.
I have never been in the Liberty Dept Store (which is now in the Madison), so don’t know if that store takes up more or less space than Odd-Lot did (the last time I was in there was for Odd-Lot).
Thanks Peter for the information. I guess the exterior was much more ornate than it is now too.
Heh, now there are three theaters that I would “almost” be tempted to go to church services just to see the interior, the Loews Gates, the Valencia, and now the Rivoli. I guess I would stick out at a Spanish church though – “Iglesia Pentecostal”, seeing that I don’t speak Spanish – I can say, “No Hablo Esponial”, and a few other phrases, but about that’s it….
Erwin, I’m glad you added the Irving theater. I just noticed it.
What led me to the Irving again is an interesting conversation that is going on in the Chopin Theater in Greenpoint’s listing.
Someone brought up the “Mozart Theater” on Myrtle Ave. I am trying to figure out if the Mozart was either the Irving or Rivoli Theaters on Myrtle Ave. The only information I was able to find out about the Mozart is that it was south of the intersection of Myrtle and Wyckoff, and that it was in Bushwick on Myrtle. I am wondering if the Mozart is an entirely different theater.
Cooincidentally, it seems to have a similar history as the Irving theater. I did find out that the “Mozart” also played “German” films, but they were more described as “Nazi” films in some strange website I found it under, in the years before WWII. No mention of the address though. It does sound like a cooincidence that both the Irving and Mozart (if they were seperate theaters) both seemed to play “German” films, although it is also no surprise if it was two seperate theaters as both Bushwick and Ridgewood were heavily German in those years.
I did a little bit of reasearch for the Mozart theater. I was not able to find too much information. cinematour.com just lists it as “Myrtle Ave” in Brooklyn.
The only other information I found out about it is from some strange website that stated that it was “Southwest of the Schwaben Hall” that used to be at the corner of Myrtle and Wyckoff Aves, and it used to show Nazi movies in the years leading up to WWII. If it’s south west of the intersection of Myrtle and Wyckoff, it could also be the “Irving Theater” which was at 1525 Myrtle Ave where the gas station and quickmart are now near the Knickerbocker Ave station.
Could “The Mozart” have been the Rivoli Theater at the Knickerbocker Ave el station?
See link:
/theaters/7087/
Was the “Mozart” you are thinking of under the el section of Myrtle Ave, or past Wyckoff where there is no el?
The only other theaters I can think of in RIdgewood were the Glenwood, the Madison, The Ridgewood, The Parthenon (near Myrtle at Wyckoff), the Wagner.
I think there may have been a theater (or open air theater) at Seneca and Myrtle at one time many many years where the C-Town and Banco Popular is now (which used to be the Chase manhattan Bank)
Debra, that is a good book, I own a copy of that.
As for the trees on Madison Street behind the Ridgewood Theater, they were planted about 20-25 years ago, around 1981. All of Ridgewood seemed to get trees over night that year.
Nah, the Brookhaven Multiplex was built on formerly wooded land back in the 80’s. Not near the north shore in Port Jefferson. Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about the “Brookhaven” theater you are talking about.
I guess I could go off topic for a post here too, since I LOVE Corato Pizza too.
The Myrle Ave near Fresh Pond Rd Corato’s is stil there.
The Corato’s on Fresh Pond Road near the M line el has moved across the street into the old Masbach’s Restaurant building.
As far as I know, the one near the Madison Theater is also still there, I thought I saw it the other day when I was there, but the other two for sure are still open.
Actually, I don’t really think it was either, but Warren had mentioned a thread on some Queens history board, and someone there had mentioned the idea.
Actually, originally i had completely discounted the idea, but when I went by the store the other day, I was a bit taken back by the fact that the back of the store had a really high ceiling (at least it looked that way through the windows). It seemed like a bit more than your average “apartments over stores” that I had originally described the building as.
The truth is, it probably just has a fancy marquee from when it was Triangle Furniture, although who knows, maybe it was some really small theater before it became Triangle Furniture, so many years ago.
That’s right, I forgot that the Arion also became a drug store. Where was the Chopin that is now a Burger King? Are there any features left there, or has it been gutted?
Wow, I have to check that theater out!
Apparently coversion to a roller rink was kind to the Meserole. Interstingly, the Oasis theater had a similar fate, although the Meserole seems to have had a better fortune in the end. The Oasis was converted to a concert venue, and then shartly after, a roller rink. I have made many comments on the Oasis on the Oasis page. (also note that a former worker said that all they did was fill in the sloped floor of the auditorium with sand when they converted the Oasis to a roller rink, and part of the seating area still existed under the floor in hidden rooms! See here:
/theaters/4624/
Anyway, in the end, the Oasis burned, and is now a drug store, CVS, just like the meserole, however no ornamentation still exists visable. Most of the Oasis was torn down (lobby, etc), however since the main auditorium is what is left, and houses the CVS, it is possible that maybe the ceiling may exist above the drop ceiling there.
I will definitely stop by the Meserole. Finally, a theater that is readily available for viewing as a store, where the theater has been preserved a bit (unlike the Madison Theater in Ridgewood, and the Oasis, both of which are stores, but have no hint of their theater days – although you can see the balcony outline at the Madison is visable).
Mark, did you ever get into the 46th Street theater to get some photos, as you mentioned you may do above? I would love to see them if you did! I only discovered the theater on this past weekend’s BU gate car MOD trip, and of course chose Fort Hamilton Parkway station to get off for the one photo runby I got off the train for because of the theater.
Here’s a link to a photo taken Saturday:
View link
View link
There is no way a company can make money on a one screen theater like that anymore with all the multiplexes around unfortunately.
It’s not just the fascade that is left, the entire main auditorium still exists as the “lobby” of the AMC.
It sounds exactly like the Holtsville NA theater. They also have those ushers that bring you to your seat in the 4 director halls.
Oh, and to add, I was thinking about it some more, The Ridgewood Theater used to be surrounded by other theaters, I can’t think of one nearby right now, and that is going into Queens or Brooklyn around it!
The Atlas terminal is quite a way away from the Ridgewood though. It’s possible that it would be damaged by it, but then again, The Ridgewood is the only theater for the Brooklyn area around there too. The Ridgewood’s location could save it further.
I believe the Village of Patchogue owns the theater, as they are the ones who spent all the money to refurbish it. I think they have a company though that runs the theater though. The Gateway Playhouse from Bellport used to run it when it first reopened, bu they no longer do.
I am almost certain though that the Village owns it though.
Today I had a chance to see the main level of the Ridgewood theater for the first time in 20 years!! (The last few movies I had seem there, also over 15 years ago, always seemed to be in one of the balcony theaters).
Anyway, I didn’t see a movie there, but got a great peak inside. I was in Ridgewood today, and had some time to kill, so decided to take a walk over to the Madison Theater to check out what can still be seen now that it’s the Liberty Dept store (see the Madison’s section for those comments). On my way back, I decided to take Madison Street around the back of the Ridgewood theater. Workers were repairing one of the emergency exit doors, and the doors were wide open to the left (if facing front) orchestra theaters.
I peaked in, and so many memories came rushing back. I immediately envisioned in my head sitting in the theater when it was still one theater, and looking at that exact same exit door from the indside.
A column still stands adjacent to the door (one of two columns that were on either side of the original large theater’s stage when it was one theater).
The theater looked to be in pretty decent shape inside. It appeared clean, and well cared for. Of course it was pretty dark inside, and I couldn’t stay too long as the workers were on their way back to finish repairing the doors. But it was sure nice to see the inside again.
I’m sorry, my sense of direction must’ve been mixed up when I typed the above information; the Brookhaven Multiplex is/was on the South Service Road, not the North Service Rd.
For those interested in further comments on the Madison Theater, I visited the building today. See the Madison Theater for my comment on it (I guess that’s more appropriate than continuing here under the Rivoli about it).
/theaters/4621/
I was able to find a little bit more out about the Madison today (Warren and I were talking about it under the Rivoli theater the other day).
Anyway, I was in Ridgewood today, and was able to find some time for a walk on Myrtle Ave. I finally went into the Liberty Dept Store. I haven’t been in the building since it was Odd Lot, and that must have been the late 80’s. Well, the Liberty Dept Store is huge. It takes up the entire Madison’s lobby area, the entire area under the balcony and more than ½ of the main auditorium of the Madison, probably ¾ of it. It is exactly how I remember it from the Odd-Lot days. The old balcony stairway is still there, altough has modern stairs and railing (no sign of the Madison marble or railing). The stairway was wide open with a chain across it (man was I tempted to go up there!!!). You can clearly see the curve of the huge balcony right through the middle of the store. There is a drop ceiling under the balcony area, and in the old lobby area. You can no longer tell where the lobby ended, and the area under the balcony in the theater began. Past the balcony, the wall of the balcony (which is sheetrocked) goes up about 3 or 4 feet, and then another higher drop ceiling is the “fake ceiling” for the area of the store in the main auditorium.
They built an office or managers room in the left hand part of the theater, and that goes towards the old stage area. The door was open,and the room is sheetrocked. Then on the right hand side of the theater a huge storage room is located. That door was also open, and had a drop ceiling also, and sheetrocked walls. There is a door that goes outside from there too, presumably one of the former emergency exit doors.
The entire store is sheetrocked, and the store takes up the bulk of the former theater. If there is any part of the theater not in public view, it would be the huge stage area, and possibly a little more around the bend in the storage room that I could not see.
Aside from the totally modernized stairway (hard to imagine that it was once the Madison’s ornate marble stairway), and the curvatire of the balcony, there is NOTHING visable of the old theater. All the walls in the store itself, the office, and the storage room were completely sheetrocked with drop ceilings. The store does take up most of orchestra level of the theater, as well as the entire lobby. If anything at all still exists of the Madison, it can only be the top of the walls, the top of the procenium arch, and the ceiling, and possibly the balcony area (was it one or two balconies), that’s it. At least the mystery of whether Liberty Dept Store occupies the main auditorium or not is solved….now one of us has to get the management of the store to let us go up theat stairway!!!
I remember walking by on the sidestreet in the early 80’s, and the side doors to the “Tabernacle of Prayer” being open. I couldn’t believe the ornateness of the the theater. Unfortuntaely, I had never seen a movie there.
Yes, the Drake was used in Howard Stern’s movie “Private Parts”. In addition, the Drake is currently used as the catering hall portion of Joe Abbracamento’s Restaurant. The lobby seems to have been redone sort of fancy in “catering hall” style.
The one and only time I was there was when I saw “Annie” there in the early or mid 80’s. I only vaguely remember the interior, but don’t remember it being anything “that” special.
I have not been in the Madison in many years, but here’s what I remember. When it was Consumers, only the lobby area and part of the area under the balcony was used. Consumers was a “Service Merchandise” type of place, where you would write down what you want on a form, and they then bring it to you from the back. I assume the main part of the theater was used for the storage of the merchandise.
When it became Odd-Lot, you were able to access a much larger part of the building. If I remember correctly, if you looked up at the ceiling, you could see the curve of the balcony on the low ceiling part of the store. Then there was a higher drop ceiling too, presumably in the main auditorium area. It is doubtful that the Odd-Lot store took up the entire auditorium, although certainly did seem to occupy at least part of it. I remember very clearly the “low ceiling” and the slightly “higher ceiling”.
It is highly likely that much of the ceiling and at least the higher portions of the walls of the Madison Theater, as well as the balcony areas still exist. However, they are probably in shambles if they do still exist, what with the passage of time, neglect, conversion to either retail space or storage space, and also the fire that occured in the late 70’s.
I have never been in the Liberty Dept Store (which is now in the Madison), so don’t know if that store takes up more or less space than Odd-Lot did (the last time I was in there was for Odd-Lot).
Warren, do you know what the building is used for now?
Is the interior intact?
Thanks Peter for the information. I guess the exterior was much more ornate than it is now too.
Heh, now there are three theaters that I would “almost” be tempted to go to church services just to see the interior, the Loews Gates, the Valencia, and now the Rivoli. I guess I would stick out at a Spanish church though – “Iglesia Pentecostal”, seeing that I don’t speak Spanish – I can say, “No Hablo Esponial”, and a few other phrases, but about that’s it….
I meant “All the escalators are in the originalauditorium”.They zig-zap through the old auditorium.