Garden Theater
113-12 Jamaica Avenue,
Richmond Hill,
NY
11421
113-12 Jamaica Avenue,
Richmond Hill,
NY
11421
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 26 - 50 of 53 comments found
HI PHILMEN I LIVED AT 86-16 112 ST FROM 1943 1955 AND ALSO OWNED PROPERTY ON 125 ST AND ATLANTIC AVE . YES THE NEW GARDEN WAS ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF JAMAICA AVE NEXT TO THE GARDEN SWEET SHOP AND ON THE EAST UNEDA HOME APPLIANCES AND JUST ACCROSS FROM WOOLWORTHS . I WENT TO HOLY CHILD SCHOOL ON 111ST IF YOU LIVED NORTH OF JAMAICA AVE BUT SOURTH OF THE MARX HOME YOU LIVED NEAR THE CHRISTERN SCIENCE CHURCH DO YOU REMEMBER STEATS FISH STORE ON 113 ST AND JAMAICA AVE WELL THE OLD GARDEN WAS JUST ACCROSS JAMAICA AVE FROM IT(NORTH SIDE) DID YOU GO TO THE RKO ON 118 ST OR THE ROOSEVELT AND HAVEN IN WOODHAVEN I LOVED THE OLD NEIGHTBORHOOD IT WAS WONDERFUL
The numbers after the hyphen are the deciding factor. The numbers before the hyphen indicate the nearest cross street, though not always precisely since there are sometimes named streets instead of numbered streets along the way. The United States Postal Service has been trying to eliminate the hyphen in Queens addresses, but the last two numbers are always the building’s number, with even numbers on one side of the street, and odd on the other.
Yes indeed,Warren,Jamaica Ave runs east-west. 111th St runs north-south and has odd numbered addresses on the east side of the street. Mine was 8729. I did not know or had forgotten that Jamaica Ave had even numbered addresses on its south side. Does this imply that the Garden was on the north side? Is 113-12 an odd or an even number? The hyphenated structure is a bit unusual. Usually an address like 11312 implies the 12th postal unit from 113th st, road or whatever. There is usually some logic to these address numbers the trick being knowing what that logic is.
I’m not familiar with Phil M. Daly or his trade paper but must compliment him on his (or his parents) choice of names.
Thanks for the input.
philmem
Jamaica Avenue runs in an east-west direction and has even numbered addresses on the south side of the street…“Philmem,” your moniker reminded me of “Phil M. Daly,” who used that name as author of a gossip column for guess which trade paper?
I lived on the east side of 111th St just south of Jamaica Ave and north of the Marx brothers' aunt’s house from 1932 to 1940 and saw many a movie at the Garden theater. However I remember it on the south side of Jamaica ave. We walked to it without crossing the avenue. Could I be mistaken?
philmem
Thanks, Paul Gifford, gardenguy, for posting your memories of the Garden Theater and of your old neighborhood. I find them to be very interesting, including 101st Avenue once being Jerome Avenue. Please continue.
hi my name is paul gifford and the garden theater that is listed is the new garden theater that was closed in the early fifties .it cost .20cents for children and .44 cents for adolts it was owned by the same people who owned the jerome and the casino on liberty ave . jerome ave is now 101 ave . when in was a boy i played in the old garden it was on the north side of jamaica ave just accross from 113 st you can still notice the second floor windows looks like a theater the main bldg was in the back of the stores and was raised in the late fifties to get to it when the enterance was sealed uop you had to go to 112st walk north past king kullen half a bloct till you came to the apartment bldg go up the driveway to the old bldg ,we had a club house inside the stage was not removed and theprojection room was reached by a ladder on the wall in the back i believe it was added on later what great time in that old bldg i think that is when i found my love of theaters
That’s true, Bway. I suppose that was also partly true of the Valencia.
Thanks for linking that photo Warren. It looks just like I imgined from the nycsubway.org photo linked above on August 22, 2005.
Of course, no one could ever see it’s true beauty as shown in your sketched historic photo, as the Jamaica el always obliterated the view.
Thanks, Warren. Interesting that Richmond Hill once had its own telephone exchange, in addition to the VI(ctoria)(84) exchange.
The Garden theater in Richmond Hill had a Kimball theater organ installed in 1921.
An ad from a 1924 Queens business directory:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/garden24.jpg
Thank you, Warren, for your efforts, and for reporting on them in such detail here !
According to a story in the NY Daily News of January 8, 1978, localites were trying to save the theatre and convert it into a community center at a cost of about $100,000. The article said the theatre first opened in 1914 showing movies only, and that there was also originally an outdoor roof cinema for the spring-summer months. By 1978, the theatre had been closed for some years. All of the seats as well as the screen had been removed, but much of the “baroque decor” was reported to be in fairly good condition. The marquee had been removed and the entrance bricked up. The Daily News article had two current (1978) photos, one of the auditorium and the other of the exterior, but both were too dark for me to make copies.
The Garden Theater is that large ornate building seen just in front of the train.
Could someone please identify the Garden in the photo mentioned on 8/22/05? I don’t see any theatre there.
A C/O dated February of 1922 shows the owner of this theater as the Hillside Amusement Company.
Thanks, Bway and lostmemory. As you might recall, Bway, that nycsubway.org image had been a mystery “location unknown” for awhile. My initial thought was that it was some odd, double-domed bank building near the Marcy Avenue station. As I recall, what finally tagged it at 111th Street on the Jamaica el was that “skewed” apt. bldg. to the right of the theater building in the nycsubway.org photo. It’s good to have links to photos of it here from both the “el” and street levels, so we can see how it’s the same building.
Yet another case of “els showing the cinemas”.
Here’s a photo taken from the el station at 111th Street showing the Garden Theater:
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6624
A few years before this was torn down they painted the front to look like an old movie theatre and added a lot of flowers painted along the bottom.
A Queens Chronicle article about the Garden theater. There is a photo there so I will post the link to it and I will also paste the article here in case the link expires.
View link
The Garden Theater, Richmond Hill
by Ron Marzlock, Chronicle Historian June 23, 2005
The Garden Theater, Jamaica Avenue and 113th Street, Richmond Hillâ€"July 1937
The Garden Theater, located at 113-12 Jamaica Avenue, was built in 1919 and was owned and operated by the Mondrith Theater Corporation. It was one of three thriving movie theaters in the Richmond Hill area. The RKO Keith’s was a quarter mile to the east on Hillside Avenue, and Loews Willard was one half-mile to the west.
In 1937, when this photo was taken, the theater made a net income of $12,400 after operating costs of $1,600. The business declined sharply with the advent of television in the 1950s and remained boarded up for more than a decade.
Finally, the eyesore was demolished in the mid-1980s and replaced with a much needed parking lot.
Peter….File this away for future reference. There was also a Jerome Ave in Arverne Queens which is now called Beach 61st Street and there was also a Jerome Ave in Hollis Queens which is now 109th Ave.
Thank you, Warren and lostmemory.
In Jamaica, Richmond Hill and Woodhaven, Jerome avenue is now called 101st Avenue.
Jerome Avenue is now known as 101st Avenue, according to Mapquest.