Empire Theatre
10 Ralph Avenue,
Bushwick,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
10 Ralph Avenue,
Bushwick,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 81 comments
Thanks, Ken. I was also perusing the comments here and found Warren’s posting of Sept 2nd, 2004, noting an opening in August of 1903, which seemed to add to the confusion. However, cjdv’s posting seems the most authoritative – and perhaps Warren simply mistyped a “3” instead of an “8”.
The opening text giving a 1905 opening date is incorrect. See cjdv’s posting on December 31st 2004 which gives the actual opening date and newspaper reports of the 1908 opening.
Sorry… Ken’s description dates the building to 1908, but the introductory comments above mention it pre-dating 1905. Any solution to the discrepancy?
This building certainly looks to have weathered its nearly 100 years with only a bare minimum of maintenance. It looks like an old Tex-Mex mission, but for the lack of red clay roofing tiles! I wonder what survives of the interior ornamentation.
A photograph of the Empire Theatre that I took in June 2006:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kencta/199783684/
That is correct, per theatreorgans.com, a complete listing of Wurlitzer organs.
BCNett, so you are saying that the Empire’s organ and the Windsor’s organ were both repossessed and combined into one organ?
The organ the Empire’s organ was combined with was repossessed by Wurlitzer from the Windsor Theatre in Brooklyn and installed in the WNAC radio studio in Boston in 1930, where it stayed until being moved to Stoneham Town Hall in 1942.
Thank you, BCNett, for this info !
Wurlitzer installed a small organ in 1927, later reposessed it and merged it with another organ. Since 1942 it has been in the town hall in Stoneham, Mass., where I am Town Organist.
I wonder if the church that is now housed in the Empire Theater still uses the old organ.
The few times I went to the Empire, I remeber that they had Cliffhanger Serials showing 7 days a week…..One such Serial that I saw parts of there was, Republic’s Federal Agents VS. The Underworld Inc……..The feature films were usually 3rd run……At the same time these last of the old Cliffhanger serials were being shown at the Empire, NYC’s Serial Theater was on TV with the much superior older Cliffhangers such as Flash Gordon……..Each time I went there with my father in the evenings, the movie house was almost empty…..Joe From Florida—-sasheegm—–
Does anyone have additional information on the Gayety Theatre, referenced above as being located at Broadway & Throop Av?
Thanks!
Thank you. If indeed the image is from 1951, that may explain the absence of the tower above the el in the background, because it marked the turnout to the Lexington Avenue el, which ran for the last time on Friday, October 13, 1950.
Take it, Bway !
The second film, Great Plane Robbery, had two versions 1940 & 1950, for whatever that’s worth.
Here’s a second link on that auction. Dark Corner is 1946 but the Bowery Boys co-feature is 1948.
View link
The auction states that the images are from 1951. Here’s what they say:
1951 – …. the famous EMPIRE Theater of Brooklyn New York at Ralph Avenue and Quincy Street. These photos were taken for the last days of the trolley car. the movies are different on each marquee. One is from a 1946 Lucille Ball movie and the other a 1948 Victor Mature movie. Both re-releases.
Thanks, Jerry Kovar, for posting the link to that great old image of the Empire. The film, “Cry Of The City”, being shown then by the Empire in that image, released in 1948, dates the image to either that year or 1949.
Just came across some nice images of the Empire on “that auction site”. I’m not the seller, so I hope this is acceptable.
View link
Matthew, great site! I think some of us already found your site, because some of your theater photos are already linked to in some of the various theater’s sections on this site (like the Loew’s Gates Theater – Pilgrim Church, and the RKO Bushwick, now a high school).
Like you said, it appears you have been to a lot of the Brooklyn theater sites already!
Actually, also, your abandoned church photos at Wilson and Jefferson really got my interest, I even went to check that location out this past summer, and they there is a huge apartment building now being built on that site!
As with a lot of your photos, like many of the abandoned building/tenaments photos, a lot of your photos can actually be a before and after type of thing, since many of them have changed in the last 2-5 years. Some have been leveled, some have been refurbished. A few still remain. Actually, the RKO Bushwcick Theater has been completely transformed, as well as the immediate surroundings! You wouldn’t recognize it if you haven’t been there in a year or two. The building looks great, major chains like McDonalds have built nearby (what’s next – Starbucks??) The neighborhood is coming back slowly but surely. Even your photo at the Kosciuszko train station has changed since you took your photo there. The platforms have been all refurbished with new walls, ceilings, railings, and even glass stained windows!
Anyway, great photos. Keep up the good work!
check out my site http://www.lostbrooklyn.org
lots of pics there –
I’ve been around the Empire Theatre area many times and didn’t know if it really was a theatre or not..the outside is definitely dissed. Theres a lot of old structures though still standing in the close vicinity, the old Police Station across the street and a few yards back, and across the way theres a few super old banks (Long Island Savings Bank which managed to stay in the same spot and open – how I do not know LOL) and the Pilgrim Church is right down the block (I forgot the name of this Theatre SORRY! it’s on this site I just forgot)
This is a really good area for urban exploration and close to public transport in case you have to run from the natives haha
I’m gonna update my site soon, being that all you guys are checking me out
I’m super busy so I don’t update much. Most of the photos are from like 2-3 years ago and some are recent.
Any questions, just ask. I’ve been to pretty much all of the theatre sites listed for Brooklyn but now that I have this site as a reference, i’m gonna be goin' out hunting for the rest in the Spring. I’m psyched.
See ya
-matt
would peter k. please get in touch with me.
.com
The Empire actually opened on Monday, August 24th, 1908. There are lengthy articles in The Weekly Chat (August 22,1908) and the Brooklyn Eagle (August 23,1908) concerning the opening. Both papers feature the same exterior photo of the theatre. I would imagine that there are similar articles in the other Brooklyn papers as well. Both papers have an extensive description of the interior. I will only mention briefly the “Coming of Spring” painted over the proscenium, over the right hand boxes was a bust of Shakespeare and over the left hand boxes a bust of Wagner. The theatre is listed as featuring shows from the Western Burlesque Wheel and also offering “the best in vaudeville”.
For some reason, even John Haekop is mentioned. According to the Eagle, he bought the first ticket.
In the Weekly Chat—Jan. 12th, 1929—there is an ad for the Empire announcing a change in policy—vaudeville “featuring 15 big time acts”. Up to this point, the theatre had been mostly a burlesque house. According to the Chat, it is the only theatre in Brooklyn (at that time) featuring a straight vaude format. Empire closing shortly after that. There are two date stamped articles on file at the Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Central Library. On the one dated November 21, 1931 the headline reads Old Empire Reopens. The new lessee is the Abbott Theatrical Enterprises of which Harry Abbott is president (he was formerly involved with the Columbia Burlesque Wheel). In any case, three family members are listed among the performers appearing: Betty Abbott, Babe Abbott, and Buddy Abbott (aka Bud). Don’t know how long Harry Abbott had the theatre but in the second article stamped June 1934 the theatre is closed again. An unpaid balance of $50,000 on the mortage “has spelled the ruin of the popular playhouse”. Still researching this theatre in the 1930s but naturally it did reopen and by 1938 was a movie house.
The architect of the Empire Theatre was Herbert Brewster, it opened with a seating capacity of 1,810.
It went over to showing movies in 1938 and was later part of the Brandt Theatres Circuit. It closed as a movie theatre in 1953.
You’re welcome.
I was laughing when you wrote “Frenchie’s Gym, 5 bucks and a
workout in 1993
Disco Mundo was a spanish record store, that also sold instruments.
Thanks for the memories (lol)
Yup, that’s the one. I’ve also noticed “Disco Mundo” and Frenchie’s Gym in 1979 and 1980 near the Manhattan-bound platform of the Marcy Avenue station.