RKO Greenpoint Theatre
825 Manhattan Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11222
825 Manhattan Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11222
4 people
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Showing 51 - 75 of 87 comments
WArren, thanks for the pictures. I fondly remember the Frozen Dessert store at the Calyer-Manhattan corner. It was a place where my family, on many occasions, bought vinella soft custard right after leaving the Greenpoint.
Can you date the interior shot? It seems far more elaborate than the Greenpoint I remember. This theater, in its final years, had become a far drabber place, and its demise was not unexpected.
Anniegirl, I do not have any pictures of Murphy’s bar. However, if you are familiar with the front windows of Teddy’s bar, which is situated at the corner of Berry St. and North 9th St. in the Northside, you would get a pretty good idea of how the “before” looked. And, as I noted before, the interior is still very much in tact. Talk soon.
Dear John, I do not remember Murphy’s Bar when I hung out on Loimer Street in the 60’s..Do you have any pictures of the place…I know that Loimer St ended on Noble Street…anniegirl
In describing the businesses situated in the immediate vicinity of the Greenpoint, you can’t omit Murphy’s bar which, under a different name, is still situated at the corner of Lorimer and Calyer. Murphy’s was a classic Irish bar. While its interior has barely changed over the years, its front facade, which featured intricate glasswork, has now, unfortunately been replaced by a banal brickfront.
One interesting feature about Murphy’s was that, long after even McSorley’s had relented, Murphy’s would not allow women to be seated at the bar. Instead, all female patrons would have to be served at tables situated in the back room. This practice continued until at least the mod-1980’s!
The most ironic thing about this “no woman at the bar” practice is that the bar is currently owned by a woman! She has not continued the policy.
Despite its very ornate character, by the 50’s and early 60’s, the Greenpoint had seen its best days and had become a pretty run down theater. The Meserole was clearly Greenpoint’s premier movie house during that time.
The configuration of the Greenpoint also worked against it. While it was high enough to support two balconies – the second of which was almost never opened – it was also very narrow. In contrast, the Meserole, which was not as high but much wider, seemed far more attractive – and what we would now call used friendly. In short, it was not at all surprising that the Greenpoint was the first theater to close.
The Greenpoint occupied both all of the current women’s clothing store as well as most of the present gym site. (This was initially occupied by an A&P.) The only area that was not part of the movie theater was a small two story house situated at the Calyer-Lorimer corner. Its first floor housed a delicatessen that was well known to the community. Since my grandmother lived at 150 Calyer – the long and thin four story house situated between Lorimer and Guernsey -during the 50’s and early 60’s, I knew this area very well and frequented the deli very often.
One final point. Before the Greenpoint Savings Bank, which is situated directly accross the street from the former Greenpoint, expanded in the 1950’s to extend to Lorimer St., a number of small – and very old – wood frame houses occupied that site. I vaguely remember them and would be interested in hearing from anyone who can tell me more about them.
Dear Butch,
I think that Kevin was the boy that came to the house that night…It’s a shame that he passed away…….I know a Traska from Greenpoint..Do you know how to reach her? I think she knew my old friend Paulette….We should meet sometime since I live in Shirley and you in Centereach…We are close by…..maybe lunch….My husband Lou is a retired Marine from that era in 1964….I will e-mail you at your e-mail address.if you want to get together with our spouses for lunch……i have a my-space site also that my youngest Daughter created up for me. If you click on myspace.com. You also need to have an account….but anyway I will e-mail you at your site
Anniegirl:
Don’t know what happened to Zowie. But him with a duffle full of beer is just what I would suspect. The Kevin you mention was Kevin Creagon, killed in Vietnam. He was laid out at Arthur Bravenstocks on Lorimer between Norman & Meserole. Linda Traska lived on Lorimer between Bedford & Norman she had an older brother named Billy. We live in Centereach LI. Married 40 years. A son Anthony 34 and a daughter Annalouise 37 (with 2 boys)Great to hear from you
Butch
ok got your e-mail will talk to you soon.anniegirl. whatever happend to Zowie..He came to my house with my friends when I was 16, we had a party and he bought a duffel bag full of beer……I think I remember a boy named Kevin, he came to my house also, drank so much beer and threw-up all over my floor…my parents were on vacation and I spent the whole night cleaning up….what a mess but what memories….. I remember a Trask family vaguely…….good old Greenpoint…I live in Shirley L.I. now with my Husband of 37 years and Two daughters Noele age 29 her Husband Scott and my youngest daughter age 18 (my change of life baby) hahahaha…..anniegirl
Dear Anniegirl: Great to hear from you. Some of the names are familiar. If I remember correctly Zowie was not the brightest bulb in the package but a real nice guy. The Police precient was the 94. I hang out on Lorimer between Bedford & Norman for a while with Marty Gil, Linda Traska, A Billy, A Bobby, Larry Meekas and A girl named Ginny. There was also a guy named Kevin Creagon who was killed in Nam. My E-mail is
Dear Butchofthepoint, I was not born in Greenpoint, but I went there as a kid with my Aunt’s on Saturday’s. I remember the Hat, Glove and Bag stores on Manhattan Ave and the Custard Shop..Also the Chinese Resturant upstairs near the 92nd police preceint. I also remember Pizza Prince on Nassau Ave. and Van Dolans Ice Cream Parlor on Manhattan Ave and Bedford Ave…I went to the Meserole and the RKO Greenpoint a lot when I was 10-17 years of age….My High School friend Paulette Godlewski now Schwenk (she married my older sister’s grammer school friend) she lived on Noble Street..My friends were Eddie Dombrowski lived on Loimer Street across from McCarren park…We sometimes hung out in the “swing park near the pool..My other friend Barbara Tyska lived on Sutton Street off of Loimer….those were really fun days in the point…I had so many friends back then I often wonder where they all are now…..If you want to talk about the old days growing up in Greenpoint, My e-mail address is maybe we can connect with some of our friends…oh I thought of another friend named Zowie…We mostly hung out on Loimer Stteet between Bedford and Meserole………back in the 60’s…..anniegirl
The Greenpoint closed due to lack of business as did the Winthrop, Nassau,Meserole, American and Midway. I was born at 523 Leonard Street in 1943. I remember going to the Nassau for nine cents and seeing a movie, 25 cartoons and a serial (Rocketman). I used to stop at the custard stand at the corner of Manhattan Ave & Calyer street for a custard or charlotte rousse. I went to McCarren pool every day in the summer from 10am to 9pm. We also played basketball in the mens locker room in the winter when the pool was closed. I went to ps34. Miss Wooley was principal, Miss Conway taught kindergarten, Miss Shapter taught 4th grade. Miss Richmond 5th. Miss Gullota was the teacher most feared. I then went to JHS 50 and skipped the 8th grade. These are great memories. I would love to hear from anyone who might remember me (Butch Olson) or my brothers (Carl, Walter,Ronnie & Andy)
ok I was not sure Bob. My parents used to shop at that Bohack and Trunz for Meat on Manhattan Ave at Noble Street near St. Anthony’s Church…..Anniegirl
A&P was on Calyer Street across from the back side of Greenpoint Bank. There is gym there now. Bohack Supermarket was on Manhattan Avenue across from the front entrance to Greenpoint Bank. It is now an Associated Supermarket.
Dear Bob, I thought the A&P was across from the Greenpoint Bank?????…Anniegirl
Interesting point that my wife – a lifelong Greenpointer – brought up. The RKO Greenpoint may have not only took up the space on Calyer Street where Goodiwn’s (now Rainbow) is, but may have also included the remainder of the block to where a supermarket (A&P) stood that is now Otom Gym. That would indeed have made it a tremendous auditorium. The photo posted by Warren on 8/19/05 almost confirms this – it would have needed to go just a little further out to prove this.
Any long time Greenpointers out there who can comment on that?
The store that is now Rainbow was originally Goodwin’s, which was a local (to Brooklyn and Queens)mini-chain as far as I know. If I remember correctly, they also had stores in Ridgewood and Downtown Brooklyn. The fact that this used to be a theater finally makes the shape of the building make sense.
Thanks, Anniegirl. I never knew the RKO Greenpoint existed, until now. It was fun learning about it. It was not far from the Meserole, the Chopin, the southeastern corner of Manhattan Avenue and Calyer St., where a friend of mine from high school lived, or from Calyer St. itself, where another h.s. friend of mine lived.
The marquee and entrance on Manhattan Avenue seem very small compared to the theater itself.
Hi Warren, Bway, J.F., Lost, I had so much trouble logging on. I had to take out some things from my computer and re-register. Well do any of you guys remember a Womans Clothing store on the left and a Loft’s candy store on the right at Noble Street. We used to buy truffles before entering the RKO moviehouse. The Woman’s Specialty shop was not Rainbow Stores. This store was there in the late 50’s as I remember. anyway thanks for the pic’s a lot of memories for me…..My parents and aunts used to shop on Manhattan ave all of the time. I used to go with them many times to the Movies in Greenpoint rather than go downtown or manhattan……Anniegirl
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Good work! I remember when the “Eagle” Theater came up a few years ago….I forgot all about it though. I vaguely remember a conversation in some theater section about the “Eagle”, and some thought it may be the Chopin because of the Eagle on top, but then you found the Midway and added it….
I posted the photo on the Midway’s page.
Lost, my first guess was the Meserole too….but the Meserole’s entrance is in the middle of the block, this theater is near the corner. It’s on the wrong side of the street for the Chopin. I also think this theater (in the mystery photo) is much further up on Manhattan Ave, but I could be wrong. Eagle St is almost by the Newtown Creek! The Meserole is over by Meserole Ave.
Could this be a theater that isn’t listed on the site yet?
I think it is a national chain, as I have seen Rainbow in different locations.
I don’t know if they are responsible for the demolition of the theater. Actually, I don’t know when the Greenpoint was torn down (unless I missed that fact above). The Greenpoint had a typical theater layout, with the lobby area in line with all the stores, in a sort of seperate building, and the theater auditorium spread out behind the stores. This same sort of layout is like the Ridgewood, Madison, Rainbow Theater, Meserole, and so many others. The Rainbow shop holds not only the lot where the lobby was, but also the lot in back were the old auditorium was (judging by Warren’s photo).
I also wonder why the theater was even torn down instead of just converted into a store like others were (like the Madison, Chopin, etc).
Anyone have any idea when the theater was demolished? Was it decades ago or recently?
In the meantime, here’s a photo I found on Brooklynpix of the RKO:
View link
Does anyone know which theater this is on Manhattan Ave? It a photo under a marquee. It says “Looking North from Eagle St on Manhattan Ave”:
View link
Here’s a photo of the location of the Greenpoint Theater I took back in 2004. The Rainbow Shop shows where the old Greenpoint’s lobby once was:
Click here for Photo
Hello Anniegirl.. I lived foe a short time in the area just after VJ Day before moving to Maspeth. I recall the Ice Cream Parlor but not the name.
Dear J.F Lundy, Fun growing up in Brooklyn, I was born in 1945. When I was a child of 5 I used to go to Greenpoint with my Aunt. I remember the B61 Crosstown Trolley. It used to go along Whythe Ave and travel on Bedford Ave towards Greenpoint. My Aunt used to go to the Hat, Bag and Glove Stores. We used to get Frozen Dessert there on the corner and Sometimes go to the Movie. Either the RKO or the Meserole. Sometimes we would eat Chinese Food upstairs at the Chinese Resturant a block away. It is closed now. and Greenpoint has changed alot.jMy Mom would go to the Trunz Meat Market and buy her meat order. We would also go to St. Anthony’s Church sometimes. Do you come from the area and do you remember Van Dohlens Ice Cream Parlor on Manhattan Ave near Bedford Ave?….Anniegirl
Here is a circa 1950 photo:
http://brooklynpix.com/photo1/G/greenpoint61.jpg