Oasis Theatre
63-57 Fresh Pond Road,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
63-57 Fresh Pond Road,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
17 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 169 comments
PKoch,
Thanks for your reply, in my youth living in Glendale in the 70’s, really was an age of innocence, I had a black and white TV that was 12 inches in the house I grew up in, considering the fact that we had no cable and few channels, going to the movies, especially the Oasis, was a cherished memory of my youth I will never forget, and enjoy sharing. I could not wait for Saturday, to walk to that big building with the fancy marquee outside, and the anticipation,,knowing you were going to your second home, where you knew you would enjoy your self! The old theaters like old ballparks, had that feel to them that new ones cant replicate.
Thanks, MikeK. I’ve noticed the “Eat my meat” and “I’ll pork ya !” but not the “welcome home Timmy”. I remember posting about the first two phrases some time ago, if not on the Oasis Theater page, then on the page for some other Ridgewood theater.
Thanks for posting your Oasis movie memories, Panzer65. When I got back home to Ridgewood from my summer 1978 job in western Pennsylvania, I noticed the posters on light poles and traffic lights for a concert by Richard Hell and the Voidoids, and the Dead Boys, Saturday, August 12, 1978, at the Forest Park music grove and bandshell. I didn’t go, as I had returned two weeks later.
The one and only film I saw at the Oasis was “For The Love Of Benji”, the first or second Saturday in January, 1976.
I spent many Saturday afternoons viewing matinée movies at the Oasis.At a young age I would walk there and my mother would give me money that today may buy perhaps a pack of gum.I would buy popcorn,soda, and admission, plus money left over.I preferred the Oasis over the Ridgewood and Madison, probably for its kid friendly cartoons and its location. I do recall its days as a concert venue, that being Richard Hell and the Voidoids. An unusual name indeed, I recall seeing this name pasted on light poles and walls, it also marked the beginning of the end of those days of movies there. As a teenager, I attended the roller rink, but it was much too small for its purpose.This building was my favorite theater.
MichaelFef,
Good job on the vid:
I’m going to friend you…that took me back in time bigtime…in fact that black kid who skates into the frame looks like my friend Nils (or Emmanuel Lewis from Webster)
But seriously its good to see stuff from back in the day: before the hipster invasion-back when it was just neighborhood folks(not transplants from nebraska) having a pizza party and breakdancing with the occasional skating!
View link
I went here in 6th grade (1985).I had no idea it was ever a movie theatre…i did borrow $5 from my friend Nils and forgot about it until now (so how much is $5 after 22 years really worth?)
So many memories indeed. The Hindenburg, Oh God, etc. as a kid. The weird punk rock shows. The roller rink, where I skated with my future wife. The neighborhood homeless guy (known as Frankie Jordy) who slept in the ticket booth when it was vacant. And finally, ANOTHER drug store(so many opened in Ridgewood in the 80’s. And the Karl Ehmer graffiti was done by a friend of mine (Anthony), when another friend (Timmy) came home from a year in jail. Remember it said “welcome home Timmy” as well as “I’ll pork ya” and “eat my meat”?
Wow, that brings back SO many memories….and wow, it’s “so” 80’s!!
Seeing the video though makes me remember that place almost perfectly from the roller rink days. I was lucky enough to remember it as both a theater in the 70’s when I was a kid, and as the roller rink as a teenager….many a good times in both ways…
Here’s a direct – I actually took it off my main page but it’s still in “My Videos”….
View link
Mike, do you have a direct link? I can’t seem to find it, what’s the title of the video there?
I have some video posted on my myspace site of a friend of mine, Buz, doing what was then called “uprock” in the middle dance area after the pyramids were removed. I have more of the skating – just have to find some time to convert and post it. :–)
http://www.myspace.com/mikefef
Michael
The Oasis was not in Glendale, but in Ridgewood, the intro address is incorrect. It’s not anywhere near Glendale – Maspeth perhaps, but certainly not Glendale. It needs to be changed to Ridgewood.
But anyway – does anyone know of any interior photos online from when the Oasis was a roller rink?
This was certainly not the 39 classic. It played the Oasis October 69.
View link
A 1968 double bill
View link
Well, it’s some project to find that stuff, but it is interesting…
Robert, do you have a stack of old newspapers you find these in, or where do you find all these great old ads?
posted by Bway on Jun 4, 2006 at 8:04pm
From two sources, I have access to ProQuest which has the NY & LA Times archives and also my own archives from when I booked and managed theatres. Glad you like them I have so many more I just need to find time to scan them.
Jim, for the record, and it’s mentikoned above, what was removed from the Oasis building is everyting except the actual auditorium itself, which is now the CVS store. The stores facing Fresh Pond Rd were all removed, as well as the entire lobby area, etc, which is where the parking lot is today.
Really appreciate your filling me in on the missing years via your collective musings. My fiancee then, from Forest Ave., and I attended the Oasis or the Ridgewood when we didn’t want to stray too far. We were part of the audience that watched Sly Stallone’s “Rocky” in ‘76 and cheered like crazy. I had no idea that this movie would represent the final bill there. Didn’t know about the subsequent roller rink or fire. I shopped at CVS (near Kark Ehmer’s) recently, wondering what exactly was missing. Thanks to you, now I know!!!
Robert, do you have a stack of old newspapers you find these in, or where do you find all these great old ads?
Thanks, Lost Memory. I think the details of the story line that you commented on resulted from the film being a re-telling of Joseph Conrad’s classic novel, “Heart Of Darkness” set in Vietnam, the whole point of which is that, the deeper the white man goes into the jungle, away from his civilization, the more his moral fiber deteriorates. You see the same idea in William Golding’s novel, “Lord Of The Flies”, and its two film versions.
The Martin Sheen character himself was skeptical of his assignment, when he said that tracking down one man in the jungles of Vietnam for murder was like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.
Even so, I enjoyed hearing The Doors classic “The End” on the soundtrack.
Maybe it’s time for a new re-telling of “Heart Of Darkness”, about how man loses his moral fiber the deeper he goes into cyber-space.
where do you guys find these old newspaper adds with the movie times.there cool to see
I linked it the old way so the large image above can be removed
View link
Lost Memory, thanks for the description of “Platoon”. What about “Apocalypse Now” ?
Now, boys and girls, don’t try this war at home yourselves, you could get hurt very badly …
Adrian Cronauer, where are you now ??? We need you to report on Iraq !
Lost Memory, I agree. The network complaints about excessive violence on “Three Stooges Funhouse” were ridiculous, in light of Vietnam, and its daily TV coverage, and seem like a Lenny Bruce routine.
Four dead in Ohio …
This napalmed village is brought to you by Dow Chemical Company. Nyuk nyuk nyuk ….
Good morning Vietnam !
Yes, that’s another reason I don’t think it’s a good idea to post the photos directly into the message page, as opposed to linking. If you have people posting very large photos directly into the message page, not only will you cause a hardship for dial up users, it will make you have to scroll back and forth just to read the messages if the photo pixels are too large to fit on people’s computer’s screen.
Again, this is why although I discovered you could post photos directly into message sections about two or three years ago (by testing it in preview), I never made it public that it’s possible, as unless the photos are less than 700X or 800X, it will cause problems on the pages, especially if people aren’t familiar with what they are doing.
I still think it’s better to link to photos as we have been doing.