If I see Craig on Thursday at the Chelsea Classics film series (hosted by the hilarious Hedda Lettuce and now in its 8th year!) I will ask him about the curtain situation.
But I think it’s been up to the whim of the projectionist. When I see the projectionist before the show (he sometimes stands near the condiment table) I always ask him to operate the curtain, and he usually does. So I guess it’s often by special request only…
Nice 1936 shot of the Ziegfeld Follies at the Winter Garden. Since Ziegfeld had been dead for four years by that date, I wonder what kind of show he was able to put on.
A good portion of the crime thriller “Hard” (1998) seemed to be set in this theater; the killer used it as his lair and had victims on the stage, in the dressing rooms, etc. The place was nearly gutted at the time, with scaffolding inside. They didn’t show the outside, but they showed the proscenium, exits, asbestos curtain, and other interior details. Near the end of the movie, with the police closing in, one of the cops radios in that they’re at the El Portal on Lankershim, so of course I came to CT and looked it up. Voila!
The R-rated movie, which is about a closeted cop on the trail of this killer, is graphic in its sex and violence, and is currently running on the cable channel Here and is available on Netflix. Buyer beware.
I loved this theater, even though I only knew it as quad. There was still plenty of architectural detail to savor. It was my neighborhood house for over 10 years, until it closed. It had bargain prices at the end, but the management refused to advertise that fact on the marquee or anywhere else.
Passed by the site the other day — a big hole in the ground. What a waste to tear this down for a tin and glass mall that lasted less than 30 years. Good grief.
You can’t really make a decent “widescreen” presentation out of something filmed in “academy standard.” You lose the top and bottom of the original image, and it’s blown up so much it looks fuzzy and grainy, even probably in 70mm. When they did it to Gone With the Wind once, it was a disaster. I wonder if Jolie fared any better.
Text of email I received yesterday from Greg Boardman, owner of the Art Theater across the street from this house:
Some of you may have heard that we are looking into other locations for our art theatre. This is true.
Our lease expires at our present location in the Art building, December 30, 2009. I heard from someone who spoke to the owner, that his belief was that when the community learned that it would be losing its art theatre, a buyer would come forth. The owner informed me that he was no longer offering the Art for rent. He is asking $1,143,888.50 for the building!
But the community, hopefully, will NOT be losing its art theatre. Boardman’s Theatres is working to be in a new location, with little interruption, before December 30, 2009. There are several possibilities.
I am working with the owners of the Rialto Theatre, directly across from our current location on Church St., to explore that possibility with them.
I recently met with city officials in both Champaign and Urbana. Everyone is very enthusiastic and supportive. There seems to be genuine support for Boardman’s Theatres and the types of films we bring to the community. If the financial support is there as well, it may be possible to expand beyond a single screen with a new-build in another location.
Boardman’s Theatres is working to continue to provide the finest film experience and more…in a new location(s).
I will be attending Showest next week as part of my effort to research and plan for our move.
As things develop, I will keep you all informed. It’s going to be an exciting year! I appreciate your continued support.
Thank you!
Text of email I received yesterday from Greg Boardman:
Some of you may have heard that we are looking into other locations for our art theatre. This is true.
Our lease expires at our present location in the Art building, December 30, 2009. I heard from someone who spoke to the owner, that his belief was that when the community learned that it would be losing its art theatre, a buyer would come forth. The owner informed me that he was no longer offering the Art for rent. He is asking $1,143,888.50 for the building!
But the community, hopefully, will NOT be losing its art theatre. Boardman’s Theatres is working to be in a new location, with little interruption, before December 30, 2009. There are several possibilities.
I am working with the owners of the Rialto Theatre, directly across from our current location on Church St., to explore that possibility with them. I recently met with city officials in both Champaign and Urbana. Everyone is very enthusiastic and supportive. There seems to be genuine support for Boardman’s Theatres and the types of films we bring to the community. If the financial support is there as well, it may be possible to expand beyond a single screen with a new-build in another location.
Boardman’s Theatres is working to continue to provide the finest film experience and more…in a new location(s).
I will be attending Showest next week as part of my effort to research and plan for our move.
As things develop, I will keep you all informed. It’s going to be an exciting year! I appreciate your continued support.
Thank you!
The Ridgewood Theatre the oldest continuously operating movie house in the nation until it closed a year ago will get an encore, its new owner said yesterday at a hearing before the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Opened as a vaudeville theater in 1916 and surviving every trend in moviemaking history, the limestone theater on Myrtle Avenue in Queens will reopen in July with a three-screen cinema on the upper level and a mix of shops on the first floor.
Mario Saggese, a co-owner of the Ridgewood, insisted that the only way the neighborhood theater could be financially viable is with the addition of a retail complex.
“It would be a financial hardship to have to operate it without that retail,” Saggese said after a hearing on a proposal to landmark the exterior of the building.
The landmarks commission is considering historic designation for the theater’s limestone facade. Saggese said he and co-owner Anthony Motalbano wouldn’t oppose the designation as long as it’s only for the building’s exterior.
After numerous renovations, including the conversion of the 2,500-seat theater into a five-screen multiplex decades ago, Saggese said there’s not much left of the historic interior to save anyway.
“But if we do pull down sheet rock and find a statue or other ornaments still there, we will definitely preserve them,” Saggese said.
The Ridgewood was one of more than 300 theaters across the nation designed by renowned architect Thomas Lamb.
Just a handful remain, including the Ziegfeld in Midtown.
A vote on the theater’s landmark status will be set for later this spring, said landmarks spokeswoman Lisi de Bourbon.
Yes, I have memorized many theater numbers, but you have to first open the email to see the number. And sometimes that’s an awful lot of emails (though apparently not a lot lately!)
According to the intro above, movies played from 1928 to 1933 and from 1945 to 1948.
Can I get an amen, somebody?
That is one gorgeous house.
It’s a Walgreens. And there’s no sign that there ever was a theater there.
Lost, don’t say it…!
Seth, yet you weren’t afraid to venture into the Hollywood Twin…?
If I see Craig on Thursday at the Chelsea Classics film series (hosted by the hilarious Hedda Lettuce and now in its 8th year!) I will ask him about the curtain situation.
But I think it’s been up to the whim of the projectionist. When I see the projectionist before the show (he sometimes stands near the condiment table) I always ask him to operate the curtain, and he usually does. So I guess it’s often by special request only…
Nice 1936 shot of the Ziegfeld Follies at the Winter Garden. Since Ziegfeld had been dead for four years by that date, I wonder what kind of show he was able to put on.
Creative programming in a cozy environment. Friendly staff and owners, too.
Great photos posted on April 14. Thanks, Lost Memory. Photo 3 was a special kick, because I saw “Time Bandits” at this theater.
A good portion of the crime thriller “Hard” (1998) seemed to be set in this theater; the killer used it as his lair and had victims on the stage, in the dressing rooms, etc. The place was nearly gutted at the time, with scaffolding inside. They didn’t show the outside, but they showed the proscenium, exits, asbestos curtain, and other interior details. Near the end of the movie, with the police closing in, one of the cops radios in that they’re at the El Portal on Lankershim, so of course I came to CT and looked it up. Voila!
The R-rated movie, which is about a closeted cop on the trail of this killer, is graphic in its sex and violence, and is currently running on the cable channel Here and is available on Netflix. Buyer beware.
I remember plenty about the Adonis, but funny enough, not its lobby.
Ebertfest coming April 22 – 26. Can’t make it this year but it’s been a lot of fun in the past.
I loved this theater, even though I only knew it as quad. There was still plenty of architectural detail to savor. It was my neighborhood house for over 10 years, until it closed. It had bargain prices at the end, but the management refused to advertise that fact on the marquee or anywhere else.
Sure looks like it. (I just got a little dizzy with thoughts of a mis-spent youth…)
Passed by the site the other day — a big hole in the ground. What a waste to tear this down for a tin and glass mall that lasted less than 30 years. Good grief.
I forgot to mention, beautiful ad. Thanks for the post, RobertR.
You can’t really make a decent “widescreen” presentation out of something filmed in “academy standard.” You lose the top and bottom of the original image, and it’s blown up so much it looks fuzzy and grainy, even probably in 70mm. When they did it to Gone With the Wind once, it was a disaster. I wonder if Jolie fared any better.
Bryan Krefft posted this picture on the Palace page, but I noticed the Embassy is also in the shot. View link
Well done.
Just stopping by to say hi so that I can get back on the notification list. Sheesh!
Text of email I received yesterday from Greg Boardman, owner of the Art Theater across the street from this house:
Some of you may have heard that we are looking into other locations for our art theatre. This is true.
Our lease expires at our present location in the Art building, December 30, 2009. I heard from someone who spoke to the owner, that his belief was that when the community learned that it would be losing its art theatre, a buyer would come forth. The owner informed me that he was no longer offering the Art for rent. He is asking $1,143,888.50 for the building!
But the community, hopefully, will NOT be losing its art theatre. Boardman’s Theatres is working to be in a new location, with little interruption, before December 30, 2009. There are several possibilities.
I am working with the owners of the Rialto Theatre, directly across from our current location on Church St., to explore that possibility with them.
I recently met with city officials in both Champaign and Urbana. Everyone is very enthusiastic and supportive. There seems to be genuine support for Boardman’s Theatres and the types of films we bring to the community. If the financial support is there as well, it may be possible to expand beyond a single screen with a new-build in another location.
Boardman’s Theatres is working to continue to provide the finest film experience and more…in a new location(s).
I will be attending Showest next week as part of my effort to research and plan for our move.
As things develop, I will keep you all informed. It’s going to be an exciting year! I appreciate your continued support.
Thank you!
Text of email I received yesterday from Greg Boardman:
Some of you may have heard that we are looking into other locations for our art theatre. This is true.
Our lease expires at our present location in the Art building, December 30, 2009. I heard from someone who spoke to the owner, that his belief was that when the community learned that it would be losing its art theatre, a buyer would come forth. The owner informed me that he was no longer offering the Art for rent. He is asking $1,143,888.50 for the building!
But the community, hopefully, will NOT be losing its art theatre. Boardman’s Theatres is working to be in a new location, with little interruption, before December 30, 2009. There are several possibilities.
I am working with the owners of the Rialto Theatre, directly across from our current location on Church St., to explore that possibility with them. I recently met with city officials in both Champaign and Urbana. Everyone is very enthusiastic and supportive. There seems to be genuine support for Boardman’s Theatres and the types of films we bring to the community. If the financial support is there as well, it may be possible to expand beyond a single screen with a new-build in another location.
Boardman’s Theatres is working to continue to provide the finest film experience and more…in a new location(s).
I will be attending Showest next week as part of my effort to research and plan for our move.
As things develop, I will keep you all informed. It’s going to be an exciting year! I appreciate your continued support.
Thank you!
From today’s New York Post:
ACT 2 FOR OLD-TIME THEATER
RIDGEWOOD TO REOPEN
The Ridgewood Theatre the oldest continuously operating movie house in the nation until it closed a year ago will get an encore, its new owner said yesterday at a hearing before the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Opened as a vaudeville theater in 1916 and surviving every trend in moviemaking history, the limestone theater on Myrtle Avenue in Queens will reopen in July with a three-screen cinema on the upper level and a mix of shops on the first floor.
Mario Saggese, a co-owner of the Ridgewood, insisted that the only way the neighborhood theater could be financially viable is with the addition of a retail complex.
“It would be a financial hardship to have to operate it without that retail,” Saggese said after a hearing on a proposal to landmark the exterior of the building.
The landmarks commission is considering historic designation for the theater’s limestone facade. Saggese said he and co-owner Anthony Motalbano wouldn’t oppose the designation as long as it’s only for the building’s exterior.
After numerous renovations, including the conversion of the 2,500-seat theater into a five-screen multiplex decades ago, Saggese said there’s not much left of the historic interior to save anyway.
“But if we do pull down sheet rock and find a statue or other ornaments still there, we will definitely preserve them,” Saggese said.
The Ridgewood was one of more than 300 theaters across the nation designed by renowned architect Thomas Lamb.
Just a handful remain, including the Ziegfeld in Midtown.
A vote on the theater’s landmark status will be set for later this spring, said landmarks spokeswoman Lisi de Bourbon.
Link: View link
Yes, I have memorized many theater numbers, but you have to first open the email to see the number. And sometimes that’s an awful lot of emails (though apparently not a lot lately!)