RKO Bushwick Theatre

Thanks, Bway and Warren.

Here’s an original 1911 floor plan showing fire exits. The ground floor plan is at the left:
View link

Yes. At least on the Broadway side, those large windows on the 2nd and third floors were rooms. They may have opened up over the lobby on the Howard Ave side, but don’t know.

As for the windows, I remember riding by on J trains, and looking in. The windows were all smashed on the Bway side, and you could look in. They were rooms. I don’t know what kind of rooms, but you could see plaster everywhere that had collapsed. of course, you could only get a quick glimpse inside as the trains went by.

Thanks, BrooklynJim. How many stories high was the inner lobby, and what did those large rectangular windows open onto inside ? How about that high circular “porthole” way up near the cornice on the rounded corner ?

Understood, Jim, about Gates & Bway circa 1961.

If I’m not mistaken, guys, there was a manager’s office on the 2nd floor above the lobby. Probably included a safe where the day’s receipts could be stored. Management staffers may have had their own restrooms on that floor, as well.

What a memory you have, Pete. ‘61 was my last trip (“Curse of the Werewolf”). You just didn’t bring a Saturday night date to Gates & Broadway in that era and hope to land a second one with her in the future.

Thanks Peter, I’m hoping to see another interior photo as well.

I assume that the windows were for office space because of the regularity of the fenestration, like an office building. The offices were probably rentals and not connected with the theatre from the inside. This was a common concept for many theatre buildings.

Panzer65, I think the lobby was triangular, an isosceles right triangle, and the auditorium rectangular, with the long dimension parallel to Howard Avenue. ziggy, I don’t think there was ever any office space within.

The only interior photos I know of were provided by Bway, taken from his copy of the 1987 film “The Believers”, the end of which was filmed inside the RKO Bushwick Theatre. There is probably access to them somewhere on this thread. They show the inner lobby and the auditorium. There is also a photo of the interior available somewhere, taken shortly after the theater opened, taken from the balcony, looking down towards the proscenium arch, stage, and screen.

If you look at the photo at the top of this theatre’s page you can see that the windows don’t open into the auditorium portion of the building. It’s probable that the Bushwick didn’t have too large of a lobby, so I would think that the windows were there for office space.

That’s a good, basic question, Louis Rugani, and I thank you for asking it. I would guess that all those windows opened into the inner lobby, with the possible exception of that circular “porthole” high up on the corner, which may have opened into the outer, upper balcony.

It would be great to have a photo of the inner lobby of the RKO Bushwick, when it still functioned as a theater.

Here’s a new link to a photo that I posted above on 7/29/05. It’s NOT the same photo mentioned yesterday by “Lost Memory."
View link

Your welcome Peter. It might be the same photo that Warren posted on Jul 29, 2005, but that link no longer works.