During at least a number of these “interim” years, part of the site was occupied by the Ampol Bakery. The proprietors of this establishment, the Brunhards, converted the site into the Polonaise and were the initial owners.
The picture that was posted, “The Wheels of Destiny” was released in October 1927. This would be the year before the Garden closed for good. The picture provides a great look of how Manhattan Avenue looked at that time.
Thanks for your very interesting comments about the role the Echo Theater played in the young life of Nehemiah Persoff. I think I will look up his obit to learn more of his Williamsburg roots.
It now appears that the possibility of this theater’s demise is pretty substantial. In response, a Face Book page has been established to resist this possibility. Perhaps the preservation of a portion of the old theater, particularly its lovely facade, can be achieved here.
While this is hopefully a panicked reaction, rumors are rife that the Midway will close even when the other theaters re-open. Except for the Cinemax, which is situated some distance away, this would reduce the number of movie houses in the Forest Hills commercial district to zero. When I first became acquainted with the area back in the 70’s. there were five separate movie houses serving the area.
A new picture on Face Book now shows that the health club is, in fact, open. Its advertising sign currently adorns the old marquee. Hopefully, someone will post this on this page.
Given the possible consequences that a sale of this building would have, its conversion into a house of worship would be a pretty good one. In fact, some of the best reuses have involved exactly that.
Alas, a recent article indicated that this site has now been sold to a developer who will presumably evict the Brooklyn Night Bazaar, demolish the site and build an expensive condo. Given Greenpoint’s booming housing market the only thing surprising about this is that it has taken so long.
I just was able to peruse the movie listings appearing in the photo section that were posted by Texas2step last year. They are very interesting. These three weekly listings appeared during the mid to late 50’s, when the theater was referred to as the “New Winthrop”. (Whether this reflected a change of ownership, presentation policy or just a new way of branding I do not know.)
One interesting aspect of the listings was the fact that the Winnie at least occasionally featured showings of older movies, such as “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, “White Heat” and “They Died With Their Boots On”. I do not believe that it was the practice of “nabe” movie houses to do this, at least during the 1950’s; but this appeared to be the case here. (I have absolutely no memory of this policy, but then I was only six or seven years old!) Perhaps the management was attempting to provide some alternate programming to what was then appearing on TV – heavily cut and commercial broken versions of old movies. For example, Million Dollar Movies was only programmed to last 90 minutes, which required very heavy cutting to such classics as Gunga Din. (When I first viewed a complete version of that film, I was shocked that so much had been cut out.) By providing complete and uninterrupted versions of these oldies, perhaps the Winnie management was attempting to draw in a new crowd.
I was also surprised to learn that the Winnie was still holding “dish nights” at that time. The only local house that I remember doing this was the American (Chopin). But I guess the practice lasted longer here as well.
This was probably another of those many small nickleodium places that existed during the very early 1900’s. The building where it existed is probably still there.
Wow! Thanks so much Gigantor for these priceless photos. Besides providing a view of the actual theater, this captures a community that essentially ceased to exist long ago. This is now all a part of Bushwick/Hylan Houses. This is a great addition to the archive!
This theater’s site is now situated within the massive Lindsay Park housing development, probably in 67 Manhattan Ave’s parking lot. This entire neighborhood has been transformed.
Actually, most of the theater other than the entrance is not located on Broadway. In fact, the Gates once featured a separate entrance situated around the corner – I believe on Gates Ave. A large portion of the old Bushwick RKO, on the other hand, did front on Broadway. This might have been a reason why it closed first, though property values on Broadway were plummeting during the 1960’s and 70’s.
While the photo currently at the top of the page does document the fact that the Gates did, at times, show XXX adult fare, I believe this was only done occasionally and that the Gates showed mostly regular fare until the 1977 blackout closed it down for good.
Thanks Willburg145 for this terrific period photo. hopefully, it will replace the current photo at the top of the page. This picture really gave a picture on how life was on Graham Ave. in 1940.
Thanks HomecrestGuy for the photo. The movie advertised was something like “Gloria d'Italia” I just wonder if it was a Mussollini oriented film – or not. At that time, a number of movie houses in German speaking areas like Bushwick and Ridgewood featured pro-Nazi movies. Just wonder if the same was true here.
Bway, this is very interesting and would provide further evidence that the old theater was situated in the building that still exists and was not located in one that was demolished prior to the construction of the current structure. Unfortunately, the link you provided did not go through. Can you try again? Thanks as always.
Thanks for the photo, HomecrestGuy. I just noticed, as the picture shows, that this theater featured an Amateur Night. I just wonder what that was like and how widespread – or not – these events were in other theaters at that time. This was a bit more ambitious than Dish Night.
Very interesting. Just wondering if this was one of the Public Markets that Mayor LaGuardia created during the 1930’s, to reduce the number of sidewalk vendors, or was the name just a generic one used by a private owner. Great shot.
During at least a number of these “interim” years, part of the site was occupied by the Ampol Bakery. The proprietors of this establishment, the Brunhards, converted the site into the Polonaise and were the initial owners.
The picture that was posted, “The Wheels of Destiny” was released in October 1927. This would be the year before the Garden closed for good. The picture provides a great look of how Manhattan Avenue looked at that time.
The movie appearing on the awning was released in October 1927. This was shortly before the Garden closed for good.
Thanks for your very interesting comments about the role the Echo Theater played in the young life of Nehemiah Persoff. I think I will look up his obit to learn more of his Williamsburg roots.
I am pleased to inform you that the Midway recently reopened after the pandemic. The good times are back!
It now appears that the possibility of this theater’s demise is pretty substantial. In response, a Face Book page has been established to resist this possibility. Perhaps the preservation of a portion of the old theater, particularly its lovely facade, can be achieved here.
While this is hopefully a panicked reaction, rumors are rife that the Midway will close even when the other theaters re-open. Except for the Cinemax, which is situated some distance away, this would reduce the number of movie houses in the Forest Hills commercial district to zero. When I first became acquainted with the area back in the 70’s. there were five separate movie houses serving the area.
I believe this Wednesday – 9/2 – will be the opening date for the gyms, including I guess this one.
A new picture on Face Book now shows that the health club is, in fact, open. Its advertising sign currently adorns the old marquee. Hopefully, someone will post this on this page.
Given the possible consequences that a sale of this building would have, its conversion into a house of worship would be a pretty good one. In fact, some of the best reuses have involved exactly that.
Alas, a recent article indicated that this site has now been sold to a developer who will presumably evict the Brooklyn Night Bazaar, demolish the site and build an expensive condo. Given Greenpoint’s booming housing market the only thing surprising about this is that it has taken so long.
I just was able to peruse the movie listings appearing in the photo section that were posted by Texas2step last year. They are very interesting. These three weekly listings appeared during the mid to late 50’s, when the theater was referred to as the “New Winthrop”. (Whether this reflected a change of ownership, presentation policy or just a new way of branding I do not know.)
One interesting aspect of the listings was the fact that the Winnie at least occasionally featured showings of older movies, such as “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, “White Heat” and “They Died With Their Boots On”. I do not believe that it was the practice of “nabe” movie houses to do this, at least during the 1950’s; but this appeared to be the case here. (I have absolutely no memory of this policy, but then I was only six or seven years old!) Perhaps the management was attempting to provide some alternate programming to what was then appearing on TV – heavily cut and commercial broken versions of old movies. For example, Million Dollar Movies was only programmed to last 90 minutes, which required very heavy cutting to such classics as Gunga Din. (When I first viewed a complete version of that film, I was shocked that so much had been cut out.) By providing complete and uninterrupted versions of these oldies, perhaps the Winnie management was attempting to draw in a new crowd.
I was also surprised to learn that the Winnie was still holding “dish nights” at that time. The only local house that I remember doing this was the American (Chopin). But I guess the practice lasted longer here as well.
Thanks again for this valuable information.
This was probably another of those many small nickleodium places that existed during the very early 1900’s. The building where it existed is probably still there.
Wow! Thanks so much Gigantor for these priceless photos. Besides providing a view of the actual theater, this captures a community that essentially ceased to exist long ago. This is now all a part of Bushwick/Hylan Houses. This is a great addition to the archive!
This theater’s site is now situated within the massive Lindsay Park housing development, probably in 67 Manhattan Ave’s parking lot. This entire neighborhood has been transformed.
Thanks so much for this picture, which gives a good indication of how things were in pre-Lindsay Park Williamsburg.
Actually, most of the theater other than the entrance is not located on Broadway. In fact, the Gates once featured a separate entrance situated around the corner – I believe on Gates Ave. A large portion of the old Bushwick RKO, on the other hand, did front on Broadway. This might have been a reason why it closed first, though property values on Broadway were plummeting during the 1960’s and 70’s.
While the photo currently at the top of the page does document the fact that the Gates did, at times, show XXX adult fare, I believe this was only done occasionally and that the Gates showed mostly regular fare until the 1977 blackout closed it down for good.
Thanks Willburg145 for this terrific period photo. hopefully, it will replace the current photo at the top of the page. This picture really gave a picture on how life was on Graham Ave. in 1940.
Thanks for the photo, which featured what must have been one of Olivia de Havalland’s least memorable movies – “My Love Came Back”.
Thanks HomecrestGuy for the photo. The movie advertised was something like “Gloria d'Italia” I just wonder if it was a Mussollini oriented film – or not. At that time, a number of movie houses in German speaking areas like Bushwick and Ridgewood featured pro-Nazi movies. Just wonder if the same was true here.
Bway, this is very interesting and would provide further evidence that the old theater was situated in the building that still exists and was not located in one that was demolished prior to the construction of the current structure. Unfortunately, the link you provided did not go through. Can you try again? Thanks as always.
Thanks for the photo, HomecrestGuy. I just noticed, as the picture shows, that this theater featured an Amateur Night. I just wonder what that was like and how widespread – or not – these events were in other theaters at that time. This was a bit more ambitious than Dish Night.
A really impressive interior.
Very interesting. Just wondering if this was one of the Public Markets that Mayor LaGuardia created during the 1930’s, to reduce the number of sidewalk vendors, or was the name just a generic one used by a private owner. Great shot.