I asked my good friend who used to go to the Monroe, it was torn down in the 70’s. There is only a lot there. They used to show 3 movies for a dollar. It’s gone.
Rose
Apollo, Keep the name, it fits your personality here. I will make a calendar too, but not now. I want to try it later but you gotta make sure I get a copy becauase I love Brooklyn and old buildings.I have a few postcards, I’m an Ebay person also, but I spend most of my time riding around and checking out buildings. Deans may have been down the rode at one time but it was surely on Broadway and Monroe St too. I used to go there to buy eyeliner and hair products cause I was POOR and that’s the only p;lace I could afford to get my hook up.There was a mean secirty guard whop used to work there. We fought with him because he was always behaving like you just stole something. Is that theater you spoke about on Howard a church now? I think it’s Pleasant Grove. I just attended a wake there a few months ago. Do you guys give tours? I hope so cause I would love to get on a bus or even an intimate one in a car and drive around to look at theaters and other buildings of interest. On DeKalb near Sumner (Marcus Garvey) I saw a tiny building and over the doorway I saw the masks that denote a theater. I freaked and looked around, no one gave a darn and of course they covered them. It must have been a playhouse, I think it may be a Chinese restaurant. Please keep up with the info, it is so exciting. By the way i went to Bushwick HS, I was looking at buildings back then…I mean waaaay back then.
Love ya,
Rose
Before I go I have to tell you all that Mae West is one of my favorites. She also lived on Bushwick Ave. I went to L.A. this summer, yes I’m star struck and I took this trip to pay my respects to Jack Benny, Lucy, Mae West and Laurel and Hardy. I tracked down Mae’s apartment in the Ravenswood Apartments in Hancock Park. I kept thinking about a Brooklyn girl doing her thing back in the days. I plan to visit her in Cypress Hills too! Just a little aside.
Rose
Why thank you, it is my pleasure and passion. As for Jackie Wilson. He was a former boxer nick named “Mr. Excitemnt”, Jackie made women lose their minds. Michael Jackson imitated his moves. Lonely Teardrops and To Be Loved are just 2 of his many hits. I was with my mom at the concert that headlined Jackie. It must have been 1970 or 71. Jackie was a BIG BIG hitmaker, but the “generation gap” caught him and the group Parliment got the attention that night. when Jackie got on stage the audience booed and booed. This was my mother’s favorite and I watched as he grew uncomfortable and appeared shocked at the reception. He finally composed himself and finished the set but it crushed him. A few years later in the middle of his song Lonely Teardrops, he had a heart attack and remained in a coma until 1984, when he passed away. The night the Five Stairsteps played I waited outside the Bushwick so I could get an autograph. They came out the side door on Howard and their father ushered them out and shooed us away like we were vagabonds. Never did get the autograph.
Thanks for making me remember!
Rose
Oh wow… I wondered where Battermans was. I remember shopping on Graham with my aunt and grandma. That’s where our Easter dresses came from and the Moore Street market for household things. Richie Havens family was very close to my mom, his cousin and mh mom were best friends. His father “Uncle Dickie” had a wicked sense of humor. I taught at 57 and 35 for years. I have also worked at 309 but best of all I have lived in the same house in Bed-Stuy all of my life.
Today you guys made me drive up and down Howard. There is no number 4, it’s gone. I thought the Monroe was on the corner and that is where a lot is right now. Exactly across the street from the Bushwick. I couldn’t remember just why I hated the Monroe Theater, it’s probably because of the porno. I never went in there.
As for Bargain Town, my uncle bought his kids toys from Bargain Town. I loved going in there is was full of stuff, one of the early discount department stores. You could buy anything in there from rugs and linoleum to dresses and furniture. I loved to stand on Reid Ave and look down all the way to Broadway and watch the stripes. I finally figured out why the store was so uneven, it was a theater and sometimes I wondered if 2 or more buildings weren’t joined together. The good stuff was on the upper floors. In later years it got sloppy and choppy, the service and merchnadise were kind of shoddy..That’s when it became Buy Rite Now it’s gray, someone told me it was a dorm for college kids, others say it’s a co-op but it’s still good ol' Bargain Town to me. I really enjoy this and thanks so much for sharing! Oh yes, The Casino was on DeKalb between Broadway and Bushwick. I think it may have been used as a HIP center when I was a teen.
Rose
Apollo that was good. I must pass the old Monroe all the time, now I have to go up there and pinpoint 4 Howard. This is just a hobby/habit of mine, Brooklyn, Bed-Stuy , Bushwick History. Besides I can’t help holding on to the past. Can you find out what Dean’s used to be?
Broadway was a booming business area up into the 60’s when drugs ravished the area. There was a huge department store on Broadway near Linden.Do you remember the restaurant right next to the Loews Gates. They grilled hamburgers on an open flame. As we waited on line folks would look over into the grill and drool over the burgers.
A Chinese Restaurant was on the right side and was one of the last to afford you a place to sit and eat. We went to Broadway before we went downtown. Young Folks, Tells, Rainbow, Lerners and my favorite Albert’s Hoisery, a tiny little store next to the Empire that sold women’s stockings in little flat boxes. I had to buy my aunt’s stockings, yep the ones that hooked to the garter belt from there.Although the theaters offered entertainment, the shopping was good. My mom would wave at a guy who worked in Circus Burger which was on the corner of Gates and Broadway right across the street from the The Roosevelt Bank. She said it was her friend and he wanted to be a singer. He hung out in the city with his guitar. It was Richie Havens. One last aside, the columns that rested on the pedestals were sold by a former bank manager. They are somewhere downsouth. The plaque (sp?) that was inside the vestibule that listed the banks founders…gone also the oil portraits of the Roosevelts. That is my bank, famly used since 1942. Now that you all have messed up my head with memories, I’m going up there today. I love this. Oh yeah, the last time my mom and I went to the movies together it was the Loews Gates. It felt so good to be out with her.
Rose
Years ago on the site where McDonald’s is now, there was a large department type store named Deans. I remember it was large and full of cheap stuff but it was slanted going towards the back. It must have been a theater. The entrance was on Broadway. I also think the Monroe may have been demolished. I kind of remember it being on the corner of Howard and Monroe. It was a flea bag movie and I never went in there. That store named Deans was probably the Shubert and it was demolished years ago.
Rose
Apollo, There is a church on Gates Avenue near the corner of Reid and Malcolm X Blvd). My late mother said she used to go there and pay 5 cents to see the movies and watch the serials. That’s not the name that I remember her calling it. You can tell that it was a theater by the staircase.It’s a small building.
Rose
Apollo, I can taste the french fries now and the root beer. That place, across from the Bushwick had the best fries and hamburgers. I saw the Dave Clark Five when their movie Catch Us If You Can opened. it must have been 1964 or 65. I went with my aunt to see all the Jerry Lewis movies and of course the Ten Commandments.
The Bushwick sat vacant for years. It was also used for R&B concerts starring Jackie Wilson, George Clinton and Parliment and Joe Tex. Vandals and druggies killed it’s interior. It fell victim to fire and neglect. I passed this beauty weekly and hoped it would be resuced. I hoped a grant from some foundation would save it. Finally I discovered it was purchased. yes it’s a school. I wonder if the kids realize what really happened on this site. For years the ad promoting vaudeville was visible on the side of the building. In the high school directory it mentions that Mae West played here, maybe even George Burns. What history.
Rose
Dear Bway and Peter-
Happened upon this site. I have lived in Bed-Stuy all my life and as a child went to the RKO Bushwick (saw the Ten Commandments there) and graduated from JHS from the Loews Gates. Before the Bushwick closed it was also the venue for R&B concerts, I saw The Five Stairsteps, Parliment, Joe Tex and Jackie Wilson perform there. By the early 70’s it was on it’s way to becoming a church.
The Gates is currently a church, ironically, if I am not mistaken under the same pastor tha used the Bushwick decades ago.
The Empire I think is now Holy Trinity Church. It used to be a pale pink color, years ago I went inside and flipped when I saw the curtain. It had what appeared to be scenary painted on it from vaudeville days. It is located between Gates and Kosciusko but at the Gates Ave stop, near Quincy Street. The Bushwick had some of it’s elaborate facade changed and was totally rebuilt. It suffered major damage dued to vandalism over it’s many years as a neglected treasue. It is now a high school. I think the Monroe was demolished. I saw this and just had to add my 3 cents.
Rose
I asked my good friend who used to go to the Monroe, it was torn down in the 70’s. There is only a lot there. They used to show 3 movies for a dollar. It’s gone.
Rose
Peter, I’m not sure but I’ll try to find out. Any excuse is good for me to do research.
Rose
Apollo, Keep the name, it fits your personality here. I will make a calendar too, but not now. I want to try it later but you gotta make sure I get a copy becauase I love Brooklyn and old buildings.I have a few postcards, I’m an Ebay person also, but I spend most of my time riding around and checking out buildings. Deans may have been down the rode at one time but it was surely on Broadway and Monroe St too. I used to go there to buy eyeliner and hair products cause I was POOR and that’s the only p;lace I could afford to get my hook up.There was a mean secirty guard whop used to work there. We fought with him because he was always behaving like you just stole something. Is that theater you spoke about on Howard a church now? I think it’s Pleasant Grove. I just attended a wake there a few months ago. Do you guys give tours? I hope so cause I would love to get on a bus or even an intimate one in a car and drive around to look at theaters and other buildings of interest. On DeKalb near Sumner (Marcus Garvey) I saw a tiny building and over the doorway I saw the masks that denote a theater. I freaked and looked around, no one gave a darn and of course they covered them. It must have been a playhouse, I think it may be a Chinese restaurant. Please keep up with the info, it is so exciting. By the way i went to Bushwick HS, I was looking at buildings back then…I mean waaaay back then.
Love ya,
Rose
Before I go I have to tell you all that Mae West is one of my favorites. She also lived on Bushwick Ave. I went to L.A. this summer, yes I’m star struck and I took this trip to pay my respects to Jack Benny, Lucy, Mae West and Laurel and Hardy. I tracked down Mae’s apartment in the Ravenswood Apartments in Hancock Park. I kept thinking about a Brooklyn girl doing her thing back in the days. I plan to visit her in Cypress Hills too! Just a little aside.
Rose
Why thank you, it is my pleasure and passion. As for Jackie Wilson. He was a former boxer nick named “Mr. Excitemnt”, Jackie made women lose their minds. Michael Jackson imitated his moves. Lonely Teardrops and To Be Loved are just 2 of his many hits. I was with my mom at the concert that headlined Jackie. It must have been 1970 or 71. Jackie was a BIG BIG hitmaker, but the “generation gap” caught him and the group Parliment got the attention that night. when Jackie got on stage the audience booed and booed. This was my mother’s favorite and I watched as he grew uncomfortable and appeared shocked at the reception. He finally composed himself and finished the set but it crushed him. A few years later in the middle of his song Lonely Teardrops, he had a heart attack and remained in a coma until 1984, when he passed away. The night the Five Stairsteps played I waited outside the Bushwick so I could get an autograph. They came out the side door on Howard and their father ushered them out and shooed us away like we were vagabonds. Never did get the autograph.
Thanks for making me remember!
Rose
Oh wow… I wondered where Battermans was. I remember shopping on Graham with my aunt and grandma. That’s where our Easter dresses came from and the Moore Street market for household things. Richie Havens family was very close to my mom, his cousin and mh mom were best friends. His father “Uncle Dickie” had a wicked sense of humor. I taught at 57 and 35 for years. I have also worked at 309 but best of all I have lived in the same house in Bed-Stuy all of my life.
Today you guys made me drive up and down Howard. There is no number 4, it’s gone. I thought the Monroe was on the corner and that is where a lot is right now. Exactly across the street from the Bushwick. I couldn’t remember just why I hated the Monroe Theater, it’s probably because of the porno. I never went in there.
As for Bargain Town, my uncle bought his kids toys from Bargain Town. I loved going in there is was full of stuff, one of the early discount department stores. You could buy anything in there from rugs and linoleum to dresses and furniture. I loved to stand on Reid Ave and look down all the way to Broadway and watch the stripes. I finally figured out why the store was so uneven, it was a theater and sometimes I wondered if 2 or more buildings weren’t joined together. The good stuff was on the upper floors. In later years it got sloppy and choppy, the service and merchnadise were kind of shoddy..That’s when it became Buy Rite Now it’s gray, someone told me it was a dorm for college kids, others say it’s a co-op but it’s still good ol' Bargain Town to me. I really enjoy this and thanks so much for sharing! Oh yes, The Casino was on DeKalb between Broadway and Bushwick. I think it may have been used as a HIP center when I was a teen.
Rose
Apollo that was good. I must pass the old Monroe all the time, now I have to go up there and pinpoint 4 Howard. This is just a hobby/habit of mine, Brooklyn, Bed-Stuy , Bushwick History. Besides I can’t help holding on to the past. Can you find out what Dean’s used to be?
Broadway was a booming business area up into the 60’s when drugs ravished the area. There was a huge department store on Broadway near Linden.Do you remember the restaurant right next to the Loews Gates. They grilled hamburgers on an open flame. As we waited on line folks would look over into the grill and drool over the burgers.
A Chinese Restaurant was on the right side and was one of the last to afford you a place to sit and eat. We went to Broadway before we went downtown. Young Folks, Tells, Rainbow, Lerners and my favorite Albert’s Hoisery, a tiny little store next to the Empire that sold women’s stockings in little flat boxes. I had to buy my aunt’s stockings, yep the ones that hooked to the garter belt from there.Although the theaters offered entertainment, the shopping was good. My mom would wave at a guy who worked in Circus Burger which was on the corner of Gates and Broadway right across the street from the The Roosevelt Bank. She said it was her friend and he wanted to be a singer. He hung out in the city with his guitar. It was Richie Havens. One last aside, the columns that rested on the pedestals were sold by a former bank manager. They are somewhere downsouth. The plaque (sp?) that was inside the vestibule that listed the banks founders…gone also the oil portraits of the Roosevelts. That is my bank, famly used since 1942. Now that you all have messed up my head with memories, I’m going up there today. I love this. Oh yeah, the last time my mom and I went to the movies together it was the Loews Gates. It felt so good to be out with her.
Rose
Years ago on the site where McDonald’s is now, there was a large department type store named Deans. I remember it was large and full of cheap stuff but it was slanted going towards the back. It must have been a theater. The entrance was on Broadway. I also think the Monroe may have been demolished. I kind of remember it being on the corner of Howard and Monroe. It was a flea bag movie and I never went in there. That store named Deans was probably the Shubert and it was demolished years ago.
Rose
Apollo, There is a church on Gates Avenue near the corner of Reid and Malcolm X Blvd). My late mother said she used to go there and pay 5 cents to see the movies and watch the serials. That’s not the name that I remember her calling it. You can tell that it was a theater by the staircase.It’s a small building.
Rose
Apollo, I can taste the french fries now and the root beer. That place, across from the Bushwick had the best fries and hamburgers. I saw the Dave Clark Five when their movie Catch Us If You Can opened. it must have been 1964 or 65. I went with my aunt to see all the Jerry Lewis movies and of course the Ten Commandments.
The Bushwick sat vacant for years. It was also used for R&B concerts starring Jackie Wilson, George Clinton and Parliment and Joe Tex. Vandals and druggies killed it’s interior. It fell victim to fire and neglect. I passed this beauty weekly and hoped it would be resuced. I hoped a grant from some foundation would save it. Finally I discovered it was purchased. yes it’s a school. I wonder if the kids realize what really happened on this site. For years the ad promoting vaudeville was visible on the side of the building. In the high school directory it mentions that Mae West played here, maybe even George Burns. What history.
Rose
Dear Bway and Peter-
Happened upon this site. I have lived in Bed-Stuy all my life and as a child went to the RKO Bushwick (saw the Ten Commandments there) and graduated from JHS from the Loews Gates. Before the Bushwick closed it was also the venue for R&B concerts, I saw The Five Stairsteps, Parliment, Joe Tex and Jackie Wilson perform there. By the early 70’s it was on it’s way to becoming a church.
The Gates is currently a church, ironically, if I am not mistaken under the same pastor tha used the Bushwick decades ago.
The Empire I think is now Holy Trinity Church. It used to be a pale pink color, years ago I went inside and flipped when I saw the curtain. It had what appeared to be scenary painted on it from vaudeville days. It is located between Gates and Kosciusko but at the Gates Ave stop, near Quincy Street. The Bushwick had some of it’s elaborate facade changed and was totally rebuilt. It suffered major damage dued to vandalism over it’s many years as a neglected treasue. It is now a high school. I think the Monroe was demolished. I saw this and just had to add my 3 cents.
Rose