Bay Ridge Theatre

after its run as a movie theater, it was home of boxing matches for a short time. it also housed, and my still, a bingo hall in the rear of the building.

Space is now a McDonalds and a two floor gym called EMPIRE GYM.
The second floor of the gym still has the original details from the theatre. I happen to be a member there and it still makes me sad
to look around the place.

What circut(s) had this house?

The Bay Ridge was a Loews location at least during the 40's and 50's

Circa 1927-28, Loew's bought the Bay Ridge from Frank Keeney in a three-theatre deal that also included the downtown Keeney's (re-named Loew's Melba) and the Bedford. If I recall correctly, the Bay Ridge and Bedford were previously owned by William Fox, who sold them to Keeney to raise money for other projects. As a Loew's, the Bay Ridge was subsequent run to the circuit's Alpine in the same neighborhood.

The address for the Bay Ridge Theatre AKA Loew's Bay Ridge is 7120 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.

And it was simply Bay Ridge Theatre, not The Bay Ridge.

The late author Hubert Selby grew up across the street from this theatre and there is a repro of it back them reproduced in the intro. that Selby wrote for a book on tatoos, as he writes about the theatre.

The Bay Ridge along with the Electra were the theatres of my childhood. Funny that ij mentions Hubert "Cubby" Selby in his comment.For those who don't know, Selby was the author of "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and "Requiem For a Dream". Cubby and I along with Gil Sorrentino (another respected author) almost lived in those theatres.
Since it was just up the street from PS-102, I would hit the Bay Ridge 2 or 3 times a week. I remember the day the ticket price went up from a dime to 11 cents...had to run home six blocks to get another penny. Vaudeville night was every Thursday with acts on their way up but mostly on their way down...Lash LaRue and his black whip for example. A beautiful theatre.

Bob Camfiord

In addition to running features following their showings at the Loew's Alpine, the Bay Ridge picked up films after they ran at the RKO Dyker.

This theater is now part of the New York Sports Clubs chain. I work out there 2-3 times a week. The logistics of a health club shoehorned into a theater are tricky, and the dressing room is small, but it's nice. You can see some of the quality plaster work on the walls and ceiling in the weight room.

See
http://www.mysportsclubs.com/schedules/schedule0252.asp

Never saw this building as a movie theater ; remember it as a bingo hall in the 1970s.

A recent photo of the exterior can be seen in "Forgotten Tour 20 of Bay Ridge" at www.forgotten-ny.com The second and third floor frontage has been re-designed since the photo shown in the introduction.

I can post some photos of the interior, later. Look for the link I will post soon.

This theater was built in 1915 clearly as a vaudeville theater as it had a big stage that protruded forward - entirely pointless if only movies were being shown. And 1915 was before the age of the Movie Palaces some of which had travelling stage shows.

WRESTLING took place there in the early 1960's, often televised locally. It became a center for Bingo for many years.

I was a kid when the theater was showing movies: Tom Thumb. The Man From Laramie, Forbidden Planet, Old Yeller, and Samson and Delilah, were a few I recall seeing there. I also could see the flashing lights of the marquee sign from my window.

I will. as I said, post that link for interior photos, subsequently.

BTW, the McDonalds is still there as of today!


>> Architect: Unknown <<

Well, it WAS on the corner in white marble before McDonalds covered it over. It did give the name and "1915". Anyone recall the architect's name on it?

We just lost the nearby Fortway so I feel nostalgic for it.

PHOTOS!

Here is the interior:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=7944849&uid=924030&members=1

Thanks, Zouave: the photos capture some of the spirit.

If I remember correctly, the Salmaggi Opera Company played this theater when I went to Xaverian High School 1957-1961. frankie from Brooklyn

I can believe that this theater was built in 1915. NYC issued a C/O to a New building at this address in March of 1916. It is listed as an 1800 seat theater (C/O does not say motion picture theater). In May of 1928 alterations were performed on this building (new ventilation system) and at that time the owner is listed as Marcus Loew.

Remember going to the Bay Ridge in the early 60s-62 and early 63 with the Cub Scouts. My father who was the activities co ordinator took our troop to see wrestling matches that were held here for a while.Remember it to be a medium size theater and the seats were upholstured in a green fabric that contrasted nicely with the white plaster decor.This theater had a balcony and I remember we sat in the first row for a good view.

Yes, Theaterat, it was a comfortable theater, a small jewel. I never knew that live wrestling occupied the premises in '63, though I still lived in the neighborhood at the time. I believe the last film I caught there was "The Harder They Fall" with Humphrey Bogart in '56. I still have flashbacks of seeing "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "East of Eden" there in '54: at the age of twelve I thought both films boring (er, just who was Jo Van Fleet supposed to be?), but found the photography in each to be stunningly terrific. Most memorably in the late '40s I recall there my first glimpse of the Marx Bros. in a revival of "A Night at the Opera." My sides still hurt from laughing.

Box Office Bill... Good to heasr from you again. Besides the Bay Ridge, wrestling was sometimes held at the Roll- a- Rama{ Ex Stillwell} in the early 60s and another theater on Eastern Parkway, but I`m not sure of its name.

Vodvil, featuring Charlie Chan's favorite son (January, 1947):
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/bayridge.jpg

Ahhh! I had no idea that the Bay Ridge offered Vodvil that late in its history. And with Keye Luke as M.C.--he must have been promoting the upcoming release of his "Dark Delusion," the very last of the Drs. Kildare/Gillespie series, released in Jan. '47. During the war years, he displayed his patriotism in such fims as "The First Yank into Tokyo." Gotta wonder how many jugglers and ventriloquists he introduced, and where, in the Loew's circuit, and how often the stage at the Bay Ridge was lit up for live shows. I fly into NYC on Sat., and if the flight pattern is right (as it sometimes is), I look forward to catching a glimpse of the old neighborhood.

I'm posting nice movie material that are also mostly for sale.
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n94/irajoel/

you can also view my entire inventory at
www.cinemagebooks.com
I have over 5,000 items including many books in non-film such as
gay and lesbian, African American, posters, graphic design, fiction, poetry and much more.
posted by ij on Jul 23, 2006 at 1:52pm

This is a vintage postcard showing the Bay Ridge Theater.

Here is vintage photo of the Bay Ridge Theater.

If you examine them closely, the "vintage postcard" and "vintage photo" are the same image. An artist merely added coloring, some cars, and decorative flourishes for the postcard.

If thats the case, the artist also removed some items. The tree on the right side of the photo, the utility poles and the overhead wires are gone in the postcard view. Alot of work just to make a postcard.

Actually, I believe the entire postcard is an artist rendering, not just the cars, etc.

I, too, attended P.S. 102 down the street, but I lived about half a mile away. The Bay Ridge is fondly remembered as the closest theater to my home. It was great having it show RKO chain films, although a week later, since the RKO Dyker was quite a hike. These usually played Tuesday-Thursday, with the Loew's films on the weekends, a week later than at the Alpine a few blocks away. I believe the last film shown as a Loew's theater was "Baby Doll", so it was 1956. I vaguely remember the opera company, but had left town by the time of the wrestling matches. There had also been attempts at community theater and older films - both generated little interest.

Attention ! The name is not simply: Warren G. Harris, but THE Warren G. Harris. You know how he is about leaving out (or adding) THEs !!!

Frankie, what have I done to deserve your venom now? Please crawl back under the rock where you were hiding!

I'm looking for information on the Trans Art Theater at 4805 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn. It was around in 1940. Perhaps here under another name, or a live theater? Thanks.

Never heard of it. Look in the Yellow pages.

The 1943 Film Daily Year Book has a listing for a 445-seat theatre called the Grand Art at 4805 Third Avenue, Brooklyn. It was listed as "closed" at the time. This was likely an early cinema and might have had other names over the years.

My Uncle was an Usher at the Etude. His boss also owned the Grand. This was in 1915-16. One of his duties was to run reels from the Etude to the Grand.

This was the building in 1968.

It looked pretty run down in 1968 already!
I assume the McDonalds only uses the lobby area. What is the rest of the theater used for? Does any ornamentation inside remain?