Colonial Theater

And here's a link to a current view of the Wayside Baptist Church, once the Colonial Theater....as requested in the Magestic's section.
The theater is right under the Chauncey Street station on the Broadway El.
Colonial Theater Photo

Thank you, Bway ! I'm expecting Warren to add material of his on the Colonial, already posted on pages of the RKO Bushwick and other nearby theatres, on this site.

The Colonial is used as an evangelical church. Much of the interior is still intact, but re-decorated in different colors from the original, which was nothing to get very excited over. It was always just a plain, neighborhood theatre, originally built by the S&S Circuit (Small & Strausberg), which was later acquired by William Fox and eventually spun into the Randforce Circuit. The Colonial was situated at 1746 Broadway and had 2,222 seats, according to the 1944 Film Daily Year Book, which I believe is a bit exaggerated. I would guess 2,000 at most.

posted by Warren on May 12, 2004 at 4:26pm

The roofline of the Colonial Theater at 1746 Broadway, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY is also visible in these images near the vanishing point :

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26237
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26236
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26417

In image 26237 the roofline of the Colonial is visible between the top of the front of the train and the "square head and shoulders" apt. bldgs in the distance. It appears below these two apt. bldgs. in the other two images.

While reading old editions of the Brooklyn Eagle, I've noticed that the Colonial Theatre was always advertised as being in Ridgewood. I wonder why? Perhaps it was on the borderline between Bushwick and Ridgewood, and drew more patronage from Ridgewood?

Warren, thanks for checking the Brooklyn Eagle, and posting a comment on what you've read.

Neighborhood boundaries are vague. A friend of an e-friend of mine lived at Evergreen and Greene Avenues, clearly in Bushwick, until 1969, yet he always referred to where he lived as Ridgewood. The Colonial Theater is on the boundary between the Stuyvesant (33) and East New York (7) postal zones of Brooklyn. I tend to think of it as between the neighborhoods of Bushwick and East New York, or Broadway Junction, not on the Ridgewood-Bushwick border, which, to me, is part of the Brooklyn-Queens border.

I'm not sure where the Colonial drew its patronage from.

I agree. While I am not clear if the Chauncey St station is in Bed-Stuy, Bushwick, or East New York, it's certainly not Ridgewood. As for the Ridgewood-Bushwick border, people generally use the Queens-Brooklyn line as the divider, although I don't know if that is technically correct.

Bway, I will continue to use the Brooklyn-Queens border as tbe Bushwick-Ridgewood border, until someone proves to me I should do otherwise.

I tend to think of Broadway as the boundary between Bushwick to the northeast, and Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, East New York, and Broadway Junction to the southwest, although the 21 Bushwick postal zone extends southwest past Broadway, and the RKO Bushwick theater itself
is on the southwest side of Broadway.

Warren, I seem to recall you posting information about the chronology of the Colonial Theater on a page for another theater, but I can't seem to find it. I would appreciate you posting this info on the Colonial Theater page if you can find it. Thanks.

Warren, the only thing I've read about Bushwick theaters drawing their patronage from Ridgewood, was in an "Our Neighborhood" installment of the Times Newsweekly, about a year ago, which mentioned people in 1951 going to see "Quo Vadis" at Loew's Gates in Bushwick, instead of at the Belvedere on Myrtle Avenue in Glendale.

My father recalls the Colonial's outdoor summer cinema drawing its "patronage" from people watching the films free from the exterior fire escapes of their homes, near the intersection of Rockaway Avenue and Chauncey Street.

Yeah, I always use the Brooklyn line as the Ridgewood-Bushwick border too. I think the whole "confusion" dates back to when Ridgewood was serviced through the Brooklyn Post office, even though in Queens. It's also what allowed (thankfully) Ridgewood to retain many of it's old streetnames in Queens, even though Queens went to the numbering system.

I love your story about the fire escapes and the outdoor Colonial theater. That's so "Old Brooklyn". It's great.
BTW, that reminds me, did you see that lostmemory and I finally solved the mystery of the theater and open air theater at Seneca and Myrtle (where the CTown is now) in the Ridgewood section? It was called the "Evergreen". I was planning to add it to the site, but didn't get the time.

Thanks, Bway, I'll read about the Evergeen on the Ridgewood page of this site.

Glad you liked my fire escape story about the Colonial. Yes, it is so "old Brooklyn", like a Neil Simon play.

Was this the only location of the Colonial Theater? I found a distant relative in the 1918 WW I Draft Registration: Brooklyn, NY, 13 Sep, Division 71, #2334/A 861, 31-9-71-C, Alonzo Addison Turner, Address: 1152 DeKalb, Bklyn, Kings, NY;Asst. Manager, Colonial Theater, 1158 DeKalb Ave, Bklyn, Kings, NY. [Between Broadway & Bushwick Ave.]
He is also listed as a theater manager in the 1920 (living 1152 Dekalb) & 1930 (living 581 Decatur) Kings Co. Census. Name of theater not in census.

I don't know. The one theater I know of between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue on DeKalb Avenue is the DeKalb Theatre, 1153-55 DeKalb Avenue, later re-named the New Casino Theater, new because the original Casino Theater was at Flatbush Avenue and State Street in downtown Bklyn. There is a page for the DeKalb / Casino on this site.

Thank you, Peter K., for the information about the DeKalb/Casino Theater.

You're welcome. Have you checked out the page for it on this site ?

Yes, I have, thank you.
Are you the same Peter Koch who is the local contact for the Grover Cleveland High School Open House being held Sept. 18?
I just now received an e-mail with the name of Peter Koch & a tel. #.
I used to work there, recently retired, and am trying to help spread the word.

No, I am not. I think you have confused me with the Peter J. Koch, known by lostmemory, from Grover Cleveland High School.

The B'way Colonial as it is sometimes referred to opened in 1929 and closed in 1954. The B'way is in reference to Broadway in Brooklyn.

As is the Broadway in my screen name....
Do you know if the theater became a church right after it closed as a theater in 1954, or did it sit empty and abandoned for some years before becoming a church? When did it become a church?

Not to add to the confusion of geography, as a child of
Bushwick during the 60'/70', I always thought that Chauncey
St belonged to either Bushwick or Bed/Stuy.
You guys have great memories, I've always known that bldg
as a church.
Does anyone know when the Colonial finally closed.

I was born on Chauncey Street, between Bushwick Avenue and Broadway, in mid-November 1955.

Chauncey Street's southern end is at Fulton Street in Brooklyn postal zone 33, Stuyvesant. It then runs approximately east northeast from Fulton Street to Broadway, turns to northeast in crossing Broadway, and ends at Central Avenue, three long blocks northeast of Broadway, in Brooklyn postal zone 7, East New York. I have always thought of that end of Chauncey Street as being in Bushwick, even though Bushwick, postal zone 21, is a few blocks away to the northwest.

It is easy to argue neighborhood boundaries and get confused because they are vague. The separate towns that the neighborhoods once were have merged into each other and no longer officially exist. Postal zone boundaries are definite but do not necessarily agree with the common understanding of the boundaries of some neighborhoods, as noted above.

Thanks Peter K., I'm sold on that information.
How long where you in Bushwick and what was your
fondest memories.
I first lived on Schaffer bet. Bushwick and B'way,
then my last years where on Weirfield St Cent/Eveg.
And I moved away in 75' before the urban blight.

You're welcome, Lou Rom. Although I was born in Bushwick, I never really lived there. I lived in Ridgewood, on Cornelia, between Cypress and Wyckoff, from my birth date until September 1991. Up until September 1968 I used the Irving Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, at Irving and Madison, then started using the Ridgewood library. I took walks with my Dad in Irving Square Park until September 1967.

My Dad was born in Bushwick, near Putnam and Howard, and lived first there, then at Evergreen and Moffat, 1070 Decatur, the 700 block of Chauncey Street, on Moffat between Central and Evergreen, and finally 1454 Bushwick between Chauncey and Pilling. Then he got married. For awhile he and my mom lived on Weirfield between Knickerbocker and Wilson, across the street from Irving Square Park. Then they bought their home on Cornelia Street, moved in, and then I was born.

My dad remembers seeing the Karloff "Frankenstein" at the Colonial as a boy of 12 when it first came out.

When I hear Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" I get this feeling of being safe in my dad's parents' home, either 1454 Bushwick or the 700 block of Chauncey Street.

I still enjoy riding the 14th Street Canarsie Line between Halsey St. and Bway Junction and looking out over Bushwick and the cemeteries. My mother's parents are buried in Most Holy Trinity Cemetery.

Do you consider the urban blight to be the arson and looting that started during the July 13 1977 blackout or sometime before that ?

Thanks for your memories Peter, some of those neighborhoods bring
back good memories. I remember a church on Pilling St. between
Broadway and Bushwick, I think it was catholic.
I would say that the blight began somewhat in the early 70's.
The neglect was shaping in, many of the businesses that began
around the 50's and 60' where shutting down and of course the
"white flight" was ending its exodus (not trying to be facetious).
By then it was all black and hispanic. I moved to East Flatbush
in 75' then Midwood in the 80' where I remembered the Kingsway
.In the 90's Upper Ridgewood, Carmel, NY and now temporary in
Williamsburgh, where I found what used to be a theatre off Broadway
and Havemeyer called the Aster.
After the blackout in 77, Bushwick went downhill for about 20 years.
It is now resurging with new homes, yuppies and immigrants.

Lou, that church you are talking about is I believe "Our Lady of Lourdes" RC Church. According to something Peter read, he said that the church was torn down because of some kind of "interference" with planes or something. It sounds ridiculous, but then again, anything is possible. What a shame.
Yes, Bushwick is finally "coming back". There is lots of life being pumped back in to that neighborhood. I believe Bedford-Stuyvesant is a little further along in "gentrification", however, Bushwick isn't far behind it. Both areas really are stating to look quite sharp campared to what they were like in the 70's and 80's. They still have a ways to go, but there is a very bright light at the end of the tunnel....finally.

Yes, Our Lady Of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church was on Aberdeen Street between Bushwick Avenue and Broadway. The idea of it being demolished because of interfering with low flying airplanes was my father's idea, and his memory is, to say the least, not the greatest.
I think a more likely reason was the decline of the neighborhood.

Lou Rom, you're most welcome to my memories.

Thanks gentlemen for your responses, I guess it explains
the 1969 baptism of my cousin Lourdes in that church.
Her godparents lived right across the street from it.

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET IN TOUCH WITH
PETER K. WITH NO RESULTS, WILL RESPOND TO ANYONE
AT THIS SITE, IM AN OLD GUY WHO LIVED ON MOFFAT ST.
BETWEEN BUSHWICK & BROADWAY IN THE 40S. WILL BE HAPPY
TO SHARE ANYTHING I CAN REMEMBER ABOUT THIS AREA.
rjc69e@nycap.rr.com

bobbyboy, here is a private e-mail I just sent to you :

Small world !

I just saw your comment on the former Colonial Theater on Cinema Treasures.

How "old" are you ? I'm 49, and my dad is 85.

My father lived on Moffat between Bway and Bushwick in the 1930's. His and my last name
is Koch. Across the street lived my dad's best boyhood friend, Vincent Ferro.

Here is a bit about my family and myself that I posted on the Halsey Theater page earlier today :
I was born in Evangelical Deaconess Hospital, which used to stand at the northern corner of Bway and Chauncey, in mid-November 1955. I lived in Ridgewood, on Cornelia between Cypress and Wyckoff, but my family and I knew Bushwick well.

My dad was born in October 1919, at the old Bushwick Hospital, which used to stand at Putnam and Howard Aves. His parents lived at 1044 Putnam Avenue at the time. He lived at six to a dozen addresses in Bushwick, the last one as a single man, 1454 Bushwick, between Chauncey and Pilling. My parents lived on Weirfield between Knickerbocker and Wilson, across the street from Irving Square Park, before I was born, and before they moved to Ridgewood.

My mom was born at 412 Harman St. My parents met at the Knights of Columbus at Bushwick and Hart.

Was Kelso's Gym in "The Honeymooners" based on any real place in Bushwick ?

My dad remembers, among many places, Joe's Barber Shop at Bway and Pilling, and Night In The Sky Chinese Restaurant, at the eastern corner of Bway and Cooper, by the stairs to the Chauncey St. el station. His boyhood church was Grace Lutheran on Covert between Bway and Bushwick.

Please respond to this e-mail. Thank you.

Hey, guys: I stumbled across your website quite by accident and it brought back many memories. There’s so much more I could tell you than I have time to go into right now, but in brief: I lived from shortly after birth in 1952 till 1959 on MacDougal St. near Broadway, and from ’59 til 1971 on Bushwick Ave. between Furman Ave. and Granite Street. I went to the Colonial Theater many times but I don’t remember many movies I saw there besides “Ben-Hur.” I saw some other posts about the RKO Bushwick and Loew’s Gates, which I also attended many times (we always walked – took 20-30 minutes). Movies then cost 50 cents for kids, and there was nothing you couldn’t see – no ratings, and no need for them. To answer a couple of questions: I attended Our Lady of Lourdes church and school, and it closed because of neither the neighborhood’s decline nor low-flying planes. The neighborhood started going into decline in the mid ’60s, long before the ’77 blackout. (On the night of the ’65 blackout, when I was 12, my friend and I went into the street with flashlights to guide traffic.) Lourdes was a huge, magnificent Gothic church known to everyone for miles around. Jackie Gleason did live on Chauncey Street but not at 328; he lived near the public library’s Saratoga branch, and attended public school but took Catholic instruction at Lourdes. The church had a $10,000 gold monstrance, a vessel used in some services, that was paid for through the donations of parishioners’ gold and jewelry, which were melted down to create it. It was once stolen, and the word went out that the local Mafiosi had vowed to find the thief. (The young John Gotti lived in and terrorized the neighborhood.) A day later a priest found the vessel sitting on the church steps when he opened up in the morning. As the neighborhood declined more thefts took place, including, incredibly, that of a life-size bronze statue of St. Peter seated on the papal throne, modeled after the Vatican’s, that weighed thousands of pounds. It was cut into pieces at night in the church and carried out. Around 1975 arsonists burned the church. A day or two before it was demolished, I walked with the pastor through the still-smoking ruins and we reminisced. The services were moved a block away to the garage of a former Chevrolet dealer. Other famous people who lived or worked in the neighborhood were the actor Vince Edwards (“Ben Casey”) and cops Frank Serpico and Eddie Egan (“The French Connection”). The neighborhood went all the way downhill but has become gentrified, especially out toward Williamsburgh. I’m told that houses like the one I lived in, which my parents sold for $50,000, now command 10 to 15 times that amount. It’s doubtful we could have lived there that long. Oh, well, hope you enjoyed reading this.

Joe, thanks so much for sharing all your memories!
Yes, while the neighborhood still has quite a way to go, it is improving quite nicely. It's night and day from just 5 years ago. Who knows what is in store for the next 10+ years. The neighborhood finally has a light at the end of the long dark tunnel it was in.
It's a shame that arsonists destroyed such a beautiful building, as the Our Lady of Lourdes church..

Yes, thank you Joe G for this wealth of information !

The last of my family left that part of Bushwick between 1955 and 1960, when my dad's parents and sister moved from 1454 Bushwick Avenue between Chauncey and Pilling Sts. to 169 Chestnut Street in Cypress Hills.

Where was that Saratoga Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library ?

The address on Jackie Gleason's mother's death certificate, so far as I know, was either 357 or 358 Chauncey Street, which is near the corner of Howard Avenue, the north-south avenue between Ralph and Saratoga Avenues.

I had estimated that Lourdes burned sometime between 1972 and 1976, based on photos with it and without it in the background from the nycsubway.org website.

Peter, the Saratoga Branch, a Carnegie library, is on Hopkinson Avenue, also now called Thomas S. Boyland St., right off Broadway (Saratoga Avenue is actually a block away). It is still there and in use since 1908, one of the city's smallest and poorest in one of its poorest neighborhoods, but it gave a kid from a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn a wealth of information and instilled in me the love of the library that I retain today, and will always have. P.S. I lived at 1501 Bushwick Ave. A couple of years ago I came across some sort of ironworking company way out in Connecticut, near Hartford or somewhere, called the Bushwick Iron Co. or something. Turns out they had been located in Bushwick decades earlier, moved but kept the name.

Thank you, Joe G. for this information.

In August 1995 I came across a Bickford's restaurant in Norwalk, Connecticut, more than twenty years after they closed in NYC.

About a year ago, I saw an ad on TV for a Triangle Hofbrau Restaurant in Pequannock, NJ. I wonder if this is the relocated Triangle Hofbrau Restaurant from Richmond Hill, Queens.

My home libraries were the Irving Branch at Irving and Woodbine next to Bushwick H.S. until Sept. 1968, and then the Ridgewood library at 20-12 Madison St. between Fairview and Forest Avenues.

The Crane Plumbing Co., for which my dad's Uncle Jimmy worked, kept its name when it moved from Bushwick to Hempstead, L.I.

I grew up at 488 Chauncey Street (between Rockaway and Hopkinson) in Brooklyn during the 40s and 50's and spent many Saturdays at the Colonial Theater watching double features, a cartoon, and a Superman or some other superhero serial for 14 cents. They also used to give dishes on Tuesday nights to all patrons. It was a somewhat "upscale" neighborhood theater, much superior to the Decatur, further along on Broadway which showed triple features! My friend Pete L who steered me to this site recalls seeing Marlon Brando in "Streetcar named Desire" at the Colonial and being blown away by it.

Fred M

Joe G, Fred M, and anyone else interested in sharing memories of Bushwick with other former or current Bushwick residents, please contact Eleanor Phillips of the Bushwick Buddies website at :

Eleanorctr@aol.com

I have one particular memory of the Colonial Theater. During the Early Fifties I had a newspaper route for the Long Island Press. My route, which was maintained on foot, was Chauncey, Bainbridge and Marion streets between Broadway and Ralph Avenues. Even at a very early age I was a very responsible person. One day I came down with a bad case of the flu and was worried about the delivery of the press to my customers. My dad volunteered to pick up the papers and deliver them for me providing I supply him with a list of my customers. I did, and assumed that they all received their papers on time. Wrong! When I finally went back to delivering the papers I was greeted with a slew of complaints of not receiving the newspaper on the day I was sick. I could not understand what happened. Well, on the backside of the Colonial Theater was a two story fire escape with a stairway leading up from the street. It was a rather windy day. I'd noticed some newspaper flying down from the top of the stairs. They were copies of the Long Island Press! When I climbed the stairs, much to my dismay, were about a hundred copied of the Press dumped on the second level of the fire escape. Needless to say, my dad didn't make the delivery and life continued on without any great loss to anyone.

FRED M.; I lived at 130 Saratoga Avenue between Bainbridge and Chauncey in the late 30's until 1954. We used to play basketball at Marion Street playground, some of the players at that time were Tommy Dawson,Jimmy Cassidy, Tommy Tilson, Billy Schmidt among others.I used to go to the Decatur Street theatre and Colonial theatre as well. I played for Our Lady of Lourdes Columbian Squires basketball team and was coached by a Mr. Ward.Any recollections you may have would be appreciated. regards bob a.

I remember that on the corners of Rockaway Ave and Broadway was the Starbright Diner and next to it was the first Chinese restaurant I'd ever seen. This would be around 1948 or so. The Chinese restaurant, who'se name I cannot recall, was a one story walkup. The first super market opened across from the Starbright diner. It was called Einhorn's and was the prototype of super markets to come. Under the Broadway el was a newspaper stand that was operated by a husband and wife, both of whom were deaf and dumb. Across Broadway was a cigar store, I think it was called Philadelphia Phillie. Next to the Colonial theater was a candy store. On summer evenings crowds would mill about waiting for the newspaper delivery of the first editions of the Daily News and Daily Mirror.

Peter, I came along later, in the '60s, but I remember Einhorn's, which I believe later became Key Food. There was also a great little Italian pastry shop there. And I remember the newspaper stand with the deaf-mute couple. The woman used to try to communicate with my mother; she always would have a big, warm smile even though she couldn't speak. Fred M., I went to Lourdes, again, later, late '50s to mid '60s. I wrote some stuff about it that is posted up above.

Joe G., good having you back. My father remembers the Night In The Sky / New Eastern Chinese Restaurant, from around 1929 or so, at the eastern corner of Bway and Cooper, third floor.

It's a red and white striped building now. Bway can provide a link to a photo, if he hasn't, already.

I was last there Saturday Aug 6 2005, about 3 p.m. Just as I was getting off the Manhattan-bound Bway el at Chauncey Street station, Westminster Chimes type bell sounds were coming out of the loudspeaker atop the roof of the Wayside Baptist Church, formerly the Colonial Theater. I then exited down to the street at the eastern corner of Bway and Cooper, next to the former Night In The Sky / New Eastern Chinese Restaurant.

Does anyone remember the name of the club on Bushwick Avenue that had the animated piano player above the entrance awning way? Also there was an infamous hotel called the Hotel Bushwick which was alleged to be a house of ill repute. It was a small building off of Broadway. Anyone have any stories of information on that. This would have been back in the early Fifties.

In response to Boob or Bob A. who has got to be Bob (Inky)Atwell and who talks of playing basketball in Marion St. Park a couple of blocks from the Colonial Theatre with Tommy Tilson, Tom dawson, Bill Schmitt and jim Cassidy: You also played with me, Bill Proefriedt.Incidentally Jim Cassidy passed away when he was only 50. And you had a great left-handed lay-up. Billpro2@att.net
I went to the Colonial Theatre often and to the lowly Decatur a few blocks down Broadway. That was a great neighborhood to grow up in and tomorrow I am going to see friends who grew up there, Gary Kelly from Chauncey St. and Ray Staib, now 82, who lived at several addresses but entertained us all at McLauglin's bar which was almost right across B'dway from the Colonial. BillP

Peter L. I remember the Abar very well but not the name. I remember when it worked and the mechanical piano player played and flopped around on the canopy, and then for years it didn't work. I was near that neighborhood, around Grand St., the other week. It's changed a lot, and I'm happy to say for the better, though I couldn't afford to live there now. And Bill P., another bar near the Colonial was Bob Grim's. He was a Yankees pitcher and he was in there all the time after he retired. I remember him. I was just a little kid, about 4 years old, and my father used to take me in there and sit me on a bar stool or the pool table. The priests from Our Lady of Lourdes used to drink in there too.

Joe G. Yes, Grim's bar was on the corner of Sumpter and B'dway, a couple of blocks down from the Colonial, It was owned by Bob Grim's father who had previously owned a little diner further up B'dway toward where it turned into Jamaica Avenue. Anton Grim, another son was a fireman for many years and is now retired. He showed up at a parish reunion not too long ago. Before Grim's was Grim's it was named O'Connor's. Sperling's meat market was right near it on Sumpter St. Across B'dway from Grim's was Ryan's, owned by Eddie Ryan. McLaughlin's, like the Colonial, is now a church or was the last time I drove past. Pat Hogan was a long time bartender there. All of this the signs of a misspent youth. Billp

Does anyone know of any current or historic phtoos of the interior of the Colonial?

Jack S. My dad, Irving was the projectionist in the Colonial theater until its closing. He loved his job. He never once said he was going to work. He always said, "I'm going to the movies." My friends and I got in free every Saturday. My dad would go to the candy stand lady and get us free popcorn. We went up to the balconey and chucked jubies down on the kids below. When the usher told us that the balconey was closed, we politely informed him that we were there with Mr. S. He always left us alone. Boy, did we feel important. I hated climbing up the swirling staircase to the projection booth.
I remember the kids yelling that there was no color when the Wizard of Oz started. I felt bad for my dad with all the yelling, however once Judy Garland opened the door in Oz, everyone quieted down. I visited there in 2004 and the Reverend was quite hospitable. He let me go up those dreaded stairs into the projection booth where I said a few prayers. It brought back tears and thoughts of happier and innocent times.
Please r.s.v.p. if anyone has any photo of the Colonial Theater.

Jack S. My dad, Irving was the projectionist in the Colonial theater until its closing. He loved his job. He never once said he was going to work. He always said, "I'm going to the movies." My friends and I got in free every Saturday. My dad would go to the candy stand lady and get us free popcorn. We went up to the balconey and chucked jubies down on the kids below. When the usher told us that the balconey was closed, we politely informed him that we were there with Mr. S. He always left us alone. Boy, did we feel important. I hated climbing up the swirling staircase to the projection booth.
I remember the kids yelling that there was no color when the Wizard of Oz started. I felt bad for my dad with all the yelling, however once Judy Garland opened the door in Oz, everyone quieted down. I visited there in 2004 and the Reverend was quite hospitable. He let me go up those dreaded stairs into the projection booth where I said a few prayers. It brought back tears and thoughts of happier and innocent times.
Please r.s.v.p. if anyone has any photo of the Colonial Theater.

Here's an ad from May 27, 1922, advising that the Colonial's outdoor facility was "open every evening, weather permitting." I'm confused by the claim that "Patrons may see the same performance, either indoors or outdoors." I suspect that in fair weather, the indoor auditorium was closed down for the night, and used only for daytime showings...And whatever became of Desacia Mooers, advertised as "America's Most Beautiful Blonde?":
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/colonial22.jpg

Perhaps Selena Royle and Nova Pilbeam would know.

I won't go into the udderly bovine implications of a last name like "Mooers".

I'll leave it to Fast Eddie.

Hilariously, Mooers' film, "Blonde Vampire," is listed at a website devoted to horror movies! It is nothing of the kind. "Vampire" was and still is the word for an unscrupulous woman who uses her sexuality to exploit men. The most famous screen "vamp" of all was Theda Bara. Mooers was one of her many rivals in that type of character.

So that's why the lady is a vamp !

The Colonial Theater wasn't the only theater that we who lived in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn catered to. There was the "Decatur" where you could see a double feature, serial and cartoons for 15 cents. It wasn't cleanest theater but it was fun to go there anyway. We had the RKO Bushwick, Loews Gates, Monroe and the Alhambra theaters. Every once in a while they would have 8 act of vaudeville at the Gates. Those were fun times.

The Colonial I feel was the one theater every body escaped to especially on those hot summer days. The managers and matrons (not called ushers) would basically manage the theater. They would know most of us who lived near by by name. Theaters today don't have that feel anymore.

Are there any theaters that have a cafe for food and drink?

Roy

Peter and Fred:

I just read most of the comments and realized that you were from the same neighborhood. I live on Cooper Street from 1948 to 1956. Went to PS 113, JHS 73 and then to Boy's High. I forget the Precinct number but remember being a part of the PAL boxing. My second home during the summer were the Cypress swimming pool and all the movies...Colonial, Decatur, Monroe, RKO Bushwick and the Loew's Gates. Sometimes to the Loew's Valencia, Merrick, Savoy and the RKO Alden in Jamacia. We sure made the best with very little. Good times! Tough times!

Roy the 3 sewer king!

Roy,
The precinct was the 81st. There were a few cops who worked in it or in neighboring precincts who went on to achieve some small amount of fame: Frank Serpico, Eddie Egan (of "The French Connection") and Dave Greenberg and Robert Hantz, who were known as Batman and Robin and the Supercops. All had movies made about them. I lived in the neighborhood at the various times all were working there, late 50s to early 70s, when the drugs and crime were astounding.

Roy,
The only cop I remember from the 81st. Precinct was an older guy, close to retirement, that could hardly walk. I remember the kids would tease him and rile him up. Flat Al - the name we coined for him - would have a lot of trouble trying to chase us as he cursed and wheezed trying to come after us heckling brats. By the way, Roy. Your last name is not LaPerra by chance? I remember someone that had that last name. Also, on Cooper street was a friend of mine named, Jerry Salata. Does that ring any bells?

I wonder if anyone remembers the stickball bat place on Stone Avenue just off Broadway. Actually, it was a broom factory. However, they would sell us the stick portion, which came in two tones, for twenty cents. Not too far from that was a pickle factory where I used to pay five cents for a giant sour pickle picked fresh from a barrel, which I'd munch on my way to Our Lady of Lourdes,

Pete and Joe,
You guys are really brining back the memories. Pickles! We used to buy those sour pickles instead of candy when we went to the Colonial. I'm trying to remember the Cooper Street gang...Charlie Bolton, Frankie Spataro, Bobby "Fatso" Green, the D'Angelo brothers, Dom Andretto. I seem to not remember the other names. We were mostly Irish/Italian in those days. Old Smith's candy store. The Wilson Avenue trolley! The name Jerry rings a bell, but don't recall the last name. How about the Chinese restaurant that opened on Broadway. The Chinese laundry on Chauncey Street with the big German Shepard.. The "Jolly Boys!" Peg pants with saddle stitching and pistol pockets (1950-52 period). Bohacks on Broadway. There was a restaurant on Broadway and Halsey. Can't remember the name. The coffee shop on Broadway and Rockaway. Highland Park. "Mrs. Beanbelly" with her fictitious BB gun lived near the hill where the Carnarsie line would go into the tunnel. Indiam Bridge, The Granite Street gang. Was a victim of their actions about three times. Bruises and all. Good times! Hurray for ther Colonial!

Jack S. My dad, Irving was the projectionist in the Colonial theater until its closing. He loved his job. He never once said he was going to work. He always said, "I'm going to the movies." My friends and I got in free every Saturday. My dad would go to the candy stand lady and get us free popcorn. We went up to the balconey and chucked jubies down on the kids below. When the usher told us that the balconey was closed, we politely informed him that we were there with Mr. S. He always left us alone. Boy, did we feel important. I hated climbing up the swirling staircase to the projection booth.
I remember the kids yelling that there was no color when the Wizard of Oz started. I felt bad for my dad with all the yelling, however once Judy Garland opened the door in Oz, everyone quieted down. I visited there in 2004 and the Reverend was quite hospitable. He let me go up those dreaded stairs into the projection booth where I said a few prayers. It brought back tears and thoughts of happier and innocent times.
Please r.s.v.p. if anyone has any photo of the Colonial Theater.

Hey Roy,

You mentioned Beanbelly and I remember how scared we were to venture anywheres near that area. It prompted me to write a short story about it. While the story is part fictitious and partly true it was a lot of fun doing it. Anyway, here is the link to it:

http://members.aol.com/plabstory/randv.html#beanbelly

The introduction says that the Colonial "once stood" on Broadway. As far as I know the building still stands, though used as a church instead of a theatre.

Guys,
This is great stuff. Peter. I went to Our Lady of Lourdes, where Jackie Gleason, a public school student, took his religious instruction. I remember the stickball bat (broom) factory very well. I lived a block or so away on MacDougal Street, and got many bats from there. Former Yankee pitcher Bob Grim’s bar was there too; I wrote about that here sometime back.

Roy, I remember some of the stuff you mentioned, like Bohacks, and Terrana Pastry on Broadway and Rockaway, the cannolis, mmm, fuhgeddabout it. The pizzeria on Broadway near the Saratoga Avenue Library, where for 15 cents you got the biggest and best slice you ever ate. Highland Park, of course, the thrill of riding my bike at amazing speed down its long hill, and later, the lovers lane. I took my son over there to see it the other week; he’s the same age now that I was then, some 40 years ago. And "Mrs. Beanbelly." I don’t remember The Granite Street gang, even though I lived on Bushwick Avenue between Furman Avenue and Granite Street. But I’ll tell you a good story.

At Lourdes, we and the neighborhood lived in fear of two neighborhood gangs, holdovers from the gang heyday of the ‘50s: the F&R and the R&R, the Fulton and Rockaway Gang and the Railroad Boys. They were named, respectively, for the street corner and the local railroad tracks in East New York where they hung out. The mere mention of their names sent shivers of fear through the neighborhood, and a rumor whispered through Lourdes – “the F&R is comin’!” – sent everyone running home and emptied the streets. (“F&R,” of course, was also a play on “F*ckin’ R.”) Mind you, I never actually saw either gang, although a tough kid in my eighth-grade class who periodically shook down and beat up anybody in his way was rumored to be an upcoming member. As I said, the mere mention of their name was enough to send everyone scurrying. It sort of got to the status of an urban legend, but one that no one wanted to try to prove or disprove. I never heard anything about them after I moved away. Until a couple of years ago. When John Gotti died, his long obituary in the NY Times, which I don’t have a copy of at hand and which was written by a famous crime reporter, went into a lot of biographical detail. It mentioned how when he was growing up in Brooklyn, he got his start in crime with a local outfit called the Fulton and Rockaway Gang. So the legend proved to be true, and we survived the reign of terror of one of NY’s most notorious criminals. It would be interesting if it turned out that somewhere along the way, Serpico or those other guys busted him for some minor offense on his way to a stellar career in crime.

Joe G.
I grew up on Cooper Street from 1948 to 1956, eight years of an education that you could never learn in school. My children laugh when I tell them some of the stories, good and bad, that my brother and I endured. I remember how long it took to get to Boy's High School...taking 2 trains, walking 8 blocks and getting there by 7:40 for the first bell. The walk we had to JHS 73 and sometimes coming home for lunch or eating at the sandwich shop adjacent to JHS 73. The Wilson Avenue trolley going to Canarsie which ran every 20 minutes. Some of the guys would jump on the back for a joy ride or detach the circuit pole. Playing stoop ball...Ring-a-leaveio, Johnny on a pony...making linoleum guns out of the corner of fruit crates.

Roller-skating all over the place with our Chicago’s. Bike riding through the whole neighbor hood…going a far a Forest Park. Playing in the used cars that were sold on the corner of Cooper and Bushwick. Having my first job at Einhorn’s on Broadway as a carriage boy then promoted to the Dairy Department. Going crabbing on the Canarsie pier. Taking the Wilson Avenue trolley straight there. Crab cages and all. `Fun times!

I just remembered the restaurant near the RKO Bushwick. It was called "Wimpy's" with a big cartoon of Popeye's Wimpy.

And Wimpy's specialty was hamburgers, leroyelliston ? In Great Britain, a hamburger stand is known as a "Wimpy Bar".

Thanks for posting all your memories of growing up on Cooper Street.

I walked on Cooper Street from Bway to Bushwick on Saturday August 6, 2005, (the bells of the Wayside Baptist Church within the former Colonial Theater were just chiming 3 pm as I stepped off the Manhattan bound el train at the Chauncey St station) thence southeast on Bushwick, past St. Thomas Methodist-Episcopal Church, former old age home (1420 Bushwick Avenue, now the Bushwick Health Center, curved staircases still in front) 1454 Bushwick Avenue, my dad's last address as a single man, before he wed my mom in 1945, thence to the Bushwick Avenue gate of Evergreen Cemetery for a shortcut through the cemetery to Ridgewood and the Cozy Corner.

Didn't walk down to Bway and Chauncey, to the remaining bldg. of the hospital (Evangelical Deaconess) I was born in. Have seen pictures of it, though.

Peter, where do you come out of Evergreen Cemetery when you walk in at Bushwick Ave? Cooper?

Yes, if memory serves me - it was Cooper Street. Another trivia fact about Evergreen Cemetery is that Bill - bojangles - Robinson is buried there with a small monument

Peter, Roy and all,
Again, great stuff, quite a trip in the wayback machine. Linoleum guns – haha, made plenty of those. Called them carpet guns. Those suckers hurt when you got hit with them, too, THWACK! off your head. And soapbox racers, made with wooden crates, a 2x4 and roller skate wheels. Evergreen Cemetery – it’s actually one of 14 that are adjoined and stretch as far away as Forest Park. Some famous people are buried in them, including Harry Houdini. My house overlooked Evergreen and people always said they’d be too afraid, it’s too morbid, but I said why? It’s quiet and peaceful and nobody dead is going to hurt you, only the living. Evangelical Deaconess hospital was a few blocks down the street from where I lived. The NY Times had a 30th anniversary story about the blackout and looting in Bushwick on the night of July 13, 1977, and another recent story about homes and rentals and artists there. (Apparently, “East Williamsburg” is now the preferred term to lure hipsters who might be scared off by the real name’s negative connotations.) It said a three-bedroom apartment at Bushwick Avenue and Pilling Street, which was just two blocks from my house, now goes for $1,600. I also spoke to a guy from that neighborhood not long ago and he said a three-family house house like the one I grew up in now goes for about $800,000. I can’t possibly imagine these prices for this area, as my parents sold ours in 1971 for $50,000 and we were lucky to get that, and get out alive. We moved when my mother got mugged on Thanksgiving eve when she went to buy groceries at Key Food, which was the former Einhorn’s you spoke of. She still lives now in Canarsie. A couple of years ago I was out there on the pier and a guy fishing reeled in a small shark, probably a sand shark, thrashing and snarling and pissed off as hell. He had to wait for it to wear itself out before he could even pick it up.
On a whim, I just Googled my old address and actually saw a street level photo of the house I grew up in, like I was standing right in front of it. Try it, you may find your house too!

Fantastic memories

Thanks, Joe G. Where was the Key Food that your mom was mugged when she went to it ? Thanksgiving Eve, what year ? Thanks in advance for your answer. My parents and I had similar fears living in Ridgewood, but our home there was only sold after my father had entered a nursing home, and my mother had died : ten years ago today, in fact.

I, too, cannot belive the rents and prices that are now being asked for apts. and homes in Bushwick. I wonder who is buying and renting at such prices ?

Key Food was on Broadway, right under the Jamaica line train at Cooper Street. T'giving eve 1970. A sad anniversary, 10 years. Tomorrow, July 17, is the 100th anniversary of my father's birth (he died in '81). I don't know who can afford the prices in Bushwick, but as I said, there are a lot of artists and hipsters who buy and rent and basically put everything they can afford into it. Also a lot of immigrants, who scrape together all their money and relatives, work 7 days a week and can afford the American dream.

Unfortunately, the prices in Bushwick are "cheap" compared to many other parts of the city, so that's why it's becoming a hot market. That and it's proximity to transportation, with both the L and J/M lines running right through Bushwick. It's basically been a movement along the Canarsie line. It began in the East Village in Manhattan, crossed over the East River into Williamsburg and Greenpoint, and now is progressing into Bushwick, and probably Ridgewood.

Thanks, Joe G and Bway. Bway, the movement along the Canarsie line you've described as going on now, reads like history of a century ago repeating itself. You may want to look at the latest "Our Neighborhood" article in the Times Newsweekly. In it, a Mrs. Bollmann Ognibene reminisces about how her parents came from "kleine Deutschland" (little Germany) on the Lower East Side to Ridgewood in 1904.

Personally, I wonder where in Ridgewood, in 1904, as it was mostly undeveloped then. She reminisces further about attending PS 88 at Catalpa and Fresh Pond.

Here's the link to the aforementioned article :

http://www.timesnewsweekly.com/NewFiles/OURNEIGH.html

Excuse me, 1905, not 1904.

Hello everyone.
Anyone for a game of hot peas and butter?
I found this site a couple of years ago but never posted.
Every once in a while I check it and I was surprised that the posts from 2007
hit so close to home. I think I must have known some of the people who posted here, so I had to put my two cents in.
The reason I checked the site today was I was trimming my mustache today and noticed an old, fading, barely visible scar on my lower lip. Something deep in the past gnawed at me for a few minutes. Then suddenly I remembered. "Labesky's" I said out loud. I looked around and was happy no one was around least I be accused of talking to myself.
I may not have the spelling right but Labesky's was the candy store on the north side of Broadway right at the entrance to the Manhattan bound L train
in Bushwick at Chauncy street. I received the cut on my lip from one of the penny candies I bought there. Does anyone remember the little pie plate filled with some kind of flavored sugar that came with a little metal spoon. It was that spoon that delivered the cut. Well the spoon had an edge on it like a Gillette blade.
It would never passed the consumer protection agency today.

He had a cigar box on the news stand. People would put the money in it and grab a paper.It was an honor system and nobody cheated.
The money wouldn't last two seconds today.

My name is Bill Rohan. I lived at 39 Granite street from 1956 thru 1964.
I went to school at Our Lady of Lourdes from first thru seventh grade until we moved to Queens when we kept getting beaten up on the way to school by those
"public school kids". I remember so clearly many of the places mentioned here.
No one mentioned Labesky's. It was our favorite place. It had about ten million kinds of penny candy and an endless supply of pennsy pinkys, waxed teeth and the large sticks of chalk we used to crush up in a sock to hit others with on Halloween. I was an altar boy and a member of the granite street gang. But
worse thing I remember doing as a gang member is losing a stick ball game to the Chauncey street kids. We had an agreement that no one past the sixth grade
could play. The only reason the Chauncey st kids won was they had a kid who was about 19 but had a room temperature IQ and was in the sixth grade. He hit the L train tracks five times for automatic home runs. We called " Hindu" but it was disallowed. We finished the game under protest. The commissioner hasn't ruled to this day.
I bought so many stickball bats at the broom factory they offered me a job.
I still get heartburn from those pickles. You would give the guy a nickel and you would submerge your arm up to the arm pit into the great big wooden barrel
and try to fish out the biggest pickle you could wrap your hand around. We would lick the juice off our arms before biting into that juicy treat. Not very sanitary. Another practice the health dept would never permit nowadays.Evey time I buy a pickle at the supermarket out of the sterile plastic bin with the tongs and put it in the clean neat plastic bag I think about those pickles.
Nothing tasted as good, and probably never will.
I remember:
the test of manhood that climbing up the fence at the end of Granite St.to Beanbelly hill was.
In the summer a horse drawn wagon selling watermelon. The black man driving the wagon singing out in a rich, deep, baritone voice "WAR-TEE- MELL-OOOOO".It said "Sweet as Honey, Red as Fire" on the side of the wagon.
The Good Humor man and the Bungalow Bar man almost coming to blows over who's time it was to be on the block.
Kicking on the street lights
Weinsteins grocery and Portelli's deli on B'way between Granite and Furman. Henery Portelli was in my class.
Old man Weinstein would take out a note book to keep track of your family's tab. He would add up the order on the paper bag and was more accurate than a Texas Instrument calculator. Every payday it was my fathers first stop to pay off the weekly food bill. Everyone in the neighborhood owed Weinstein.

Flipping base ball cards in the school yard. Who knew baseball card collecting was to become so big. I know for sure if I had all my cards from back then I would be a millionaire.
I could write a book on the forth of July in Bushwick.

We would get chances to sell for the school. I would sell them in Grimm's bar.

I was fortunate enough to raise my kids in a nice semi rural area in upstate NY. Like most parents I sometimes catch myself telling my kids how lucky they are to be brought up in a nice safe place. But then I think maybe I was the lucky one. I'd love to hear from anyone with the same sweet memories.
Bill Rohan

posted by pennsy pinky on Aug 7, 2007 at 10:10pm

Hey Bill,

I want to guess that the stickball player with the low IQ on Chauncey Street was none other that Artie Kopp. He was also a hustler that would bet on the games.Sometimes as much as fifty cents a man. Also, does anyone remember the two great bakeries on Broadway, Gills and Schmearman's (forgive the spelling). Schmearmans was noted for their fabulous cream crumb cake. I also worked for Frank Cannino (The Veteran Italian Grocery Store) located on Chauncey and Rockaway aves. He too was a wizard at adding up tabs on the grocery bag without any errors.

Welcome Peter L. My dad (born 1919) remembers Schmeaman's, and its cream crumb cake. What cross street was Schmeaman's closest to ?

Schmearmans was on Broadway between Rockaway-Cooper and Chauncey streets

Thanks, Peter L. Was it between Cooper and Moffat, or Moffat and Chauncey ?

Cooper and Moffat

Thank you, Peter L.

I spelled Schmeaman's the way my dad has always pronounced it, but "Schmear" as Yiddish makes sense, as it was a Jewish deli bakery, also featuring noodle pudding or kugel (cake).

Do you remember when it closed ?

No a clue

Thanks anyway. What else do you remember about Schmearman's ?

They had a birthday cake I would look forward to when I was a kid. They used to hide little metalic cars, boats, planes etc. inside the birthday cake as a surprise. I wonder how many kids lost a tooth or worse, swallowed one of the tiny toys. Since my family was Italian American, most of our pastry needs were supplied by Ariolla's Pastry on Fulton and Rockaway avenues. They made the greatest cannolis ever.

Folks, could we restrict this to postings specific to the Colonial Theatre? Otherwise this will quickly develop into another dumping ground like the listing for the Ridgewood Theatre, which has been rendered useless for anyone seeking information about it. Who can spare the time to wade through more than 2,000 postings, most of which aren't about the Ridgewood Theatre. Many thanks!

Thanks, Peter L.

You've raised an interesting and relevant point, Warren. Thank you.

Namely, how the Colonial Theater related to Schmearman's, just across Broadway from it, and other neighborhood stores and merchants. I'm thinking of what theaters would offer people to induce them to come in and see films, during the Depression : "dish night", or, price of admission, a can of baked beans.

Or maybe a butter cream cake from Schmearman's, or cannolis from Ariolla's Pastry.

Dish Night at the Colonial. Boy, does that conjure up some neat memories. Inevitably, during the movie someone would break a dish which would be followed by a round of applause from the other patrons. During dish night at least four dishes would meet their fate on the Colonial floor. Those that made it through the entire dishcollection without a breakage were very rare.

Thanks, Peter L. Please continue. Could you gain admission to the Colonial Theatre with pickles from the Orchard Pickle Works on Stone Avenue ?

Or perhaps "nipples of Venus" from Areola's Pastry and Candy Shop.

No, I mainly got into the Colonial by cashing in deposit bottles.

Thanks, Peter L. Did you cash them in at the Colonial Theater itself, or did you have to go to a nearby deli / grocer, say, Schumacher's, on the corner of Bushwick and Pilling ?

I lived at 40 Cooper Street from 1948 to July 1956. The Colonial was a great theater during that period. The managers and matrons were stern at times but always friendly and helpful when there were problems. Being age ten was that age were things, unpredictable things happen. Many times after coming home from JHS 73 I would head for the movies. My bottle return place was Einhorn's market and Smith's candy store on Cooper and Bushwick. Many fond memories evolve around those theaters...even the Decatur. Remember the Wilson Ave. Trolley, Krugs trucks?

I lived at 40 Cooper Street from 1948 to July 1956. The Colonial was a great theater during that period. The managers and matrons were stern at times but always friendly and helpful when there were problems. Being age ten was that age were things, unpredictable things happen. Many times after coming home from JHS 73 I would head for the movies. My bottle return place was Einhorn's market and Smith's candy store on Cooper and Bushwick. Many fond memories evolve around those theaters...even the Decatur. Remember the Wilson Ave. Trolley, Krugs trucks?

Thanks, leroyelliston. What were Krugs trucks ?

My dad remembers a Chinese restaurant, "Night In The Sky / New Eastern", at the eastern corner of Cooper and Bushwick, third floor, by the el stairs (the Cooper Street / Rockaway Avenue end of the Chauncey Street Station). Familiar to you ?

My dad remembers the Wilson / Rockaway Avenue trolley, and also those bumpy red Decatur Street buses, with the solid tires, quite well.

I walked on Cooper Street from Bway to Bushwick Avenue on Saturday Aug 6 2005. Right before, as I stepped off the Manhattan-bound J train, the Westminster-style chimes of the Wayside Baptist Church were just chiming 3 p.m. through their external speakers. Beautiful !

Haha, I am sure you meant the "eastern corner of Cooper and BROADWAY"....

As for the Colonial, now the Wayside Baptist Church, I guess they chime the chimes just like any church on the hour?

Yes, Bway. I suppose their chimes chime every hour on the hour, and perhaps on the quarter hour as well. I only heard them that one time.

Krugs were the battery run bakery trucks that covered that part of Brooklyn and Queens. The Cypress Hills Swimming pool.

.

anyone remember one of the first large discount stores. It was first called baby town then renamed bargain town. We took the EL from chauncey st to the Kosciusko st stop. Last stop before manhattan

Thanks, leroyelliston, for your answer about the Krugs.

What about the Cypress Hills Swimming pool ? My dad "learned" to swim there the hard way when a cousin pushed him into the deep end as a prank. My dad took me there once in the summer of 1964.

pennsy pinky, I remember Bargain Town well. My last trip there was November 1965 to get an LP record of King Kong for my 10th birthday, which record I still remember parts of. My mother bought my baby carriage at Bargain Town, and my oldest aunt did the same for her daughter.

Marcy Avenue is the last stop in Bklyn going to Manhattan. Kosciuszko is right before Myrtle-Bway going to Manhattan.

Hi all,my name is Lisa,
I'm glad I found this blog. I use to live at 65 De Sales Pl. around 1963 to 71. It was a dead end block because of Evergreen Cemetery. I also went to Our Lady of Lourdes school, I graduated from there in 1969. It was a beautiful church. I felt bad when I heard it was demolished back in the early 1970's because of a fire. I remember the Key food supermarket on Broadway and the Bargain Town store. Does anyone remember the Bohack store on the corner of Broadway and De Sales? I remember being in school and the kids talking about the F&R's. One of the girls in my class said she new some members, she also told me she was in the gang. I remember the ice creme man who came to my block about three times a day, he had strawberry blond hair and us kids called him "Jimmy the bungalow". I remember him arguing with the good humor man at times. I also remember one of my girlfriend's mother who lived on the block would take us for a stroll and picnic in Evergreen Cemetery. That cemetery was like a huge park. Some of the older kids on the block would go into the cemetery at nite but the security men would chance them out, but I remember the kids would refer to them by the name "Chickie". Does anyone recall that? A big treat at the time was being allowed to go to Cypress Hills pool. I would love to go back and see the old neighborhood. I live on Staten Island now. I had a great childhood there playing all the street games like, ringo-livio, do you remember the game skelly? At that time you would know the name of the neighborhood cop. The one I remember, I think his name was "Murphy the cop" as he was called back then. He was nice to all the kids.

Welcome, Lisa (remember when). I cordially welcome you to Cinema Treasures, and also invite you to join Bushwick Buddies. I think you'll like us there. Here's the link :

http://www.bushwickbuddies.com/isapi.dll?c=h&htx=page

There are pictures there of the new Our Lady of Lourdes northeast of Bushwick Avenue, not far from where you lived.

I graduated St. Brigid's Parochial School in Ridgewood in June 1969. I lived in Ridgewood until late May 1999. In 1955, my parents almost bought a home on Vanderveer St, the dead end continuation of Eastern Pkwy, but bought a two-family home on Cornelia St. between Cypress and Wyckoff Avenues in Ridgewood instead.

Yes, Our Lady Of Lourdes was a beautiful church. Sadly, it was robbed several times before being burned by arsonists in 1975.

My father grew up in Bushwick near where you did. He lived at 1454 Bushwick Avenue, between Chauncey and Pilling Sts. when he married my mom in October 1945. Even though his mom was not Catholic, she liked to stop into Our Lady Of Lourdes, and light a candle inside, on the way home from shopping, because it was so quiet and peaceful inside.

I remember Bargain Town at Bway and DeKalb. I was last inside there Nov or Dec 1965 and got an LP record there of the story of King Kong.

Who were the F & R's ? I remember the Chaplains and the Halsey Bops in that area.

I remember Bungalow Bar and Good Humor ice cream trucks in Ridgewood.

I know what you mean about Evergreen Cemetery. I last walked through there Saturday August 5 2005. I came down from the el at Bway and Cooper, at 3 p.m. that day, walked north on Cooper to Bushwick, past 1454 Bushwick Avenue, thence to the Bushwick Avenue gate of Evergreen Cemetery at Conway Street. I walked through on the main drive, past the gazebo and admin offices, and exited at the Cooper Avenue gate near Wyckoff Avenue.

I don't remember "Chickie". My dad and his friend Vinny Ferro once took a shortcut through Evergreen Cemetery at night, from Highland Park, to the Central Avenue gate, one moonlit night, and got scared.

My dad went to Cypress Hills pool as a kid, and took me there the summer of 1964 when I was 8 going on 9. There is a photo of, and thread for, this pool, on Bushwick Buddies.

If you log into and join Bushwick Buddies, it would be like visiting your old neighborhood. There are so many pictures and stories there that I think you would enjoy.

Yes, I remember skelly and ring-a-levio.

I'm mildly surprised you had a neighborhood cop named Murphy as recently as 1963 to 1971.

What was your neighborhood like when you moved away ?

HI AGAIN...I HAD IT IN MY HEAD TO VISIT THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD AND SO I DID...I DRAGED MY SISTER WITH ME AND I WENT YESTERDAY AFTERNOON...I HAD TO DRIVE ALL THE WAY FROM STATEN ISLAND BUT IT WASN'T SO BAD...TOOK THE BELT AND GOT OFF AT PENNSYLVANIA AVE. AND TOOK THAT STRAGHT UP TO BUSHWICK AVE. I HAVE TO TELL YOU, ONE OF MY BEST GIRLFRIENDS GROWING UP THERE LIVED AT 1561 BUSHWICK AVE. RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER FROM DESALES PL. HER NAME IS DONNA MASSARI AND SHE HAD AN OLDER BROTHER NAMED LOUIE AND HER TWIN BROTHER KEVIN. I REMEMBER ALL THE KIDS FROM THE SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOOD WOULD ALL COME AND PLAY ON THE BLOCK, STICK BALL ECT. I HAVE TO SAY THE BLOCK SEEMED SO SMALL TO ME COMPARED TO WHEN I LIVED THERE...I SEEN AN OLD NEIGHBOR FROM ACCROSS THE STREET FROM MY HOUSE AND HIS MOTHER SHE REMEMBERED ME AND MY FAMILY...I DROVE DOWN TO BROADWAY AND AROUND THE OLD SCHOOL BUT IT WASN'T THE SAME WITHOUT THE CHURCH THERE. I HAVE TO GO THERE AGAIN BY MYSELF ONE DAY AND TAKE THE TIME TO SEE THINGS MY SISTER WAS RUSHING ME...THE NEIGHBOR TOLD ME THEY HAD A BLOCK PARTY JUST LAST WEEKEND...I REMEMBER THEM THEY USE TO ROAST A BIG SIZE PIG OUTSIDE. BUT I CAN'T GET OVER THE BLOCK HOW LITTLE IT LOOKED...EVEN THE HOUSES LOOKED SMALL...THEY SEEM SO MUCH BIGGER BUT THEN...I SEEN THE ENTERANCE OF THE SUBWAY STATION, THE BUSHWICK AND ABBERDEEN STATION. I DONR RECALL THE NAME OF THAT PARK ON ABBERDEEN ST...USE TO GO THERE ONCE IN A WHILE...NEXT TIME I HAVE TO GO EARLY SO I CAN LOOK AROUND...I FIND IT HARD TO LOG INTO THAT WEB SIT...AFTER I LOG IN HOW DO I GET TO BUSHWICK BUDDIES?

BY THE WAY FAND R'S WERE SOME KID OF GANG FERMAN AND ROCKAWAY BOYS I THINK IT MEANT...THE NEIGHBOR WAS STARTING TO GO DOWNHILL WHEN I MOVED OUT BACK IN SEPT.71 ALL THE OLD NEIGBOR'S MOVED AWAY ALREADY...I THINK THERE WAS AN OLD FACTORY UP ON THAT BLOCK WHERE YOUR PARENTS WERE GOING TO BUY A HOUSE...

Thanks for your answer, Lisa. I'm glad you got to visit your old neighborhood yesterday afternoon.

To become a member of Bushwick Buddies, you need to enter your e-mail address, and select a user name and password. It's been three years since I did it, so I'm not sure what exactly you have to do, but if you need help, you can contact Eleanor, the owner of the site, at :

Eleanorctr@aol.com

ONE MORE THING DO YOU REMEMBER THE CANDY/SODA SHOP AT THE CORNER OF BROADWAY AND ABBERDEEN ST. ACROSS FROM THE SCHOOL...I REMEMBER AFTER SCHOOL OR CHURCH GOING IN TO BUY PENNY CANDY OR HAVING A LIME RICKY WITH FRIENDS...DON'T REMEMBER IF THEY HAD BOOTHS IN THE BACK...I KNOW THEY HAD STOOLS...

No, Lisa, I don't remember it. My dad might. I could ask him.

I remember that candy store when I was going to Our Lady of Lourdes. in 1948 when I was in the 8th grade we would buy cigarettes from that store. The candy store owner used to break open the pack and sell the cigs loose. 2 cigarettes would cost five cents. We would rush off to Highland park and find a secluded spot to puff away and rebel against society. Boy, we had a lot to learn.

Thanks, Peter L.

My dad remembers "loosie" cigarettes, from his days of not being able to afford a full pack.

You said you had a lot to learn. Could you please elaborate ?

When my dad started smoking at age 16 in 1935-36, the warning from parental authority was :

"Don't smoke ! It'll stunt your growth !"

My dad grew to an adult height of 6 ft. 2 inches anyway.

Now (2007), it says on the cigarette pack :

Cigarette smoking causes heart disease, lung cancer, and emphysema.

Folks, can we get back on track? This is not a forum for discussing health issues.

What did the Colonial Theater do for the health of its patrons ? Smoking permitted in the balcony was obviously not healthy. Those movies shown on the outdoor wall during the summer probably did much for the mental, emotional and social health of the adjoining neighborhood. My dad remembers people watching the films on summer nights from fire escapes of tenements on Rockaway Avenue and Chauncey Street.

How about economic health ? Dish nights ? Price of admission, one can of Heinz beans ?

How about Evangelical Deaconess Hospital, where I was born, across Broadway from the Colonial Theater ?

Guys, guys, guys ... I love this board. Really takes me back. I don't have a lot of time right now to post in detail, but I'll catch up later. Just a few quick notes. If you see some of my previous posts you'll get the answers to some of your questions. Most prominently - I went to Our Lady of Lourdes too, graduated in '66, was the class valedictorian. Of course I remember the candy store, and the Franciscan Brothers' friary right across from the school on Aberdeen. I lived at 1501 Bushwick Avenue, between Furman and Granite, next block was Grove Chevrolet and their service department was around the corner on Furman, later became the temporary home of OLL church after it burned down. Moved away in August 1971. Lisa, Louis Massari was in my class at Lourdes for years, don't remember his sister. Spent thousands of hours over the years in Aberdeen Park. It's officially called Stephen A. Rudd Playground, but I never remember anyone calling it that. He was a New York congressman who died in 1931. F&R stood for Fulton and Rockaway - the young John Gotti was a member. I haven't been to the old neighborhood in many years, but I drove past it a couple of months ago. Today the housing prices are 10-15 times what my parents' house was worth. Amazing. Let's keep the info going!

THANKS JOE G. I ALSO MOVED AWAY LABOR DAY WEEKEND 1971. SO LOUIE WAS IN YOUR CLASS. HE ALSO HAD A SISTER A COUPLE OF YRS OLDER THEN ME HER NAME WAS JOYCE. I WAS IN HE'S OTHER SISTER'S CLASS HER NAME WAS DONNA AND SHE HAD A TWIN BROTHER NAMED KEVIN...YES NOW I REMEMBER THE FRANCISCAN BROTHERS HOUSE ON ABERDEEN ACROSS FROM THE SCHOOL. I MUST HAVE SEEN YOU AROUND WAY BACK THEN.. AT THAT TIME THE BOYS WERE SEPARATE FROM THE GIRLS, WE HAD NUNS TEACHING US AND YOU MUST OF HAD THE BROTHERS. DO YOU REMEMBER FR. SMITH? REMEMBER THE FIRST HAMBUGER PLACE CALLED MR. TOPS ON BUSHWICK AVE. ACROSS FROM THE CEMETERY ENTRANCE? DONNA AND I GOT MUGGED THERE ONCE A FEW KIDS TOOK OUR MEAL. DO YOU REMEMBER THEY USE TO CALL THE MEN THAT USE TO PATROL THE CEMETERY AT NITE "CHICKIES"? A FEW OF THE KIDS ON THE BLOCK WOULD GO INTO THE CEMETREY LATE AT NITE AND THEY WOULD COME OUT RUNNING SAYING THE CHICKIES ARE AFTER US. THERE WAS ALSO A DELI ON THE CORNER OF BROADWAY AND DESALES PL. I DON'T REMEMBER THE NAME BUT ALL THE KIDS WOULD GO THERE FROM SCHOOL AND BUY THERE SNACKS. REMEMBER THE BAZAARS THEY HAD IN THE SCHOOL YARD, AND THE SCHOOL TRIPS TO THE WORLDS FAIR AND RYE BEACH? DID YOU KNOW THE LOVETT'S FAMILY THEY WENT TO OLL. I THINK THERE WERE ABOUT 7 KIDS, THE OLDEST WAS TOMMY AND A SISTER NAMED PAT. I STILL HAVE A FEW OF THOSE CLASS PICTURES. I'LL TELL YOU, I HAD A GOOD TIME GROWING UP THERE. WHEN I WENT BACK THE OTHER DAY IT WASN'T THE SAME. I ASKED SOMEONE HOW MUCH THE HOUSES WHERE GOING FOR AND HE SAID IN THE 400..AND TO THINK MY FATHER PAYED ABOUT 7,000 BACK IN 64. I'M 52 SO YOU MUST BE 55 NOW RIGHT?

JOE, I DIDNT KNOW ABOUT THE STATUE OF ST. PETER'S. THAT WAS A BIG HEAVY STATUE. I FEEL BAD ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT BEAUTIFUL CHURCH. I REMEMBER GOING SHOPPING ONE SATURDAY AFTERNOON WITH MY MOTHER AT KEY FOOD, COMMING OUT OF THE STORE WE CROSSED THE STREET HEADING HOME, WHEN I SAW A MAN WITH A GUN POINTING IT TO A WOMAN ON THE GROUND LIKE HE WAS GOING TO SHOOT HER...I WAS ABOUT 14 AT THE TIME BUT THAT ALWAYS STAYED IN MY MIND... MY MOTHER AND I RAN AND TOOK OFF THE OTHER WAY TOWARD BUSHWICK AVE. THAT WAS IN THE LATE 60'S.

Lisa, Joe G, Peter L, hope to see you all on Bushwick Buddies. I think you'd like it there :

http://www.bushwickbuddies.com/

Joe G., that's good to know about the Franciscan friary on Aberdeen Street. I had Franciscan brothers as teachers, first at St. Brigid's in Ridgewood, 1965-69, then at Saint Francis Prep in Williamsburg, Bklyn, 1969-73.

Yes, Lisa, the robbery and burning of Our Lady Of Lourdes was very sad. Your Key Food story is scary. I hope you and your Mom weren't shot that day. I'm glad you and your family got out of Bushwick alive.

http://www.tapeshare.com

is a good site dedicated to ENY and Cypress Hills.

I also went to St. Francis Prep, 66-70. Greenpoint is another neighborhood that was Polish working class then, hipster doofus capital now. Lisa, I knew Father Smith well, and Tom Lovett was also in my class. I'll be 55 soon. I remember Mr. Tops burger place, where I got drunk for the first time in my life, at about 15, on Ripple wine, in the parking lot. Highland Park and its lovers lane. Jimmy the Bungalow Bar man - he had red hair and looked like Mickey Mantle. The OLL bazaars. Rudy Vera and Alan Norris, a couple of schoolmates of mine who both died in Vietnam, their names are on The Wall. I used to play basketball, and there were some incredible ballplayers there, who mostly succumbed to drugs or idleness. It was a great old neighborhood. You look back on this board and you'll see plenty written about it. You'll see stuff I wrote about the famous people who lived there: Jackie Gleason, Serpico, etc. Lot of ghosts there.

All the Polish that got priced out of Greenpoint by the hipsters and the gentrification there have moved to Ridgewood......

Thanks, Joe G. Good comment. So you were a senior at the Prep when I was a freshman. We overlapped in the 1969-70 academic year. Cool. Small world.

Yes, Bway, all the Polish stores on Forest Avenue, Polish rap can be heard at night near Forest and Grove.

Does anyone remember, well before air conditioning in the home, standing on a hot and muggy night in front of the Colonial to cool down? There was a big banner "Cooled by Refrigeration."

No, Peter L, I don't remember that. About what year would that have been ?

Probably 1950 or 51

Nearly every movie theatre with air-conditioning had banners or signs hanging from the marquee to proclaim that advantage. The words usually had snow or frost drawn atop the lettering. I would guess that the practice was abandoned when everything became air-conditioned, even homes and automobiles.

I moved to Cooper Street, Brooklyn in 1948 and remember well the "Cooled by Refrigeration". All the movie houses had that great gush of cool air when you entered. The two theaters that stands out in my memory with the biggest blast were the Loew's Valencia and the Hillside. Things like that are not appreciated anymore! Too much taking things for granted! Please don't take me for an ol' grouch. That I am definitely not! Just fond memories.

Thanks, Peter L, Warren and leroyelliston. I remember those great gushes of cool air coming out of the Ridgewood and the Madison, the two neighborhood theaters I grew up with. I'll never forget that "movie theater smell" that went with them, just like I'll never forget that "subway smell" of ozone, or whatever it is.

Instead of plain old lobby cards or lifesize cardboard displays, many theaters had all kinds of gimmicks. Remember William Castle's schlock horror movies like "House on Haunted Hill," with a skeleton attached to a wire, swinging over the heads of the audience? Or "The Tingler," with seats wired electrically to give a mild shock to the patrons? I saw the trailer for that at the Colonial and remember burying my face in my mother's coat to hide. The RKO Bushwick had a lobby display for "Day of the Triffids" with a huge, 9-foot-high box, inside which was a periodic thumping. They supposedly had a live "triffid," a kind of carnivorous plant, inside trying to get out. Even scarier, the Loews Gates had a display for "The H-Man," an obscure Japanese horror flick about an atomic liquefied mutant green slime that dissolves everybody. They had an outfit of men's clothing on display, supposedly the remnants of one of its victims, and dared people to touch it and not get "slimed." At 5 years old, I was so terrified I went home and threw up. Seriously.

Does anyone remember "Smell-a-Vision"? The old "3D" movies i.e. "House of Wax", "Scaramouche", "They Came From Outer Space"...etc. What a treat!

If I recall correctly, "Scaramouche" was only in Technicolor and one of the last historical epics made before wide screens and 3-D became the rage. It was produced by MGM and a re-make of one of its silent hits.

Yes, Joe G., I remember those William Castle "gimmick" movies well. I didn't see any of them in their initial release, but experienced them at Film Forum on Watts St. in lower Manhattan in September 1988 at their "Gimmick-o-Rama", hard on the heels of their summer sci fi -fantasy - horror festival. Summer and fall 1988 were very rich that way.

"House On Haunted Hill" : bone-chilling Emergo !

"The Tingler" - spine-tingling Percepto !

"Mr. Sardonicus" - punishment poll ! Thumbs down : no mercy !

"Macabre" - ambulance parked outside theater : "You MUST have your blood pressure taken in the lobby before you see this film !"

The first William Castle flick I saw in its original release was "I Saw What You Did" at the RKO Madison, with Joan Crawford, as the murder-plot mistress, summer 1965.

Thanks for the details about "Day Of The Triffids" at the RKO Bushwick, and "The H-Man" at Loew's Gates. They sound great !

leroyelliston, I remember "Smell-a-Vision", and the old "3D" movies i.e. "House of Wax", "They Came From Outer Space", again, at Film Forum in the late 1980's.

It was at the Colonial Theater that I first saw Tennessee William's "Streetcar Named Desire." I remembered how shocked I was by Marlon Brando's performance and how he redefined acting forever.

Thanks, Peter L. What shocked you about Brando's performance in "Streetcar" ?

"STELLA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sorry, couldn't resist that !

JOE G. THE GUY WHO DIED IN NAM WAS RUDY'S BROTHER PETE...RUDY WAS GOING OUT WITH A GIRL ON THE SAME BLOCK WHERE I LIVED, I THINK HER NAME WAS CONNIE...I REMEMBER WHEN HE DIED...ALAN NORRIS DON'T REMEMBER THE NAME BUT I DO REMEMBER A GIRL CLASSMATE OF MINE BY THE LAST NAME NORRIS....BUT DO YOU REMEMBER A GUY BY THE NAME OF ALAN BURSACK...HE USE TO GO AROUND BREAKING INTO SOME OF THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSES AT THAT TIME...AND NOW THAT YOU MENTIONED IT JIMMY THE ICE CREME MAN DID LOOK LIKE MICKEY MANTLE...LOL. I'M SURE I SEEN YOU AROUND BACK THEN...

Lisa, you're right. Pedro Vera. Rudy, his brother, was in my class at Lourdes. Thinking about this actually inspired me to look on a Vietnam memorial page, where his name was listed, along with some poignant comments from family members. I'll leave a comment when I have time. Your memory is better than mine at this point, but you're a couple of years less removed. Alan Bursack doesn't ring a bell offhand, but sounds vaguely familiar. I might have seen you around back then, but I didn't really know too many girls in the neighborhood. I was pretty shy. Lourdes was segregated, girls on one side of the building, boys on the other. Then I went to SFP, all boys. I was a late bloomer, haha.
PKoch, I also went to one or two of those shows at the Film Forum, saw "13 Ghosts" and "Mr. Sardonicus." The latter was cheesy but a great plot, based on the short story by Ray Russell, the fiction editor of Playboy. So you and I were at SFP at the same time, maybe sitting next to each other at the Film Forum years later, and now here. Small world, is right. More than 20 years ago I was sitting in a bar in Hong Kong and struck up a conversation with a Chinese woman. She asked me where I was from and I said New York. She said, "Oh, my sister, she live in Brooklyn, New York, on Bushwick Avenue." You can't make this stuff up.

I know, Joe G., truth is stranger than fiction, re : small world.

I have "Sardonicus", by Ray Russell, at home, in a paperback anthology of horror fiction that first appeared in Playboy, which also includes "Black Country", by Charles Beaumont, his first published story, I think, and "Beelzebub" by Robert Bloch. Great stuff.

Joe G., Lisa, have you joined Bushwick Buddies yet ?

I also like Ray Russell's short story, "The Cage", which I read in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents : Stories That Scared Even Me".

There's also Russell's "Unholy Trinity".

Here are the front (shown at right) and back covers of a weekly programme from 1935, when the Colonial Theatre was bubbling over with vitamin "E":
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/colonial35.jpg

Photo Bucket is blocked by my pc, Warren. In a few words, what do those 1935 program covers show about the Colonial Theatre ?

If anyone finds my images "blocked," they can always contact me privately and I'll send them the image as an attachment: Warrengwhiz@nyc.rr.com

Thanks, Warren. I may contact you privately for that purpose.

Hi, my name is John Dereszewski. While I was not involved in the area during the active life of the Colonial, I served Bushwick as the Community Board District Manager during the horrid days of the late 1970's. Thus I am in a very good position to talk about the problems that plagued the community once served by the Colonial during that era.

One of the things that I really like about this tread is the extent to which the life of a movie theater can reflect that of the surrounding community, in this case the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. Thus, many of the memories previously shared that do not directly relate to the Colonial really do, since they encompass the life of a community in which this movie theater was very much a part. Thus I hope future contributers will continue to apply this broad approach when they submit their comments.

Along this line, I would like to throw out an interesting tidbit concerning the origins of the name given to DeSales Pl. It appears that Our Lady of Lourdes, which was established way back in 1871, was initially named after St. Francis DeSales and only adopted its present name in 1900. But, during the interim, DeSales Pl. was named after the new church - it was previously called Hull St. So the old name lives on albeit as a street. How many of you old parishioners know this and can you add any further info?

Finally, if you are interested in exploring other Bushwick related issues - both current and past - many I suggest visiting the "My House in Bushwick" web site. It contains a varied tread very much like this but that is not tied to a specific topic. Just Google this phrase and link to the first selection. Hope you enjoy it.

To all my friends from Bushwick and the hood,

This note is long overdue, and unfortunately I’m short of time to do it, as I’m getting ready to go out of the country for two weeks. But I just wanted to let you all know that I recently paid a visit, my first in many years, to Bushwick and the surrounding area, inspired by Lisa’s visit, mentioned above. I passed through en route to my mother’s in Canarsie and decided to stop by.
First:
The Wayside Baptist Church, the former Colonial Theater, is alive and well. I arrived as a Sunday afternoon service was letting out. The outside is just a brick façade, nondescript and a little fortress-like, but inside it’s a vibrant church, very colorful and bright, with lots of well-dressed and upbeat people. A few of them were kind of suspicious of me, especially since some nut out in the Midwest or somewhere had just killed some people in a church earlier that week, but most were friendly. Like so many other things from one’s youth, it didn’t seem nearly as big now as it did when I was a little kid. Still I stood and marveled at the huge, colorful stained-glass window that stood where the screen used to be, and the pews that had replaced the orchestra seats. Upstairs the balcony had been converted to more seating. A few of the parishioners questioned me about who I was and what I was doing there, and they seemed genuinely awestruck when I told them I used to go to the movies there as a kid, 50 years ago.
Then it was on to visit Our Lady of Lourdes, my alma mater. A sign outside says it is being converted into a high school, accepting its first class in September 2008. It’s designed for lower-income people whose kids may not be able to afford a private school, and allows them to pay their tuition through a work-study program, which is usually only done in college. They were having an open house and I looked around inside. Again, it seemed so much bigger then, but as Dylan sang, I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now. The principal and a teacher told me the school has been shut for about two years but will now reopen. Another former alumnus of the grammar school was also visiting; he said he graduated in 2002. When I told him I was the valedictorian of the graduating class of 1966, a look came over his face like he couldn’t even imagine humans living on this planet in 1966. It was kind of funny.
I also drove around the neighborhood a little, some of my old haunts, Furman Avenue, where the former Grove Chevrolet service garage is now the temporary (for about the last 30 years) O.L.L. church; the dead end on Granite Street, where lived so many girls I pined for, Linda and Mabel and Willie and Isabel, and where it looks like you can still scale the fence and get onto the L train tracks; Chauncey Street, by Evangelical Deaconess Hospital, which is now some city health clinic or something; and others. The neighborhood was a hellhole when I moved away in ’71, but now it looks like they have fixed it up a good deal, though I’m still not sure I’d want to walk around there at night. They even have some new condos going up right on Bushwick Avenue, which are, of course, labeled “luxury” (nothing seems to get built anymore that isn’t, but luxury condos on Bushwick Avenue? I sincerely doubt it). All in all, the neighborhood doesn’t look too bad, all things considered. Probably some spillover from Billyburg (Bushwick, after all, is often euphemistically referred to as “East Williamsburg”).
Aside to John Dereszewski, Hull Street still exists on the other side of Broadway across from DeSales Place. I’ll check out that website asap. Thanks.
It’s funny how you start poking around the Web and find this stuff, and people you may have known, or who at least were close by. My wife is Russian and we’ll be in Moscow later this week, and hook up with some of her classmates from 30 years ago. The world gets smaller as the World Wide Web gets bigger. Ciao!

My friend Fred recently visited our old neighborhood, Chauncey street and Rockaway avenue, about a block away from the Colonial Theater. Here is a link to some of the amazing photos he took. enjoy.

http://picasaweb.google.com/calpoet/ChaunceyStreetNov252007

Thanks, Joe G. and Peter L.

Thanks John for steering me to this site from another Brooklyn site. Wow! do all these postings bring back memories. I left Furman Ave. in 1960 when I got married to a Woodhaven man, a retired NYPD and since deceased. Went to Lourdes from 1940-1954. Played on Furman Ave.,Saturdays went to the Colonial or Aberdeen Park or Highland Park. Hung out in Niers Ice Cream Parlor and bought candy in the candy stores on Aberdeen and Furman. We made prank phone calls to Mr. Brown. My father was great friends with the Grims. They were at my wedding. I knew Anton and Bob and Anton's wife and family. I have just gotten in touch with some Lourdes Alumni from Classmates.Com and we would love to have a reunion. Is anyone interested????????

yes a reuion would be great...i went to lourdes between 64 to 69

To Joe G. talk about famous people. Veronica Lake was a famous actress in the '50s. Her sister lived in the apartment house 24 Furman Ave. She would come and visit once in a while.

Did anyone go to JHS 73 (William J. Morrison) between 1950-53?

Folks, could we please restrict discussions to theatres? This is not a forum for memories of Brooklyn neighborhoods and old school friends. There are many internet forums specifically for that, such as Brooklyn Board and Classmates. Many thanks!

Can anyone tell me what happened to the Sacramental Registers when Our Lady of Lourdes Church burned?

They were kept in the rectory.

Warren, with all due respect, I think you are going way overboard in trying to become the Emily Post of this site. As this tread convincingly demonstrates, a local movie theater was, along with the local parish, the epicenter of what constituted a neighborhood in many communities during much of the 20th century. This was especially the case of the Colonial. Thus, the celebration of the old community - in ways that are not directly related to the movie house itself - merely validates the importance that the old movie house lent to it. So you should should welcome these comments and not deride them.

Even looking on what was stated, Warren, don't you appreciate the fact that Veronica Lake's sister actually lived at 24 Furman Ave and that the actress herself occasionally visited the site and - who knows - took in a few movies at the Colonial?! Isn't this a terrific addition to the items contained on this tread - even on your own terms?

Regarding 24 Furman, when I was the Community Board's District Manager, this was an abandoned site that we were trying, against considerable odds, to be recast into an affordable housing coop. Well, things worked out OK, and 24 Furman now stands as a very successful survivor of a difficult era. I'm sure Veronica Lake's sister - and perhaps Veronica Lake herself - would approve.

Hope you enjoy these comments!

As a regular contributor and visitor to this site I fully agree with the comments posted by John

me too. there's room for everybody and their info and opinion. many of the other boards for other theaters have similar postings with info about the neighborhoods, not just the theaters.

No, I'm sorry, but this is a site for discussions of theatres, not neighborhoods. There are plenty of other websites for those subjects. You're just filling this one up with chatter that will eventually cause the listing to be useless for the specific purpose for which it was designed. I'm sure that management will back me up on that. In my opinion, they have been too lenient. What this site needs is strict monitoring. I belong to another discussion group which has well more than 1,000 members, and the monitors refuse to publish anything that is off-topic.

warren, take a valium.

Leroylliston, I didnt go to 73 but I remember the dances. I believe they were on Wednesday or Friday night, not sure. But my cousins would go there instead of conferternity in Lourdes. Father Lynch would go to the school and pull them out for their religious instructions. Havent found anyone that went to Lourdes the same time as me 1946-1954 or played on Furman Ave. Does anyone remember Scotties?
What's going on with 24 Furman?

This listing seems to be the new meeting place for people who have been expelled from other discussion groups for failing to comply with the guidelines. "Pennsy pinky," I would advise you to take a valium suppository before exiting. They work faster.

To get back on topic, the listing name needs to be changed to Colonial Theatre. Here are two pieces of evidence to support that spelling claim-- a newspaper ad and an actual programme:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/colonial22.jpg
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/colonial35.jpg

Interesting. There is also a Colonial Airdrome listed in the ad. It appears that "Airdrome" was also an appropriate word for an open air theater and not just "Airdome" as some people believe.

c'mon, kids, let's play nice. Warren, I backdoored into your photo album from the Colonial pix. Did you take all those? You've got some great stuff there.

Ahhhh, the anarchy of the internet!

Sorry Warren, but I just have to ask Joe G. something...To Joe G. I was curios to know if the Isabell you mentioned in the above paragraph is the same Isabell that I know of who now lives on Staten island. she went to Lourdes and she should be around your age...she is a dark hair girl, but I don't recall her last name...she has a beauty shop around the corner from my house..she use to hang out on De Sales Pl at the time...

Lisa, Isabel had dark hair and did go to Lourdes around my time, but I don't remember her last name or know whatever happened to her. We used to play house. I think she was at least half-Italian. She used to call herself "Rosaba," pronounced "ro-ZAH-ba." You could go in and ask for Rosaba and see if she responds. By the way, she was hot.

Stop the anarchy!
There is a great site called BrooklynBoard.com Check it out. Alot of people from Bushwick and Broadway area.

OK, Lisa, meant to say this earlier, but Isabel had a brother named Manny. If you ask her, mention him.

ok Joe G. I will...

Here are two pieces of evidence, one a newspaper ad and the other an actual programme, showing the correct spelling of the "t" word. The listing should be changed to Colonial Theatre from its present "Theater."
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/colonial22.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/colonial35.jpg

Here's a view of the Colonial THEATRE's auditorium during the final phase of its conversion into a chapel. I somehow doubt that the color scheme or chandelier are original: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/colonialchurch.jpg

Someone mentioned the candy store on Aberdeen and Broadway. It had a series of owners, but in 1949, the year I graduated from OLOL it was owned by the parents of a classmate of mind. There name was DeNicolo. Mrs. deNicola was not in the store on Friday nights as she was collecting her dishes at the Colonial. A couple of people have said that Loudes church was burned down by an arsonist. Fr. John McCormack a Father of Mercy and the pastor of Lourdes and a longtime proest there told me at Jim Cassidy's wake that the fire was an accident caused by a homeless man. McCormack was no longer the pastor when this happened. Jim Cassidy was known to have opened a side door from the balcony of the Colonial to let his friends in free. THey had climbed up a concrete set of stairs from Chauncey St. Finally I note that several folks said that after Lourdes, not having had enough of the good brothers went on to St. Francis Prep, I did that , too, but earlier--1949-53. At the time SFP was down on Baltic St. between Smith and Court. In my senior year SFP moved to Greenpoint/ Williamsburg. St. Frncis himself would have enjoyed the movies I saw at the Colonial--especially Horatio Hornblower. Bill Proefriedt

Thank you, Bill Proefriedt. Welcome to CT ! You would also be welcome at Bushwick Buddies :

www.bushwickbuddies.com

I attended SFP 1969-1973. One of my teachers, Brother Campion Lally, was involved with the move from Baltic to N. 6th St. in 1952 as a student back then : Robert Lally. He was a classmate of yours. Do you remember him ? He was one of the January 1953 graduates, I think.

Everyone if you go to google maps and click street view you can see all the streets in bushwick as it looks like today...I seen OLOL school, and my old niegborhood.

I think I've met Bro. Campion at SFC functions but I didn't remember Robert Lally from SFP. A few years ago Bill Quigley, who lived on Hopkinson Ave. across the st. from the Saratoga branch of the library ran a reunion at a K. of C. in Bethpage at which there were a lot of folks from the neighborhood surrounding the Colonial T. Quigley graduated from Lourdes in 1949. He was more partial to the Bushwick Theater further down Broadway than to the Colonial. Bill P.

Thanks, Bill P. Do you mean the RKO Bushwick or the Loew's Gates ?

I remember Bro. Campion, though I didn't really know him, from when I was a student at the Prep between '66 and '70. I think he was a baseball coach. Peter K., you would have been a freshman when I was a senior, so I wouldn't have known you, or wanted to. (Just kidding - you know how upperclassmen treated the frosh.) But I might have seen you around the neighborhood. Did you know Bro. Cyprian? He was the principal of Lourdes till 66 or 67, then came to the prep. Bro. Peter was my 7th and 8th grade teacher. Some of the Franciscan brothers were real sadists and would beat the hell out of us, which many of us deserved, but he was a great guy who I really admired. We once had an after-school outing from the Prep to see "The Gospel According to St. Matthew" at the Meserole Theater in Greenpoint. It was a stark, black and white film by the Italian director Pasolini, hardly who you'd think would make a Biblical story, but it was pretty good, portraying Christ not as merciful, but as pissed-off and vengeful. The Meserole, now closed, was near McCarren Park Pool, which has been used for concerts in recent years and is going to be renovated and reopened as a pool. The Prep's football team used to practice in the park. In probably early 68, I was there playing ball and there was a bandwagon and a big commotion. I went over to see what was going on and it was Bobby Kennedy, running for president. I got to shake his hand. BTW, SFP is having a 150th anny celebration in downtown Bklyn in Oct., black tie optional, $250/per, too rich for my blood.

Hi, Joe G. I didn't know you went to SFP. Yes, I think Bro. Campion coached baseball. I had him for 11th year math, pre-calculus, and calculus. Yes, I know how upperclassmen treated the frosh. But when I attended the Prep, I lived in Ridgewood, not Bushwick. I knew Bro. Cyprian very well. I never knew he was principal of Lourdes. Thanks for mentioning it. If I DID know, I had forgotten. I had him for A.P. American History in the 1971-72 academic year, got a 4 on the A.P. Test. "Your results are in proportion to your efforts !"

Principal of Lourdes : Now that you mention it, I do remember him as being prejudiced against blacks, and going on a long rant once about having his ass kicked down a flight of stairs by blacks. That could have been his experience at Lourdes, although I remember him also talking about a parochial school in Park Slope and President Street.

I have heard of the film "The Gospel According to St. Matthew", and have heard it described as Christ always yelling at his disciples. I know the Meserole well, saw "2001" there with Bro. A. Edward Wesley and class in Nov. 1970. I've posted plenty on the Meserole Theatre page. I also know McCarren Park well.

Good for you meeting Bobby Kennedy before he was assassinated.

Yes, $ 250 per is too rich for me too. I didn't even attend the Class of 1973 35-year reunion back on April 25th.

Joe Bettinger, SFP Class of 1970, from 16 Grant Avenue, Cypress Hills, was a personal friend of mine.

Joe G, I think Brother Cyprian's Park Slope parish and parochial school was St. Francis Xavier. His long rant about blacks was enabled by my junior class, 301, academic year 1971-72, being all-white.

To Bill P.
The candy store on Aberdeen St. was owned by the McManus Family around 1953. I graduated Lourdes in 1954. Two brothers went out to St Anthony's H.S. in Huntington L.I. One passed away but Brother Jude who taught 8th grade is still there.

I noticed a message with Anton Grimm's name in it. He was at my wedding in 1960. He married a girl from Furman Ave.,Florence Pourgal (not sure of spelling). Would like to know how he is doing.
My grandparents bought a two family house on Furman Ave. my mother was raised there, then she married my father around 1935 and stayed there. I left in 1960. My parents left around 1968. Would love to hear from anyone from those great times.

KayO, I have known Brother Jude Byrne, OSF, for many years, since fall 1972. He was, and is, a good friend of mine.

I am sorry that I cannot help you with Anton Grimm or Florence Pourgal, but if you would love to hear from anyone from those great times, I cordially invite you to join Bushwick Buddies at :

www.bushwickbuddies.com

Bway and I hope to see you there soon.

http://local.google.com/ chech out bushwick ave...

Thanks, alicia.

You're also welcome to check out Bushwick Buddies.

Kay O. My e-mail is billpro21@verizon.net I will tell you what I know about Anton G. (I don't want to talk too much on this site about non-Colonial matters though I think it's ok to relate neighborhood stuff.) Bill P.

Peter K., I knew Bro. Cyprian pretty well, he was a friend of my family's, and I don't remember hearing anything from him along those lines. Anyway, I found an article in the NY Times about the burning down of Lourdes. According to the pastor, Father Edward Smith, whom I also knew well, the fire was suspicious because of recent break-ins in which burned paper plates were found, which the burglars used to see in the dark. This happened 11/16/75.

Thanks for this information, Joe G. Perhaps you could post a link to that NY Times article about the burning down of Our Lady Of Lourdes.

In retrospect, I wish I had spoken with Bro. Cyprian about his time at Lourdes. I apologize if I have offended you with anything I have said about him.

Can we talk more about the Colonial Theater. I think this website is for the theater and it's history and the experiences we all had attending the old Colonial. I apologize if I am stepping outside of my bounds, but I feel completely alienated from the recent content of this site.

No problem, Peter. There is no link to that article unless you want to buy it from the Times. I had to go to the library and look it up. Very analog and retro.

Thanks, Joe G.

Understood, roybarry. I will comply. I think I've already posted everything I can post, on the Colonial Theater. The next step forward would be to post an image of the Colonial when it was still functioning as a theater. Can you assist with this ? Thanks in advance.

I will do my best to get some other information so we all can enjoy the old days! There is one thing that keeps bugging me. I don't remember if the Colonial showed Saturday morning cartoon specials. I remeber going to the Decatur and the Monroe for cartoons on Saturday mornings. I lived on Cooper Street between 1948 and 1956. I remember seeing "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" for the first time at the Colonial and everytime I see that film on TV it brings me right back to the Colonial.Do you remember the white-haired Matron that took care of the kids in the Children's Section. I forgot her name...Ms. Marion or something!

roybarry, it would indeed be ironic if the matron was named Marion, as Marion Street is one block away from the Colonial Theatre.

I don't know if the Colonial showed Saturday morning cartoon specials. That was before my time.

Please post your memories of the Decatur and Monroe Theatres on the pages for those theatres on this site. I would LOVE to read them, as would others. Thanks in advance.

Did the Decatur Theatre live up (or down) to its reputation as "The Itch" ?

roybarry, I would like to invite you to Bushwick Buddies, if you are interested, for some chat and some great images of our old neighborhood. There are several pages devoted to Cooper Street alone !

www.bushwickbuddies.com

Bway and I hope to see you there !

I wouldn't bet a lot on it, but I think the Colonial probably did have cartoons. I can very vaguely remember seeing some. I remember distinctly that around Halloween they would have a costume contest where the neighborhood kids would dress up and try to win prizes, consisting probably of extra candy or something. My mother would take me to Pitkin Avenue, not far away, to buy a costume at a 5 and 10 or other department store. That's also where Fortunoff's got its humble start, later becoming a more upscale department store, though it has had bankruptcy problems in recent years. In 1959, I believe, a kid in my class at Lourdes and I both had the same Superman costume and they had us stand up on the seats together. We both won. The movie was "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," with Kerwin Matthews, who just died last year at 81. The movie scared the hell out of me, especially the woman who was put in the basket of the sorcerer, Torin Thatcher, with snakes and turned into a half-snake, half-woman. But that didn't stop me from seeing the movie about 15 times. I still love to watch it occasionally, along with "Jason and the Argonauts," both from Ray Harryhausen. ... "From the land beyond beyond ... from the world past hope and fear ... I bid you, Genie, now appear!"

I believe many theaters still had cartoons even into the 70's. I remember seeing cartoons before the main movie at the Oasis and Ridgewood Theaters as a kid.

Before our family moved to Brooklyn we lived in Jamaica where the RKO Alden, Jamaica, Savoy and the Merrick would have 25 cartoons on Saturday mornings with 5 or more serials like Dick Tracy, Supereman, Hopalong Cassidy...etc. I know the Colonial would show a cartoon or two prior to a movie, but I don't remember having seen the Saturday specials showing 25 cartoons. I might be wrong!

Before our family moved to Brooklyn we lived in Jamaica where the RKO Alden, Jamaica, Savoy and the Merrick would have 25 cartoons on Saturday mornings with 5 or more serials like Dick Tracy, Supereman, Hopalong Cassidy...etc. I know the Colonial would show a cartoon or two prior to a movie, but I don't remember having seen the Saturday specials showing 25 cartoons. I might be wrong!

Thanks, JoeG, Bway, and roybarry.

My dad went shopping with his mom for Easter suits for him at Pitkin and Rockaway Avenues in the 1930's, on Sundays, after church. There was quite a thriving garment district there. I'm glad the stores on Pitkin, and the Loew's Pitkin itself, lasted into the 1960's.

Joe G., you've got great taste in Harryhausen movies ! My son, now age 13, asked to see "7th Voyage Of Sinbad" on DVD this past weekend. We also have "20 Million Miles To Earth" on DVD but not "Jason And The Argonauts" although my son and I both know the film.

Bway : cartoons before movies : that leads to another question : when did multiple features in NYC and vicinity first run movie theaters end ? 1979 or 1980 ?

I think the last double features I saw were in summer 1978.

Here's a google street view of the old Colonial Theater:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1746+Broadway,+Brooklyn,+NY+11233+United+States&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=40.683014,-73.910673&spn=0,359.983671&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=40.683096,-73.910799&panoid=61vXvbgnTRuab8cljuROGg&cbp=12,179.33335782767045,,0,-4.106438896189225