Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
28 people
favorited this theater
The Ridgewood Theatre is located on Myrtle Avenue in the Ridgewood section of Queens. It first opened on December 23rd 1916.
It was last operated as a five-screen multiplex by the same people who run the Jackson Theatre and ran the now-closed Loew’s Plaza Corona Theatre.
Sadly in early-March 2008, the Ridgewood Theatre was suddenly closed without any warning. Banners went up on the marquee advertising the building was ‘available for retail use’. The Ridgewood Theatre remained a first-run theatre to the end.
The owner announced in March 2009 that the theatre would reopen with a three screen cinema on the upper level and a mix of shops on the first floor. The Ridgewood Theatre was given Landmark status on January 12, 2010.
Contributed by
SteveSmith
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Recent comments (view all 3,528 comments)
These photos are amazing. These are teasers! Please post some more! By the way, I can’t believe how fast paint begins to peal. This was a functioning theater less than three years ago. But it also shows how much of the original theater is still all there waiting to be preserved behind the fake sheetrock walls! I guess because the building is left unheated it begins to make the paint peal.
Looks like a lost cause!
Yes, Bway, I know I’ve been missed, and that it’s been awhile. Thank you for saying so.
For reasons I prefer not to go into here, I haven’t had much to say lately.
Great hearing from you Peter – and the new photos are great!
Has anyone visited the Ridgewood lately? I know that no renovation work had commenced when I last passed by the site – but that was several months ago. So, is the old theater still lying fallow – or has the destructive work at long last begun. (I really hope for the former.)
I may pass by next week, and, if I do, I will report here what I’ve seen, as I’ve done in the past.
I appreciate everyone’s concerns & updates. There are no active permits on the DOB site as of this writing. This is the complaint I found on the website:
NYC Department of Buildings Overview for Complaint #:4490907 = ACTIVE Complaint at: 5527 MYRTLE AVENUE BIN: 4082442 Borough: QUEENS ZIP: 11385 Re: ILLEGAL GUT RENOVATION OF AN OLD MOVIE THREATR
Category Code: 05 PERMIT – NONE (BUILDING/ PA/ DEMO ETC.)
DOB District: N/A Special District:
Assigned To: QUEENS BOROUGH OFFICE Priority: B
Received: 08/11/2011 15:26 Block: 3451 Lot: 7 Community Board: 405
Owner: 55-27 MYRTLE AVE REALTY GROUP,
Last Inspection: 11/30/2011 – – BY BADGE # 2188 Disposition: 12/09/2011 – C1 – INSPECTOR UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS – 1ST ATTEMPT – Comments: FRONT GATE IS PADLOCKED. LS-4 POSTED
In addition to the historic interior being at risk, safety is at stake with no permits, let alone when permits are in place. The facade is now landmarked, & much of any interior work could effect the landmarked portion, and should be brought to the attention of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Dept of Buildings website:
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?boro=4&houseno=55-27&street=myrtle%20ave&requestid=0&s=A03C41B885B461E4F46BD08866A7430E
You’re welcome, NativeForestHiller, and thank YOU for this update.
Michael, thanks for the information. The timing of the violation both verifies the activity that RobertR reported last August as well as the lack of such that I witnessed when I visited the place in September. Just wonder how much destruction occurred before the stop work order kicked in ……. I just don’t understand why the developer would start the work without the proper permit. It’s not like the supermarket conversion project was such a big secret, quite the contrary. Besides betraying a good dose of bad faith on the developer’s part, this was just a dumb thing to do.
I passed by here today and on one side of the marque it says Bushwick Twin! What’s up with that. Seeing a door open through the screen in front of the theater one sees the film titles “Vantage Point” and “Meet the Spartans” above I guess a couple of entrances. I guess what was playing at the end. I never saw a film at this theater.
Those were some of the last films to play at the theater before its sudden closure in March 2008. You are welcome to visit Friends of The Ridgewood Theatre on our Facebook. I founded a group dedicated towards preserving & creatively reusing this 1916 gem designed by Thomas Lamb. The facade is now landmarked, but now we are focusing on preserving the interior and finding a historically-sensitive tenant, perhaps involved in performing arts: http://on.fb.me/RidgewoodTheatre