Evergreen Theatre
926 Seneca Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
926 Seneca Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 109 comments found
Yes, I think it was. Some of the weeks don’t have a “neighborhood” section on the online directory, so I think what you said may be the case.
Many newspapers don’t include everything from the print version in the online version. Looks like the Times Newsweekly has adopted that policy. Was it the same photo that was in the anniversary edition?
I looked at he archives too. I remember the article in print….
Here are the 2009 archives Bway. Maybe I overlooked something.
That’s very strange, as I remember the article. The photo showed the Evergreen next to the Bank building.
I looked through the online edition of “Our Neighborhood” but didn’t see anything about the Evergreen.
There’s a story and photo of the Evergreen in this weeks Timesnewsweekly in the “Neighborhood” section. The online version of the should be online in about a week.
Tha area between the bank and the theater could have been used as an emergency exit. I don’t know anything about a snowstorm Bway. If you read the comment above by mrbillyc, he explains that a fire destroyed the building in the 1950s and Bohack was built as a new building.
I don’t know how big that area between the bank and the theater was. It could have been along the whole property, or it may just have been a few feet in from the sidewalk to an emergency exit or something. But in any event, chances are slim that the first floor of the supermarket is the first floor of the Evergreen. If anything, it could be, as well as the basement, but there’s no way to tell for sure.
Was this the theater that had the roof cave in in a snowstorm? Wasn’t there also a fire?
I can’t tell from that photo if the tree is located on top of the sign or on the corner of the roof. There appears to be an alley or walkway between the theater and the bank building. There is no space between the current building and the bank today. If the current building is the first floor from the former theater, the building must have been widened, at least in the front.
The 1922 photo shows only a portion of the Evergreen Theatre. I wonder if the evergreen atop the building is a real potted tree or part of the electric vertical sign?
View link
There is a photo of the Evergreen Theatre in the 100-year anniversary supplement of the Times Newsweekly (formerly the Ridgewood Times)dated October 23, 2008. Perhaps a link to it will be posted here on the Evergreen Theatre page.
You don’t need a separate listing for open-air theatres that were an adjunct of hardtops. Open-air theatres operated only for a few months of the year, except in tropical parts of the USA and elsewhere. The Van Cortlandt AirDrome and the Van Cortlandt Park are undoubtedly the same venue.
The location of the Van Cortlandt would have been very close to the location of the Ritz Theater. The Ritz Theater could have been built on an adjacent lot. If I remember correctly, the owner of the Ritz Theater was the Van Cortlandt Amusement Co. Could the owners name be a coincidence?
I don’t think you would need a seperate listing for the “Evergreen Park” as it was the outdoor version of the Evergreen Theater.
As for the Van Cortlandt AirDrome, if it was to be placed at Myrtle and 60th St, instead of one block west at Myrtle and 71st Ave, that would put the AirDrome right around where the Ritz Theater was. I wonder if the Ritz Theater (listed on this site already) was built on the site of the old Van Cortlandt AirDrome.
I didn’t write this theater up so I can only guess that the word Airdrome came from the Times Weekly article that was linked to somewhere on this website. I’m not sure if there should be an aka name for the Evergreen Theater. How would you list the Evergreen open air theater or Evergreen Park as its referred to in the ad? Should Evergreen Park be an aka name, have its own listing or just mention it in the description. I don’t know what the policy of this website is for an enclosed theater with an adjacent open air theater.
What is the historical evidence showing these open-air theatres advertised as “Airdromes” (or “Airdomes”)? The descriptive in this 8/25/1916 ad is “Parks” (or “Park” in the singular): View link
Since the location of the Van Cortlandt was advertised as “Myrtle and Anthon”, it would have been about one block further east then we originally thought. A Times Weekly article gave the location as Myrtle Avenue and Van Cortlandt Avenue (71st Avenue). The location given in the ad “Myrtle and Anthon” would place the open air theater at Myrtle Avenue and 60th Street. The Van Cortlandt has no listing on this website. The description above needs to be updated since the Evergreen open air theater was operating until at least August of 1916 according to the ad.
An ad in the Ridgewood Times of 8/25/1916 suggests that the outdoor theatre was called the Evergreen Park. The address given is “Myrtle and Seneca.” Also featured in the ad is another outdoor theatre called the Van Cortlandt Park, with a location of “Myrtle and Anthon.” These two sites were apparently under the same management, linked in the ad as “Evergreen and Van Corltandt PARKS,” with the last word in larger and bolder type. The programs were the same at both sites, and changed daily.
Here’s another aerial view showing what is left of the Evergreen Theater building. The altered building is the C Town store, with the red awning:
View link
Billy, if you click on “n”, “S”, E, or W on the left side, it will shift the photos to get a that various direction vantage points. So each scene will have four corresponding similar views from other directions. it’s a great site.
Thanks for the “Glenwood Manor” link! So the Evergreen Theater became that after closing as a theater! Then burned down, and laterthe upper floors or two demolished to turn the building into the one story store building it is today.
For whatever it is worth, there is mention of the Glenwood Manor which was in the building that once was the Evergreen Theater in the “Our Neighborhood” column of the Times Newsweekly of March 16, 2006. It describes the building and their interesting drink menu. My family memories are that this building burned in the winter of 1956-1957, and we can safely say the menu pre-dates the fire! I stand by my theory that the existing one floor building was once the base of the indoor portion of the Evergreen.
View link
Also, the arial photos are awesome, Bway! In all the photos I am able to see buildings where my family or blood relatives once resided. If I widen the photo of the Ridgewood Theater I can see two buildings I personally lived in on Woodbine St, and the home my maternal grandfather was born in on Cornelia St. The Evergreen photo shows the adjacent homes my family once owned at 930-932 Seneca Ave, my dad’s old barber shop on Wierfield and Seneca, and a house where my family once lived at 54-54 Myrtle Ave. Thanks for these great prospectives you can only get from the air. Billy C.
I also believe that the foundation and first floor bricks of the current supermarket belong to the former Evergreen theater. In the photo, you can also see the house where mrbillyc used to live. :)
Here’s an aerial view of the Evergreen theater. This is the back. The bank is to the left, and the 6 family homes are to the right. I am still convinced that the lower floor of the Evergreen Theater, what is now the supermarket is in fact the original base of the old theater, with the upper floor or floors removed in the 50’s or 60’s.
To get a perspective on the size of the original Theater property, and former airdrome, you have to consider the low building (former base of the theater), the bank on the corner, and the parking lot for the bank, which was all a part of the Evergreen property.
View link
mrbillyc….Your family recollections have been a big help with this theater. They answered some questions that Bway and I had about the Evergreen. They also helped to point me in another direction as far as researching this theater goes. I also wish that I had a photo of the Evergreen. Since it lasted at least into the late 1920’s, it is possible that there is a photo out there somewhere. Maybe one day we will get lucky and find that photo. Thanks again for all of your help.