Whitney Theatre
67-05 Fresh Pond Road,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
67-05 Fresh Pond Road,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
No one has favorited this theater yet
The Whitney Theatre was one of the many theatres built in the Ridgewood section of Queens in the 1910’s. It’s movie showing life was brief.
It was located next to the Fresh Pond Road elevated station on the Myrtle El.
Contributed by
Bway Chris
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 61 comments)
The Whitney Theatre was built in 1912 by the owner of the Whitney Hotel in Sea Gate, near Coney Island, according to the 100th anniversary issue of the Ridgewood Times. The ground site had previously been used for an open-air cinema…Additional research of my own revealed that in December, 1922, Herman Weingarten, who already ran the Parthenon and Belvedere in Ridgewood, took over the Whitney and spent $10,000 on “modernization,” including the installation of a Hope Jones Unit Organ. Vaudeville was discarded, and only movies were shown. Programs changed every two days and were first-run for the Glendale-Fresh Pond area.
There is a picture of the Whitney Theatre in the 100th anniversary issue of the Ridgewood Times. It also appears near the right edge of a photograph in the “Ridgewood” section of the book, “Old Queens In Early Photographs”. The photo is primarily of the Fresh Pond Road station of the Myrtle Avenue “elevated” line, when it still ran on the ground.
Hmmmm..and to think, that according to my family folklore..my Uncle played at the Whitney as a vaudevilian…(as above, July 28th ‘08)
More power to YOU, once upon a time !
Peter…Rather,… perhaps just a sign of my aging…sigh..:)
The Whitney had to be torn down very early on, as the restaurant building that is currently used as a bank on the site, is quite old.
You can see part of the Whitney in this 1914 photo.
That was a pretty large building. I have never seen an actual photo of the front though, which would be nice to see.
I’ve never seen a photo of the front of the Whitney either. Is that an opening in the side of the building in the 1914 photo?
I don’t think so. That looks like the emergency escape stairway from the balcony or something.
You can also see where the stage area is. It’s much larger than I had thought.