Ritz Theater
60-15 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
60-15 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
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The Ritz Theater was a short-lived theater on Myrtle Avenue near Norman Street in the Ridgewood section of Queens. In the old Queens numbering system, the building was known as 2085 Myrtle Avenue.
The theater opened in the early-1920’s, and closed in the 1930’s, probably because of the competition of the newly opened Glenwood Theater nearby, and other theaters in the area.
The theater was then converted into a furniture store. In the late-1970’s or early-1980’s, Roman Furniture renovated the building, and completely resurfaced the outside facade of the building, and removed the marquee.
Today, there is no trace that the building was a theater at one time, aside from the fact that the stucco and windowless exterior slightly rises above the adjoining three story buildings a bit. A Blockbuster Video store now occupies the first floor of the building.
Contributed by
Bway and Lostmemory
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Recent comments (view all 23 comments)
The Van Cortlandt Airdrome is shown as closed in 1920 but was not sold until 1921 along with the two Evergreen Theatres. It is therefore unlikely that the Ritz Theatre operated at the same time as the Van Cortlandt Airdrome.
Joseph Hartman, his son Jesse Hartman and his son-in-law Phoebus Kaplan, are listed as the principal owners of the McKinley Construction Company which is the company that built the stores in front of the Ritz theater and most likely they built the Ritz theater itself. I don’t believe that they owned the Ritz. I believe that they built it for the Van Cortlandt Amusement Co. I also believe that Hartman had enough of movie theaters after the Evergreen and found the construction business to be more lucrative. Hartman also owned the Alden Construction Company. During construction in the 1920’s, Phoebus Kaplan moved from East New York to a house on 67th Street so he could better surpervise the construction. Hartman’s McKinley Construction Company also built the McKinley Homes near 69th st.
In 1921, to give builders an incentive to start construction, legislation was passed whereby all houses where construction was started by a specified date would be eligible for a tax-exemption for a number of years. Builders could use the tax exemption as a sales pitch to prospective buyers. This sparked a construction boom. This exemption also applied to stores with apartments above them. The same year, Joseph Hartman sold the Van Cortlandt Airdrome and the two Evergreen theaters in order to buy the land from the Ivanhoe Company to build on the block where the Ritz theater was located.
Lost, thanks for the great information on this theater.
Bway….I read the Times Weekly article again about Hartman and his theaters. The article claims that the Van Cortlandt Airdrome closed in 1920 and Hartman sold the two Evergreen theaters in 1921. It does not say that the Van Cortlandt Airdrome was sold. I don’t believe that he sold it. Since it was located right by the block that he was building those stores on, why would he sell it? He already owned that property, so he just had to buy the rest of the block from the Ivanhoe Company and demolish the Airdrome to begin building. I was also trying to find out who he sold the Evergreen theaters to, but haven’t had any luck with that so far.
Tom…..I don’t know what the indoor Evergreen theater was constructed of. I don’t believe that Hartman sold the Evergreen to operate the Ritz. He sold it to get the money to build the Ritz and the buildings located in front of the Ritz.
I would believe that at the very least the Airdromes were constructed of wood. You raise an interesting point about the Van Cortlandt Airdrome being closed and not sold. Perhaps it was retained for its land. I will continue to investigate this matter.
Here is a photo of the old Ritz Theater building taken yesterday, now housing the Blockbuster Video. The facade of the building was resurfaced in the early 80’s when it was still “Roman Furniture”. The marquee was also removed at that point.
Click Here for Link to photo
Here’s a link to a view of the former Ritz Theater on Myrtle Ave at 71st Ave. It is currently a Blockbuster Video Store (Isn’t that Ironic).
Before Blockbuster, it was “Roman Furniture”. The building was completely redone and resufaced in the late 70’s or early 80’s when Roman Furniture moved in. Before Roman Furniture, it was a different furniture store, and it still had the marquee out front. The marquee lasted until at least the mid 70’s, I remember it well, and remember watching them remove it when I was at the A&P store across the street with my mother.
Notice how it is a much smaller building than the Ridgewood or Madison Theater buildings of course, but it is still quite a bit bigger than the neighboring stores (at least one floor higher too). The former theater building towers over the adjoining buildings, and also runs street-to-street.
Here’s the link to the aerial view of the former Ritz Theater. The Ritz is the building with the blue awning in front – Blockbuster Blue:
West on top:
View link
Another angle, with north on top:
View link
Does anyone know when the Ritz closed as a theater?
You could own the old Ritz Theater building if you have about $3.8 million handy. Click link below for a photo of the Ritz as it is today:
View link
This building is currently for sale.