Grandview Theater
659 Grandview Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
659 Grandview Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
2 people
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A Grandview Theatre located at Gates Avenue and Grandview Avenue was advertising in April of 1912.
Here’s a street view of the Grandview Theater:
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Good one, once upon a time !
Peter..Might I suggest…the outcome of those movie houses is now a..Dead Issue…:)
No, Warren, I think it only meant that there was more money to be made with those buildings waking the dead than showing movies to the living.
Warren..thank you…I was about to Post the following when your most recent and confirming comments popped in ahead of it
A plausible tie-in as to a joint ownership of the Grandview, Majestic and Belvedere theaters might be; during the 1940’s and (very) early’50’s, all three had their Coming Attractions leaflets processed from the same Printing Company. The folded, single sheet ‘Programs’ were of a deep blue color with the same format and I recall, each of the three theaters were listed on the lower back page.
Thanks, Warren. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I look through that issue.
You’re most welcome, once upon a time. I look forward to more posts from you. I think you’ll enjoy this site.
I haven’t even mentioned the Bushwick theatres yet, but I’ve put a lot of myself into those, too.
Peter….thank you for your warm and overly generous comments. I’ll look forward to accepting your kind invitation to visit ‘Bushwickbuddies’. I’ll also take your encouraging suggestion regarding future comments. Perhaps one of the the Myrtle Ave ‘palaces’ will be next to cross the stream (screen?) of my memory.
Thank you so much for posting your charming and poignant memories of the Grandview, once upon a time, and welcome to Cinema Treasures !
No such hide-away for ladies' hats …. my dad, about twenty years your senior, remembers the message “Ladies please remove your hats” on movie screens. The indoor / outdoor theatre he remembers was the Colonial, in his old home neighborhood of Bushwick, adjoining Ridgewood to the southwest. There is a page for the Colonial on Cinema Treasures. It was on the block bounded by Broadway, Rockaway Avenue, and Chauncey Street. The outdoor screen there must have been an outside wall of the Colonial. My dad remembers folks sitting on their fire escapes on Rockaway Avenue, watching outdoor summer movies for free.
Please join Bway and myself on Bushwick Buddies :
www.bushwickbuddies.com
for more talk of theatres, and of the neighborhoods of Ridgewood and Bushwick. Your input would be most welcome there.
There is plenty more for your reading and (hopefully) posting pleasure on the pages for the Ridgewood, Madison, Oasis, Parthenon, Glenwood, Belvedere, Wyckoff, Wagner, etc. theatres here on Cinema Treasures.
Again, welcome, and I look forward to seeing more posts from you.
Alas, the Ridgewood Theatre’s last day of showing movies was Sunday, March 9, 2008.
As a new member, this is my first Comment. I grew up in Ridgewood during the 1940’s and ’50’s. That affords me a remembrance of twenty-five cents matinee’s and ten-cent popcorn in Ridgewood’s Movie Palaces. In their own way, all were a palace of my mind!
Nostalgically, the ‘palace’ that awakens in me the earliest and warmest memories would be the Grandview. In a sense, there were two Grandviews; the evening, informal friendly Grandview and the Grandview of Saturday matinee madness and mayhem. I’ll comment on those afternoon shenanigans another time. Incidentally, although I recall earlier visits, the first movie I definitely remember seeing from my wood seat was…‘Lassie Come Home’, in 1944. (film’s release date was ’43)
Others have commented extensively on the size, shape and indeed, the technical location of Ridgewood’s early twin screen theatre. Okay, don’t scream; it was a ‘twin’ in the hot summer months and single screen in the winter. Arriving patrons smiled when the ‘Open Air Tonite’ banner was seen hanging from the marquee. On those hot summer nights I believe the camera was rolled from indoor projection to a side wall opening and aimed at the huge, out door screen. I’ve noted mention of the movie being projected onto the side of the adjoining apartment house. As I recall, the large outdoor screen was framed in a wood structure with a peaked top and like the benches, it was painted green. I have many memories of those hard wooden outdoor benches and five-cent ices. The outdoor breeze was more pleasing than the theatre’s insides floor fans that whirled beneath the colorful murals at stage left and right…or should I say, screen, left and right?
Another ‘feature’ of the Grandview which I haven’t seen mentioned in other Comments, were the circular, wire rimmed receptacles installed beneath each seat. Men would simply slide their inverted Fedora’s into them. (archaic: Fedora; crowned hat with a rim around the base.) Those receptacles were a convenience for those wearing hats and more so, for those sitting directly behind. As for the Ladies
hats, no such hide-away for them.
Complimenting the charm and neighborly informality was the friendly gesture of the Manager. At the close of each nights show, he would stand in the elongated narrow lobby and as the patrons were leaving, he’d wish each a good night, thank them for coming and hand them a free Program of Coming Attractions.
In the mid-1950‘s, the Manager stood in the lobby and said his last Good Nights. There would be no more ‘Coming Attractions’ at The Grandview.
From the IMDb :
“The Undertaker and His Pals (1966)” :
A macabre story of two motorcycle-riding, knife-wielding, shiv-shaving, eye-gouging, arm-twisting, chain-lashing, scalpel-flashing, acid-throwing, gun-shooting, bone-breaking, pathological nuts and their pal the UNDERTAKER…
Reads lke a Grade Z schlocker classic !
About 10 years too late for the Grandview !
Good point, Bway. Thanks.
Early afternoon movies are often dead (excuse the pun), so the experience at the Ridgewood probably is no surprise. I remember going in the 80’s there, and it wasn’t busy at the early screenings, but then again, neither were the Continental or Midway either when I used to go their daytimes…. It could also be why last winter the Ridgewood only was open evenings. It’s summer now, but once the kids go back to school, it probably won’t pay to open mid days.
Thanks, saps, glad you know about the IMDb too !
Please don’t forget “The Undertaker and His Pals” http://imdb.com/title/tt0061140/
“The Movie”, by Jim Morrison :
“‘The movie will begin in five moments’, the mindless voice announced. ‘All those unseated will await the next show.’
We filed slowly and languidly into the hall. As we seated and were darkened, the voice continued :
‘The program you are about to see is not new; you’ve seen this program through and through, you’ve seen your birth, your life, and death, you might remember all the rest.
‘Did you have a good world when you died, enough to base a movie on ?“”
Thank you, Lost Memory.
While we’re on the subject of funeral homes ….
I’ve commented that I’ve literally been in funeral homes that were brighter and livelier and had more people in them than Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor in Richmond Hill. Maybe my next step will be to find a movie theater that is like that. The Ridgewood came close last Saturday, with only five of us watching the 1:20 PM screening of “The Bourne Ultimatum”, in darkness and almost complete silence.
The film, “Tales From The ‘Hood”, also comes to mind in this context, in which an inner city funeral director reveals to local gang members how a few of his recent clients met their grisly and bizarre deaths.
Also Jim Morrison’s poem, “The Movie”, from his “American Prayer” album, also seen and heard at the start of the 1991 Oliver Stone film, “The Doors”, starring Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison.
Thanks, Warren and saps … such irony !
I’m reminded of the Hitchcock film “Rear Window” (which may have been shown outdoors at the Grandview !) and of my father’s favorite joke :
“Oh, man ! I didn’t sleep a wink last night ! The shade was up all night !”
“Why didn’t you pull it down ?”
“It was up across the street !”
Many of Grandview’s filmgoers were eventually laid out there.
Do they have viewings in the balcony? If not, what’s up there?
Heh heh… No, not the same computer. I’m 40 years old; it would be pretty sad if I were still living at home ;)
I guess they were, NewYorkDave. How did you like meeting him on this page ? Or do you post from the same computer ?
Ron S. is my Dad. I guess his ears must have been burning :)
Welcome Dennis F. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the memories posted here. Thank you for your post here. I look forward to more of them. Yes, the Grandview WAS open air, albeit before MY time. I grew up on Cornelia between Wyckoff and Cypress. “Bway” grew up on Putnam between Onderdonk and Woodward as you did, albeit somewhat later.
I remember Mello Rolls, mostly at Jones Beach, for some reason.
I’ve seen many movies at the Ridgewood, Madison and one film at the Oasis. My parents remember movies at the Parthenon, yet it was already Parthenon Lanes by the time I entered first grade in fall 1961. I think Grandview was closed by the time I began seeing movies at theaters in 1961.
If you like to read memories, please read the Madison (# 4621) and Ridgewood (# 4021)Theater pages, if you haven’t already.