Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
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I am so glad that the Ridgewood Theater is still far from “forgotten” ! Thanks, RobertR, for the info on its multiplexing, true to the show business axiom, “the show MUST go on” !
The Ridgewood NEVER closed, not even during the conversions. When it went from a single to a tripex they were open nights only. They had one theatre in the balcony then and two in the orchestra. They built a booth downstairs for one of the new theatres and used it to play on the original screen while they closed off the balcony. Then when the balcony was completed the downstairs remained closed for awhile while those theatres were built. I was going to check out the Ridgewood again this past weekend to see the new Juliane Moore flick but would up at the Kew Gardens instead.
Wow, that is really outdated! It’s never been closed, and it hasn’t been only 3 theaters for about 20 years when it became a 5plex….!
Someone should really email them.
Looking at the pictures of the Rigdgewood theater (Thanks Monica) I can’t imagine the inside being a multiplex – I remember I saw the James Bond movie “Goldfinger” at the Rigdgewood and every seat was filled and it just seemed so small – particularly when compared to the Madison – damn – I have to come and see the old neighborhood!!
Thanks to everyone from putting me in a time capsule and sending me back to the 50’s and 60’s!
Nice pix, Chris. Thanks. I’ll be there next week !
Here’s two current views of the Ridgewood Theatre taken today.
Click Here for Link
Click Here for Link 2
Probably because until January 1980 the Madison and Ridgewood were in a postal zone (27, 11227) served by the Brooklyn post office. Also because they are near the Bklyn-Queens border, which some do not know, or care to know, the exact location of.
Thank you, Don Novack, for posting on all these theaters in Ridgewood, and for filling in some blank spaces. To you may go the title of “The Ridgewood Phantom Of The Movies” !
I always liked this place more then the RKO Madison it was smaller but more homey had decent flicks and was cheaper
The ridgewood theatre has always been located in queens.
It is possible. The Madison was huge, but not infinite ?
Wow maybe my memory is playing tricks. Could the huge Madsion have sold out for Airport? I remember getting up to get popcorn right before the feature started and staring in amazement at the huge amount of people sitting in the balcony.
RobertR, there may not have been a second feature with “Airport”. I recall seeing “Airport” at the RKO Madison, in the spring or summer of 1970. I also saw “Topaz” at the RKO Madison in March 1970, and saw “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They ?” there in April 1970.
I remember seeing Airport at the Ridgewood in a sold out house, balcony and orchestra. I dont recall the second feature.
Same here. There were two staircases up to the balcony, one in the outer lobby, outside the original ticket takers, one in the inner lobby. I remember the chain across the outer lobby staircase. Like yourself, I only returned to the balcony after it had been made into separate cinemas.
Same here. There were two staircases up to the balcony, one in the outer lobby, outside the original ticket takers, one in the inner lobby. I remember the chain across the outer lobby staircase. Like yourself, I only returned to the balcony after it had been made into separate cinemas.
You are probably right Peter, it may have been cut in half at that point, and just don’t remember it (at 12 actually).
as for the balcony being closed pretty early on, even though still “part” of the main theater, that is probably true. I remember going as a young child to see Disney movies there, and wanting to go up to the balcony, but there was always a chain across the stairway. I was never in the balcony until I was up there for the balcony theaters.
Bway, you could be mistaken, or, at age 13, one of the two lower cinemas may have seemed as large as the original full orchestra, when you saw E.T. there in 1982.
The first multiplexing MUST have been the separation of orchestra and balcony, because that’s what I saw on Tuesday, June 17 1980. I also think that, prior to that, the balcony may have been closed for awhile. On June 17, 1980, the original elliptical balcony lobby was still intact.
Perhaps this question should be directed to “The Old Timer” of the Times Newsweekly, perhaps the closest we have to a “Ridgewood Answer Man”.
I really thought the downstairs was still one theater in 1982 for ET. Could it be possible that the first multiplexing just cut the balcony off from the main theater? I would cetainly not remember if the balcony was or wasn’t attached when I saw ET downstairs.
To once again add my own voice to this ever-growing and increasingly layered confusion, RobertR, I too saw “Blowout” (the 1981 Brian DePalma film with John Travolta and Nancy Allen) at the Ridgewood in late July 1981, but remember it being at one (and perhaps this is the key) of the downstairs cinemas. If it’s any help, “Wolfen” was also playing there then.
I think the orchestra was still one cinema when I saw “The Howling” at the Ridgewood on Friday, March 13, 1981, 7:30 PM screening. I think the moon was full that night also. Seriously.
Okay, Maybe ET was when the downstairs was cut in half. I know for fact that I was sitting on the left edge of the theater downstairs, because I remember the exit door signs on the left while watching the movie. I could swear it was still one theater downstairs but it was a long time ago, and I was still a kid, so can’t be 100% sure. As for the multiplexing, yes it was very quick that they did it. I remember when it was made into 3 theaters, and I couldn’t understand how they did it (remember, I was just a kid). It became a 5Plex very soon after that though, within a year or two, and I was even more astonished at that point as to how they did it.
The funny thing is the theatre never closed during plexing. I know as a recently renovated place I saw Mommy Dearest and Blowout there and those flicks were released in 1981. Another weird this is that during this period all the movies I went to see there always played in the downstairs left theatre.
Possible, I was still a just a kid when they started dividing it. I could swear however that it was still one theater (or at least the orchestra level was still intact) when I saw ET there, and that was in 1982. So either the balcony was partioned off at that point making it a duplex, or the “cutting-up” didn’t start until after 1982.
If I’m not mistaken it went from single to triplex. The donstairs was 2 and the upstairs was one big theatre. I remember the huge floating screen up there for “Blowout”.
Thanks. I thought that was the configuration.
All the cutting up happened in the early to mid 80’s. By the late 80’s, it was a 5-plex.
Some time in 1981 or so, was when the first cutting up happened.
I believe that the Ridgewood was first duplexed. (partitioning out the balcony).
A year or two later it was triplexed. (cutting the orchestra level in two.
Finally, a few years later, it was 5-plexed. (partioning the balcony into three theaters. Come to think of it, I was never in the “left” balcony theater (if facing front). Most of the movies I had seen since the 5-plexing were in the right balcony theater.