Comments from Bway

Showing 251 - 275 of 3,245 comments

Bway
Bway commented about Irving Theatre on Mar 10, 2011 at 9:45 am

Wonder Theater, the 175th Street Theater in Manhattan is listed as the “United Palace Theater”, the Mayfair Theater in Times Square is listed as the Embassy 2 3, and they modest Irving Theater is listed as the Mozart.
It’s sort of a shame that a theater like the Mayfair or 175th St Theater have to be delegated to their much less known names, but for consistency, it has to be this way. Again, I can see it both ways, but the list can be beneficial either way too with this policy.

Bway
Bway commented about Ridgewood Theatre on Feb 18, 2011 at 5:21 pm

I didn’t know there was a public hearing about the theater the other day. I would have considered going, as I was in Ridgewood that day. And why wouldthey have it in Williamsburg? Shouldn’t they have had it in Ridgewood somewhere, or at least in Bushwick?

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Madison Theatre on Feb 17, 2011 at 12:47 pm

Here is perhaps one of the best interior photos of the former palatial lobby of the RKO Madison that I have seen to date. It just boggles the mind that they decided it would be a good idea to destroy this beauty in the 1980’s:

View link

Click below for the full page on the Madison:

View link

Bway
Bway commented about Grand Theatre on Feb 17, 2011 at 12:13 pm

Here are the photos GTB sent me. They are GREAT!

Click here for Photo1

Click here for Photo2

Click here for Photo3

Click here for Photo4

Bway
Bway commented about Grand Theatre on Feb 15, 2011 at 9:57 pm

I can host the photo online if you have a scanned photo of it. My mail is myrtlebway at hotmail dot com

Bway
Bway commented about Eagle Theater on Feb 15, 2011 at 9:55 pm

Someone else I know claims to have also used the theater in the 40’s, so it’s not really clear when it closed.

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Feb 10, 2011 at 9:14 pm

Great photos, well great to see them, not the depressingness of what was allowed to happen to the place. Thanks so much!

Bway
Bway commented about Vogue Theatre on Feb 3, 2011 at 6:32 pm

I love trees, but I still find it absolutely amazing that they thought it was a good idea to plant a tree right up against a theater marquee! It’s so crazy!

Bway
Bway commented about AMC Dine-In Disney Springs 24 on Jan 31, 2011 at 9:19 pm

I guess because Pleasure Island doesn’t really exist anymore. Used to be a fun place….

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Jan 24, 2011 at 11:32 am

I still don’t understand the concept…if they make the “lobby of glass on one side so it can be seen from the street”, doesn’t that DESTROY the whole street side of the lobby? This whole concept sounds absurd. But then again, “preservation” has been absurd lately anyway.

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Keith's Theatre on Jan 23, 2011 at 7:26 am

That’s similar to what is happening to the Ridgewood Theater. It was an operating theater just 2 or 3 years ago, and now they claim it is “in shambles” or “beyond home or repair” it’s maddening.

Bway
Bway commented about Greenpoint Star Theatre on Jan 17, 2011 at 3:21 pm

I assume this small odd building on the left is the old theater?
By the way, the map link brings me right to that intersection.

Click here for google street view

Bway
Bway commented about New Linden Theatre on Jan 10, 2011 at 7:07 am

Someone at BB found that photo, but I don’t know where they found it. It may be from the Brooklyn Library’s Brookly Eagle archive.

Bway
Bway commented about New Linden Theatre on Jan 9, 2011 at 3:23 pm

Here’s a photo taken from the other direction in the 1920’s:

Click here for photo

Bway
Bway commented about New Linden Theatre on Jan 9, 2011 at 3:05 pm

John, I have also took up the speculation that the movie house may have something to do with the Restaurant/Brewery. Perhaps a way to bring people to the Restaurant/Bar. It’s very possible it was a very small theater space, a part of the Brewery property. Back then of course movies were sort of a novelty, so it would not be surprising that they thought it would be good to entertain with some mugs of beer, etc, while watching a movie on a small screen. The unity of all the buildings under the same Brewery ownership would also explain the multiple addresses, as if it was one entity with several buildings, for ownership purposes, it may have had only the one main office address used. Most properties with multiple lots only use one mailing address.
This also may explain the “Linden Garden” name, another “coincidence” too large to ignore.

Bway
Bway commented about New Linden Theatre on Jan 7, 2011 at 8:00 am

The small building in the middle, still standing, was the brewery entrance. Here’s a link about it below. Could that mean the building on the left, at Grove and Evergreen was once the New Linden Theater?

View link

Bway
Bway commented about New Linden Theatre on Jan 7, 2011 at 7:57 am

Okay, I just did some more research, and the corner of Linden and Evergreen housed a large wooden frame Victorian looking building which housed the Brewery Restaurant, so the theater was not at the Linden and Grove corner where the empty lot is today. The small brick building between the mystery building and the wood framed building is still there today, and is seen in the photo of Linden and Evergreen shown here in 1907. This building burned down in another fire in the 1950’s and has been a vacant lot since. But now….where is the New Linden Theater? Is it the “mystery” building at Grove and Evergreen, or was it on the other corner of Linden, where Hope gardens is now? In any event, the small brick building surving in the middle is 403 Evergreen. Hmmmm.
See here for photo:

View link

Bway
Bway commented about New Linden Theatre on Jan 7, 2011 at 7:48 am

We did some research on this building on Bushwick Buddies a while back, and this New Linden Theater discovery fits the puzzle VERY well, and is almost a missing link needed.
The farthest information we could find out about this building on Evergreen on the block between Linden and Grove is that the Frank Ibert Brewery occupied this block, and on June 24, 1925, the block was destroyed by a fire. That’s probably when this building lost the left hand side of it’s bricks near the roof. It’s unclear if just the brewery burned, or perhaps that could also explain why the New Linden Theater “faded away” as described in your intro. Things that make you say “hmmmmm”, the plot thickens….

Bway
Bway commented about New Linden Theatre on Jan 7, 2011 at 7:31 am

It is quite possible, and this building has interested me on whether it was a theater for years, as it looks like so many of the other small old Bushwick Theaters like the Wyckoff Theater, Imperial, Eagle/Luxor, etc. The 405 number puts it right on that block, and of course, as we know there was a theater building, and an airdrome theater on this location, so it’s possible they were next to eachother, and the address number could have been the airdrome location. Currently, I think the property is being used as a church (I looked up the tax record, and it says “religious”).
The coincidence is almost too much right now, this “could” be the building, and would answer a lot of questions.

Bway
Bway commented about New Linden Theatre on Jan 6, 2011 at 8:47 pm

John, you may have stumbled into a mystery that I have had for many years….I once posted this photo when I first past this building some years ago…..and asked “What was this theater”. It seems to match the spot of the New Linden Theater…..

Click here for photo

I had asked about it in some Bushwick theater here, but you may have just answered it! By the way, the building looks better now than when I took this photo some years ago:

View link

Bway
Bway commented about Winthrop Theater on Jan 2, 2011 at 2:46 pm

Yes, the same was true for Ridgewood and Bushwick too. There were very few corner intersections that didn’t have at least one bar on the corner….

Bway
Bway commented about Winthrop Theater on Jan 1, 2011 at 7:19 pm

Amazingly I am going on almost 7 years now here….I don’t know where the time went! I also stumbled on it by accident, back in 2003 when I was trying to find out what the “theater on Broadway by Howard is”….and found the RKO Bushwick, and the rest is history….
I use this site even when I go on vacation and find an old theater somewhere….when I get home I try and look it up here!

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Greenpoint Theatre on Jan 1, 2011 at 7:17 pm

Interesting. I wonder if this attractive building is it:

View link

Bway
Bway commented about RKO Greenpoint Theatre on Jan 1, 2011 at 8:28 am

Yes, I looked at the google street view, and there are typical tenement style old buildings on two of the corners, and the other two corners have buildings that could have replaced something, it could be either of the other two corners, one of which has a mid-century brick building, and the other, a newer condo building, which replaced something. Here’s a google street view:

View link

Bway
Bway commented about Idle Hour Theatre on Jan 1, 2011 at 8:06 am

The building must have been torn down, as I looked in google street view, and the current building doesn’t look to date to 1914