Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
favorited this theater
Showing 2,751 - 2,775 of 2,835 comments
Hi John Kiely, and welcome !
I remember Byhoff’s at Myrtle and Weirfield well, bought many records there, CD’s as recently as March 1991. Hitler’s Inferno ?
Sounds like “The Producers” !
That weekend you worked St. Paul’s was the cursillo I was on.
Last spoke with Joe K this past January and he mentioned his wife Mona knew Kathy Kennedy from Yonkers. Joe’s into Petula Clark now rather than Dylan.
Peter Koch
Wow….somebody remembers my performances with Treaty Stone. I barely remember them!
Does anybody remember Byhoff Brothers record store (I think that’s the name of the place) on Myrtle Ave near the A&P?? In the early and mid 60’s I remember them having Nazi music albums in the window. One that I remember well is a little ditty entitled “Hitler’s Inferno, Songs of the Third Reich”. What a collectors item.
Rich Dittus….another blast from the past. I worked the weekend at St. Pauls Center when he met his wife, Kathy Kennedy. How are they doing??
Joe Kucelik…the Bob Dylan-ologist..“you go your way I go mieennnnn”
John Kiely
Perhaps because the Wagner Theater at 110 Wyckoff Avenue between DeKalb Avenue and Stockholm Street used to show German films in the old days. No, it’s not necessary to provide Spanish sub-titles, but it would be helpful, and may even help Hispanics learn English, by hearing English and seeing Spanish, simultaneously.
“If they don’t understand English, that’s their problem.” Immigrants many years ago didn’t get stuff in their own language, so why should they get it now ? Do two wrongs make a right ? I agree, immigrants should learn English, but in the meantime I think they should get whatever help in their native language.
Rich D – I remember Walter Winkowski very well. At the cursillo we were both on, Wally made the remark : “Lunch is ready – napkin sandwiches !” Rich Dittus was there also, and credits me with remembering the remark, although Wally made it.
I didn’t know you were godfather to Wally’s son. That’s good.
Thanks for the info on John Kiely. I enjoyed his performances, and those of other Treaty Stone members, at the SFC folk concerts. Also Joe Kuceluk, who turned me on to Dylan in 1973, and with whom I still keep in touch.
I remember going to the Krazy Kountry Klub (Warm beer, lousy food)in Bay Ridge with some college friends from Staten Island in mid-November 1979. From Ridgewood, by subway, into Manhattan, then back into Brooklyn. Going home I remember a very crowded L or R train at Union Square, and a guy saying, “Looks like a full house but we’re gonna make it home tonight” then to me “Step aboard, young stud, before the doors close on you too !” At least 1 ½ hours each way.
Bway, good point about Polish subtitles at the Ridgewood Theater. In the ‘80’s I worked with a Yugoslavian man who lived at Catalpa and Shaler in upper Ridgewood whose name was Anton Tomic, or Mr. “A.Tomic”, as we called him. I was reminded of him this past Monday when I saw the current film, “The Terminal”, with Tom Hanks as Viktor Navorski from Krakozhia.
DABOC, thanks for the heads-up on all the Ridgewood stuff sold on e-bay. I suppose standing on the arms of one’s chair and screaming is standard rock concert behavior, and has been for at least four decades now.
Warren, thanks for the info on the Corona Plaza, and Creative. Sorry to read the Plaza is now closed. When I saw “Godzilla” there in May 1998 it was like being a small kid again, and seeing “Reptilicus” at the RKO Madison, summer of 1961.
Rich D –
What a nice surprise to see your post!!! I’ll never forget when I first knew Philip and he was showing me pics of him and his work pals bowling and telling me the names of the people, and when he got to one pic I said “That’s Richie D” before he could tell me! He was so surprised. You made me smile by remembering Mike Daly in your post. If you want leave your email address.
I found this site by my on and off again searches of “Ridgewood”. You would not believe the things they sell on Ebay for Ridgewood; post cards, brewing labels, used match books, I look for myself and for presents for my Dad who grew up in Ridgewood too.
I was the one who said I went to the Madison Theatre to see the Dave Clark Five, my mom took me and I remember standing on the arms of the chairs to see cause I was so small and everyone was standing and jumping up and not hearing much cause of all the screaming!
Ridgewood does have a high Hispanic population now, however, there is also a very large and noticable influx of Polish people also. That mixed with a high population of other Eastern Europeans too, especially Romania and the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
The theater would do almost as good with Polish subtitles at this point.
Peter – funny you should mention John Kiely – Earlier today, when I stumbled across this site, I sent him the URL. He and I lived in the same house growing up(a two family)on Cooper Ave as noted in my earlier post. I was just at his 50th birthday party this past weekend (also attended by Bob Genalo, a classmate of mine at SFP and SFC)– John now lives in Allendale, NJ and his mom (who was at the party) splits her time between Florida and Glendale, where she continues to maintain a residence on 64th St., just off of Cooper Ave. Mike Daley now lives in Florida, having recently re-located there from upstate NY. John speaks to him regularly and I played golf with him last September in NJ. I played golf this past Sunday with another SFP alum who you may know, Walter Winkowski – I am the godfather to his son.
You are right in that Ridgewood, by mass transit standards, is on another planet if one is considering coming from Bay Ridge, Sheephead Bay, etc. (“You can’t get there from here”)
Good point, Warren. Does Creative Entertainment own and run the Corona Plaza at 103rd St. and Roosevelt Avenue in Corona ? I saw the Matthew Broderick “Godzilla” there Thursday May 28, 1998 and it was subtitled in Spanish. Yes, Ridgewood now has a large Hispanic population, probably comparable to Jackson Heights and Corona.
“Flock to the Ridgewood from all over Brooklyn” ? The Ridgewood Theater is in Queens, a block or so from the Brooklyn border. Due to the inadequacies (or adequacies, depending on one’s point of view) of mass transit in Brooklyn, Ridgewood is very hard to get to from
some Brooklyn neighborhoods, like Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, East Flatbush …
Rich D :
I think we were last face to face right after the closing of the cursillo we both made at St. Paul’s Center on Humboldt Street, Greenpoint, Bklyn, mid-January 1975. I remember Mike Daley being there also. “The eighth sacrament”, as I think John Keily, the St. Francis College “folkmeister”, put it.
Cooper Avenue near 64th St. would be in the area of Glendale known as “Liberty Park”. Action Records (“Where the action is”) was on the south side of Myrtle just east of Cornelia Street and Martin’s Paint Store. I remember a John’s Bargain Store on the northwest side of Catalpa Avenue between Myrtle and Seneca Avenues, where KB Toys is now.
My St. Brigid and SFP classmate of 12 years, James Kennedy, pointed out to me the great rock albums you could find in the “Rock and Roll” section of Action Records, like Zephyr : From A Mile High. Their vocalist sounded like Janis Joplin.
Kresge’s and Woolworth’s were on the north side of Myrtle, a block further east, between Seneca and Onderdonk Avenues.
Home Federal Savings and Loan is now a North Fork Bank. My father worked for Ridgewood Savings Bank, both at and out of the main office at Myrtle and Forest Avenues, for 42 years, 1945 to 1987, when he retired. I am in Ridgewood Savings Bank’s main office at Myrtle and Forest every month both to visit Ridgewood and to do business for my father. The building still looks great, and there is a sign in the lobby, “Mowimy po polsku'(Polish spoken here).
Someone earlier mentioned having seen the Dave Clark 5 at the Madison – I lived on Cooper Ave (near 64th St)in Glendale and remember one evening playing outside the house when the Dave Clark Five tour bus drove by with the band on their way to the Madison – my sisters, who are a few years older and were teenagers at the time, went crazy at the “glimpse” they got right outside our door.
Peter K – I remember Action Records very well – on Myrtle across from Woolworth & Kresge 5&10 stores – there was a “John’s Bargain Store” on that block for a while as well
My unlce worked for many years in the Home Federal Savings & Loan on Forest Ave, across from the Ridgewood Savings Bank, also a very nice bank building
I’m also a St Matthias graduate (a decade later though…)
Anyway, the Madison Theater closed in 1978 to movies. It then burned, but the building became Consumers, then Odd Lot, and now “Liberty Dept Store”. When it was Odd Lot, they had a fake ceiling over auditorium area, and you could actually make out the former line of the balcony. I have never been in Liberty Dept store, so don’t know what they have up there now (although I’m sure still a fake ceiling). I don’t know what if anything remains of the glory of the Madison theater’s plasterwork above the fake ceiling what with the fire, neglect, the ravages of time, etc.
See more about the Madison Theater by typing “Madison” in the theater search engine above.
Hello Rich ! Good to be back in touch with you. I work in lower Manhattan and live in Dobbs Ferry NY across the Hudson from you.
If I may quote Bob Dylan, “We have much to talk about, and much to reminisce !” even though we are a year apart.
Peter K – Rich Danderline – SFP 72
St. Matthias graduate and Glendale resident (now living in Montclair, NJ)
Hello “rich d” : Are you my classmate, Rich Dittus, from Saint Francis Prep, 1969-73 ? I guess not, as he went to Fordham.
Are you Rich Danderline, SFP Class of 1972 ?
Hi – I stumbled on this site quite accidentally and noticed my name being taken in vain :)
Hello to DABOC and Peter K!
Peter K – “John” referred to by DABOC is John Gryzanka (from Greenpoint), a classmate of mine at SFP and at St. Francis College – he died in a car accident in 1975 when we were in college.
As to the theatre – I remember seeing “The Longest Day” with my mom when I was about 10 years old and the original “Parent Trap” with Hayley Mills
The Madison Theatre was right across the street from the Ridgewood but I do not know of that exists anymore (I haven’t been back in the ‘hood in a while)
Anyway, this was a pleasant surprise – I’ll check back from time to time and look forward to hearing back! (DABOC – give my regards to Phil)
I found the link Monica added to the link section of the site, and thought I should post a link to it here of the comment I made there:
http://cinematreasures.org/links/11824_0_5_0_C/
I really have to stop and see a movie in there again one day. I no longer live in Ridgewood, but do visit often.
By the way, I wish I had a photo to share with you from when I was a kid in the 70’s.
I just remembered the movie with John Ritter and the bratty son….Problem Child, which came out in 1990, so I was right about the date! The last time I was in the theater was in 1990 for that movie. Friday the 13th Part 6 was the movie I saw before that, and that came out in 1986. Between 1985 and 1990 was when I was old enough to ride the subway “without adults”, and that’s when my friends and I abandoned the Ridgewood Theater for the theaters in Forest Hills: The Midway, the Continental, The Trylon, and the Elmhust.
We usually would tell my mother that we were going to the movies to the “in walking distance” Ridgewood theater, but usually would head for the other theaters without telling her….
From the Midway section on this site, apparently that theater is unrecognizable now from around 1993, the last time I was at that theater.
Funny, I cannot remember the last movie I saw at the Ridgewood theater…
I know that as ‘young adult’ we’d often drive to other theaters rather than stay in Ridgewood — Forest Hills (Cinemart, Continental), Flushing, Elmwood, etc.
Peter K. – reach me at
Possibly, however it was very grungy the last time I was inside (again, that was around 1990 or so). If it was worse than that in 1979, it had to be REALLY bad then, because I couldn’t picture it being worse than the last time I was there.
I saw quite a few movies in the theater when the downstairs was still one theater. The last movie I remember seeing there before they split the main floor up was E.T, and that must have been around 1982. I believe the balcony was already partitioned off then. I don’t remember it being extremely dirty when I was there for E.T.
I can’t remember the countless movies I had seen there since then. I had previously though the last movie I saw there was one of the Friday the 13th movies (part 5 or 6?). I just remembered that horrible experience with that John Ritter movie I mentioned above, and I think that was after the Friday the 13th movie.
Warren, sorry about your “carpal tunnel and wrist syndrome”.
EllenA, please give me your e-mail address, so we can communicate about Ridgewood directly, and keep our private chat off this board.
I remember Victor Baresi and Joe Gasperetti very well. Ironically, Joe G seemed to have the most respect for me after we had both graduated the Prep, and we would meet by accident on the subway or in the Ridgewood library, although we started hitting it off better our senior year at the Prep, starting fall 1972.
Where was your high school, St. Angela Hall, located ? I vaguely remember it, along with St. Nick’s.
I live in Dobbs Ferry, NY, a near lower Westchester suburb of NYC, and work in lower Manhattan, so I am in NYC every weekday. I am in Ridgewood every month to do my father’s banking at Ridgewood Savings Bank.
I thought the “low point” of the Ridgewood was in late 1979, or early 1980, right before it began to be multiplexed. Bway, please comment on this.
The Ridgewood Theater wasn’t “that” bad in the 70’s, while it was still one screen. However, of the three theaters still operating in the immediate area; the Madison, the Oasis, and the Ridgewood, thet Ridgewood seemed to be in the “worst” shape, but still not terrible. Ironically, the Ridgewood is the only one still operating of those three.
The Madison was the was the first of those three to go (and was the most ornate). The Oasis was next to go around 1980. The Oasis seemed well-maintained right to the end. The Ridgewood started to get grungy in the early 80’s around when it was split up into three theaters (and then later 5). I haven’t been there in probably 15 years. I love the Ridgewood dearly, but the last time I was there (to see some John Ritter movie – I forgot the name but it’s the one where he had a bratty son), the seats were ripped, you got stuck to the floor, it smelled, and I got sick on the popcorn.
I prefer to remember it like my early experience, which I already mentioned way up higher in this thead (when my friend and I couldn’t get adjusted to the darkness, and were tripping over the stairs in the balcony theater and laughing hysterically trying to hind a seat).
I don’t know if it had gotten better since my last visit inside, but hopefully it has.
Stan Piccirillo sounds vaguely familiar. However, I did know Victor Barresi and Joe Gasperetti. Joe’s sister and I are to
this day very good friends. They lived two houses away from me.
I didn’t know many of the brothers, remember the girls and boys were separated at 5th grade. I do remember the name Brother Eugene, though. I am still in touch with a few of my St. Brigid classmates (women) mostly because a lot of us went to the same high school, St. Angela Hall.
I should have mentioned, the bulletin board I told you about is mostly populated by folks who no longer live in NY — I take it you still do? So, in 1971, when I graduated from SBS, Sr. Mary Irene was principal. I remember that the school still had a good rep in the ‘70s, high marks for reading, etc. and I know we were well though of by the nuns at our
high school as coming from a good school academically. I loved looking at Monica’s pics of the Ridgewood theater today, however, I just remember the Madison being more of a “big deal” — more ornate, etc. I was surprised to learn that the Ridgewood was so old. Maybe it had started its decline in the '70s?
Thank you, EllenA. I take it “Cypwood” comes from Cypress Hills and Ridgewood.
So you lived on Menahan near St. Nicholas, near my friend and classmate Stan Piccirillo. What was St. Brigid’s like when you graduated in June 1971 ? Did you know or have Br. Gerald Patrick (Donatus, when I had him in 7th grade, 1967-68) or Br. Eugene Thomas Devine (he started at Saint Francis Prep in Fall 1971). I visited with Br. Gerald Patrick in April 1972 and he said discipline at St. Brigid’s had utterly collapsed by then, though parents still clamored for it in parent-teacher meetings.
Peter K & Monica — I’ve enjoyed your comments on Ridgewood enormously!
I’d like to invite you to visit members3.boardhost.com/Cypwood, a spirited bulletin board
with many members from Queens and quite a few from Ridgewood.
Peter: I am also a graduate of St. Brigid’s — 1963-1971. Lived on Menahan Street/St. Nicholas Avenue.
I know some of the people you mentioned in your previous post.
Agreed, Bway. It was still going strong as a bank main office when I was last there last Friday July 2 2004.