Ridgewood Theatre
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
55-27 Myrtle Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
31 people
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Showing 401 - 425 of 2,835 comments
Thanks, jwbailer ! Do you have any interior photos ?
Good explanation, Bway.
Thanks for the heads-up, Mike.
Thank you for asking! I will be creating a Facebook Group in the coming week or two. I have been busy trying to find a historically-sensitive tenant in the arts, as well as other projects (preservation and non-preservation). I will get to it shortly. The existing MySpace page, www.myspace.com/ridgewoodtheatre will be updated shortly as well.
Michael did you set up the Ridgewood page on Face Book yet?
I believe that’s how they were able to keep the theater “open” eben during the time it was being multiplexed. They closed off the balcony probably during the night, and while they were doing that, the main orchestra was still open. Then once the the balcony was closed off and up and running, they would show the movie up there, and were able to close off the down stairs, and split that into two. Then they were operating the three auditoriums. When they decided to 5-plex it, they closed the balcony theater again to cut that into three, and showed movies in the two downstairs theaters. So it’s easy to see how it “continually” ran, right through the multiplexing.
I believe that’s how they were able to keep the theater “open” eben during the time it was being multiplexed. They closed off the balcony probably during the night, and while they were doing that, the main orchestra was still open. Then once the the balcony was closed off and up and running, they would show the movie up there, and were able to close off the down stairs, and split that into two. Then they were operating the three auditoriums. When they decided to 5-plex it, they closed the balcony theater again to cut that into three, and showed movies in the two downstairs theaters. So it’s easy to see how it “continually” ran, right through the multiplexing.
Thanks !
When I saw “Blow Out” at the Ridgewood in late July 1981, I think it was already three cinemas. “Wolfen” was playing there then also, and another film I don’t remember.
Originally, I believe the orchestra level was made into two theaters, and the whole balcony was a third screen. A couple years later, they further multiplexed it by cutting the balcony into three.
By the way, the balcony was theater 1, the downstairs was theater 2 and 3. When it was 5-plexed, the downstairs remained 2 and 3, and the balcony was 1, 4 and 5. I don’t remember which side was 1, and which was 5 however.
You and me both, Panzer. I’m glad I made you laugh !
My most recent and vivid memory is of the elliptical balcony lobby when I saw “Friday The 13th” in the balcony cinema of the Ridgewood on Tuesday June 17th 1980.
A boxing match was being shown on closed circuit TV on the orchestra level screen below.
That was my first experience of the multiplexing of the Ridgewood.
The next film I remember seeing on the orchestra level screen of the Ridgewood was “The Howling” on Friday March 13th 1981, when (YES !!!) there was a FULL MOON !
Before I got up and left the theatre, I remember being afraid that some creep was going to think he was a werewolf and attack me !
LOL..I do have memories of the pre multi- plex Ridgewood..but photos would be great to see.
Yes, Panzer, I agree.
It’s both a Rod Serling-esque irony and a Faustian deal with the devil :
“You may have historic interior photos of the Ridgewood Theatre, but you can only get them from Warren G. Harris !”
Also reminds me of “Bring me the broomstick of the Wicked Witch Of The West !”
Does make one kind of want Warren back here again..but then again,no.
Historic photos of the interior of the Madison were found and posted years ago. Why not for the Ridgewood ?
It almost makes we want to contact Warren, but I’m not that masochistic.
Nor do I, Chris.
Thanks John! Those are the same photos they had in the print article…it’s nice to finally get an interior photo of the Ridgewood posted here. I know there were some interior photos posted while it was operating yet, but this one shows some of the once hidden ornamentation behind the walls. It seems a lot of the inside is still all there.
Now if ONLY we could get a historic photo of the auditorium….I don’t know why getting a photo of that would be so hard to obtain….
Thanks, John D and Mike.
I passed by the Ridgewood Theatre about 10:40 a.m. this morning, Friday April 16 2010.
Call (917) 578 7701 is back up on the marquee.
The gate was down, closing off the outer lobby. No posters in the windows of the box office. The doors to the inner lobby were closed.
Between the gate and the doors to the inner lobby, in the outer lobby, was a movie projector, and a freezer display case, white enamel with chrome trim, and a round quarter-cylinder transparent front cover. Nothing was inside on the shelves.
Up against the doors to the inner lobby were tables covered with a white tablecloth, extending about half the width of the inner lobby doors.
There was a poster for the 1976 film “Rocky” on the middle inner lobby door.
Thank you for providing the Times NewsWeekly link, John! The photos can be compared to opening a Ridgewood & Thomas Lamb, the Great’s time capsule!!!
These are some more articles on the theater:
Queens Courier, “Seek ‘Sensitive’ Theater Buyer,” Apr 15, 2010 by Noah Rosenberg: View link
Times Ledger, “Activitist Hopes To Utilize Ridgewood Theatre,” Apr 15, 2010 by Connor Adams Sheets: View link
Here is the Times newsweekly story about the Ridgewood.
View link
Thanks, John, Dramatrauma, Michael and Chris. I’ll go check it out.
The Timesnewsweekly has a LONG awaited interior photo of the Ridgewood, or at least one of it’s now uncovered and exposed Juliet balconies next to the proscenium. It’s in color, and you can see where they ripped away a fake drop ceiling which partially covered it, and I would guess a sheetrock wall which covered over the ornamental plaster. It was a long overdue sight to behold! Now if only someone could come up with a historic interior photo, it’s amazing that no one has been able to dig one up yet….
Anyway, the online version of the Times Newsweekly’s April 8 version should be up by Thursday or Friday, hopefully that will include this great photo…
This is a Queens Chronicle article from April 8, 2010, titled “Theater’s Defenders Team Up With Owners To Sell Site”…
View link
The Google map (both the CT link and Tinseltoes) links wind up on Cypress Ave. Is there a way to fix that?
The Times Weekly (the Old Ridgewood Times)also ran an article on the visit referenced in the Daily News article noted above. It should go on-line in a week or so. I will post it when it is available.
The article provides positive news as it indicates that the politically serious entities in Ridgewood – the elected officials and the leaders of the major community groups – are aggressively exploring, in conjunction with the owners, posible new – and aesthetically positive – uses for the old theater house. This is great news, since, with all due respect to us movie enthusiasts and landmarks preservation advocates, these are the persons who can actually make this thing work. Hopefully, they will be able to generate the needed funding to move this project along and also attract a coalition of cinematic and theatrical groups that could help make this a going venture.
On the other hand, it appears that the owners, despite their clearly articulated – and, in my view, sincere – good intentions, are looking to turn their considerable investment into a profit making entity. Thus, if a revival of the Ridgewood does not pan out in a reasonable period of time, they will definitely look elsewhere. Only time will tell.
Thanks, Tinseltoes.
I think it would be a mistake for the Ridgewood Theatre to be made into condominiums. Ridgewood already has plenty of housing, but there is no movie theater within a four-mile radius of the Ridgewood Theatre except for the relatively hard to reach Atlas Park Cinemas in Glendale.
If the former Bushwick High School Annex on the southern corner of Cornelia Street and Cypress Avenue, on my old home block, is made into luxury condos, it will only underscore my inability to move back into my old neighborhood of Ridgewood.
Such luxury condos will also, by contrast, make my old home block of Cornelia Street look even shabbier and shittier than it already does.
Good work, Mike. I don’t have any new ideas at the moment, and, as I no longer reside in Ridgewood, even though I visit there every month, I am not sure how much weight any ideas I might have would carry, and have any effect.