Parthenon Theatre
329 Wyckoff Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
329 Wyckoff Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 248 comments
Imagine removing that siding on the facade and revealing the former brick, who knows what lies underneath! Since the building still stands from the theater days, and a bowling alley conversion in the 60’s, the jackpot question is:how much remains inside from the theater?
That other large building on the corner of Wyckoff and Myrtle was the terminal station for the Lutheran Cemetery steam “Dummy” Railroad which ran between that station and Metropolitan Ave on the street level, on the ROW that became the el for the M train we know today.
One of the four pictures provided on the attached page from the NY Public Library shows a rare view of the old Parthenon in its very early years. The other three pictures show how things were at this intersection in the late 1920’s.
These pistures were taken by Eugene Armbruster and are in the public domain. The caption clearly indicates that the Parthenon did, in fact, move from Brooklyn yo Queens when the border changed in 1925.
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I recently wrote a piece about the old movie theaters on Bushwick. The link appears below. The old Parthenon was featured in the article and I would like to share it with you.
In writing the piece, I definitely credited Cinema Treasures as a most valuable source for this information. So, thank you for helping me in this endeavor.
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Here’s a historic view of the Parthenon, as seen from the elevated train. Compare that below to one taken recently:
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?88079
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?90723
Bway, great to hear from you.
I don’t believe that the post of the photo that you just referred to came through. Since I am really looking forward to seeing it, please try again – and welcome back.
I have been so busy lately that I didn’t have time to log onto Cinematreasures for almost a month! Anyway, I forgot all about posting this photo! I believe I found it on the Brooklyn Library digital images collection.
In looking at the terrific picture that Bway posted last Febeuary (that I reprint below), I noted that the featered movie was “Forbidded Paradise”. It was a silent film directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch that starred, among others, Pola Negri and Adolph Menjou. The film was released in 1924. Thus, if it was in initial release, this film was shown during the brief period – 1921 to 1925 – when the Parthenon was situated in Brooklyn. If not, it was probably shown just after the Parthenon’s location shifted into Queens during 1925, when the county lines were revised.
This is, at least to me, fascinating stuff. Enjoy!
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Wow. Bway, where did you find this picture and when was it taken? By the looks of it, it seems that this occurred right after the Parthenon opened. It could even have been shot during the very brief period when this theater was still situated in Brooklyn.
Thanks again for this wonderful picture.
Here’s a rare view of the Parthenon Theater:
Click here for photo
Yes Bway, one can only wonder what the poltergeists of Union Cemetary have wrecked on both the students of old Bushwick High and the users of the Irving Library! (It seems, however, that their bite has been far less ominous than their bark!)
More seriously, a closer look at the map indicates that at least a portion of the old Madison Theatre may have been situated in Brooklyn before the lines were changed. Because, however, the realignment had occurred before 1927 – the year of the Madison’s birth – this was always an unambigously Queens venue when the Madison opened. But an item like this may have complicated the Madison’s construction schedule.
Interesting map. Also interesting on that map is the site of the old Union Cemetery, which was dug up and bodies moved to a Flushing Cemetery to built Bushwick High School, the Irving Library, and row houses. The Union Cemetery used to take up the blocks bounded by Irving and Knickerbocker from Putnam to Palmetto St.
In a comment regarding the Brooklyn Paramount, Tinseltoes provides a fine picture of the old theater. However, when I scrolled down to the other pictures on this thread, I stumbled over the attached map that provides fascinating information about the old Parthenon.
Specifically, when this theater was established, it was clearly situated in Brooklyn. When you review the map and trace where Palmetto Street meets Wyckoff Ave. (the Parthenon’s location) – the old Parthenon was clearly – or at least mostly – situated in the Borough of Churches. When, however, the county lines were re-drawn in the 1920’s, the Parthenon was cast into Queens County. Thus – unlike the Madison, Ridgewood, Oasis and who knows what other Queens theaters that were, over the years, told by the newspapers that they were in Brooklyn – the Parthenon actually was situated in Brooklyn – until they changed the boundary lines.
Hope you find this as interesting as I did.
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Bway, I agree with you that there is a very good chance that the area above the dropped ceiling may well contain many of the Parthenon’s old artifacts. Clearly, the operators of the bowling alley had absolutely no incentive to thrash the upper audotorium when they made the conversion; they just wantd to hide it, and to do so on the cheep. So, except for the alterations that had to occur to support the dropped ceiling, a lot of fascinating material may still remain.
This being so, it might make sense to contact the bingo hall people to ask if they would allow one of us to take a peek.
Well you know what was discovered above the “fake” ceiling in the Madison, so who knows, perhaps the dome of the Parthenon also still exists! It would be harder to view of course, as unlike the Madison, the Parthenon never had a balcony.
I do have a thought about the stairs though, now that you mention it. The person I spoke to mentioned that the floor of the lobby sloped upwards as you walked from street level to the seating area, and then once at that high point, had a very gradual grade down towards the screen…much less than other theaters. Perhaps that upward grade was for some reason made into that stairway, to lessen that upward grade in the floor, and that of the theater too. I also believe that due to his description of the lobby being quite large, the width of the theater, that probably is the space occupiued bu the pharmacy, and the Bingo Hall is that of the old auditorium. The basement may have just been “a basement”, but hopefully someone will let us know if they know.
Maybe yes, maybe no Bway. I may have inflated the number of steps that I had to scale to reach the bingo hall. It may have been closer to 12-15.(As I said, I wasn’t counting.) One other thing that I didn’t think about before: When I entered the bingo hall, I had to walk down about 2-3 steps in order to reach the hall’s main level. This further reduced the distance between the street and bingo hall levels, and made it somewhat approximate the difference between the street and theater levels that the person you spoke to described.
Based on this, I think that a good – though hardly compelling – case can be made that the floor of the bingo hall, the bowling alley AND the Parthenon were essentially – except for the slight grade differential – the same. (I should also add that the lay out of the bingo hall – large and deep expanse with a relatively shallow ceiling – closely resembles that of a bowling alley – without, of course, the alleys!) A lot of food for thought.
In addition to this, two other questions remain: (1) what still exists above the dropped ceiling; and (2) what – if anything – previously existed in the basement space now occupied by the clothing outlet?
I asked someone I know, and he said that the theater had no balcony, which made the theater look more open when you walked into the auditorium, than theaters where there was a balcony above. The outer lobby was extrmely shallow, and only the ticket window was there, and then a few steps to get into the inner lobby, which was the full width of the theater itself, and quite large. There was a slight slope upwards as you walked through the lobby towards the seating area, and then a slight grade downwards towards the screen, much lighter of a slope than other theaters.
So it does appear that the Bingo hall was made out of a new floor they m ade through the space of the old auditorium, making a second floor within that space.
Having had to attend a meeting in the area yesterday afternoon, I took the opportunity to take another peak at the Parthenon, particularly the stores situated in the old building.
With one exception, these are all small “holes in the wall” that only slightly extend into the building. The exception – a clothing outlet that opens on Palmetto St. – is something else entirely. Specifically, it includes the entire portion of the building’s ground floor that is not occupied by the other stores.
I would say that I was standing on the Parthenon’s ground floor except for one thing – the ceiling, which extended only about 12-15 feet above the floor and could certainly not accommodate a movie theater, is very solidly built and appears to be the original. If this is the case, I was actually standing in what was the building’s basement, with the theater being situated on the floor above, probably in what is now the bingo hall. But this would have required persons entering the Parthenon to scale a staircase in order to reach the theater.
Before writing this, I reviewed the entire thread and could find no reference to the configuration of the lobby or to any staircase leading to the main level. So my question is: Does anyone out there remember the Parthenon’s lobby and particularly any stairway that lead to the main level? Also, does anyone remember what, if anything, existed in the space now occupied by the clothing outlet?
That is a possibility, John, that a second story was built through the old auditorium.
Bway, the bingo hall probably occupies the entire length and width of the old theater. Due to the low dropped ceiling, it has a very cramped appearance.
Something just occurred to me. Could it be that the bowling alley was constructed at the street level, with a second floor separately converted into what ultimately became the bingo hall? In that case, the remnants of the bowling alley might still exist below the extended mazzanine and behind the pharmacy, which, by the way, I have never entered. Also, can anyone recall if some second floor use existed when the bowling alley wat still a going affair?
Some food for thought.
That is a very interersting observation John! It is quite possible that the Bingo hall does occupy what was once the Balcony, or at least the Balcony’s mezzanine. How big was the hall? This is the most information we have had on this theater yet.
If the Bingo Hall is upstairs, I wonder what occupies the main level? Has anyone ever gone in the pharmacy that is in the building? I always assumed that occupied the lobby, while the Bingo Hall occupied the auditorium, but it appears that may not be the case.
I passed by the old Panthenon earlier today, the door was open, and I went in. Unfortunately, there is not a lot to report, other than the fact that at leat one of the bingo players knew that the place had once been a movie theater.
The entrance opened not unto a lobby but to a staircase. After going up 20-25 stairs – I wasn’t counting – I entered the bingo hall. The hall filled what was probably the full theater space, but was only about 10 feet high due to the dropped ceiling. Given this, it is impossible to tell what lies above it.
Unless one had to reach the Parthenon’s main level via a staircase – which I very much doubt – my best guess is that the bingo hall occupies space originally created by the balcony and then converted to adapt to the present use.
Does anybody have any other ideas?
Thanks Lost…. I know what you probably mean, while I have never been in the Parthenon building, I was in the Glenwood Theater further down Myrtle, and it also was a Bowling alley when I was in it as a kid. Not that I would have noticed anything as a kid, but I don’t remember any hint that it was a theater. In fact, I didn’t even put two and two together that it once was a theater until years later. I remember the marquee, they kept the old theater marquee with “Glenwood” on it flashing, except it said “Bowl”. If I remember correctly, the balcony may have been somewhere where you could eat, I vaguely remember being “upstairs” looking down at the bowling alley when we were eating something. But I ewas too young to really remember clearly.
In regards to the post made last February about the letters announcing the title “Forbidden Paradise”, those were a standard style of changable letter that was available during that period. Each letter was on a metal rectangle with a raised channel outline that had individual lightbulb sockets within. Each letter had a plug on the back that was plugged into special sockets in the interior of the marquee attraction panel.
I still have a bunch of those letters in the basement of my theatre.
What if anything of the interior survives of the Parthenon?