I too have considered writing to the new developers to request explanations. It seems like the old Boymelgreen plan is being regurgitated as a smokescreen or to buy time until the real plans are revealed. I do recall Boymelgreen’s web site a couple of years ago showed a dummied-up image of people walking through the ticket lobby with the gallery above it…the walls were shown as blue with the poster containers still mounted on them…which would indicate the lobby would still be there. Now I cannot find that page, and am looking to see if I saved the images. I STILL would love to get into that foyer for photos. It is soooo frustrating!
The jobs were shipped overseas by the rich…yet Americans continue to vote them into office, mainly because they promise to hate the gays and save the guns and impose theocracy.
Plus the article is still vague about the issue of exactly how the foyer will be visible through the glass without removing half the landmarked space. They should provide a new floor plan or a detailed rendering of what the lobby will look like to an observer standing directly in front of the building, not from blocks away down Main Street. I would bet they still do not know what they are talking about.
So the fountain I was worried about is still there in its corner. Its counterpart on the opposite side of the room is missing, however, along with the biggie that adorned the center of the room, though its position on the floor is indicated by an outline. The decorative cornice above the coat check window is now missing and plastered over. Hmmm I get deja vu reading this article, especially when i see the part about a missing fountain in a dentist’s office. Has this been posted before?
Maybe they should grab a look at this entire thread to get an idea of how little they know about this place. They probably don’t care anyway, it is all about the money. I am now worried that more looting has taken place since that ornate wall fountain now seems to be missing from the foyer. I wonder who took it?
I’ve used Tom Lamb’s floor plan of the RKO to dummy up a “before and after” set of two blueprints showing how much of the space would have to be removed in order for the foyer to be visible from the street.
I suppose the marble staircases would be visible too. Unfortunately the ticket lobby and the decorative rotunda above it, and the three baroque-style arches along the south foyer would be removed in order to clear the sight line. If these are landmarked areas, I do not see how it will be permissible to remove them. Again, I think the developers do not know what they are talking about when they talk about a glass curtain…or they feel the faux facade on the north foyer will be enough to preserve.
Over there in the center right where it is all blank sheetrock (the angled section of the wall), used to have this fountain on it if I am not mistaken:
Yes half the foyer and the entire ticket lobby would have to be removed. I am sure the developers are simply spewing the party line about the property until they have another publicity campaign thought up. Their publicists probably have not even looked at the original drawings and floorplans, and therefore do not know what they are talking about. People are so dense nowadays that they probably would not even understand what they are looking at even if they did study the floor plans. No doubt they are brilliant in the business and finance department though, since that is about all anyone studies or cares about anymore.
I rezzed those teensy interior shots up in Photoshop…not too much more detail revealed but a little easier on the eyes. With such a marvelous medium as the internet where we can view images in high resolution, I despise it when web sites do not offer large images for viewing. I have found this happens on web sites both small and large, small to big budget. We might as well just pick up a copy of the paper or mag and look at if if the web site is not going to offer a better visual experience.
OMG what great pictures, to bad they are so tiny, I am sure that is exactly what the foyer looks like now. DAMN i wish i could be in there to take some pictures. Why do they post such small images? It is impossible to fully appreciate them.
Let’s have a demonstration in front of the theater, we’ll all bring cameras and stand out front and demand to be let in to inspect the ticket lobby and foyer which are landmarked, and should be available for public inspection and photography. Wealthy developers and their finance/business pals have too much power and should be taken down a few notches.
I am reminded of comments several years ago about this glass curtain…if the lobby (I assume they mean the foyer that the ticket lobby leads to), is going to be visible from the street through a curtain of glass, then the landmarked structure over the ticket lobby (the plaster gallery with the polychromed pillars and ceiling) and the three baroque-style arches above the foyer entrance will have to be removed to clear the sight-line. This cannot be done if these portions of the structure are part of the landmarked room. I don’t think the developers really know what they are working with or what they are talking about, and are simply regurgitating old info.
I believe the ticket lobby and foyer are both landmarked and therefore must be accessible to the public for viewing and inspection. It stinks that the theater, mezzanine and office building will be demolished but if the foyer is restored, it had better be available to those of us in the public who wish to view it! I imagine the developers will turn it into a mall, with shops on the first floor and second floor on a new mezzanine level.
Same here thank goodness we still have the Ziegfeld!! I don’t know if that graffiti is recent, I have not been in this area for quite some time, and only walked up there to take the pictures. It is sad to see another theater from my earliest memories bite the dust. I fear it is only a matter of time before even the Ziegfeld and the Paris disappear.
So many memories of standing on lines there along that wall with the graffii on it, waiting to see movies…among them The Stepford Wives in 1976, and later Legal Eagles, Rain Man and Fatal Attraction. Are there any single screens left in NYC besides The Plaza?
Just saw the Daily News article about the Ridgewood Theater on Myrtle Avenue, about how a rubbish collector went in and found lovely artifacts. Part of the article says:
“Queens boasts only a handful of interior landmarks, which must be regularly open to the public, including the RKO Keith’s movie theater in Flushing and the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport.”
What does this mean? Can the public demand to be allowed into the interior of the RKO so we can check on it and photograph it? It ticks me off that it is off limits.
We are definitely declining when it comes to taste and education about the arts and the past. While the video-game junk decor serves a purpose, it woud still be wonderful to see a multplex constructed to resemble the great movie palaces that are mostly lost…even if this construction were limited to the lobby and foyer areas. Imagine a new multiplex with a foyer like the landmarked foyer of the RKO Flushing, or a trim, sleek art deco/art moderne lobby like the Beekman’s original interior. Cost, cost, cost will be the objection to creating such a showplace. I am sure there would be ways around high costs…for example, a contest for the creation of a showplace lobby or foyer for a multiplex, the competitors being architecture and art students from local colleges and universities who would create a permanent grand space in return for college credit, or a smaller fee than an established firm would charge. However, the results might be lost on current generations who do not have appreciation for arts or history. Also, builders of multiplexes would not want a grand permanent interior because of the expense of maintaining it, demolishing it, or future battles over landmarking. It is easier and cheaper to build for obsolescence. SIGH
WOW that first one jogged my memory!!! Thanks for the link! What a shame to demolish that beautiful theater and replace it with that awful Gimbels East building. Everything for the almighty dollar.
I too have considered writing to the new developers to request explanations. It seems like the old Boymelgreen plan is being regurgitated as a smokescreen or to buy time until the real plans are revealed. I do recall Boymelgreen’s web site a couple of years ago showed a dummied-up image of people walking through the ticket lobby with the gallery above it…the walls were shown as blue with the poster containers still mounted on them…which would indicate the lobby would still be there. Now I cannot find that page, and am looking to see if I saved the images. I STILL would love to get into that foyer for photos. It is soooo frustrating!
The jobs were shipped overseas by the rich…yet Americans continue to vote them into office, mainly because they promise to hate the gays and save the guns and impose theocracy.
Plus the article is still vague about the issue of exactly how the foyer will be visible through the glass without removing half the landmarked space. They should provide a new floor plan or a detailed rendering of what the lobby will look like to an observer standing directly in front of the building, not from blocks away down Main Street. I would bet they still do not know what they are talking about.
Just found this link, it shows the fountain I was wondering about on the other side of the foyer, a small picture of which is shown:
View link
I enlarged it here:
View link
And here is the old postcard from the 1930s showing approximately the same view:
View link
So the fountain I was worried about is still there in its corner. Its counterpart on the opposite side of the room is missing, however, along with the biggie that adorned the center of the room, though its position on the floor is indicated by an outline. The decorative cornice above the coat check window is now missing and plastered over. Hmmm I get deja vu reading this article, especially when i see the part about a missing fountain in a dentist’s office. Has this been posted before?
:)
Maybe they should grab a look at this entire thread to get an idea of how little they know about this place. They probably don’t care anyway, it is all about the money. I am now worried that more looting has taken place since that ornate wall fountain now seems to be missing from the foyer. I wonder who took it?
I’ve used Tom Lamb’s floor plan of the RKO to dummy up a “before and after” set of two blueprints showing how much of the space would have to be removed in order for the foyer to be visible from the street.
Here is the original layout:
View link
Here is a possible new layout with everything removed so that the north part of the foyer will be visible from the street through a “glass curtain”:
View link
The north part of the foyer visible from the street would be the faux facade with the windows and balconies, drawn here in the original designs:
View link
I suppose the marble staircases would be visible too. Unfortunately the ticket lobby and the decorative rotunda above it, and the three baroque-style arches along the south foyer would be removed in order to clear the sight line. If these are landmarked areas, I do not see how it will be permissible to remove them. Again, I think the developers do not know what they are talking about when they talk about a glass curtain…or they feel the faux facade on the north foyer will be enough to preserve.
This fountain is mentioned by SWCphotography on a post of February 16, 2009, referencing Ed Solero’s photobucket page. Whatever happened to Ed Solero?
I am noticing in this image that the corner fountain is missing:
View link
Over there in the center right where it is all blank sheetrock (the angled section of the wall), used to have this fountain on it if I am not mistaken:
View link
If that fountain is missing, it must have been removed since “asphoto” took this picture back in January 2007.
Yes half the foyer and the entire ticket lobby would have to be removed. I am sure the developers are simply spewing the party line about the property until they have another publicity campaign thought up. Their publicists probably have not even looked at the original drawings and floorplans, and therefore do not know what they are talking about. People are so dense nowadays that they probably would not even understand what they are looking at even if they did study the floor plans. No doubt they are brilliant in the business and finance department though, since that is about all anyone studies or cares about anymore.
I rezzed those teensy interior shots up in Photoshop…not too much more detail revealed but a little easier on the eyes. With such a marvelous medium as the internet where we can view images in high resolution, I despise it when web sites do not offer large images for viewing. I have found this happens on web sites both small and large, small to big budget. We might as well just pick up a copy of the paper or mag and look at if if the web site is not going to offer a better visual experience.
View link
View link
View link
View link
OMG what great pictures, to bad they are so tiny, I am sure that is exactly what the foyer looks like now. DAMN i wish i could be in there to take some pictures. Why do they post such small images? It is impossible to fully appreciate them.
Let’s have a demonstration in front of the theater, we’ll all bring cameras and stand out front and demand to be let in to inspect the ticket lobby and foyer which are landmarked, and should be available for public inspection and photography. Wealthy developers and their finance/business pals have too much power and should be taken down a few notches.
I am reminded of comments several years ago about this glass curtain…if the lobby (I assume they mean the foyer that the ticket lobby leads to), is going to be visible from the street through a curtain of glass, then the landmarked structure over the ticket lobby (the plaster gallery with the polychromed pillars and ceiling) and the three baroque-style arches above the foyer entrance will have to be removed to clear the sight-line. This cannot be done if these portions of the structure are part of the landmarked room. I don’t think the developers really know what they are working with or what they are talking about, and are simply regurgitating old info.
I believe the ticket lobby and foyer are both landmarked and therefore must be accessible to the public for viewing and inspection. It stinks that the theater, mezzanine and office building will be demolished but if the foyer is restored, it had better be available to those of us in the public who wish to view it! I imagine the developers will turn it into a mall, with shops on the first floor and second floor on a new mezzanine level.
I agree. :–(
Same here thank goodness we still have the Ziegfeld!! I don’t know if that graffiti is recent, I have not been in this area for quite some time, and only walked up there to take the pictures. It is sad to see another theater from my earliest memories bite the dust. I fear it is only a matter of time before even the Ziegfeld and the Paris disappear.
OOPS sorry yes I meant the Paris. Hey that’s right the theater at 85th is still there! Probably next in line for the chopping block.
Walked by here today and took some pictures:
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
So many memories of standing on lines there along that wall with the graffii on it, waiting to see movies…among them The Stepford Wives in 1976, and later Legal Eagles, Rain Man and Fatal Attraction. Are there any single screens left in NYC besides The Plaza?
Thank goodness it has been saved.
Just saw the Daily News article about the Ridgewood Theater on Myrtle Avenue, about how a rubbish collector went in and found lovely artifacts. Part of the article says:
“Queens boasts only a handful of interior landmarks, which must be regularly open to the public, including the RKO Keith’s movie theater in Flushing and the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport.”
What does this mean? Can the public demand to be allowed into the interior of the RKO so we can check on it and photograph it? It ticks me off that it is off limits.
We are definitely declining when it comes to taste and education about the arts and the past. While the video-game junk decor serves a purpose, it woud still be wonderful to see a multplex constructed to resemble the great movie palaces that are mostly lost…even if this construction were limited to the lobby and foyer areas. Imagine a new multiplex with a foyer like the landmarked foyer of the RKO Flushing, or a trim, sleek art deco/art moderne lobby like the Beekman’s original interior. Cost, cost, cost will be the objection to creating such a showplace. I am sure there would be ways around high costs…for example, a contest for the creation of a showplace lobby or foyer for a multiplex, the competitors being architecture and art students from local colleges and universities who would create a permanent grand space in return for college credit, or a smaller fee than an established firm would charge. However, the results might be lost on current generations who do not have appreciation for arts or history. Also, builders of multiplexes would not want a grand permanent interior because of the expense of maintaining it, demolishing it, or future battles over landmarking. It is easier and cheaper to build for obsolescence. SIGH
Thanks, MichaelDJ!
WOW that first one jogged my memory!!! Thanks for the link! What a shame to demolish that beautiful theater and replace it with that awful Gimbels East building. Everything for the almighty dollar.
Wowie Zowie, what a find! Thanks for the link!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mesawyou/9030256/
Cool!