Thanks so much, Bway, for your reply, and for posting the link to the exhibit here. Over the next few days, I will be taking a good close look at it, both on its website, and of the photos you took of it, and then posted on Bushwick Buddies.
Warren, I’m glad to read that the “Agony of Bushwick” articles are safely on microfilm at the central Queens library. What was your opinion of the articles after reading them ?
I know what you mean about downtown Jamaica seeming also in peril at that time, with the events you mentioned, and also the closing and eventual demolition of the el, starting at 168th Street in September 1977 and working its way west to the Queens Boulevard and Metropolitan Avenue stations, but I don’t think there was anything like the devastation of Bushwick anywhere near Jamaica, and the proximity of partly destroyed Bushwick to Ridgewood made many Ridgewood residents fearful, and must have had some negative effect on Ridgewood.
Ridgewood was not devastated like Bushwick during and after the blackout, partly because the National Guard was stationed on Myrtle Avenue, the main commercial area, so that the stores on Myrtle Avenue were not broken into and looted, but in the years that followed, whenever a store or office on Myrtle Avenue went out of business, there was always the fear it would remain vacant, and become a shooting gallery for junkies, or squatted on by the homeless, thereby beginning the process of Ridgewood following nearby Bushwick into devastation and ruin.
To get this back on topic : hence the sign on the front of the derelict former RKO Madison in Feburary 1978 :
THIS IS HOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD STARTS TO DECAY !
IF THIS BOTHERS YOU, CALL …
The “Up From Flames” exhibit makes the point that the low point of the 1977 devastation of Bushwick was, to many, a wake-up call, that “the line must be drawn HERE”, that the destruction could not be allowed to proceed any further, and conditions HAD to be improved from then on. That did lots of good for Ridgewood as well as Bushwick. But the loss of housing in Bushwick must have caused some overcrowding in Ridgewood, and the accelerated influx of Hispanics into Ridgewood, fear and resentmnet in Ridgewood’s less tolerant ethnic whites.
Panzer65, I watched my share of movies on the 4:30 movie on CBS, NBC and ABC (“The Big Show”, starting in fall 1963. I think Tuesday was sci fi / monster day, on which I saw movies like “The Amazing Colossal Man”).
The Ridgewood was on the north side of Myrtle between Putnam Avenue and Madison Street. The Madison was on the south side of Myrtle Avenue at Woodbine Street.
Yes, Panzer65, Cinema Treasures allows you to experience indirectly what you missed, but it reads like you’ve had your own abundant fair share of moviegoing experiences as well.
I saw movies on “Chiller Theater” like “The Indestructible Man” that older posters like BrooklynJim saw in movie theaters.
A place of “learning”, and perhaps also of coming of age, and of the baton of champion being passed, as in “The Hustler” (1961), “The Color Of Money” (1982) and the classic Twilight Zone episode, “A Game Of Pool” (1961).
Probably because it made money when it was re-opened as a store.
The proposal was to make the Madison into a multi-level parking structure, rather than a parking lot. Perhaps Warren can tell us why this was not done.
I still had fun at the Madison even, or maybe especially when, seeing not-so-great films there, like “Reptilicus” (1961), “Three Stooges In Orbit” and “Mothra”, “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1962)“I Saw What You Did”(1965), “Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice ?”(1969), “Tales From The Crypt” (1972) and “The House That Dripped Blood” (1975, released several years earlier), to name a few.
I myself do not see why the Madison could not have been multiplexed, Panzer65, but perhaps you can research for us and post here about why this was never done.
I didn’t see “Mark Of The Devil” at the Madison in 1972, but took it for granted that free vomit bags were being given out to patrons within, as advertised.
Panzer65, what about your postings of May 28th did you want me to see ?
Warren, I will defer to Bway, out resident Oasis expert, to answer your question about its closing date.
From Panzer65’s May 28th 2007 post :
“I do recall its days as a concert venue, that being Richard Hell and the Voidoids. An unusual name indeed, I recall seeing this name pasted on light poles and walls, it also marked the beginning of the end of those days of movies there.”
This was probably summer 1978, as I recall those same ads for the Voidoids in summer 1978, with a concert by them at Forest Park bandshell advertised for Saturday August 12th 1978.
So that nattows the closing of the Madison down to 9/23/77 to 12/03/77, with Halloween almost exactly in the middle.
Yes, Warren, I remember those fears well, because my parents and I had them, living in Ridgewood as we did, ¾ block from Bushwick. It’s understandable that the Ridgewood Times would steer away from “negative” news, such as the closing of the Madison in the fall of 1977, so soon after the July 13 1977 blackout and the consequent devastation of Bushwick. As it is, I remember an article in the Ridgewood Times in fall 1977, “The Agony Of Bushwick”, which, in retrospect, I now wish I had saved and kept a copy of. I think it’s now only to be found in the archives of either the Ridgewood Branch of the Queensboro Public Library or the central library in Jamaica, unless it was dug out and re-posted for the “Up From Flames” exhibit on Bushwick at the Brooklyn Historical Society that closed this past Sunday.
There was a division into “upper” and “lower” Ridgewood, roughly north and south of Myrtle Avenue, respectively. The fear was that at least “lower” Ridgewood would suffer Bushwick’s fate, whereas “upper” Ridgewood wanted to be associated with Glendale and Queens, rather than Bushwick and Brooklyn, in terms of community services.
There was even a program about Bushwick in the fall of 1977 on Channel 13 which I would now be very interested in viewing. I think I only watched part of it. At the time, I was a student at Cooper Union, extremely focused in an “ivory tower” way on my studies there.
The 1977 post-blackout devastation of Bushwick also greatly accelerated the influx of Hispanics into Ridgewood, which first seemed to begin in force in the fall of 1970.
Thanks, Warren. We still don’t know the exact date the Madison closed, but we’ve narrowed it down to between September 23rd and December 17th, 1977, with Halloween 1977 as a most likely near-median value.
I never knew Jimmy Durante was a native Ridgewoodite, only that he was once a singing waiter at Coney Island : “I’m Jimmy, that well-dressed man ! …”
Hy Hochberg … for ten years (1961-1970), my dentist was Dr. Sidney (Sy) Hochberg, on the south side of Myrtle Avenue, between Seneca and Weirfield. Hy and Sy, brothers ?
“A bleak ending to a once proud movie house.” Well-put, Panzer65.
Still, to me, the Madison went out with a bang by showing “Taxi Driver” and “The Exorcist” in spring and summer of 1976. It still showed good to great films after 1959, like “Psycho”, “The Man With The X-Ray Eyes”, “Evil Of Frankenstein”, “My Fair Lady”, “The Ten Commandments”, “Die, Monster, Die !”, “Bonnie and Clyde”, “The Odd Couple”, “Airport”, “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They ?”, “The Godfather”, “2001”, “A Separate Peace”, “Harrad Experiment”, “Harrad Summer”, “Reincarnation Of Peter Proud”, “The Hindenburg”, etc.
Panzer65 : Thanks for the compliment, and for your answer on your first LP.
What got you back in time from Aerosmith to Jimi Hendrix ?
77 WABC was always too hatd-sell, loud, and high-pressure for me. I grew up with WMCA 570 AM and “The Good Guys” : Joe O'Brien, Jack Spector, Scott Muny (whom I later heard on WNEW 102.7 FM).
Here’s a jingle now on 1010 WINS, sung in forties-style harmony :
“1 800 588 – 2300 : EMPIRE !”
There was a film, “Grind House”, released spring of this year.
EdSolero, thanks for defining “grind house” movie theater for us.
Thanks so much, Bway, for your reply, and for posting the link to the exhibit here. Over the next few days, I will be taking a good close look at it, both on its website, and of the photos you took of it, and then posted on Bushwick Buddies.
Warren, I’m glad to read that the “Agony of Bushwick” articles are safely on microfilm at the central Queens library. What was your opinion of the articles after reading them ?
I know what you mean about downtown Jamaica seeming also in peril at that time, with the events you mentioned, and also the closing and eventual demolition of the el, starting at 168th Street in September 1977 and working its way west to the Queens Boulevard and Metropolitan Avenue stations, but I don’t think there was anything like the devastation of Bushwick anywhere near Jamaica, and the proximity of partly destroyed Bushwick to Ridgewood made many Ridgewood residents fearful, and must have had some negative effect on Ridgewood.
Ridgewood was not devastated like Bushwick during and after the blackout, partly because the National Guard was stationed on Myrtle Avenue, the main commercial area, so that the stores on Myrtle Avenue were not broken into and looted, but in the years that followed, whenever a store or office on Myrtle Avenue went out of business, there was always the fear it would remain vacant, and become a shooting gallery for junkies, or squatted on by the homeless, thereby beginning the process of Ridgewood following nearby Bushwick into devastation and ruin.
To get this back on topic : hence the sign on the front of the derelict former RKO Madison in Feburary 1978 :
THIS IS HOW YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD STARTS TO DECAY !
IF THIS BOTHERS YOU, CALL …
The “Up From Flames” exhibit makes the point that the low point of the 1977 devastation of Bushwick was, to many, a wake-up call, that “the line must be drawn HERE”, that the destruction could not be allowed to proceed any further, and conditions HAD to be improved from then on. That did lots of good for Ridgewood as well as Bushwick. But the loss of housing in Bushwick must have caused some overcrowding in Ridgewood, and the accelerated influx of Hispanics into Ridgewood, fear and resentmnet in Ridgewood’s less tolerant ethnic whites.
I do !
Excuse me …. the Ridgewood IS, IS, IS STILL SHOWING MOVIES on the north side of Myrtle between Putnam Avenue and Madison Street.
Panzer65, I watched my share of movies on the 4:30 movie on CBS, NBC and ABC (“The Big Show”, starting in fall 1963. I think Tuesday was sci fi / monster day, on which I saw movies like “The Amazing Colossal Man”).
The Ridgewood was on the north side of Myrtle between Putnam Avenue and Madison Street. The Madison was on the south side of Myrtle Avenue at Woodbine Street.
Yes, Panzer65, Cinema Treasures allows you to experience indirectly what you missed, but it reads like you’ve had your own abundant fair share of moviegoing experiences as well.
I saw movies on “Chiller Theater” like “The Indestructible Man” that older posters like BrooklynJim saw in movie theaters.
Thanks, Panzer65. I DID read your memories, and would like to read more.
The RKO Madison “died” first, as a movie theater (Halloween 1977)then the Oasis, from what I’ve read. Bway, correct me if I’m wrong.
Thanks for posting the Ridgewood Times articles links, Warren.
Thanks, Bway. I can’t open your link; it’s blocked from my computer. Could you please e-mail me your photo ? Thanks.
I guess they were, NewYorkDave. How did you like meeting him on this page ? Or do you post from the same computer ?
A place of “learning”, and perhaps also of coming of age, and of the baton of champion being passed, as in “The Hustler” (1961), “The Color Of Money” (1982) and the classic Twilight Zone episode, “A Game Of Pool” (1961).
Dominus vobiscum, et cum spiritu tuo.
Probably because it made money when it was re-opened as a store.
The proposal was to make the Madison into a multi-level parking structure, rather than a parking lot. Perhaps Warren can tell us why this was not done.
I still had fun at the Madison even, or maybe especially when, seeing not-so-great films there, like “Reptilicus” (1961), “Three Stooges In Orbit” and “Mothra”, “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1962)“I Saw What You Did”(1965), “Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice ?”(1969), “Tales From The Crypt” (1972) and “The House That Dripped Blood” (1975, released several years earlier), to name a few.
I myself do not see why the Madison could not have been multiplexed, Panzer65, but perhaps you can research for us and post here about why this was never done.
I didn’t see “Mark Of The Devil” at the Madison in 1972, but took it for granted that free vomit bags were being given out to patrons within, as advertised.
Bway, I can see the neighborhood complaining about the rock concerts at the Oasis.
Panzer65, what about your postings of May 28th did you want me to see ?
Warren, I will defer to Bway, out resident Oasis expert, to answer your question about its closing date.
From Panzer65’s May 28th 2007 post :
“I do recall its days as a concert venue, that being Richard Hell and the Voidoids. An unusual name indeed, I recall seeing this name pasted on light poles and walls, it also marked the beginning of the end of those days of movies there.”
This was probably summer 1978, as I recall those same ads for the Voidoids in summer 1978, with a concert by them at Forest Park bandshell advertised for Saturday August 12th 1978.
So that nattows the closing of the Madison down to 9/23/77 to 12/03/77, with Halloween almost exactly in the middle.
Yes, Warren, I remember those fears well, because my parents and I had them, living in Ridgewood as we did, ¾ block from Bushwick. It’s understandable that the Ridgewood Times would steer away from “negative” news, such as the closing of the Madison in the fall of 1977, so soon after the July 13 1977 blackout and the consequent devastation of Bushwick. As it is, I remember an article in the Ridgewood Times in fall 1977, “The Agony Of Bushwick”, which, in retrospect, I now wish I had saved and kept a copy of. I think it’s now only to be found in the archives of either the Ridgewood Branch of the Queensboro Public Library or the central library in Jamaica, unless it was dug out and re-posted for the “Up From Flames” exhibit on Bushwick at the Brooklyn Historical Society that closed this past Sunday.
There was a division into “upper” and “lower” Ridgewood, roughly north and south of Myrtle Avenue, respectively. The fear was that at least “lower” Ridgewood would suffer Bushwick’s fate, whereas “upper” Ridgewood wanted to be associated with Glendale and Queens, rather than Bushwick and Brooklyn, in terms of community services.
There was even a program about Bushwick in the fall of 1977 on Channel 13 which I would now be very interested in viewing. I think I only watched part of it. At the time, I was a student at Cooper Union, extremely focused in an “ivory tower” way on my studies there.
The 1977 post-blackout devastation of Bushwick also greatly accelerated the influx of Hispanics into Ridgewood, which first seemed to begin in force in the fall of 1970.
That’s also a relevant point about the parking garage. Parking on busy Myrtle Avenue has of course always been difficult.
Thanks, Warren. We still don’t know the exact date the Madison closed, but we’ve narrowed it down to between September 23rd and December 17th, 1977, with Halloween 1977 as a most likely near-median value.
I never knew Jimmy Durante was a native Ridgewoodite, only that he was once a singing waiter at Coney Island : “I’m Jimmy, that well-dressed man ! …”
Hy Hochberg … for ten years (1961-1970), my dentist was Dr. Sidney (Sy) Hochberg, on the south side of Myrtle Avenue, between Seneca and Weirfield. Hy and Sy, brothers ?
Thanks, Lost Memory and Warren.
Panzer65, I’ll respond to your poll soon. It looks very interesting and worthwhile.
Reads good, Panzer65. How and where do I find it ?
Understood, Panzer65. Thanks.
Thanks for the info about Gottlieb’s, Warren. Yes, I think it had been a fixture of Ridgewood for 45 years (1930 – 1975).
“A bleak ending to a once proud movie house.” Well-put, Panzer65.
Still, to me, the Madison went out with a bang by showing “Taxi Driver” and “The Exorcist” in spring and summer of 1976. It still showed good to great films after 1959, like “Psycho”, “The Man With The X-Ray Eyes”, “Evil Of Frankenstein”, “My Fair Lady”, “The Ten Commandments”, “Die, Monster, Die !”, “Bonnie and Clyde”, “The Odd Couple”, “Airport”, “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They ?”, “The Godfather”, “2001”, “A Separate Peace”, “Harrad Experiment”, “Harrad Summer”, “Reincarnation Of Peter Proud”, “The Hindenburg”, etc.
Also, frankie, thanks for referring to me above as “the eminent Peter K”.
Maybe I can be dubbed “His Eminence” by Patrick Crowley and the other owners / managers of this site.
Thanks, frankie. More power to you and your piano-teacher nun !
Panzer65 : Thanks for the compliment, and for your answer on your first LP.
What got you back in time from Aerosmith to Jimi Hendrix ?
77 WABC was always too hatd-sell, loud, and high-pressure for me. I grew up with WMCA 570 AM and “The Good Guys” : Joe O'Brien, Jack Spector, Scott Muny (whom I later heard on WNEW 102.7 FM).
Here’s a jingle now on 1010 WINS, sung in forties-style harmony :
“1 800 588 – 2300 : EMPIRE !”
There was a film, “Grind House”, released spring of this year.
EdSolero, thanks for defining “grind house” movie theater for us.
Thanks, guys. Can you still get piano lessons at the Holy Name convent ?
Thanks, EdSolero.