Empire Theatre
10 Ralph Avenue,
Bushwick,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
10 Ralph Avenue,
Bushwick,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
1 person
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Showing 51 - 75 of 81 comments
Palm Beach County is sometimes refer to as the Sixth boro of NYC (lol)
The Williamsburgh was between Marcy Ave and Havemeyer, it was a huge
theatre that closed in the mid 80’s. it was a disco for a few years
and now it houses 99c stores. My first recollection of it was back
in 1977.
The Commodore, I am not sorry its closed, it was a hangout for
loud talkers and potheads, but I’m sure the bldg. has a future.
Thanks, Lou Rom. Where was the Williamsburgh Cinema ?
I was very sorry to read that the Commodore had closed.
The old Chase Manhattan Bank at 260 Bway near Havermeyer is now a law center for social justice. I rode by there on the M train today.
There are so many ex-New Yorkers in Florida, retired or otherwise, that I half-expect a new state of “South New York” to secede from Florida proper !
Hi PeterK,
The Marcy station is my current home station, I live with my
in-laws on Division Ave.
I am here temporary after moving from Carmel, NY, I will be living
soon in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, where there is a mega 18plex
theatre on Southern Blvd.
The YMCA is still there, its been partitioned between small businesses, a city housing dept. and a mormon church.
Within one Broadway block was the Commodore, Williamsburgh and
now the Aster.
TomScott, then 1955 is probably when it stopped being a movie theater. Thanks for mentioning its precise address.
Lou Rom, “The Narrow Platforms At The Marcy Avenue Station” is one of four great articles by Karl Burkhardt on the “My Recollection” site. I’d forgotten about that one.
When was Marcy Avenue your home station ? Ever go to the Eastern District YMCA right near there ? I was supposed to go swimming there with the Ridgewood YMCA in spring 1968, but didn’t.
I show an address for the Empire Theatre of 10 Ralph Avenue. I find no listing for this theatre after 1955.
Thanks PeterK, I just saw the website, and there’s one
for my home station Marcy Ave.
It should make great reading.
Yes. An el ran over Lexington Avenue in Brooklyn from about 1885 to October 13, 1950. If you’re interested, read “The Last Lex” by Karl Burkhardt on the “My Recollection” site :
http://www.myrecollection.com/
What I learned from all this information, is that there was
an el that ran on Lexington Ave!!
Thanks PeterK
Here’s a current photo of the Empire Theater taken today. It is now a church, and the building is not in that great of shape, like all the other converted theaters to churches in the area. I don’t know what the interior looks like in condition, but the exterior is in sorry shape. A shame, because all the builings nearby are all pretty decent again.
Click here for photo link
All the cars to the left are in front of the police station on the next block, that’s why the block looks so “cluttered”.
I wonder how many theaters in not only the USA but the entire world named the Empire once featured burlesque ?
Bway:
I did refer to the Empire in Manhattan as the probable source of the Bob Dylan album.
On a seperate note, I must say I do enjoy reading what you have to say. I would love to see the inside of this theater
Movie Palace NYC, I think you have the wrong Empire. This is the Brooklyn Empire. You probably mean the AMC Empire in Manhattan:
/theaters/255/
There was also a previous Empire Theater in Williamsburg located on Broadway near Bedford. It opened circa 1874 and must have changed names or closed by 1903.
True. The album title is also a comment on how laughable world politics and power struggles often are.
The reference could also be The Empire on 42nd Street. After being called the Eltinge during it’s legit days, the name changed to Empire and went Burlesque. This is the theater used in “The Last Action Hero” and is where, legend has it, Abbott met Costello.
J.F. Lundy :
My e-mail address is :
.army.mil
Thanks in advance for the image of the Empire marquee.
The burlesque once performed there has been memorialized in the title of a 1985 Bob Dylan album : “Empire Burlesque”.
Peter K.
I will send you a scan of the Empire marquee circa 1949-50 if you provide an e-mail address for transmission of the image to .
I saw “The Greatest Story Ever Told” in single lens Cinerama at the Warner Cinerama in 1965 and sitting next to me was one of my favorite entertainers, Jackie Wilson! Imagine my surprise. I explained wide screen projection to him. He was very friendly and signed my program book.
Rose, thanks for the background info on Jackie Wilson. Too bad he was booed by Parliament fans. I can enjoy Parliament, but I think their costumes and stage antics tend to be excessive, bordering on slapstick, which detracts from, or hides a lack of, good music. Once, when I saw them on TV, they suddenly, and for no apparent reason, began reciting the limerick about the young man from Peru, who went out one day in his canoe, while dreaming of Venus, he played with his … Funny, but where’s the musicianship of a James Brown, or a Bootsy Collins ?
Shame on the father of the Stairsteps who treated you fans like vagabonds !
Glad I made you remember. That’s MY pleasure !
Peter K.
Why thank you, it is my pleasure and passion. As for Jackie Wilson. He was a former boxer nick named “Mr. Excitemnt”, Jackie made women lose their minds. Michael Jackson imitated his moves. Lonely Teardrops and To Be Loved are just 2 of his many hits. I was with my mom at the concert that headlined Jackie. It must have been 1970 or 71. Jackie was a BIG BIG hitmaker, but the “generation gap” caught him and the group Parliment got the attention that night. when Jackie got on stage the audience booed and booed. This was my mother’s favorite and I watched as he grew uncomfortable and appeared shocked at the reception. He finally composed himself and finished the set but it crushed him. A few years later in the middle of his song Lonely Teardrops, he had a heart attack and remained in a coma until 1984, when he passed away. The night the Five Stairsteps played I waited outside the Bushwick so I could get an autograph. They came out the side door on Howard and their father ushered them out and shooed us away like we were vagabonds. Never did get the autograph.
Thanks for making me remember!
Rose
Thank you, Rose, for your first hand information about the Empire, the RKO Bushwick, and the Monroe. Here’s what I remember about the R & B acts you mentioned :
The Five Stairsteps (and Cubey) : “Ooh Ooh Child” (September 1970)
Parliament : “Tear The Roof Off The Sucker” (June 1976) With George Clinton, Funkadelic, Funkenstein, etc.
Joe Tex : “I Gotcha !” (March 1972)
I don’t recall a hit single by Jackie Wilson.
Thanks so much for adding your “3 cents” ! I think you added a lot more thsn that!
Peter
Thanks so much Rose for adding your memories and input.
The RKO Bushwick had interested me ever since I first noticed it from the J train one day in the early 80’s, when it was an abandoned wreck. I really wish I had seen the interior of it before it was gutted. I have only one photo of the interior of it from the 1920’s, and it was a beautiful place indeed. I have never been able to see interior photos of it from the 80’s or 90’s when it was in ruin, although did get a glimpse of it in “The Believers” that was filmed both inside and outside the RKO Bushwick (see the Bushwick section for more on that movie).
It’s amazing that the curtain of the Empire survived to it'c conversion to a church. Few even survive the conversion to movie theater! The RKO Keiths Richmond Hill’s painted curtain also survived it’s conversion to “bingo hall”. It was still there last time I was in there in the late 80’s, but don’t know if it’s still there today.
No one has actually narrowed the Monroe’s location down. Some say it is demolished and others, like Apollo say it’s still there. I will have to go see one day.
Dear Bway and Peter-
Happened upon this site. I have lived in Bed-Stuy all my life and as a child went to the RKO Bushwick (saw the Ten Commandments there) and graduated from JHS from the Loews Gates. Before the Bushwick closed it was also the venue for R&B concerts, I saw The Five Stairsteps, Parliment, Joe Tex and Jackie Wilson perform there. By the early 70’s it was on it’s way to becoming a church.
The Gates is currently a church, ironically, if I am not mistaken under the same pastor tha used the Bushwick decades ago.
The Empire I think is now Holy Trinity Church. It used to be a pale pink color, years ago I went inside and flipped when I saw the curtain. It had what appeared to be scenary painted on it from vaudeville days. It is located between Gates and Kosciusko but at the Gates Ave stop, near Quincy Street. The Bushwick had some of it’s elaborate facade changed and was totally rebuilt. It suffered major damage dued to vandalism over it’s many years as a neglected treasue. It is now a high school. I think the Monroe was demolished. I saw this and just had to add my 3 cents.
Rose
Peter, I will check into it. I just searched for the photo on my computer, but can’t find it. I may have put the scan on disk and put it somewhere else. If I can’t find the scan, I definitely have the book to look it up in.
Bway, please let me know what you find. The only image that I know of that definitely shows the Empire Theater is that old trolley image # 31100 that I posted a link to in my June 4 2004 comment above.
Last December you privately sent me three photos you had scanned from your copy of the book, “The Brooklyn Els”. They were taken by Urquhart in 1915 or 1916. One of them showed the Lexington El turnout. I am not sure it showed the Empire Theater, as well.