I am pleased to see that br91975 and CConnolly agree with me and understand what the true intention of this site is for. Let the childish pranksters such as TomScott be removed. Neither his antics, his presence, nor his delusions of godhood are welcome here. I have much knowledge to share. Perhaps I will continue to do just that after TomScott and the troublemakers like him are weeded out.
My contributions to this site are plainly visible to all who have access to it.
TomScott, you have no power here ! Be gone, before someone drops a house on you, too !
mhvbear, I think it goes beyond the “plex” itself to the once-grand, now gone theaters that used to be nearby, and some not-so-grand, now gone ones, starting with the former Loew’s Valencia, now the Tabernacle Of Prayer, the Merrick, the Alden, the Fox Jamaica, the Savoy, Loew’s Hillside …
TomScott, believing one’s self perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind. Be sure to take your medication, stay out of trouble, and report to your therapist and parole officer on time.
In August 1995 I came across a Bickford’s restaurant in Norwalk, Connecticut, more than twenty years after they closed in NYC.
About a year ago, I saw an ad on TV for a Triangle Hofbrau Restaurant in Pequannock, NJ. I wonder if this is the relocated Triangle Hofbrau Restaurant from Richmond Hill, Queens.
My home libraries were the Irving Branch at Irving and Woodbine next to Bushwick H.S. until Sept. 1968, and then the Ridgewood library at 20-12 Madison St. between Fairview and Forest Avenues.
The Crane Plumbing Co., for which my dad’s Uncle Jimmy worked, kept its name when it moved from Bushwick to Hempstead, L.I.
I know Gene Evans from the 1957 or so monster movie, “The Giant Behemoth”, directed by Eugene Lourie. He also directed “Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” and “Gorgo”.
I has surmised that it was TV that did in many of these smaller neighborhood type movie theaters.
Yes, thank you Joe G for this wealth of information !
The last of my family left that part of Bushwick between 1955 and 1960, when my dad’s parents and sister moved from 1454 Bushwick Avenue between Chauncey and Pilling Sts. to 169 Chestnut Street in Cypress Hills.
Where was that Saratoga Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library ?
The address on Jackie Gleason’s mother’s death certificate, so far as I know, was either 357 or 358 Chauncey Street, which is near the corner of Howard Avenue, the north-south avenue between Ralph and Saratoga Avenues.
I had estimated that Lourdes burned sometime between 1972 and 1976, based on photos with it and without it in the background from the nycsubway.org website.
Sorry, Bway. Just cough and make sure it’s still hanging OK.
Speaking of “hanging”, lostmemory, maybe Crazy Eddie has given up both Mae West and Jean Harlow for Clara Bow, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford and Patsy Ruth Miller, all of the silent screen. He may prefer the maturity of a (much) older woman !
“Necrophilia, here I come, right back where it started from !”
Who were those two additional floors of the Ridgewood Theater rented to, besides the pool hall ? How much additional income would they have generated, and how would it have compared to the movie ticket and refreshments income from the theater ?
Understandably so. I would have been too. While you were in there, did anyone give you odd looks, or ask you what you were looking for, or what you were doing in there ? Are you known there from business you’ve done on your building-related job ?
You’re welcome, Bway. Thanks for the additional details of the inside of what was once the RKO Madison Theater. It would be interesting to ascend the remains of the grand marble staircase past the chain, the curve of the stairway, and up into the old balcony area to see what remains. I suppose one would need special permission from the owners of the store, probably not easily obtained.
Meanwhile, on the west-facing wall, outside, the old block letters “RKO Madison Theater” grow ever fainter, while the new graffiti grows ever bolder and more garish.
My most recent souvenir of what was once the RKO Madison Theater is four plain white t-shirts I bought in the Liberty Dept. Store there on Wednesday, July 24, 2002.
Peter Koch, St. Brigid School, Class of 1969 back again. I think I was the first to mention Paula Rapollo (my classmate) on this Ridgewood Theater page.
As you were Class of 1966, perhaps you remember the Scarangella girls, Nancy and Jeannie, who were a few years older than me, and lived on my block, Cornelia Street between Cypress and Wyckoff Avenues.
Regarding your Madison Theater visit, 1972-73, I too have noticed how places seem much smaller to one as an adult than one remembers them being as a child. Two examples of this for me would be the column at the entrance to the restaurant on the main floor of the NYC’s Metropolitan Museum Of Art, and the Pteranodon mural in NYC’s American Museum Of Natural History, which is no longer there.
The ceiling of the main lobby of that museum still seems immensely high to me, especially with that towering barasaurus skeleton there to help emphasize it.
The Ridgewood is now, to my knowledge, a five-plex. My last visit there was Saturday, Sept. 12 1992 to see “Hellraiser 3 : Hell On Earth” while visiting my parents in Ridgewood.
The last film I saw at the RKO Madison was the trashy “Lipstick” in June 1976. The last films I noticed playing there were “The Exorcist” and “The Yakuza” in August 1976.
One of the first films I saw at the Ridgewood was “Morgan The Pirate” in summer 1961. I remember the black pirate flag and plastic pieces of eight I got in the lobby. One of the first films I saw at the RKO Madison was “Reptilicus” in spring 1961, followed by “Premature Burial” and “Journey To The Seventh Planet” in summer 1962. I remember what beautiful theaters both the Ridgewood and the Madison were.
The RKO Madison Theater is now a Liberty Dept. Store.
Here’s the link to the Times Newsweekly (former Ridgewood Times).
This week’s “Our Neighborhood” article is about German butcher shops and pork stores in Ridgewood :
Thanks, Benjamin, for posting your amusing thought and daydream !
I’ll let Warren answer the bulk of your question.
The downtown Jamaica multiplex (ten screens in late June 2003, when I was there last)on the southeast corner of Parsons Blvd. and Jamaica Avenue is called the Jamaica Multiplex Cinemas, and is at 159-02 Jamaica Avenue. The phone number is (718) 291-9400.
bobbyboy, here is a private e-mail I just sent to you :
Small world !
I just saw your comment on the former Colonial Theater on Cinema Treasures.
How “old” are you ? I’m 49, and my dad is 85.
My father lived on Moffat between Bway and Bushwick in the 1930’s. His and my last name
is Koch. Across the street lived my dad’s best boyhood friend, Vincent Ferro.
Here is a bit about my family and myself that I posted on the Halsey Theater page earlier today :
I was born in Evangelical Deaconess Hospital, which used to stand at the northern corner of Bway and Chauncey, in mid-November 1955. I lived in Ridgewood, on Cornelia between Cypress and Wyckoff, but my family and I knew Bushwick well.
My dad was born in October 1919, at the old Bushwick Hospital, which used to stand at Putnam and Howard Aves. His parents lived at 1044 Putnam Avenue at the time. He lived at six to a dozen addresses in Bushwick, the last one as a single man, 1454 Bushwick, between Chauncey and Pilling. My parents lived on Weirfield between Knickerbocker and Wilson, across the street from Irving Square Park, before I was born, and before they moved to Ridgewood.
My mom was born at 412 Harman St. My parents met at the Knights of Columbus at Bushwick and Hart.
Was Kelso’s Gym in “The Honeymooners” based on any real place in Bushwick ?
My dad remembers, among many places, Joe’s Barber Shop at Bway and Pilling, and Night In The Sky Chinese Restaurant, at the eastern corner of Bway and Cooper, by the stairs to the Chauncey St. el station. His boyhood church was Grace Lutheran on Covert between Bway and Bushwick.
Thank you, fritz, for those Gleason stories. Was Frank Fontaine’s character, Crazy Guggenheim, based on anyone Gleason knew from Bushwick ?
I was born in Evangelical Deaconess Hospital, which used to stand at the northern corner of Bway and Chauncey, in mid-November 1955. I lived in Ridgewood, on Cornelia between Cypress and Wyckoff, but my family and I knew Bushwick well.
My dad was born in October 1919, at the old Bushwick Hospital, which used to stand at Putnam and Howard Aves. His parents lived at 1044 Putnam Avenue at the time. He lived at six to a dozen addresses in Bushwick, the last one as a single man, 1454 Bushwick, between Chauncey and Pilling. My parents lived on Weirfield between Knickerbocker and Wilson, across the street from Irving Square Park, before I was born, and before they moved to Ridgewood.
My mom was born at 412 Harman St. My parents met at the Knights of Columbus at Bushwick and Hart.
Was Kelso’s Gym in “The Honeymooners” based on any real place in Bushwick ?
My dad remembers, among many places, Joe’s Barber Shop at Bway and Pilling, and Night In The Sky Chinese Restaurant, at the eastern corner of Bway and Cooper, by the stairs to the Chauncey St. el station. His boyhood church was Grace Lutheran on Covert between Bway and Bushwick.
Do you know about Bushwick Buddies ? Would you like the link ?
Fritz, thanks for the bit about the “prototype for the Honeymooners” apts.
The part of Chauncey Street between Bway and Fulton St., which includes # 358, is in postal zone 33 (Stuyvesant). The part between Bway and Central Avenue is in postal zone 7 (East New York). I still think of the area northeast of Broadway to the Bklyn-Queens boundary as Bushwick, and I always will.
I am pleased to see that br91975 and CConnolly agree with me and understand what the true intention of this site is for. Let the childish pranksters such as TomScott be removed. Neither his antics, his presence, nor his delusions of godhood are welcome here. I have much knowledge to share. Perhaps I will continue to do just that after TomScott and the troublemakers like him are weeded out.
My contributions to this site are plainly visible to all who have access to it.
TomScott, you have no power here ! Be gone, before someone drops a house on you, too !
BTW, br91975, is that your date of birth in your handle ?
OK, br91975. Sorry.
mhvbear, I think it goes beyond the “plex” itself to the once-grand, now gone theaters that used to be nearby, and some not-so-grand, now gone ones, starting with the former Loew’s Valencia, now the Tabernacle Of Prayer, the Merrick, the Alden, the Fox Jamaica, the Savoy, Loew’s Hillside …
After you, TomScott.
At the risk of “feeding the troll” :
TomScott, believing one’s self perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind. Be sure to take your medication, stay out of trouble, and report to your therapist and parole officer on time.
Thank you, Joe G. for this information.
In August 1995 I came across a Bickford’s restaurant in Norwalk, Connecticut, more than twenty years after they closed in NYC.
About a year ago, I saw an ad on TV for a Triangle Hofbrau Restaurant in Pequannock, NJ. I wonder if this is the relocated Triangle Hofbrau Restaurant from Richmond Hill, Queens.
My home libraries were the Irving Branch at Irving and Woodbine next to Bushwick H.S. until Sept. 1968, and then the Ridgewood library at 20-12 Madison St. between Fairview and Forest Avenues.
The Crane Plumbing Co., for which my dad’s Uncle Jimmy worked, kept its name when it moved from Bushwick to Hempstead, L.I.
I know Gene Evans from the 1957 or so monster movie, “The Giant Behemoth”, directed by Eugene Lourie. He also directed “Beast From 20,000 Fathoms” and “Gorgo”.
I has surmised that it was TV that did in many of these smaller neighborhood type movie theaters.
Yes, thank you Joe G for this wealth of information !
The last of my family left that part of Bushwick between 1955 and 1960, when my dad’s parents and sister moved from 1454 Bushwick Avenue between Chauncey and Pilling Sts. to 169 Chestnut Street in Cypress Hills.
Where was that Saratoga Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library ?
The address on Jackie Gleason’s mother’s death certificate, so far as I know, was either 357 or 358 Chauncey Street, which is near the corner of Howard Avenue, the north-south avenue between Ralph and Saratoga Avenues.
I had estimated that Lourdes burned sometime between 1972 and 1976, based on photos with it and without it in the background from the nycsubway.org website.
Sorry, Bway. Just cough and make sure it’s still hanging OK.
Speaking of “hanging”, lostmemory, maybe Crazy Eddie has given up both Mae West and Jean Harlow for Clara Bow, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford and Patsy Ruth Miller, all of the silent screen. He may prefer the maturity of a (much) older woman !
“Necrophilia, here I come, right back where it started from !”
Don’t forget whatsizname up in what’s left of the balcony of the RKO Madison with what’s left of the corpse of Mae West !
Bway, I think you’re right that the main reason the Ridgewood has survived was its gradual multiplexing from June 1980 to the present.
Perhaps this most recent Ridgewood Theater discussion here on the RKO Madison’s page should be shifted to the Ridgewood Theater page.
How is it listed in the major NYC newspapers ? What name is on the building itself ?
Who were those two additional floors of the Ridgewood Theater rented to, besides the pool hall ? How much additional income would they have generated, and how would it have compared to the movie ticket and refreshments income from the theater ?
Understandably so. I would have been too. While you were in there, did anyone give you odd looks, or ask you what you were looking for, or what you were doing in there ? Are you known there from business you’ve done on your building-related job ?
You’re welcome, Bway. Thanks for the additional details of the inside of what was once the RKO Madison Theater. It would be interesting to ascend the remains of the grand marble staircase past the chain, the curve of the stairway, and up into the old balcony area to see what remains. I suppose one would need special permission from the owners of the store, probably not easily obtained.
Meanwhile, on the west-facing wall, outside, the old block letters “RKO Madison Theater” grow ever fainter, while the new graffiti grows ever bolder and more garish.
My most recent souvenir of what was once the RKO Madison Theater is four plain white t-shirts I bought in the Liberty Dept. Store there on Wednesday, July 24, 2002.
Hello Eugene Iemola :
Peter Koch, St. Brigid School, Class of 1969 back again. I think I was the first to mention Paula Rapollo (my classmate) on this Ridgewood Theater page.
As you were Class of 1966, perhaps you remember the Scarangella girls, Nancy and Jeannie, who were a few years older than me, and lived on my block, Cornelia Street between Cypress and Wyckoff Avenues.
Regarding your Madison Theater visit, 1972-73, I too have noticed how places seem much smaller to one as an adult than one remembers them being as a child. Two examples of this for me would be the column at the entrance to the restaurant on the main floor of the NYC’s Metropolitan Museum Of Art, and the Pteranodon mural in NYC’s American Museum Of Natural History, which is no longer there.
The ceiling of the main lobby of that museum still seems immensely high to me, especially with that towering barasaurus skeleton there to help emphasize it.
The Ridgewood is now, to my knowledge, a five-plex. My last visit there was Saturday, Sept. 12 1992 to see “Hellraiser 3 : Hell On Earth” while visiting my parents in Ridgewood.
The last film I saw at the RKO Madison was the trashy “Lipstick” in June 1976. The last films I noticed playing there were “The Exorcist” and “The Yakuza” in August 1976.
One of the first films I saw at the Ridgewood was “Morgan The Pirate” in summer 1961. I remember the black pirate flag and plastic pieces of eight I got in the lobby. One of the first films I saw at the RKO Madison was “Reptilicus” in spring 1961, followed by “Premature Burial” and “Journey To The Seventh Planet” in summer 1962. I remember what beautiful theaters both the Ridgewood and the Madison were.
The RKO Madison Theater is now a Liberty Dept. Store.
Peter Koch
fritz :
Here’s the link to “Bushwick Buddies” :
http://www.MyFamily.com/
Here’s the link to the Times Newsweekly (former Ridgewood Times).
This week’s “Our Neighborhood” article is about German butcher shops and pork stores in Ridgewood :
http://timesnewsweekly.com/NewFiles/OURNEIGH.html
Peter K.
Thanks, Benjamin, for posting your amusing thought and daydream !
I’ll let Warren answer the bulk of your question.
The downtown Jamaica multiplex (ten screens in late June 2003, when I was there last)on the southeast corner of Parsons Blvd. and Jamaica Avenue is called the Jamaica Multiplex Cinemas, and is at 159-02 Jamaica Avenue. The phone number is (718) 291-9400.
bobbyboy, here is a private e-mail I just sent to you :
Small world !
I just saw your comment on the former Colonial Theater on Cinema Treasures.
How “old” are you ? I’m 49, and my dad is 85.
My father lived on Moffat between Bway and Bushwick in the 1930’s. His and my last name
is Koch. Across the street lived my dad’s best boyhood friend, Vincent Ferro.
Here is a bit about my family and myself that I posted on the Halsey Theater page earlier today :
I was born in Evangelical Deaconess Hospital, which used to stand at the northern corner of Bway and Chauncey, in mid-November 1955. I lived in Ridgewood, on Cornelia between Cypress and Wyckoff, but my family and I knew Bushwick well.
My dad was born in October 1919, at the old Bushwick Hospital, which used to stand at Putnam and Howard Aves. His parents lived at 1044 Putnam Avenue at the time. He lived at six to a dozen addresses in Bushwick, the last one as a single man, 1454 Bushwick, between Chauncey and Pilling. My parents lived on Weirfield between Knickerbocker and Wilson, across the street from Irving Square Park, before I was born, and before they moved to Ridgewood.
My mom was born at 412 Harman St. My parents met at the Knights of Columbus at Bushwick and Hart.
Was Kelso’s Gym in “The Honeymooners” based on any real place in Bushwick ?
My dad remembers, among many places, Joe’s Barber Shop at Bway and Pilling, and Night In The Sky Chinese Restaurant, at the eastern corner of Bway and Cooper, by the stairs to the Chauncey St. el station. His boyhood church was Grace Lutheran on Covert between Bway and Bushwick.
Please respond to this e-mail. Thank you.
Thank you, fritz, for those Gleason stories. Was Frank Fontaine’s character, Crazy Guggenheim, based on anyone Gleason knew from Bushwick ?
I was born in Evangelical Deaconess Hospital, which used to stand at the northern corner of Bway and Chauncey, in mid-November 1955. I lived in Ridgewood, on Cornelia between Cypress and Wyckoff, but my family and I knew Bushwick well.
My dad was born in October 1919, at the old Bushwick Hospital, which used to stand at Putnam and Howard Aves. His parents lived at 1044 Putnam Avenue at the time. He lived at six to a dozen addresses in Bushwick, the last one as a single man, 1454 Bushwick, between Chauncey and Pilling. My parents lived on Weirfield between Knickerbocker and Wilson, across the street from Irving Square Park, before I was born, and before they moved to Ridgewood.
My mom was born at 412 Harman St. My parents met at the Knights of Columbus at Bushwick and Hart.
Was Kelso’s Gym in “The Honeymooners” based on any real place in Bushwick ?
My dad remembers, among many places, Joe’s Barber Shop at Bway and Pilling, and Night In The Sky Chinese Restaurant, at the eastern corner of Bway and Cooper, by the stairs to the Chauncey St. el station. His boyhood church was Grace Lutheran on Covert between Bway and Bushwick.
Do you know about Bushwick Buddies ? Would you like the link ?
Fritz, thanks for the bit about the “prototype for the Honeymooners” apts.
The part of Chauncey Street between Bway and Fulton St., which includes # 358, is in postal zone 33 (Stuyvesant). The part between Bway and Central Avenue is in postal zone 7 (East New York). I still think of the area northeast of Broadway to the Bklyn-Queens boundary as Bushwick, and I always will.
Thanks, TaxiMan !
When was “All About Eve” filmed at the Curran, TaxiMan ? Please comment. Thanks.
Thanks, I’ll look for it. I think I’ve seen that photo already, or one like it.
Bway, I’m glad you found that article on your own. I was going to mention it to you.