Parthenon Theatre

Run, don’t walk, mrbillyc, to your local bookstore to find Jean Shepherd’s “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.” Among the many gems you’ll find between these covers is one classic short story: “Leopold Doppler and the Great Orpheum Gravy Boat Riot.” It relates directly to your post this morning. As Shep himself would say, “I laughed so hard that I coughed up a penny I swallowed when I was two…”

Thanks, once upon a time. I shall do so NOW. I think the Bushwick Buddies will enjoy your August 12th Parthenon article.

Thank you, once upon a time. I think your long post of Aug 12 2008 posted at 12:07 PM, about Myrtle-Wyckoff and the Parthenon should be printed in the Times Newsweekly Old Timer column. I know it would be most welcome and enjoyed at the Bushwick Buddies website. There are many images of the Parthenon Theatre there. May I please have your permission to copy your wonderful post and post it under an image of the Parthenon Theatre on Bushwick Buddies ?

You make several important points in your post of Aug 13, 2008 at 2:54pm, one of which is that theatres do not exist in a vacuum. They are part of a community. Therefore, some discussion of the communities that these theatres exist, or existed in, including their restaurants and businesses, is inevitable, and should be welcomed here, because it underscores the importance of the theatre to the community it exists in.

Another thing to keep in mind is that people do not go to movie theatres to sit in plush velvet seats, eat popcorn and candy, drink soda, and stare at a blank screen. They go there to see MOVIES. Therefore, some discussion of movies on Cinema Treasures is inevitable, and should be welcome here, particularly when it relates to, and enhances, the history of the movie theater they were shown at.

As I type these words, yet another historic theatre, the RKO Keith’s in Richmond Hill (# 3972), is in danger of being obliterated and forgotten. That makes posts of irreplaceable theatre recollections, such as yours of Aug 12 2008 @ 12:07 PM, all the more invaluable.

As a recent and enthusiastic newcomer to Cinema Treasures, I’m a bit hesitant to offer a comment on Warren Harris’ observation regarding ‘off-topic’ chatter.

Firstly, a strict reading of C.T.’s stated policy on the matter is in agreement with Warren Harris’ remark. I think in an open forum as this, a voice, as his, is needed. There is no ‘Moderator’ on this site, and as adults we should write responsibly, within the given guidelines of the web page rules.

The following reflect conditions of the 1940s, ‘50s and ’60s. The times of which we write.

I believe that, aside from a Theater’s structural design and historical significance, we should also recognize the overall impact it had on the Community.

Theatres are not an oasis in a neighborhood. Indeed, they are an integral part of its societal and economic profile.

A group of several neighborhood theatres could attract several thousands of it residents in just one week end. Those dollars remained in the community. Theatre employees also lived in the area. I would often buy a new tie or shirt for a Saturday nite Movie Date. After the show, we would stop at a Pizzeria…. Also in the neighborhood.

I offer, as my point of view; that limited ‘off-topic’ comments of a theater, when such input accurately and concisely illustrates the fuller impact and significant contributions that Theatres presence had made to its neighborhood, as outlined above…are acceptable.

I also recognize the years of longevity to those I address and respect them and their points of view. I also thank Cinema Treasures for permitting my thoughts on this subject.

Thanks, Lost Memory. I just printed myself a copy. Somehow I missed this installment of “The Old Timer”. It’s quite a memory-jogger, all right.

Dr. Greenspoon was the other optometrist I remember from Ridgewood besides Bonafide Opticians. Dr. G’s office was on the south side of Myrtle Avenue, just west of Putnam Avenue, and, I think, next door to The Little Garden Restaurant. Dr. Greenspoon was still there as late as January or June 1975, I think.

Peter..Perhaps the name was ‘The Rathsbrau’! No, I don’t recall a local E&B, but ate at several in the Wall St. area wherein I worked during my High School summers. Nedicks or Chock Full-O-Nuts, anyone?

Peter…Once again, I thank you for your response. And an insightful one it is…You are correct, the Rathskeller was the name of the subterranean eatery. Odd, that they would go to all that trouble to change the name to ‘Hofbrau’ just for those few brief moments when I looked at it in my decades old ‘mental mirror’!

Yes, one could go anywhere on, what we didn’t yet know as…‘Mass Transit’. Today’s term is so uncalled for when all you have to do is get triple karatied into a subway car with an over flowing crunch of passengers, turn blue from being ribbed, kicked, stepped and beaten on with a folded newspaper to conclude; “Ah, This must be what they call ’Mass Transit”! Oh, and when I first rode them …It too was a nickel!

Peter, those pretzels were sold for a nickel. I know, because on several Saturdays, my friends and I would go to a ‘now forgotten’ dirty cellar (basement) ‘bakery’ near Halsey St. and buy One hundred (100) for fifty-cents (.50). Yep, bought them for two cents and sold them for a three cent profit…unless some one bought three…which we sacrificed for five cents! Yes, I’ve also seen those latter day ‘Mall’ rip-off’s. I cringe at them, just as I do when I see a Credit Card machine at a theater box office!

Enough ‘off topic’ comments for this entry. Thanks, Peter, for your aid to my memory.

I also remember Bickford’s, on Myrtle, near its southeast corner with Wyckoff, in the 1960’s, where McDonald’s is now (Lost Memory and I have joked about “St. Bickford” and Father McCabe of St. Brigid’s, though Fr. McC. never consecrated muffins there !).

My dad remembers an earlier fast food eatery near there called “The Exchange Buffet”, whose slogan was “Eat'em and beat ‘em !” Supposedly the staff could tell what you’d had, and how much to charge you for it, just by looking at the empty bowls, cups and plates on the table in front of you.

Welcome, WalterH, to both Cinema Treasures AND Bushwick Buddies ! I hope you continue to enjoy them both. Bway and I are on both of them.

What did you read here about the IMDb, that you said you have to agree with ?

The exterior might still be intact, although you are probably correct about the interior. I think that under that awful 1960’s or 1970’s aluminum siding covering, would still be the original brickwork.

I just came across this tread and, in reviewing the earlier comments, read the discussion of the shifting Brooklyn-Queens border. I think I can add something to this mix.

The boundary separating the two boroughs was formed in the wake of bitter border disputes between the towns of Bushwick in Brooklyn and Newtown in Queens. When an accord was reached in the mid 1700’s, the irregular border spanned open farmland. (Incidently, Newtown was the big winner here, which is why most of Ridgewood is in Queens.)

Until the late 1800’s, when the area began to be developed along the lines that we now know it, the old boundary posed few problems. But when the streets were laid out and opened, it became clear that they played havoc with the boundaries, which literally went through the middle of blocks and houses. This created such problems as: in what borough do I live?; for whom can I vote?; will my property taxes be assessed accordingly to the formulas governing Brooklyn or Queens?, etc. By the 1920’s this situation had become so intolerable that the boundaries had to be redrawn to conform to the nearest existing street. Hence the Cypress, Menahan, St. Nick, Gates, Wyckoff, Eldert (which ironically now runs through a building)and Irving boundary became a reality. (Contrary to a previous comment, the 1898 unification of NYC had nothing to do with the border change.)

With regard to the Parthenon, the fact that it was listed as being in two boroughs over the years is, for these reasons, hardly surprising and probably totally accurate.

While the Parthenon was history by the time I became familiar with the neighborhood, I clearly remember two of its neighbors – two large Irish bars. One was situated right next to the theater and the other at the corner of Gates. (These were only the largest of many bars that once dotted Wyckoff Ave.) During the 1970’s, these were VERY busy places. So the fact that both had closed by the early 1900’s really underlines how the neighborhood has changed.

Thanks for the compliment Tonino; but no———It’s strictly a hobby with me——Joe From Florida