RKO Keith's Theatre
135-35 Northern Boulevard,
Flushing,
NY
11354
135-35 Northern Boulevard,
Flushing,
NY
11354
51 people
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Yea, Bway, another period of the theater I hadn’t seen before. Notice the big “RKO Keith’s” sign on the western end of the roof.
The only way I can ever see the complete restoration of the Keith’s is to create a way for the restored theatre to create revenue that will eventually pay for its restoration and then continue to make money for its owner(s)/investors. I simplistic perception, yes, but producing some sort of profit seems to be the only thing that mativates anyone who would invest in real estate in the first place.
Where did they dig up that old photo of the Keith’s!
Sounds dire.
Heehee hey Jeffrey1955, I swear the only thing I was inhaling was loads of dust from the 1928 blueprints! cough hack
5) I am really hoping that whatever they do does not involve a glass wall.
I don’t want to be an unrealistic optimist. But I have a feeling any demolition work Huang did was pretty minor. The account I read of that episode made it sound like he drove a Bobcat up the grand stair and knocked a few railings out. Maybe took out a few plaster decorations. It sounds like they stopped his little arts and crafts project pretty quickly. Even if he did tear many things apart, the area could be cleaned up during a restoration (but not fully restored).
Take the example of Chicago’s Oriental. One of the upper lobbies was damaged by fire in the 70’s or 80’s. After the fire it was simply patched up. They didn’t put back all of the original details (why would they in ‘81?). When the Oriental was restored they still did not restore all of the lost decoration. That upper lobby today, while spruced up, looks like it could be in any number of downtown office buildings.
Another idea (not restoration) to ponder is that of the Hollywood Egyptian. Closed, rotting away, and heavily altered by modernization over the years. When it was reopened they did not spend the money necessary to replace the massive Egyptian arch that was ripped out in the 60’s. But they did turn it back into an attractive show place (the restored outdoor court is one of my favorite theatre exteriors).
So what’s my point?
1) I have a feeling that the demolition wasn’t that big a deal.
2) If it was I don’t think it precludes a constructive reuse of the auditorium.
3) Unless the auditorium’s exterior was significantly compromised during the demoltion (or possibly by a big storm), I don’t see how any water damage in the auditorium stands to be much worse than the lobby photos we have seen (see other comments I have made regarding water damage above).
3) If I am wrong about all of this, and the auditorium and inner lobbies are a complete ruin, none of us should feel too badly about demolition because you can’t save them all.
My two cents…or maybe five.
“…at least we have their original blueprints, in case the opportunity arrises one day to build them again."
Gee, Dave, I didn’t think smoking was permitted in the library — especially whatever it was YOU were smoking! ;–)
Hi Dave:
Anyone can go to the Avery Library at Columbia. It is by advance appointment only, you can either call or arrange it by email. I arranged mine by email and then followed up with a confirming phone call the day before, which is when the librarian explains what you will need and how to find the Avery. I let them know the theatre drawings I wanted to view and they found all the drawings, which were ready for unrolling on a cart when i arrived. You must have a valid current photo ID in order to receive a “reader’s permit” from the security office at the Butler Library.
Here is the Avery Library’s web site:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/avery/
There are many, many drawings of each theatre and viewing just one batch takes a lot of unrolling and rerolling and the rolls are large and heavy…it is hard work! Viewing the designs of multiple theatres would undoubtedly entail multiple visits. I wonder what the drawings of the Loew’s Triboro show! The theatres may be gone, but at least we have their original blueprints, in case the opportunity arrises one day to build them again.
—Dave
Thank you again, Al Alvarez for the posting about the spy Rudolf Abel and how he was finally captured. . You should be with the FBI!
I quote from that website you gave above, which mentions that historic meeting
—note, the words in parentheses are my comments:
“In keeping with instructions contained in a message he received from Soviet officials,, HAYHANEN WAS MET BY "MARK” (Rudolf Abel) AT A MOVIE THEATRE IN FLUSHING, (the RKO KEITH) during the late summer of 1954. As identification symbols, Hayhanen wore a blue and red striped tie and smoked a pipe. "
Anyone who is interested in the whole story can click on the AlAlvarez post of Sep 10, above.
davebazooka, thanks for posting the Lamb drawings – not only did he build beautiful theatres, he drew beautiful architectural plans, particularly the elevations and section-thru’s – the way he puts views within views, most architects don’t go to all that trouble, they just make more drawings. If that is a complete set of drawings with full structural, mechanical and architectural plans, it would be interesting to take it to Tishman Corp. or some other big general contracting firm and have it priced out to see how much it would cost to build today.
Considering our 21st century security concerns, does one have to be affiliated in some way with Columbia University to go in that library and look at this kind of material? I’d like to go there myself.
I guess since Alger Hiss lived in the Village as well they could have just used the Sheridan.
Check out the cool Rudolph Abel cloak and dagger stuff at this site. The European may be among those listed.
View link
I just found the spy at the RKO Keith: He was Rudolf Abel. The web info said he came to NY, posed as an artist-photographer. I do remember he had a studio in Greenwich Village.and became a part of the art community there, while he directed the Soviet spy network in the U.S. for 10 years during the Cold War. Abel was caught at last and was sentenced to 30 years in prison but was exchanged in 1962 for American spy Francis Gary Powers. I don’t know who it was he met in the RKO Keith men’s room, but it wasn’t Alger Hiss.
Wow, Ed Solero—that is interesting about Alger Hiss and the Paradise and the Prospect! I guess
spies were into cinema treasures, too. As rendevous!
I’ll have to read more about him and try to find the other guy I’m thinking of. Francesca
It might not have been Alger Hiss you were thinking of, Francesca, but, ironically, NYC movie theaters were involved in the Hiss case as well: There is testimony from the Hiss trial where Roy Cohn questions one of the witnesses about meeting Hiss at the Loew’s Paradise Theater in the Bronx. I also found several references on the web to Hiss having arranged for clandestine meetings in the mezzanine of the Prospect Theater in Brooklyn.
Thank you Al Alvarez, for your suggestion. This was a European and it definitely was not Alger Hiss he was meeting. They were two people setting up a long term spy system. They were also dropping off information taped inside trash cans and on street lamps or something of the kind. I wish I still had that book, because it was fascinating. Any other ideas? After all, we’d seen all those
spy movies at the RKO Keith and this was a REAL one! Francesca
Francesca, if you mean Alger Hiss, his son’s book of memoirs is called A VIEW FROM ALGER’S WINDOW.
Ed Solero’s mention of the men’s room on the right of the lobby reminded me of a true spy memoir, which described two secret agents for the Soviets making contact to exchange identity info for the first time— in the Men’s Room of the RKO Keith in Flushing!
Every time I passed that door I remembered those dramatic and to me, rather amusing circumstances. But I cannot remember the names of the spies. One lived in Greenwich Village in a walkup where he became friends with many artists and was well-liked.
Does anyone remember the name of that spy or the book? It was a big news story at the time.
Francesca
Ok Ed, maybe we can pose as prospective buyers, if there is any truth to the rumor that the current owners are looking to unload the property (mentioned in Warren’s post on Aug 26, 2006 at 8:22am). Surely they would let us in to see what we were gong to plunk money down for!
Davebazooka… Promise me one thing: If you ever are able to gain access to the Keith’s (that is, short of breaking and entering), you’ll be sure to bring me along with you!
I would traverse the promenade, lightfooted as a cat. Or lightpawed. When I explored the ruins of Roosevelt Island I tiptoed over bare steel and wood beams in order to cross rooms whose floors had collapsed. The only time my explorations got dangerous was when I nearly got locked inside a massive room-sized refrigerator. I doubt if my corpse would have been found for years if I had become trapped. That was a close call indeed. If the Keith’s has any large refrigerators I will steer clear of them. :)
Well… there’s also a “women cleaner’s room” under the ticket lobby, so that might very well be!
I never really explored the mezzanine promenade, unfortunately, so I’m not familiar with the “palm room.” I can remember looking down on the grand foyer from the railing of the promenade, but I never really strayed too far from the stairs up there, mostly sticking to my route from the candy counter and men’s room back up to the balcony theater. And then those times when I saw a film in theater 1 or 2, I didn’t venture up there at all.
Anyway, I believe the promenade floor is where a lot of the Huang-inflicted damage to the theater exists. Ed Baxter’s 2/27/05 comments mention gaping holes punched through the floor in this area – which I believe he also describes as having been unsafe to traverse.
Well… there’s also a “women cleaner’s room” under the ticket lobby, so that might very well be!
I never really explored the mezzanine promenade, unfortunately, so I’m not familiar with the “palm room.” I can remember looking down on the grand foyer from the railing of the promenade, but I never really strayed too far from the stairs up there, mostly sticking to my route from the candy counter and men’s room back up to the balcony theater. And then those times when I saw a film in theater 1 or 2, I didn’t venture up there at all.
Anyway, I believe the promenade floor is where a lot of the Huang-inflicted damage to the theater exists. Ed Baxter’s 2/27/05 comments mention gaping holes punched through the floor in this area – which I believe he also describes as having been unsafe to traverse.
Hi Ed!
Glad you enjoyed the drawings. The Avery Library has THOUSANDS of Lamb drawings, and the librarian in charge told me that going into the stacks looking for them is like a scene out of Indiana Jones. She very kindly pulled drawings of the RKO 86th Street for me, but could not locate anything relating to the RKO Proctor’s on East 58th, which was built at the same time as the RKO Flushing. That was a bummer, but it is possible that they have them filed under the Third Avenue address rather than the 58th Street address, which is what I gave as a reference. I could not offhand think of the address the entry on Third might have been.
The drawings of the RKO 86th (which also had the Proctor’s name on its signage, I think) were not as extensive or detailed as these above for the RKO. But believe me, after two hours of unrolling, viewing, and rerolling huge old blueprints, my brain was on the brink of conking out, so I did not really give the drawings for the 86th a good look-thru. Many of them were specs and Hvac stuff, which I could not decipher. I may return for a more thorough look.
In the RKO Flushing drawings, I love the way the Grand Foyer’s dome is tucked beneath the uppermost reaches of the balcony, and the mezzanine areas are very interesting. I can see exactly the path you took to your seat! What was the “Palm Room”? It looks long and narrow, along the back wall of the main mezzanine room.
I didn’t take a pic of it but somewhere among the basement specs was a small room named the “Colored Porter’s Room.” Was there segregation in the basement of the Keith’s?
Seeing these drawings makes me REALLY WANNA GET IN to take pics!!!! ARRGH
Tremendous job, davebazooka! A million thanks! What beautiful drawings! OK… enough exclamatory remarks!
That “FoyerSouthElevation” image about halfway down your list represents the detail depicted in the modern-day photo you purchased from the NY Times. I don’t recall a high ceiling in the ticket lobby, but I did notice that feature in the drawings above – almost like a rotunda overlooking the lobby. Perhaps others can offer their recollections.
I do remember that vast promenade on the mezzanine level at the top of the grand staircases. Theater 3 occupied the entire balcony when it was a triplex and it seemed as if we had to travel a very long way before we ever got inside the actual seating area! The mezzanine level was dark and vast and usually quite chilly in the summertime thanks to the way they used to crank the A/C. I always took the right staircase up and down for some reason (perhaps because the men’s room was located at the bottom of this staircase) and then would traverse the long corridor along the side wall to get to my seats. Using this entrance, you’d come into the theater at the far right side of the lower cross over aisle, with the enormous old balcony spreading up and out in a steep rake to your left. I never used the additional stairs to get up to the top of the balcony (where there was another cross over aisle) as I loved sitting dead center and down a few steps in the 1st or 2nd row of the former loge section.
Those detailed alcoves in either back corner of the grand foyer under the twin staircases and near the auditorium entrance/exit doors were rather elaborate drinking fountains, as I recall.
Great work, dave… Thanks again! Was there anything else on file there of interest to CT members? Perhaps similar drawings of other notable Lamb designs for the cinema?