RKO Keith's Theatre

I almost wish they would have demolished the Keith’s in 1986 when it originally closed. Having it sit around for 20 years is like having a loved one who is brain-dead, but being kept alive by a machine. Obviously that is a dramatic comparison but it just feels like the inevitable fate of the theater has been dragging on forever. I would have been crushed if they tore it down back in ‘86, but at least it would have offered some sense of closure. The glass curtain around the lobby will just serve as a permanent reminder of the gross mistreatment this once majestic theater has received. The whole thing is a real shame and unfortunately something that happens all too often to landmarks all over the country. The best thing that we can do is just keep all of the great memories we have of this place that meant so much to each of us. As deeply saddened I am about the destruction of the Keith’s, I am thankful for having had it around for me to enjoy when I was a kid. It was such a huge part of my young life and for that I am grateful. No wrecking ball can take that from me. Unless of course I am stuck in the head by it. (Sorry couldn’t resist).

Helen Marshall seems mainly interested in getting publicity for herself. Perhaps she hopes to eventually become the first black female President of the USA. I read several of the weekly Queens newspapers, and every issue has several photos (and often more) of Marshall at various events. I once e-mailed the editors to limit her photos to one per issue, but I never received any replies, and the Marshall flood continues.
posted by Warren on Dec 16, 2005 at 7:03am

I think they should call it the Donald Manes Memorial Monstrosity.
posted by Jeffrey1955 on Dec 16, 2005 at 7:43am
12/16/05
I would never wish either Donald Manes or Helen Marshall an early death. Or any personal trauma.

However the item about Helen Marshall’s multi-issue, multi- photographic publicity reminded me that the same thing was going on in decades past with multiple photos of Donald Manes in every single issue of a Flushing newspaper when I lived there. How naive do such people think the voters are? Well, judging from what’s happening now, maybe there’s more naivite than is wise and helpful.

Anyway, it is up to those of us who speak their minds to help rescue not only the movie theatres, the landmarks, but most important— the children and young people and everyone else from the simplistic statements and photo opportunities of ambitious politicians. I am waiting to hear from wise politicians who care about all of us. And not just about photo ops. Francesca

I think they should call it the Donald Manes Memorial Monstrosity.

Any chance of someone possible getting in the building for some final pictures? I read somewhere back that the were an awful lot of murals in the place. It’d be a shame for them to go without being recorded for “befor and after” pics. “World class” give it ten years tops before it looks like a world class mess.

Re Warren’s very sad last post, not really unexpected, I find it ironic
that the final desecration of the RKO Keith has been approved by the NYC
Board called STANDARDS and APPEALS. Who gave them that name?

Wow… I didn’t realize that the cobblestone on Northern Blvd wasn’t paved over at all at this intersection as late as ‘68! I remember as a kid seeing a number of cobblestone streets in Long Island City (where my grandmother worked on Queensboro Plaza). I can also recall many roads from my youth where the macadam pavement had eroded in spots and accidentally exposed the cobblestone and trolley tracks beneath (Junction Blvd and Merrick Blvd spring immediately to mind), but those were usually routinely patched up by the City. Of course, there have always been little pockets (mostly in Manhattan) purposely preserved for historical or economic reasons (South Street Seaport area, some blocks in Greenwich Village)… Were these streets purposely kept this way at the time in downtown Flushing due to the historic nature of the neighborhood?

Wow. Great photo once again, Warren. Thanks a lot! I was very, very young when my Mom or Grandfather took me here before it was triplexed, so most of my memories of this theater’s lush interior are from after the conversion. The balcony theater maintained much of it’s beauty, but the proscenium detailing and atomospheric ambeince was lost in the splitting of the orchestra level.

Before the auditorium is completely demolished for the Boymelgreen project, I hope a professional photographer is allowed access to space in order to document whatever ruins remain of the interior.

I’ve found a slide of the exterior of RKO-Keith’s taken June 25, 1968 on the day of my Intermediate School graduation. It is of virtually the exact same angle as the vintage postcard view shown at the top. What is most striking is that, even by 1968, with the theater essentially intact (single screen) and the interior not yet having gone into decline, the exterior had already been horribly diminished. All of the intricate carvings surrounding the windows are gone. The ornate curved arch marquee had been replaced by a generic, boxy marquee. An ugly rectangular two-sided “RKO” sign had been affixed to the center of the facade, sticking out in the middle of the moorish arch at the top; rust stains from the sign ran down to the center window. In short, it’s easy to see why the building’s exterior was not given landmark status: It was already relegated to a nondescript commercial facade by the late 60s.

Robert R… Scroll up to read Ed Baxter’s haunting description of the Keith’s desecrated interior in his post of February 27th, 2005. It paints a very vivid picture of an unofficial tour of the ruins taken in 1999. I would assume the interior remains today in pretty much the same condition, perhaps a bit worse given any intervening water/exposure damage.

Has anyone heard how much of the auditorium is still there?

I think this quote from Marylin Bitterman, the district manager of Community Board 7, is my favorite:

“We were thrilled when the developer purchased it and decided to develop it while keeping the integrity of the theater and enhancing the landmarked portion of the building”

I may actually bust a gut from laughing at that one.

Here’s the passage that might get people’s hopes up:

“ The site offers tough design problems for many reasons, not least because the theater’s interior, which is landmarked, has been badly trashed. (Though designed by a famous architect, Thomas Lamb, the theater’s exterior was not landmarked at the request of then-borough president Donald Manes, who later committed suicide amid financial scandals.) Calling this part of the site “the egg,” a principal of the V Studio, Jay Valgora, testified that preserving it while trying to build on top of and around it presented him with the “most complex job of sequencing”he had ever faced as an architect.”

This excerpt makes it seem as if the entire interior is landmarked and will be preserved in “the egg.” What is not made clear is that only the lobby is landmarked and not even all of this will survive the alleged “restoration” as the southern wall on the Main Street side of the property will have to be demolished so that the proposed glass curtain facade may allow the lobby interior to be exposed to passersby, as has been part of the design plan for the Boymelgreen project. Anyway, looks like yet another Board meeting and vote will be held tomorrow to finalize everything (for what seems like the 97th time).

Sad, sad, sad.

Mike69… I am right there with you, brother. While I haven’t been on the inside of the theater since it was last open in ‘86, I can’t imagine it to be in that much worse shape than, say, the New Amsterdam was in the mid '90’s when Disney took it over for renovations. That theater’s interior was exposed to the elements due to holes in its roof and suffered major water damage, yet it was still somehow salvaged. It’s all about location, timing and opportunity. Flushing is not Times Square and a deal has already been finalized. I fear that there is really nothing else that can be done at this time. But I sure wish more of an effort had been made by the City while it had the chance to protect the entire building.

Even so… had they held out for complete renovation, I wonder how many developers would have been attracted to the site? It probably would have taken some philanthropical intervention to restore the building to theatrical use – a Queens Center for Performing Arts or some sort of adjunct to nearby Town Hall (as had been rumored at some point a few years back)? I wonder if that could have worked in this location… parking is a real problem and the local streets are highly congested. And I’m not sure what kind of support a project like this would have had from the immediate surrounding community.

Still… I feel your pain, mike69. This whole situation is painfully frustrating.

Warren… take a look at my photos from September 6th. Looks like they’ve added a fresh coat of baby blue paint to the roll gates and plywood that seal off the former street level store fronts since then. I still love best the vintage exterior photo you posted on September 26th, which really brings out how handsome the facade of the Keith’s once was. I’d love to find some crisp interior photographs one of these days.