Hello, Monica H, and thank you for your in-depth and detailed comments on not only the Ridgewood Theater itself, but the neighborhoods of Bushwick and Ridgewood as well. I am 48 years old, was born in Bushwick, lived in Ridgewood from 1955 to 1991, and only sold my parents' Ridgewood home on nearby Cornelia Street in 1999. I enjoyed reading your comment because it was from a young person who now lives in the Ridgewood of today, not far from where I lived in Ridgewood. I share your hopes for the Ridgewood Theater, and its renovation, especially because what used to be the RKO Madison Theater, not far away, is now a Liberty Dept. Store.
As to being a pretty girl constantly harassed by so many guys, I remember seeing the 1966 version of “One Million Years B.C.” with Racquel Welch at the Ridgewood in February 1967, and hearing a girl in the audience cry out, “This boy’s gettin' fresh with me !” Laughter from the audience, and an end to the trouble.
I hope to see your images of the Ridgewood on this site soon. I didn’t know it was so inexpensive until I read your comment.
Regarding Ridgewood not being renovated any time soon : there is new construction on Cypress Avenue between Hancock and George Sts., offices and schools. Also, if Bushwick is now being gentrified, can Ridgewood be far behind ?
A minor detail, but a very strong memory : I remember what looked like Greek letters on the knob of the drinking fountain on the lower level near the restroom doors.
If the Ridgewood is indeed the longest continuously operated movie theatre in the Greater New York area, if not the entire USA, then renovation in support of continued operation seems all the more imperative !
The address of the Tivoli Theater in downtown Brooklyn NY is given as 365 Fulton St. at : www.cinematour.com, apparently where Fulton St. intersected Myrtle Avenue, when Fulton extended all the way north to the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, (this north-south segment of what was once Fulton Street is now named Cadman Plaza)and also when Myrtle Avenue extended far west enough to intersect Fulton St. there, which it no longer does.
The western end of Myrtle Avenue was first moved east to Jay Street by the construction of NYCTA headquarters in the 1950’s, and further east in the 1990’s to Flatbush Avenue by the construction of the new MetroTech Center.
The Tivoli Theater appears in the middle photo on p. 47 of “Unifying The Subways” by Frederick A. Kramer. The view is apparently east on Myrtle Avenue from its intersection with Fulton St. The photo is of the Adams St. station of the BMT Brooklyn elevated, which crosses Myrtle Avenue and runs horizontally across the photo. The Tivoli appears at the extreme right of the photo. The marquee is an arc of a circle, concave to the front of the theater. On the portion facing directly across Myrtle Avenue one can read : AT 10 A.M. NEW SHOW TUES SAT. NITE. On the portion facing the point of view (camera) one can read : NOW SH[OWING] O DE HAVIL[AND] GOVERNMENTCHOS[EN ?]
The caption of this photo reads : “This view of the Adams Street station was taken looking east on Myrtle Avenue from Boro Hall.”
There are nine images of the Woodhaven Blvd. station of the BMT Jamaica line at : www.nycsubway.org All but the most recent of them, dated January 30, 1983, face east, show the tracks curving to the right, and show the Cordon Bleu, ex-Willard near the vanishing point. It appears as a pink brick building with dark grey sloped roof.
I think the Willard Theater is now the Cordon Bleu Catering Hall in Woodhaven, Queens. If you go to www.nycsubway.org, BMT Lines, BMT Jamaica Line, Woodhaven Blvd. station images, you can catch a glimpse of the once Willard, now Cordon Bleu, in the images that face east, with the power towers of the abandoned LIRR Rockaway Line in the distance, just beyond the Willard.
I think an at least ten story office building. I would have to go take a look to be sure. It’s not hard for me, as it’s close to my place of work. Perhaps Film Forum itself can give you more information.
Yes, the old Film Forum was a twin. I am not sure if Walter Reade programmed one side. I remember one screen (Film Forum 2)was revivals and the other (Film Forum 1) was avant-garde, foreign, anything else non-revival and unusual, like the Beats Festival in February 1988 where Allen Ginsberg and Herbert Huncke showed up in person !
The original gimmick of “The Tingler” was “spine-tingling percepto”, (seats wired for mild shocks),that of “House On Haunted Hill” was “bone-chilling ‘emergo’”(skeleton comes out of screen and passes over audience’s heads). Both were done at the old Film Forum on Watts St. west of 6th Avenue, late Sept. 1988 “Gimmick-O-Rama”, which was somehow more fun than the new one on W. Houston just east of Varick. Glad to read they’re still doing “Tingler” and “House” in the summer sci fi fantasy and horror festival in the new location.
The one and only film I ever saw at Loew’s Oriental was “Star Trek IV : The Voyage Home” the last Sunday in February 1987. It was a triplex at the time. Even divided into three cinemas, each cinema was huge, given the total size of the theater. The Moorish architecture of arches and tiles was beautiful. One of my friends thought it had been a mosque before it was a theater. I and my other friends had to explain to her the grandiose architecture and interior decor of some of NYC’s older theaters.
I only went to the Regency once, in summer 1985, when it was still a revival cinema, to see “Planet Of The Apes” and “Fantastic Voyage”. I understand that the Biograph opened on W 57th near Broadway as a replacement for the Regency, once the Regency had stopped being a revival cinema.
Sad, sad, sad. I first attended this theater by seeing “Firstborn” there on Saturday November 3rd 1984 and left it having seen “Stargate” there Friday November 11 1994, one marriage, one pregnancy, 10 years and 8 days later. Many happy times in between, among them, “Witness” in 1985 and “Out Of Africa” in 1986. I remember “Bobrick” on the hot air hand dryers, and the “Main Road” sign out on Queens Blvd. visible from the inner lobby/
Go to : nycsubway.org, BMT Lines, BMT Jamaica, Sutphin Blvd. station, look at image 6327, and you will see the marquee of Loew’s Hillside Theater in (purportedly)November 1964. I can’t quite make out what it says. My guesses are, “Let No Man Write My Epitaph” and/or “Captain Newman M.D.”. You can also make out the faint name “Hillside” on the top of the building in later, September 1977, images of Sutphin Blvd. station.
I saw “2001 : A Space Odyssey” at the Meserole on a high school sophomore class trip in mid-November 1970. At first I asked not to go, because I had already “seen” it at the Ridgewood earlier that month. I write “seen” because I walked in late and so had missed the main title and “Dawn Of Man” sequences. I first saw the complete film at the Meserole. I would have not been fully educated, had I not seen this film in its entirety, had it explained to me, and learned of the music and philosophy behind it. Seeing the film there was a major milestone in my education.
On a totally different note, the second and last film I saw there was “Ladies and Gentlemen The Rolling Stones” in June 1975. “In quad” had been carefully covered over on the outer lobby poster. The theater seemed to have deteriorated since November 1970. Or perhaps it was the film, the audience, and the pot smoke hanging in the air.
The newspapers listing the Ridgewood Theater as being in Brooklyn are just plain wrong. The theater is in the borough and county of Queens. The “Brooklyn” listing may be an uncorrected holdover from the days (pre-January 1980) when the 11227 postal zone, albeit mostly in Queens, was part of the Brooklyn post office. In January 1980, the 11227 postal zone, and the part the 11237 postal zone located in Queens, became postal zone 11385, part of the Flushing post office.
My first experience of the Ridgewood as two or more screens was on Tuesday June 17 1980 when I saw “Friday the 13th” there. The movie was shown on the upper screen, visible from what used to be the balcony, with its beautiful elliptical lobby, which I hadn’t seen for at least ten years, prior to then. A boxing match on closed circuit TV was being shown on the lower screen.
Subsequently I remember it being two, three, then five screens. Seeing “Die Hard” there in September 1988 in one of the upper cinemas, made from the balcony, was an interesting experience. The balcony has such a slant that, sitting in one of the upper rows, my eyes were level with, or a bit above, the top of the screen, and looking at the screen was like looking diagonally down a long tunnel.
The last film I saw at the Ridgewood was “Hellraiser III : Hell On Earth” on Saturday Sept. 12th 1992, in one of the lower cinemas.
The one and only film I saw at the Drake was a re-release of “Return Of The Jedi” on Sunday May 5 1985. Prior to that, I almost saw “Star Trek III” there summer of 1984, and remember “City Heat” with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds playing there December 1984. I recall a grand re-opening, with searchlights sweeping the sky, in November 1987, featuring the film “Nuts”, starring Barbra Streisand, Karl Malden, and Leslie Nielsen. I do not know the last film it showed. I think the restaurant it is now part of is, or at least was, Abbraciamento’s. I last passed by there late July 1997 but did not get a good look at it.
The Wagner Theater stood at Wyckoff and Dekalb Avenues in the Wyckoff Heights section of Brooklyn, adjacent to Ridgewood and Bushwick. The Wyckoff Heights Bklyn NY post office (zone 11237) is nearby. In the late 1960’s it had become pornographic, showing such cinematic “gems” as “Devil’s Bed” and “Let’s Play Doctor”. I am pleased to read that it is now a community performing arts theater.
Hello, Monica H, and thank you for your in-depth and detailed comments on not only the Ridgewood Theater itself, but the neighborhoods of Bushwick and Ridgewood as well. I am 48 years old, was born in Bushwick, lived in Ridgewood from 1955 to 1991, and only sold my parents' Ridgewood home on nearby Cornelia Street in 1999. I enjoyed reading your comment because it was from a young person who now lives in the Ridgewood of today, not far from where I lived in Ridgewood. I share your hopes for the Ridgewood Theater, and its renovation, especially because what used to be the RKO Madison Theater, not far away, is now a Liberty Dept. Store.
As to being a pretty girl constantly harassed by so many guys, I remember seeing the 1966 version of “One Million Years B.C.” with Racquel Welch at the Ridgewood in February 1967, and hearing a girl in the audience cry out, “This boy’s gettin' fresh with me !” Laughter from the audience, and an end to the trouble.
I hope to see your images of the Ridgewood on this site soon. I didn’t know it was so inexpensive until I read your comment.
Regarding Ridgewood not being renovated any time soon : there is new construction on Cypress Avenue between Hancock and George Sts., offices and schools. Also, if Bushwick is now being gentrified, can Ridgewood be far behind ?
A minor detail, but a very strong memory : I remember what looked like Greek letters on the knob of the drinking fountain on the lower level near the restroom doors.
If the Ridgewood is indeed the longest continuously operated movie theatre in the Greater New York area, if not the entire USA, then renovation in support of continued operation seems all the more imperative !
The address of the Tivoli Theater in downtown Brooklyn NY is given as 365 Fulton St. at : www.cinematour.com, apparently where Fulton St. intersected Myrtle Avenue, when Fulton extended all the way north to the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, (this north-south segment of what was once Fulton Street is now named Cadman Plaza)and also when Myrtle Avenue extended far west enough to intersect Fulton St. there, which it no longer does.
The western end of Myrtle Avenue was first moved east to Jay Street by the construction of NYCTA headquarters in the 1950’s, and further east in the 1990’s to Flatbush Avenue by the construction of the new MetroTech Center.
The Tivoli Theater appears in the middle photo on p. 47 of “Unifying The Subways” by Frederick A. Kramer. The view is apparently east on Myrtle Avenue from its intersection with Fulton St. The photo is of the Adams St. station of the BMT Brooklyn elevated, which crosses Myrtle Avenue and runs horizontally across the photo. The Tivoli appears at the extreme right of the photo. The marquee is an arc of a circle, concave to the front of the theater. On the portion facing directly across Myrtle Avenue one can read : AT 10 A.M. NEW SHOW TUES SAT. NITE. On the portion facing the point of view (camera) one can read : NOW SH[OWING] O DE HAVIL[AND] GOVERNMENTCHOS[EN ?]
The caption of this photo reads : “This view of the Adams Street station was taken looking east on Myrtle Avenue from Boro Hall.”
There are nine images of the Woodhaven Blvd. station of the BMT Jamaica line at : www.nycsubway.org All but the most recent of them, dated January 30, 1983, face east, show the tracks curving to the right, and show the Cordon Bleu, ex-Willard near the vanishing point. It appears as a pink brick building with dark grey sloped roof.
I think the Willard Theater is now the Cordon Bleu Catering Hall in Woodhaven, Queens. If you go to www.nycsubway.org, BMT Lines, BMT Jamaica Line, Woodhaven Blvd. station images, you can catch a glimpse of the once Willard, now Cordon Bleu, in the images that face east, with the power towers of the abandoned LIRR Rockaway Line in the distance, just beyond the Willard.
I also have one of the old programs in my desk drawer at work, from the 1989 summer sci fi horror and fantasy festival.
I think an at least ten story office building. I would have to go take a look to be sure. It’s not hard for me, as it’s close to my place of work. Perhaps Film Forum itself can give you more information.
Yes, the old Film Forum was a twin. I am not sure if Walter Reade programmed one side. I remember one screen (Film Forum 2)was revivals and the other (Film Forum 1) was avant-garde, foreign, anything else non-revival and unusual, like the Beats Festival in February 1988 where Allen Ginsberg and Herbert Huncke showed up in person !
The original gimmick of “The Tingler” was “spine-tingling percepto”, (seats wired for mild shocks),that of “House On Haunted Hill” was “bone-chilling ‘emergo’”(skeleton comes out of screen and passes over audience’s heads). Both were done at the old Film Forum on Watts St. west of 6th Avenue, late Sept. 1988 “Gimmick-O-Rama”, which was somehow more fun than the new one on W. Houston just east of Varick. Glad to read they’re still doing “Tingler” and “House” in the summer sci fi fantasy and horror festival in the new location.
I quite agree, it’s one of NYC’s BEST theaters !
The one and only film I ever saw at Loew’s Oriental was “Star Trek IV : The Voyage Home” the last Sunday in February 1987. It was a triplex at the time. Even divided into three cinemas, each cinema was huge, given the total size of the theater. The Moorish architecture of arches and tiles was beautiful. One of my friends thought it had been a mosque before it was a theater. I and my other friends had to explain to her the grandiose architecture and interior decor of some of NYC’s older theaters.
I only went to the Regency once, in summer 1985, when it was still a revival cinema, to see “Planet Of The Apes” and “Fantastic Voyage”. I understand that the Biograph opened on W 57th near Broadway as a replacement for the Regency, once the Regency had stopped being a revival cinema.
Sad, sad, sad. I first attended this theater by seeing “Firstborn” there on Saturday November 3rd 1984 and left it having seen “Stargate” there Friday November 11 1994, one marriage, one pregnancy, 10 years and 8 days later. Many happy times in between, among them, “Witness” in 1985 and “Out Of Africa” in 1986. I remember “Bobrick” on the hot air hand dryers, and the “Main Road” sign out on Queens Blvd. visible from the inner lobby/
Go to : nycsubway.org, BMT Lines, BMT Jamaica, Sutphin Blvd. station, look at image 6327, and you will see the marquee of Loew’s Hillside Theater in (purportedly)November 1964. I can’t quite make out what it says. My guesses are, “Let No Man Write My Epitaph” and/or “Captain Newman M.D.”. You can also make out the faint name “Hillside” on the top of the building in later, September 1977, images of Sutphin Blvd. station.
I saw “2001 : A Space Odyssey” at the Meserole on a high school sophomore class trip in mid-November 1970. At first I asked not to go, because I had already “seen” it at the Ridgewood earlier that month. I write “seen” because I walked in late and so had missed the main title and “Dawn Of Man” sequences. I first saw the complete film at the Meserole. I would have not been fully educated, had I not seen this film in its entirety, had it explained to me, and learned of the music and philosophy behind it. Seeing the film there was a major milestone in my education.
On a totally different note, the second and last film I saw there was “Ladies and Gentlemen The Rolling Stones” in June 1975. “In quad” had been carefully covered over on the outer lobby poster. The theater seemed to have deteriorated since November 1970. Or perhaps it was the film, the audience, and the pot smoke hanging in the air.
I saw a double feature of “Cry Of The Wild” and the short, “Bigfoot”, there, with a friend, a Greenpoint native and resident, in January 1974.
The newspapers listing the Ridgewood Theater as being in Brooklyn are just plain wrong. The theater is in the borough and county of Queens. The “Brooklyn” listing may be an uncorrected holdover from the days (pre-January 1980) when the 11227 postal zone, albeit mostly in Queens, was part of the Brooklyn post office. In January 1980, the 11227 postal zone, and the part the 11237 postal zone located in Queens, became postal zone 11385, part of the Flushing post office.
My first experience of the Ridgewood as two or more screens was on Tuesday June 17 1980 when I saw “Friday the 13th” there. The movie was shown on the upper screen, visible from what used to be the balcony, with its beautiful elliptical lobby, which I hadn’t seen for at least ten years, prior to then. A boxing match on closed circuit TV was being shown on the lower screen.
Subsequently I remember it being two, three, then five screens. Seeing “Die Hard” there in September 1988 in one of the upper cinemas, made from the balcony, was an interesting experience. The balcony has such a slant that, sitting in one of the upper rows, my eyes were level with, or a bit above, the top of the screen, and looking at the screen was like looking diagonally down a long tunnel.
The last film I saw at the Ridgewood was “Hellraiser III : Hell On Earth” on Saturday Sept. 12th 1992, in one of the lower cinemas.
The one and only film I saw at the Drake was a re-release of “Return Of The Jedi” on Sunday May 5 1985. Prior to that, I almost saw “Star Trek III” there summer of 1984, and remember “City Heat” with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds playing there December 1984. I recall a grand re-opening, with searchlights sweeping the sky, in November 1987, featuring the film “Nuts”, starring Barbra Streisand, Karl Malden, and Leslie Nielsen. I do not know the last film it showed. I think the restaurant it is now part of is, or at least was, Abbraciamento’s. I last passed by there late July 1997 but did not get a good look at it.
The Wagner Theater stood at Wyckoff and Dekalb Avenues in the Wyckoff Heights section of Brooklyn, adjacent to Ridgewood and Bushwick. The Wyckoff Heights Bklyn NY post office (zone 11237) is nearby. In the late 1960’s it had become pornographic, showing such cinematic “gems” as “Devil’s Bed” and “Let’s Play Doctor”. I am pleased to read that it is now a community performing arts theater.