brenograph….The theater was not in that bad of shape when it closed in 2003. Most of that water damage happened after. It appears they put a hole in the roof, ans water just poured through the place. It doesn’t take long for water damage to beccome severe.
And the sad part is that the place was not in that bad of shape when it closed….just read the opening paragraph of this page, which was originally written before it closed…. it says, “Despite the wear and tear of time, the theater is still in good condition, although the original screen has been replaced by two smaller screens.”
I think this is the theater with the jeep in front, but can’t be sure. I drove by here the other week, and am a bit mixed up with some of the ones I have seen. Anyone have a current photo of it?
Ugh, this is just horrifying! I wonder where the urns will wind up. I hope they don’t just throw them in the dumpsters. Even the Penn Station Eagles wound up in different places. These photos are so sad to see! Thanks so much for posting the links! Again, I wish I was able to document the destruction of the old Loews Broadway on film, I passed it each day getting more and more ripped down, but never thought to take my camera.
Wow, that is horrifying. What a shame. I wish I had time to get over there to take some photos. I am still kicking myself from when they were tearing down the Loews Broadway near Myrtle/Broadway in the 1990’s. Two of the three side walls were down, as well as much of the roof, yet the procenium arch stood there in clear view of the station in the distance, as well as one side wall. Corinthian coloumns still standing proudly on one side. There was even a chandelier swinging in the wind. I wish I had a photo, as it was surreal as you describe for the Commodore.
I am still sickened that they couldn’t save the Commodore. I will miss those large concrete urns near the top of the building when I would go by on the train.
Interesting. Well that was 21 years ago of course….but I would assume the church must have left soon after that, as the neglect damage in those photos, has to be more than 10 or 15 years worth of major neglect.
Of course, hopefully I would be wrong, as I would hate to think the Ridgewood would be worth more as a “commercial” building than the theater it still is.
True, but it of course is still a theater, so perhaps that has something to do with it. The Madison is just another commercial building at this point, not a theater.
Yeah, I thought the Liberty Dept Store owned the old Madison building, and was not just a tenant. By the way, the Liberty inside the Madison is actually Liberty Dept Stores II. #1 is on Jamaica Ave in Woodhaven, along the el. I don’t believe that one is in an old theater though.
As for falling property values, that probably just reflects the minor dip all of NYC has been seeing. They say it will only be a blip though, and nothing major, as the market appears to remain strong in NYC.
Most of the time, most theaters do span multiple addresses. So probably, 516 was the original address used for the theater, but for some reason, at some point, someone began using one of the other addresses, 512.
As for the condition of the building, I would assume that it’s been a very long time since anything has occupied it. It’s probably been vacant a very long time. It is doubtful that the church allowed it to get so bad, if they moved out a long time ago, the deterioration probably began after they left.
What is the address you have for the building? I added this theater along with Lost Memory, and we found the address from “somewhere” (it’s been a while, I don’t remember). Perhaps “516 Broadway” is the original address for the property? Often times addresses change over the years in some cases, so perhaps the address you have is the “current” address?
It’s been a while, but I believe that when a tax search of the NYC tax records was run on the Madison was done, it showed that Liberty Dept Stores is not a tenant, but owns the building.
Anyone know of any interior photos of the Esquire? I passed it the other day when driving on Fairfax, near CBS Studios. Does anyone know if the original ceiling and walls exist in the restaurant?
Patsy, I was just by there the other day, but can’t remember if the ticket booth was still there. I went by fast, and never got around to going back again.
I wonder what will become of the theater, it appears to be in good condition.
I went past this theater the other day when driving on Wilshire, and even before noticing it’s huge sign, which is still there, I recognized it as a theater, and couldn’t wait to get home to look it up on CT. I passed so many abandoned theaters, now in other uses, or abandoned, and wish I had written the locations down, but figured I’d remember, but it’s easier said than done…my memory isn’t as good as I thought it was!
Anyway, the place is heavily altered on the exterior, or looks “cheap”, but I guess that’s because of the type of store it is now.
Inside though, I couldn’t belive the detail remaining. A true gem worthy of restoring.
I went by the place the other day, and it looked great all lit up at night. I believe the marquee said Incubus was coming to performe there, but it was going to be after I left town. I may have been tempted to buy tickets if I was going to be in the area that night.
I went by the place the other day, and it looked great all lit up at night. I believe the marquee said Incubus was coming to performe there, but it was going to be after I left town. I may have been tempted to buy tickets if I was going to be in the area that night.
I totally agree. I WANT the Patchogue to survive. It wouldn’t be all that hard to do. But it DOES need some attention, and that’s the constructive critism some of us are trying to give for it. The status quoi probably won’t allow it to survive. The Patchogue is heathily busy on weekends or prime times. But it can be busier. But to get the other patrons, it has to be upgraded to compete with the other options available.
But the problem may be that they don’t know if they will stay. I don’t know if that housing development was approved or not. I certainly hope not.
So would I!
Actually, the exterior is in such great shape because of when Busy Bee restored the exterior facade. When Busy Bee steam cleaned and repointed (that means repairing the cement mortar between the stones/bricks), they also installed new windows. I don’t know if Liberty boarded up those new windows, or just installed the sign in front of them.
The fire probably wasn’t as extensive as it may sound. There may be severe soot damage on the original ceiling, but that would be dirty with age and neglect anyway. As long as the roof don’t leak (and it appears it is maintained, as they don’t want water in their store), tha plaster should be fine. We have to remember that this building, although not a theater, has not been unoccupied for more than a year or two at a time. It never stood abandoned and neglected for too long, so it has been maintained.
It is entirely possible that the original walls exist, and just sheetrock placed in front of them. A perfect example is the Patchogue Theater on Long Island. In the 1950’s, they had a fire, and the theater was reopened, “modernized”, with sheetrock walls. It was even multiplexed in the 1980’s. In the early 1990’s, when Patchogue Village was restoring the theater, they tore down the sheetrock only to expose the original, glorious, Ward & Glynne interior! They were able to restore the theater to it’s former glory as a performing arts house.
Of course, it’s also possible that all the plaster adornment was knocked off to place up the new store walls. But even so, it would probably only be to the fake ceiling height. Above that it is entirely possible even the procenium arch and ceiling remians.
It is restorable, but would take a huge amount of money. It’s not just some missing plaster, it’s down to bare bricks for vast stretches of wall in many places. Water and moisture damage appears to be everywhere. And even the plaster remaining may be loose. When you have huge stretches of wall with bare brick, that can’t mean that the remaining plaster is solid.
And what is that light coming in through the ceiling? Hopefully it’s a skylight added by the church for some natural light, otherwise could it bee a hole in the roof?
The facade is intact beneath the sign. I noticed that when they put the sign up, that it’s pushed outwards to allow for the concrete Gothic adornments above the windows. Interestingly, before Liberty moved in, when the Busy Bee store was there, the facadfe was completely steam cleaned and repointed. Unfortunately it was seen short lived, as Liberty decided to cover it with their huge sign.
brenograph….The theater was not in that bad of shape when it closed in 2003. Most of that water damage happened after. It appears they put a hole in the roof, ans water just poured through the place. It doesn’t take long for water damage to beccome severe.
And the sad part is that the place was not in that bad of shape when it closed….just read the opening paragraph of this page, which was originally written before it closed…. it says, “Despite the wear and tear of time, the theater is still in good condition, although the original screen has been replaced by two smaller screens.”
I think this is the theater with the jeep in front, but can’t be sure. I drove by here the other week, and am a bit mixed up with some of the ones I have seen. Anyone have a current photo of it?
Ugh, this is just horrifying! I wonder where the urns will wind up. I hope they don’t just throw them in the dumpsters. Even the Penn Station Eagles wound up in different places. These photos are so sad to see! Thanks so much for posting the links! Again, I wish I was able to document the destruction of the old Loews Broadway on film, I passed it each day getting more and more ripped down, but never thought to take my camera.
Try the free www.photobucket.com site. You can host them free there, and then post the links to the photos or album here once they are uploaded.
Wow, that is horrifying. What a shame. I wish I had time to get over there to take some photos. I am still kicking myself from when they were tearing down the Loews Broadway near Myrtle/Broadway in the 1990’s. Two of the three side walls were down, as well as much of the roof, yet the procenium arch stood there in clear view of the station in the distance, as well as one side wall. Corinthian coloumns still standing proudly on one side. There was even a chandelier swinging in the wind. I wish I had a photo, as it was surreal as you describe for the Commodore.
I am still sickened that they couldn’t save the Commodore. I will miss those large concrete urns near the top of the building when I would go by on the train.
Church of God in Christ? Just a guess….
Interesting. Well that was 21 years ago of course….but I would assume the church must have left soon after that, as the neglect damage in those photos, has to be more than 10 or 15 years worth of major neglect.
Of course, hopefully I would be wrong, as I would hate to think the Ridgewood would be worth more as a “commercial” building than the theater it still is.
True, but it of course is still a theater, so perhaps that has something to do with it. The Madison is just another commercial building at this point, not a theater.
Yeah, I thought the Liberty Dept Store owned the old Madison building, and was not just a tenant. By the way, the Liberty inside the Madison is actually Liberty Dept Stores II. #1 is on Jamaica Ave in Woodhaven, along the el. I don’t believe that one is in an old theater though.
As for falling property values, that probably just reflects the minor dip all of NYC has been seeing. They say it will only be a blip though, and nothing major, as the market appears to remain strong in NYC.
Most of the time, most theaters do span multiple addresses. So probably, 516 was the original address used for the theater, but for some reason, at some point, someone began using one of the other addresses, 512.
As for the condition of the building, I would assume that it’s been a very long time since anything has occupied it. It’s probably been vacant a very long time. It is doubtful that the church allowed it to get so bad, if they moved out a long time ago, the deterioration probably began after they left.
What is the address you have for the building? I added this theater along with Lost Memory, and we found the address from “somewhere” (it’s been a while, I don’t remember). Perhaps “516 Broadway” is the original address for the property? Often times addresses change over the years in some cases, so perhaps the address you have is the “current” address?
It’s been a while, but I believe that when a tax search of the NYC tax records was run on the Madison was done, it showed that Liberty Dept Stores is not a tenant, but owns the building.
Anyone know of any interior photos of the Esquire? I passed it the other day when driving on Fairfax, near CBS Studios. Does anyone know if the original ceiling and walls exist in the restaurant?
Patsy, I was just by there the other day, but can’t remember if the ticket booth was still there. I went by fast, and never got around to going back again.
I wonder what will become of the theater, it appears to be in good condition.
I went past this theater the other day when driving on Wilshire, and even before noticing it’s huge sign, which is still there, I recognized it as a theater, and couldn’t wait to get home to look it up on CT. I passed so many abandoned theaters, now in other uses, or abandoned, and wish I had written the locations down, but figured I’d remember, but it’s easier said than done…my memory isn’t as good as I thought it was!
Anyway, the place is heavily altered on the exterior, or looks “cheap”, but I guess that’s because of the type of store it is now.
Inside though, I couldn’t belive the detail remaining. A true gem worthy of restoring.
I went by the place the other day, and it looked great all lit up at night. I believe the marquee said Incubus was coming to performe there, but it was going to be after I left town. I may have been tempted to buy tickets if I was going to be in the area that night.
I went by the place the other day, and it looked great all lit up at night. I believe the marquee said Incubus was coming to performe there, but it was going to be after I left town. I may have been tempted to buy tickets if I was going to be in the area that night.
I totally agree. I WANT the Patchogue to survive. It wouldn’t be all that hard to do. But it DOES need some attention, and that’s the constructive critism some of us are trying to give for it. The status quoi probably won’t allow it to survive. The Patchogue is heathily busy on weekends or prime times. But it can be busier. But to get the other patrons, it has to be upgraded to compete with the other options available.
But the problem may be that they don’t know if they will stay. I don’t know if that housing development was approved or not. I certainly hope not.
What is left of the Commodore? Can you post some of the photos?
So would I!
Actually, the exterior is in such great shape because of when Busy Bee restored the exterior facade. When Busy Bee steam cleaned and repointed (that means repairing the cement mortar between the stones/bricks), they also installed new windows. I don’t know if Liberty boarded up those new windows, or just installed the sign in front of them.
The fire probably wasn’t as extensive as it may sound. There may be severe soot damage on the original ceiling, but that would be dirty with age and neglect anyway. As long as the roof don’t leak (and it appears it is maintained, as they don’t want water in their store), tha plaster should be fine. We have to remember that this building, although not a theater, has not been unoccupied for more than a year or two at a time. It never stood abandoned and neglected for too long, so it has been maintained.
It is entirely possible that the original walls exist, and just sheetrock placed in front of them. A perfect example is the Patchogue Theater on Long Island. In the 1950’s, they had a fire, and the theater was reopened, “modernized”, with sheetrock walls. It was even multiplexed in the 1980’s. In the early 1990’s, when Patchogue Village was restoring the theater, they tore down the sheetrock only to expose the original, glorious, Ward & Glynne interior! They were able to restore the theater to it’s former glory as a performing arts house.
Of course, it’s also possible that all the plaster adornment was knocked off to place up the new store walls. But even so, it would probably only be to the fake ceiling height. Above that it is entirely possible even the procenium arch and ceiling remians.
It is restorable, but would take a huge amount of money. It’s not just some missing plaster, it’s down to bare bricks for vast stretches of wall in many places. Water and moisture damage appears to be everywhere. And even the plaster remaining may be loose. When you have huge stretches of wall with bare brick, that can’t mean that the remaining plaster is solid.
And what is that light coming in through the ceiling? Hopefully it’s a skylight added by the church for some natural light, otherwise could it bee a hole in the roof?
Hopefully it will be saved.
The facade is intact beneath the sign. I noticed that when they put the sign up, that it’s pushed outwards to allow for the concrete Gothic adornments above the windows. Interestingly, before Liberty moved in, when the Busy Bee store was there, the facadfe was completely steam cleaned and repointed. Unfortunately it was seen short lived, as Liberty decided to cover it with their huge sign.
Wow, great find those interior photos! Unfortunately, the place really looks to be in shambles.