Parthenon Theatre
329 Wyckoff Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
329 Wyckoff Avenue,
Ridgewood,
NY
11385
8 people
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Showing 201 - 225 of 248 comments
It was at Cornelia and Cypress, just behind where Martin Paints used to be. It closed when they opened the new Ridgewoo 11385 post office at Summerfield and Myrtle (near Fresh Pond) at the ole Glenwood Theater site (on topic!).
The post office was at 869 Cypress Avenue, on the northeast side, between Cornelia and Hancock Streets. Jefferson Avenue stops at Cypress Avenue, but Cornelia continues past Cypress to Forest Avenue. It used to extend to Fresh Pond Road, I think, before it became a named street.
lostmemory, when did the Cypress Avenue post office open ?
There also used to be another Ridgewood post office on Madison Street between Wyckoff and Myrtle Avenues, across the street from the “fire escape” side of the RKO Madison Theater.
Yes, they do it for Marketing reasons. The Ridgewood isn’t even close to the border line, and there is no question that it is in Queens. The Madison is nearer the border, but still is on the Queens side of the border. There is no mistaking it. Look at any map.
Again, for whatever reason it was and probably for marketing reasons that they list the Ridgewood in Brooklyn. Both buildings are physically in Queens and always have been, no matter what the “theatrical statistics” say.
Look at the addresses of the Madison and the Ridgewood:
/theaters/4021/
/theaters/4621/
They are 54-30 and 55-27 Myrtle Ave. Those are Queens addreses, and they got them when Queens began that system. Once you cross the Brooklyn Border at Wyckoff Ave Myrtle Ave takes a 1XXX number, because then Myrtle is in Brooklyn then.
The Ridgewood (and the Madison in the past) does it for marketing reasons listing it in Brooklyn.
Ridgewood was 11227. Wyckoff Heights was 11237.
If that is the case, why weren’t they listed in the Queens listings of the movie advertisements. For history’s sake they are Brooklyn locations regardless of post offices, boundaries and etc. The RKO MADISON, BROOKLYN.
I’m not obsessed, as to where they are located, but they were and always were in Queens. The border is Wyckoff Ave, not Myrtle. The theaters went into the Queens numbering system when Queens did that in the 30’s because they were in Queens, and the Ridgewood Theater is even blocks away from the border. The Ridgewood and RKO Madison are properly listed on this site as being in Ridgewood (neither are not listed as Brooklyn). The books can say all they want about them being in Brooklyn, and for whatever marketing reason that’s what they did, but both theaters are physically in Queens, no matter what they did for marketing, or what the books say.
So what you are telling me is that RKO didn’t know where the Madison was located and listed the Madison in Brooklyn for it’s entire run as a theatre. The RKO Madison was never listed in the Queens directory of any movie ads, RKO display ads or the Motion Picture Daily Yearbook. If this is the case then this theatre should not be LISTED in the Brooklyn area of this site. The same goes for the Ridgewood and the Parthenon. As far as I am concerned all these theatres are Brooklyn houses no matter what borders you have for the neighborhoods which really doesn’t mean much to anyone but you guys who are “obsessed” to where they are located.
The Ridgewood Theater and RKO Madison Theaters are in Queens, and have always been in Queens. While the Brooklyn-Queens border is right near the Parthenon (again on two sides), it’s not even close to the Ridgewood or the Madison either. The border for Queens and Brooklyn is on Wyckoff Ave not Myrtle, so there’s not even a question for the Ridgewood and Madison. In addition, both of those theaters were brought into the Queens numbering system on Myrtle Ave because they are in Queens (see both those theater’s sections for their addresses. The Brooklyn side of Myrtle (on the other side of WYckoff) is still in the old Brooklyn numbering system, because there it is in Brooklyn.
I know they have listed the Ridgewood in the Brooklyn listings for movies, however it is in Queens, and always wasw in Queens (as well as the Madison).
Perhaps the Brooklyn-Queens boundary changed between the date of the original deed and now. Brooklyn was a city in its own right until the five boroughs were incorporated in 1898. Hence the old expression “city line” for the Bklyn-Queens border.
The Parthenon Theatre was located in Brooklyn according to the source material that I have for it. I’m quite sure Randforce Theatres knew where their theatres were located. The Ridgewood Theatre was also a “Brooklyn” placed theatre in ads. The next thing you know, debates will be held if the RKO Madison is in Queens, which it is obviously not.
You are correct Peter.
The Brooklyn Queens line runs right along the Parthenon Theater on two sides (down the middle of Gates, and down the middle of Wyckoff), but the theater is indeed in Queens.
The confusion again is because of the same reason people thought the Ridgewood or the RKO Madison Theaters were in Brooklyn even though they were in Queens. It’s because that area of Ridgewood (in Queens) had been served through the Brooklyn Post Office right up to around 1980, even though it was, and always was in Queens.
For anyone still confused, see the Grandview Theater section for more information, and where we talked about this some more.
Based on the maps I have, the Parthenon Theater was in Queens. The Brooklyn-Queens boundary runs down the centerline of Gates Avenue from St. Nicholas to Wyckoff Avenue, thence southeast along the centerline of Wyckoff Avenue to Eldert Street. This means that the Parthenon, which occupied the southern corner (Wyckoff and Palmetto)of the block bounded by Wyckoff, St. Nicholas, Palmetto and Gates, was unquestionably in the borough of Queens. It was, however, served by the Brooklyn post office until January 1980 when its zip code changed from 11227 to 11385.
the bowling ally closed in 1972 then they build the ferris wheel there
Why 1961, and not 1960 ?
Have you found out when the Parthenon ceased to be a bowling alley ?
Thanks, Bway, I was just looking at it, and just printed it. The photo of the trolley with the Ridgewood Theater in the background is similar to a photo in Smith and Kramer’s book, “The Brooklyn and Queens Transit : From Coney Island To Flushing” looking in the same direction. Perhaps it IS the same photo.
The other photo, looking north on Cornelia from Cypress and Myrtle, with the Renken’s milk wagon, I have seen before, but it’s good to see it again.
You can also see Howard’s clothing store in the trolley photo, on the northwest corner of Myrtle and Putnam. It had a vertical sign like the Ridgewood Theater once had. My parents got me two suits at Howard’s : one for First Holy Communion in spring 1963, the second, for my dad’s parents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration in spring 1969. The second suit also lasted through my freshman year of high school (1969-1970).
It may not be until Monday that it’s even in the Neighborhood section, because I think the online version is usually one week or so behind the print version, so if it’s not there yet, try again next week.
Peter, I know what you mean about those “just” illegible street signs, etc.
In this weeks “Timesnewsweekly” there is an old photo in the “Our neighborhood section” of a trolly at Cypress/Putnam/Myrtle and you can see the Ridgewood Theater in the background.
I saw it in the print version of the paper, but assume it’s online too. If you go to the Timesnewsweekly.com website, and click on “Neighborhood” you can see it. I don’t want to post the direct link until next week, because when the new paper comes out online (usually Monday), the link will change to the new week. However, then this story will get a permanent link, and I can post it here.
It’s Wyckoff Avenue station, not Wyckoff Street. But thanks, Warren. As noted a few comments above by “bonnie', the Parthenon closed in 1959. I remember that as of September 1961 it had become a bowling alley. It’s too bad you can’t read what was on the Ridgewood marquee in that Brennan photo you mention. I have often experienced that myself, in looking at old photos, to gain information, that nagging feeling of having just missed some important detail, "so near, yet so far” : street signs, marquees, trolley and bus signs visible, but illegible. At once, the hope and despair, the pain and pleasure, of urban archaeology !
It’s as if, the further back one tries to look into the past, the fuzzier the view gets, because of having to look through more and more disorder, that goes with an increasing length of time.
Thank you, bonnie. You certainly may answer a question directed at someone else. If you know the DATE in 1977 that the RKO Madison closed, please post here, or on the RKO Madison page. It’s a piece of info missing from my memory that’s really been bugging me, since I’ve been on this site (5 ½ months now). Thanks alot.
I dont know if Im allowed to answer someone elses question but I know the Parthenon closed in 1959, the Grandview in 1955, the RKO madison in 1977.
Oscar, do you remember when the Parthenon and Grandview stopped showing movies ? If you do, please post the info here. Thanks.
Your photo does depict a somewhat unattractive building the Parthenon was a very nice theatre inside even though the movie quality was subpar the theatre was still nice in its day
Thanks, Bway. I wasn’t sure if the building was still a clinic (contained medical offices). Yes, it is rather unattractive, now that the original facade has been covered.