The theatre Was named fr the Tilyou family who were major land owners in Coney Island. George died in 1914 age 52. The park closed for good on Sept 20 1964 and never reopened. Coney Island was declining and crime was rising and a good deal of businesses shut down or move and the RKO Tilyou was collateral damage.
Mark I know the building on the outside very well. Since most of the cars parking there are from Memorial Day through Labor Day. From what I recall the few times those doors were open the stage was at street level so load ins and outs would have to be ramped or forked of the trailer.. There is no other way around it.
RIP Joe Patton who once owned the East Point in the early 70’s was trying to restore it and install a theatre organ passed away yesterday April 7th 2016. He stopped restoration to save the Fox Atlanta in 1974
I hope this is not a case of to little to late. The Kings original cost to restore in 1999 was about $32 million. Then in around 2012 $69 million and the final cost was $95 million.
To add to the history of the Shore when the XXX movies stopped there was an attempt to turn it in to a bingo hall but it was found to be to hot in the summer and to cold in the winter due to the cost of heating and cooling the theatre.
If and when it does open people won’t be complaining about getting there since there are 4 subway lines that terminate there. The major logistical problems would be getting the tractor trailers since they have to use the streets. Also since the stage door is located on Stillwell Avenue and last i knew there were parking meters up and down the block where the former taxi stand used to be. Logistics at work.
As of March 2016 the Henn is under new ownership. The plans are in the works to get it up to date with digital projection. The former owners didn’t have the $50,000 to do so and in mid December they were hoping to get a film copy of Star Wars 7 but Disney backed out. The new owner intend to restore the theatre and also change the name. I wish them the best and like to talk with the new owners to see if they would want to book live shows. Murphy is pretty much a dead town and need some nightlife other than the new casino 4 miles up the road.
Glad to see this project is getting off the ground. It’s only to bad NYU who has a ton of money demolished the Academy of Music on 14th st and built a dormatory
I was at the Dead shows back then. I got to meet Micky Hart and Alison Steele back then. I was also working there for the sound company hired to do the live shows for In Concert.
Michael some people just like to stir up crap if for no other reason.
BTW I do believe that the Loews Kings has picked up a lot of momentum on CT lately since the news of the $70 million restoration project. Why can’t they use some of that money to help Ridgewood?
John he pops up when you least expect it. I have been to other theatre listings on here and he responded out of the blue. He did that for the Howard Theatre in Wash DC that is being renovated from a vaudeville /movie theatre to a dinner/ dance type theatre. The Howard in it’s hey dey had some of the biggest act play there. Primarily black jazz R&B and blues.
It is the most ironic ruin of Detroit. Nowhere is the automobile more triumphant than here. Yet this site contains a double irony for it here that Henry Ford created his first car in a tiny shop that once stood on this site.
After going to that site and seeing what was done I would have rather in this case tore it down. It was hard to look at. Almost as bad as seeing the High Rise dorm that NYU put up where the Academy of Music used to stand
Another theatre you may want them to see is the Riviera Theatre in N Tonawanda NY right next to Niagara Fall. 1300 seat Venue and still fully functional along with a Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ.
I hope all goes well for old Ridgewood and I hope the owners will not be put off or deterred since the news of the Loews Kings $70,000,000 restoration. There is more then enough room for performing art centers in a city as big as NYC. I was recently in Providence Rhode Island. The Strand was built in the early 1900’s and showed it’s last movie in 1978. It is now a club on certain days and a concert venue on others. Most of the seats on the mail floor are gone but it still maintains all the seats in the balcony and has a fully functional stage. Maybe you can get the owners of Ridgewood to take a look at the place to see a good example of how to save a classic theatre.
I was just at the Riviera last Sat May 8th What a nice house it still is and the Mighty Wurlitzer sounded awesome. To bad the weather sucked. It was cold and windy.
Hey Lost I am on the run. LOL
What a shame. All those years that I worked at the Academy of Music I never knew that it was ever there. Based on what I saw in the picture and seeing the alley way and parking lot it does look like it could have been a theatre there. Dang all that time and I never knew.
Wow it’s been that long since I have been to this page. Stu 62 mentions See Factor doing sound. Maybe i am getting on in years and to many brain cells have died out but I do not recall Bob See and See Factor doing audio for gigs till some time in the lat e 70’s and early 80’s. I was just on the See Factor site and from what i see they do very little in the audio field now.
So can someone verify that See Factor did sound back then
I did go to a show at the Central one night after a show at the Capitol and I don’t recall who was doing sound but Ric-Lo was doing the lights.
What a long strange trip it’s been.
And since I am in here
I have started a group on Facebook dedicated to the NY Academy of Music.
Feel free to join in talk about your memories. Post your links and pictures too
I have started a group on Facebook dedicated to the NY Academy of Music.
Feel free to join in talk about your memories. Post your links and pictures too
Just saw it this afternoon. 100 Years of the Howard. Glad to see that after all these years the Howard will live again. I am not sure I like some of the plans. It looks like it is going to look more like a dinner theatre. But this is 2010 and I guess the times they are a changing.
Great piece.
To me it hurts to see these beautiful old theatres going to waste or demolished. At least the Howard will live on even it it’s altered state. The other GOOD new I have seen recently is that the Loews Kings in Brooklyn NY that has been sitting in a state of abandonment for over 30 years. It is a 3200 seater and will be going under about a $70 mil renovation
I also hope the LPC will put a fire under this issue. We got it on the list but since then the wheels seem to have slowed down to a crawl. When I got to speak to Jenny of LPC she said they would work on it as fast as they could but it is not fast enough.
Hey Guys and gals after a week of leaving voice mails with Jenny she finally called me back and left a VM. As of last week Ridgewood has not been put on the schedule for a vote yet. She was not sure when it will happen.
Also I just notice there is now advertising on the site
Ross just like any group be it on the net or in real life things happen and people change be it good or bad. As i stated before I personally never had a problem with Warren. Whenever I came across a link he may have posted where the link was no long active and I brought it up to him he was always prompt about updating those links.
I like to think we are a community here and I know I like hearing about others adventures be it at Ridgwood or any other place.
Enjoy your trip and have a great time.
The theatre Was named fr the Tilyou family who were major land owners in Coney Island. George died in 1914 age 52. The park closed for good on Sept 20 1964 and never reopened. Coney Island was declining and crime was rising and a good deal of businesses shut down or move and the RKO Tilyou was collateral damage.
Mark I know the building on the outside very well. Since most of the cars parking there are from Memorial Day through Labor Day. From what I recall the few times those doors were open the stage was at street level so load ins and outs would have to be ramped or forked of the trailer.. There is no other way around it.
RIP Joe Patton who once owned the East Point in the early 70’s was trying to restore it and install a theatre organ passed away yesterday April 7th 2016. He stopped restoration to save the Fox Atlanta in 1974
RIP Joe “Phantom of The Fox”
I hope I get to come down there soon and see this magnificent theatre and meet one of the men who keeps it going Mr Bob Foreman.
I hope this is not a case of to little to late. The Kings original cost to restore in 1999 was about $32 million. Then in around 2012 $69 million and the final cost was $95 million.
To add to the history of the Shore when the XXX movies stopped there was an attempt to turn it in to a bingo hall but it was found to be to hot in the summer and to cold in the winter due to the cost of heating and cooling the theatre.
If and when it does open people won’t be complaining about getting there since there are 4 subway lines that terminate there. The major logistical problems would be getting the tractor trailers since they have to use the streets. Also since the stage door is located on Stillwell Avenue and last i knew there were parking meters up and down the block where the former taxi stand used to be. Logistics at work.
As of March 2016 the Henn is under new ownership. The plans are in the works to get it up to date with digital projection. The former owners didn’t have the $50,000 to do so and in mid December they were hoping to get a film copy of Star Wars 7 but Disney backed out. The new owner intend to restore the theatre and also change the name. I wish them the best and like to talk with the new owners to see if they would want to book live shows. Murphy is pretty much a dead town and need some nightlife other than the new casino 4 miles up the road.
Glad to see this project is getting off the ground. It’s only to bad NYU who has a ton of money demolished the Academy of Music on 14th st and built a dormatory
I also saw the movie called I love you Alice B Tokeless. :)
I was at the Dead shows back then. I got to meet Micky Hart and Alison Steele back then. I was also working there for the sound company hired to do the live shows for In Concert.
Michael some people just like to stir up crap if for no other reason.
BTW I do believe that the Loews Kings has picked up a lot of momentum on CT lately since the news of the $70 million restoration project. Why can’t they use some of that money to help Ridgewood?
John he pops up when you least expect it. I have been to other theatre listings on here and he responded out of the blue. He did that for the Howard Theatre in Wash DC that is being renovated from a vaudeville /movie theatre to a dinner/ dance type theatre. The Howard in it’s hey dey had some of the biggest act play there. Primarily black jazz R&B and blues.
View link
It is the most ironic ruin of Detroit. Nowhere is the automobile more triumphant than here. Yet this site contains a double irony for it here that Henry Ford created his first car in a tiny shop that once stood on this site.
After going to that site and seeing what was done I would have rather in this case tore it down. It was hard to look at. Almost as bad as seeing the High Rise dorm that NYU put up where the Academy of Music used to stand
Another theatre you may want them to see is the Riviera Theatre in N Tonawanda NY right next to Niagara Fall. 1300 seat Venue and still fully functional along with a Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ.
www.rivieratheatre.org
Hi Michael,
I hope all goes well for old Ridgewood and I hope the owners will not be put off or deterred since the news of the Loews Kings $70,000,000 restoration. There is more then enough room for performing art centers in a city as big as NYC. I was recently in Providence Rhode Island. The Strand was built in the early 1900’s and showed it’s last movie in 1978. It is now a club on certain days and a concert venue on others. Most of the seats on the mail floor are gone but it still maintains all the seats in the balcony and has a fully functional stage. Maybe you can get the owners of Ridgewood to take a look at the place to see a good example of how to save a classic theatre.
Michael
Is there any word about replacing or restoring the Wonder Organ if the original can be found?
I was just at the Riviera last Sat May 8th What a nice house it still is and the Mighty Wurlitzer sounded awesome. To bad the weather sucked. It was cold and windy.
Hey Lost I am on the run. LOL
Michael did you set up the Ridgewood page on Face Book yet?
What a shame. All those years that I worked at the Academy of Music I never knew that it was ever there. Based on what I saw in the picture and seeing the alley way and parking lot it does look like it could have been a theatre there. Dang all that time and I never knew.
Wow it’s been that long since I have been to this page. Stu 62 mentions See Factor doing sound. Maybe i am getting on in years and to many brain cells have died out but I do not recall Bob See and See Factor doing audio for gigs till some time in the lat e 70’s and early 80’s. I was just on the See Factor site and from what i see they do very little in the audio field now.
So can someone verify that See Factor did sound back then
I did go to a show at the Central one night after a show at the Capitol and I don’t recall who was doing sound but Ric-Lo was doing the lights.
What a long strange trip it’s been.
And since I am in here
I have started a group on Facebook dedicated to the NY Academy of Music.
Feel free to join in talk about your memories. Post your links and pictures too
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=346585061938
I have started a group on Facebook dedicated to the NY Academy of Music.
Feel free to join in talk about your memories. Post your links and pictures too
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=346585061938
Hi Frannni
Just saw it this afternoon. 100 Years of the Howard. Glad to see that after all these years the Howard will live again. I am not sure I like some of the plans. It looks like it is going to look more like a dinner theatre. But this is 2010 and I guess the times they are a changing.
Great piece.
To me it hurts to see these beautiful old theatres going to waste or demolished. At least the Howard will live on even it it’s altered state. The other GOOD new I have seen recently is that the Loews Kings in Brooklyn NY that has been sitting in a state of abandonment for over 30 years. It is a 3200 seater and will be going under about a $70 mil renovation
Congrats Michael. Job well done. To bad the Madison could not have gotten it as well.
I also hope the LPC will put a fire under this issue. We got it on the list but since then the wheels seem to have slowed down to a crawl. When I got to speak to Jenny of LPC she said they would work on it as fast as they could but it is not fast enough.
Happy New Year 2010 to all
Michael
Hey Guys and gals after a week of leaving voice mails with Jenny she finally called me back and left a VM. As of last week Ridgewood has not been put on the schedule for a vote yet. She was not sure when it will happen.
Also I just notice there is now advertising on the site
Ross just like any group be it on the net or in real life things happen and people change be it good or bad. As i stated before I personally never had a problem with Warren. Whenever I came across a link he may have posted where the link was no long active and I brought it up to him he was always prompt about updating those links.
I like to think we are a community here and I know I like hearing about others adventures be it at Ridgwood or any other place.
Enjoy your trip and have a great time.