wdhvnjhn – What year did you go for your banana split? I was the “Soda Jerk” there – not for the orginal owners who lived upstairs but for the people who took it over and ran in in the ‘60. I work their from 1960 til 1964 – usually every night and most saturday afternoons and I opened the place every Sunday morning – big coffee, roll and newspaper crown on Sundays after church my name is “Pete” and I lived at 800 Knickerbocker.
Hello Audrey – Sorry I don’t know when the theater closed – We moved onto Knickerbocker when I was about 5 years old (1952) and the building was “Old” and Dilipated then (Or so my brohter and sister tell me) – Do you remember “Morello’s Grocery” that I think was on the corner of Central and Cornelia? My best friends grand parents and then parents owned that store – and I spent many a summer painting (and re-painting) the walls – which they felt had to be done everyear – and my pay for this job was the best ham and swiss sandwhichs on Italian bread and a large (bottled) creame soda – and I thought that was just about the best pay yuou could get (lol)
YES – The candy store was “Hamms” – when I was small there were two
grocery stores on Kniockerbocker and Eldert – Across the street on the corner was “Costa’s” so I guess “Siegel’s” was the one on my side of the street (805 Knickerbocker?) – Coster’s closed and Paul’s cleanears who had been located in the middle of the blcok (799 Knick) moved into the corner store – Siegel’s became a butcher shop.
Sorry I don’t remember the dates – but somewhere there is a picture of me in front of Pauls Cleaners before it moved and I look like I’m around 10 years old, which would put the year at 1958. I didn’t remember the name of the school – we were just told to stay away from the kids tahat attened it.
Bway – Nope Thats a new name for me -
but in my limited knowledge – the “Alhambra” building is the only
one ever at that location – so if the Knickerbovker Airdrome was
anyplace – I’m gonna guess it was the precurser to the Alhambra
Pete – What I most remember about the “Tingler” is that there were only some seats wired – and that it was rigged to start in the rear of the theater and “work” its way down to the front -
Back to the balconey/bathroom area – were there two sets of stairs going up there? I remember the “Large” set that was in the back of the lobby (staight in from the door with the candy counter to the right) but was there also a set on the left as soon as you entered the “main” lobby – I sort of remember this, but can’t quite see it in my mind.
Lost – YES! I do remember that car dealership – BUT (Sorry) can’t remember the name either – The bar was an “Old Mans Bar” when my dad lived above it – smae people day in, day out. My dads apartment was right above the bar with the front windows facing Metropolitan. I think that this was the only place in the city where the tenants who lived above a bar where told to keep the noise down because we where bothering the patrons of the bar.
Pete – we must have been there together – I rember seeing all of those movies.
I also remember ALL of the Vicent Price movies. The Madison had the skelatin come out of the screen at the end of “House On Haunted Hill” and had the seats “wired” for the “Tingler” – I rmember scores of props in the lobby – I don’t remember the movie but they had this electric chair set up which scared the hell out of me.
The first time I had to wait in line to see a movie was at the Madison. I remember it was cold (October or Novemember I’d guess) it was a Saturday morning and the “Special Showing” was going to start at 9am. My friends and I got to the theater around 8:30 and the line went from the box office down the blcok to Wyckoff Ave. And the name of this Japanese Epic, you ask – (Drum rool please) – The Mysterians and I don’t remember the year…
Pete – It was during the Viet Nam era that I served and I went over for some specific work (I was in communications) I never “SERVED” in Viet Nam or did a tour of duty I guess would be the proper terminology.
I did send an e-mail to Eleanor yesterday (Thursday) after you gave me here address but have not heard back yet.
Some more memories of The Madison – as I said earerlier we (kids) were stuck on the main floor on the right side – the balcony was the smoking section and “OFF LIMITS” to kids – but fortunatly for us – the bathrooms were on the second floor – so we would go and see the movies (Usually two movies, a short and “coming attractions” and sometime a newsreel) then go to the bathroom and then sneak into the balconey to see the movies from a whole new perspective – of course we would sit real low in the seats so no one would notice us (lol) and be on our best behavior so as not to get thrown out – but if we did get “pinched” and kicked out – it was OK since we had seen the movies already anyway.
Pete (Continued) – I sort of kind of remember that geman deli – but on Knickerbocker Ave probably around the 850 block we had a FANTASTIC German Deli – and there Potaoto Salad was to kill for!
PLEASE NOTE: All of you still living in NYC – If you grew up on “City” food – you can not find anything close anyware west of of the Hudson – I think (no kidding) it the water – Just try to kfind a “Hard Roll” and a good cup of coffee – Forget it! and a few years ago a guy opened a bagel shop in Lansdale, and he was from New York – they tasted just like all of the other local’s bagels.
Pete – I moved to Rene Court about a block – west of Grover Cleveland HS between Meropolitan Ave. and Grandview then when I went in the army in 1968 – my sister had gotten married and my Mom had passed a few years earlier, so my Dad moved to a small apartment above a bar on the cornor of Metropolitan and Nurdge about one block up from Rene Court.( When I got out of the army I lived there for about a year and then got married – moved first to Philadelphia then to Lansdale, Pa. and there you have the story of my life in capsulated form.
Bway – I think that the neighborhod is coming back is wonderful – I’m not THAT old, but I can’t remeber a day that doesn’t bring a thought of all the good friends and good times I had on those streets – the smells the excitement the thrills of a whole community withing walking distance – here in Lansdale, Pa you use your car to go the the food store about a block away – and everything is gotten at the “Mall” – My current neighbors could never understand Myrtle Ave and corner Deli’s – I’m so glad that “Neighborhood” is returning.
The comments here want me to “come back” all the more – Thanks
Pete – Practcally neighbors – except that I’m a bit older then you
Those address sound right to me.
I was born in 1948 at Brookly Maternaty – or so I’m told – I walked your block many times as a kid – coming and going to the “Avenue” – Myrtle that is – my friends and I would walk up Halsey street to Wyckoff and then turn left (Halsey ended at Wykoff) and then take any number of the next rights – Cornelia included to get Myrtle always a different route to avoid boredom you know. By the way – my name is Pete also – and I now live in Pennsylvania and haven’t been “home” since about 1971.
Bway – I keep going back to look at that second photo you the took. That fire hydrant in the picture was my summer swimming pool – the wall to the very right of the photo was the side of apartment buildings on Eldert Street – but between that wall and the back of the now gone house was a court yard with the cloths lines from all of the knickerboker Ave apartments streatched across – and many a scaped knee or elbow was had my playing some type of ball in that courtyard – and just a quick note – in the Halsey street picture – the building on the extreme right was a Pharmacy on the bottom with entrance on Knickerbocker and that window was my dentist – entrance on JHalsey Street.
Pete – Thanks for the e-mail address
The school in the picture was a Junior High School for troubled youths when I lived there (and no I didn’t attend, lol) and then a grammer school sometime in 1964 until ? I attended PS 106 on Putnam St and Wilson Ave. and JHS 296 on Central AVe between Covert and Eldert Sts before moving to attend Grover Cleveland HS in Queens – but still went to the RKO Madison and Ridgewood theaters, thank-you.
Bway – hi again – there were four builds with a small alley seperating them from the theate/supermarket – there were two stores to each building with the entrance to the apartments between the stores – and each building had two apartments on each of its three floors (total 6 apartments) they had very large apartments with very large hallways and on rainy and snowy days these were our play areas. I’m so very very happy the neighborhood is making a resurgence – and after reading about the other theaters in the area I want so badly to make a pilgramidge to my old stomping ground…
Back to the theater – or the supermarket I should say- it was single floor with a dropped ceiling and the shopping part of the store went ¾ of the way back from Knickerbocker Ave with storage in the reamining ¼ rear. The door on the cornor of Halsey and Knickerbocker was on an angle – where I think the original ticket booth to the theater stood – and on windy days the door would be tore off it hinges- quite funny now that I think about it – there was no “Upstairs” to the store that I know of – so there must have been a complete redesign of the building based on the pictures that are posted
Bway – the picture is quite a shock!
The vacant lot in your photo was apartment building with store on the street level – a candy store – tv repair – pizza parlour – cleaners – and my friends lived in the apartments above – Tom, Louie, Freddie –
I lived across the street to the left of your photo in the first buildings with stoops – there were two building closer to eldert st. but where we lived was ONLY apartments – three stories – damn I miss that place – I lived there from when I was 5 till I was 16 in 1965
Thanks again for the pictures they are wonderful!!!!!!!!
Looking at the pictures of the Rigdgewood theater (Thanks Monica) I can’t imagine the inside being a multiplex – I remember I saw the James Bond movie “Goldfinger” at the Rigdgewood and every seat was filled and it just seemed so small – particularly when compared to the Madison – damn – I have to come and see the old neighborhood!!
Thanks to everyone from putting me in a time capsule and sending me back to the 50’s and 60’s!
Hi! I’ve just discovered Cinematreasures and I’m lost in my youth.
I grow up on Knickerbocker ave. in the 50’s & 60’s. The Madison was the teater of choice for me and all my friends. The Ridgewood showed more adult films and it was the Madison that had the Saturday Matanee’s with all of the great horror movies of the time. The “Bad” part of the Madison from a kids point of view was that we always had to sit on the right side of the theater with these matrons watching over us –
The store to the right of the theater was a Hardee Shoe Store when I was in High School and my best friend Billy used to work in that store – he would trade off shoes for movie tickets with the kids who worked in the theater – I don’t know how the deal worked except to say I saw a lot of free movies. Oh! The criminality of youth.
I grew up at 800 Kniockerbocker Ave in the 50’s & 60’s – I remember the changeover from a vacant theater to a “Safeway” supermarket in the late 50’s and then a name change to “Finest” in the early 60’s.
I worked in the store while going to school – and the store closed in 1964 – it remained vacant until my family moved in 1965 and I don’t know what happened to it after that.
The picture from Bway taken from the Halsey Street side brings back many memories – and I would love to see a shot of the facade on the Kniockerbcoker Ave side –
Hello to all -
To quote “Newmen” the postman on the old Seinfeld program….
“Zip codes are meaningless
A Picture of the theater can be seen here – Pre 1970
(Sorry for the quality – It was taken from a newspaper)
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/groundstar/
wdhvnjhn – What year did you go for your banana split? I was the “Soda Jerk” there – not for the orginal owners who lived upstairs but for the people who took it over and ran in in the ‘60. I work their from 1960 til 1964 – usually every night and most saturday afternoons and I opened the place every Sunday morning – big coffee, roll and newspaper crown on Sundays after church my name is “Pete” and I lived at 800 Knickerbocker.
Hello Audrey – Sorry I don’t know when the theater closed – We moved onto Knickerbocker when I was about 5 years old (1952) and the building was “Old” and Dilipated then (Or so my brohter and sister tell me) – Do you remember “Morello’s Grocery” that I think was on the corner of Central and Cornelia? My best friends grand parents and then parents owned that store – and I spent many a summer painting (and re-painting) the walls – which they felt had to be done everyear – and my pay for this job was the best ham and swiss sandwhichs on Italian bread and a large (bottled) creame soda – and I thought that was just about the best pay yuou could get (lol)
Lostmemory – Thanks for the article – FANTASTIC!
YES – The candy store was “Hamms” – when I was small there were two
grocery stores on Kniockerbocker and Eldert – Across the street on the corner was “Costa’s” so I guess “Siegel’s” was the one on my side of the street (805 Knickerbocker?) – Coster’s closed and Paul’s cleanears who had been located in the middle of the blcok (799 Knick) moved into the corner store – Siegel’s became a butcher shop.
Sorry I don’t remember the dates – but somewhere there is a picture of me in front of Pauls Cleaners before it moved and I look like I’m around 10 years old, which would put the year at 1958. I didn’t remember the name of the school – we were just told to stay away from the kids tahat attened it.
Bway – Nope Thats a new name for me -
but in my limited knowledge – the “Alhambra” building is the only
one ever at that location – so if the Knickerbovker Airdrome was
anyplace – I’m gonna guess it was the precurser to the Alhambra
Pete – What I most remember about the “Tingler” is that there were only some seats wired – and that it was rigged to start in the rear of the theater and “work” its way down to the front -
Back to the balconey/bathroom area – were there two sets of stairs going up there? I remember the “Large” set that was in the back of the lobby (staight in from the door with the candy counter to the right) but was there also a set on the left as soon as you entered the “main” lobby – I sort of remember this, but can’t quite see it in my mind.
Lost – YES! I do remember that car dealership – BUT (Sorry) can’t remember the name either – The bar was an “Old Mans Bar” when my dad lived above it – smae people day in, day out. My dads apartment was right above the bar with the front windows facing Metropolitan. I think that this was the only place in the city where the tenants who lived above a bar where told to keep the noise down because we where bothering the patrons of the bar.
Pete – we must have been there together – I rember seeing all of those movies.
I also remember ALL of the Vicent Price movies. The Madison had the skelatin come out of the screen at the end of “House On Haunted Hill” and had the seats “wired” for the “Tingler” – I rmember scores of props in the lobby – I don’t remember the movie but they had this electric chair set up which scared the hell out of me.
The first time I had to wait in line to see a movie was at the Madison. I remember it was cold (October or Novemember I’d guess) it was a Saturday morning and the “Special Showing” was going to start at 9am. My friends and I got to the theater around 8:30 and the line went from the box office down the blcok to Wyckoff Ave. And the name of this Japanese Epic, you ask – (Drum rool please) – The Mysterians and I don’t remember the year…
Pete – It was during the Viet Nam era that I served and I went over for some specific work (I was in communications) I never “SERVED” in Viet Nam or did a tour of duty I guess would be the proper terminology.
I did send an e-mail to Eleanor yesterday (Thursday) after you gave me here address but have not heard back yet.
Some more memories of The Madison – as I said earerlier we (kids) were stuck on the main floor on the right side – the balcony was the smoking section and “OFF LIMITS” to kids – but fortunatly for us – the bathrooms were on the second floor – so we would go and see the movies (Usually two movies, a short and “coming attractions” and sometime a newsreel) then go to the bathroom and then sneak into the balconey to see the movies from a whole new perspective – of course we would sit real low in the seats so no one would notice us (lol) and be on our best behavior so as not to get thrown out – but if we did get “pinched” and kicked out – it was OK since we had seen the movies already anyway.
Pete (Continued) – I sort of kind of remember that geman deli – but on Knickerbocker Ave probably around the 850 block we had a FANTASTIC German Deli – and there Potaoto Salad was to kill for!
PLEASE NOTE: All of you still living in NYC – If you grew up on “City” food – you can not find anything close anyware west of of the Hudson – I think (no kidding) it the water – Just try to kfind a “Hard Roll” and a good cup of coffee – Forget it! and a few years ago a guy opened a bagel shop in Lansdale, and he was from New York – they tasted just like all of the other local’s bagels.
Pete – I moved to Rene Court about a block – west of Grover Cleveland HS between Meropolitan Ave. and Grandview then when I went in the army in 1968 – my sister had gotten married and my Mom had passed a few years earlier, so my Dad moved to a small apartment above a bar on the cornor of Metropolitan and Nurdge about one block up from Rene Court.( When I got out of the army I lived there for about a year and then got married – moved first to Philadelphia then to Lansdale, Pa. and there you have the story of my life in capsulated form.
Bway – I think that the neighborhod is coming back is wonderful – I’m not THAT old, but I can’t remeber a day that doesn’t bring a thought of all the good friends and good times I had on those streets – the smells the excitement the thrills of a whole community withing walking distance – here in Lansdale, Pa you use your car to go the the food store about a block away – and everything is gotten at the “Mall” – My current neighbors could never understand Myrtle Ave and corner Deli’s – I’m so glad that “Neighborhood” is returning.
The comments here want me to “come back” all the more – Thanks
Pete – Practcally neighbors – except that I’m a bit older then you
Those address sound right to me.
I was born in 1948 at Brookly Maternaty – or so I’m told – I walked your block many times as a kid – coming and going to the “Avenue” – Myrtle that is – my friends and I would walk up Halsey street to Wyckoff and then turn left (Halsey ended at Wykoff) and then take any number of the next rights – Cornelia included to get Myrtle always a different route to avoid boredom you know. By the way – my name is Pete also – and I now live in Pennsylvania and haven’t been “home” since about 1971.
Bway – I keep going back to look at that second photo you the took. That fire hydrant in the picture was my summer swimming pool – the wall to the very right of the photo was the side of apartment buildings on Eldert Street – but between that wall and the back of the now gone house was a court yard with the cloths lines from all of the knickerboker Ave apartments streatched across – and many a scaped knee or elbow was had my playing some type of ball in that courtyard – and just a quick note – in the Halsey street picture – the building on the extreme right was a Pharmacy on the bottom with entrance on Knickerbocker and that window was my dentist – entrance on JHalsey Street.
Pete – Thanks for the e-mail address
The school in the picture was a Junior High School for troubled youths when I lived there (and no I didn’t attend, lol) and then a grammer school sometime in 1964 until ? I attended PS 106 on Putnam St and Wilson Ave. and JHS 296 on Central AVe between Covert and Eldert Sts before moving to attend Grover Cleveland HS in Queens – but still went to the RKO Madison and Ridgewood theaters, thank-you.
Bway – hi again – there were four builds with a small alley seperating them from the theate/supermarket – there were two stores to each building with the entrance to the apartments between the stores – and each building had two apartments on each of its three floors (total 6 apartments) they had very large apartments with very large hallways and on rainy and snowy days these were our play areas. I’m so very very happy the neighborhood is making a resurgence – and after reading about the other theaters in the area I want so badly to make a pilgramidge to my old stomping ground…
Back to the theater – or the supermarket I should say- it was single floor with a dropped ceiling and the shopping part of the store went ¾ of the way back from Knickerbocker Ave with storage in the reamining ¼ rear. The door on the cornor of Halsey and Knickerbocker was on an angle – where I think the original ticket booth to the theater stood – and on windy days the door would be tore off it hinges- quite funny now that I think about it – there was no “Upstairs” to the store that I know of – so there must have been a complete redesign of the building based on the pictures that are posted
Bway – the picture is quite a shock!
The vacant lot in your photo was apartment building with store on the street level – a candy store – tv repair – pizza parlour – cleaners – and my friends lived in the apartments above – Tom, Louie, Freddie –
I lived across the street to the left of your photo in the first buildings with stoops – there were two building closer to eldert st. but where we lived was ONLY apartments – three stories – damn I miss that place – I lived there from when I was 5 till I was 16 in 1965
Thanks again for the pictures they are wonderful!!!!!!!!
Peter K. Hi! No I’m not a memeber of the-
“Brooklyn Friends” website but I will look in to it.
Bway – I can’t thank you enough for your great pictures – not only of the Alhambra but of the Madison and Ridgewood theaters as well.
Again
Looking at the pictures of the Rigdgewood theater (Thanks Monica) I can’t imagine the inside being a multiplex – I remember I saw the James Bond movie “Goldfinger” at the Rigdgewood and every seat was filled and it just seemed so small – particularly when compared to the Madison – damn – I have to come and see the old neighborhood!!
Thanks to everyone from putting me in a time capsule and sending me back to the 50’s and 60’s!
Hi! I’ve just discovered Cinematreasures and I’m lost in my youth.
I grow up on Knickerbocker ave. in the 50’s & 60’s. The Madison was the teater of choice for me and all my friends. The Ridgewood showed more adult films and it was the Madison that had the Saturday Matanee’s with all of the great horror movies of the time. The “Bad” part of the Madison from a kids point of view was that we always had to sit on the right side of the theater with these matrons watching over us –
The store to the right of the theater was a Hardee Shoe Store when I was in High School and my best friend Billy used to work in that store – he would trade off shoes for movie tickets with the kids who worked in the theater – I don’t know how the deal worked except to say I saw a lot of free movies. Oh! The criminality of youth.
I grew up at 800 Kniockerbocker Ave in the 50’s & 60’s – I remember the changeover from a vacant theater to a “Safeway” supermarket in the late 50’s and then a name change to “Finest” in the early 60’s.
I worked in the store while going to school – and the store closed in 1964 – it remained vacant until my family moved in 1965 and I don’t know what happened to it after that.
The picture from Bway taken from the Halsey Street side brings back many memories – and I would love to see a shot of the facade on the Kniockerbcoker Ave side –