This is the only way I can see anything positive happening to this property: concerned citizens getting involved, short of this email I sent to a lady by the name of Jessica who is looking for a property to save in the Long Island area â€" if she is bogus, shame on us…
But if she is for real â€" well, no harm in my response:
Dear Jessica,
Please look into the RKO Keith, Flushing…
It has a wonderful following of concerned citizens who would like to retain this structure, individuals in and out of the area.
Its a venerable theatre in need of monetary support, and its in the right place…but it needs help before it ends up as a pile of bricks and dust.
If you are for real, then this is the deal â€"â€" bank on it, as its supporters will verify.
Check out Cinema Treasures, the RKO Keith, Flushing response board, for all the support you need to consider…for this theatre has touched many…the very same who would hate to see it destroyed.
Holy Cow, Jessica, look into the RKO Keith, Flushing…
It has a wonderful following of concerned citizens to retain this structure, in and out of the area.
Its a venerable theatre in need of monetary support and its in the right place…but it needs help before it ends up as a pile of bricks and dust.
If you are for real, then this is the deal â€"â€" bank on it, as its supporters will verify.
As mentioned earlier in this forum, my interest in the RKO Keith Flushing is based on childhood movie experiences when a resident of Bayside and Flushing during the mid-1960s.
My family moved us in ‘68 to Bethlehem, Pa. where I went to college, graduated, and received my teaching degree.
In all the years I lived in the Lehigh Valley, I discovered the power an individual possesses by forming, or participating in organizations which preserve historic landmarks for future residents.
In those days, being an out-of-towner probably helped me to see the value in preserving landmarks, as “natives” apathetically sat by or considered these structures eye-sores worthy of destruction.
This was true in the 1950s through the '70s as landmarks in New York city were taken down for the sake of “progress,” or by simply being “out-dated” (Penn Station).
During the bi-centennial year, I believe there was a re-evaluation of what was worth preserving in our cities, towns and farms â€" and I think it woke people up.
As a snot-nosed college graduate who knew everything but really knew nothing about historical preservation, I got on the bandwagon and helped preserve the 1758 Sun Inn during the early '80s…
and more recently, helped stop development of seven acres of wooded mountaintop lots where a church group, blinded by zeal, had hoped to create a headquarters for their congregation.
As an American in full support of freedom of religion, I helped stop this crazy notion of bringing busloads of supporters numbering in the thousands, leveling a watershed property, covering it with macadam on a steep slope, drilling several wells and installing septic systems to deal with their waste. The real waste of course, was their potential to ruin an area zoned residential as well as the environment incapable of supporting such numbers.
By joining with neighborhood residents, we formed an organization to collectively stop that deal, attended meetings, used our creative skills from our varied professions, and successfully convinced the township of the insanity of this project. We won because we were unified â€" possessing a voice which had power â€" but only as a unit of many.
I still maintain that creating a non-profit organization, or reviving an existing local one in Flushing, Queens, to save this structure could wake up politicians of the will of their constituents. Solitary individuals are not as capable of bringing their message of value in preservation as unified groups â€" I experienced this first-hand.
Bethlehem was just awarded a license to the Sands Casinos, Inc., who will help kick in millions, along with the state, to preserve the brownfields at the Bethlehem Steel site.
This just didn’t happen by one or two concerned indiviudals writing petitions â€" it took town meetings and shouting loud enough to wake up those with vision, cash and clout, because this is what counts.
As a result, four blast furnaces will be saved, icons at a site which helped this country and its allies win two world wars.
Surely saving RKO Keith has as much value as a brownfieldâ€"
that’s evident in this, and all the other inspired responses on this website.
So glad to have checked in on the continuing saga of the Keith, trying to get a sense of its present status.
One comment recently related the possibility of workers removing asbestos from the building. That notion sort of raised my hopes that perhaps the building might not be up for total demolitionâ€"why remove asbestos if you’re going to demolish a building when any airborne dust can certainly be hosed down as the building gets destroyed. Since I’m not a demolition expert, please don’t hold this against me!
After reading all the latest entries since Sept. ‘06, and discovering the “ton” of new great photos and further history shared, I still get the notion of taking all of this material (history, photography and post card/printed memorabilia, etc.) and turning it into a publication, the proceeds toward saving the Keith from potentially becoming a pile of bricks.
I just recently designed my second Civil War book within a year with a private publisher who prints books in limited runs. I wish it were possible to get permission to use all the information posted here, along with the use of the drawings and the recent photos privately taken…and add that to a story line which is basically written by all of you who have responded here so far.
There’s no guarantee how this “book” would sell, but I do know I’d buy a copy if it existed, just to relive my childhood as an RKO Keith patron and soak up the many great photos which can only be seen if I get onto this website.
The main objective with this idea of a book is to save the building from demolition with funds from the book.
This one aspect isn’t necessarily “the answer” to saving this building: other forces would have to kick in to amass further interest and appropriate funds to do the rest â€"â€" saddly, that aspect is out of my realm. But this sounding board has many respondants with talent…which raises the question â€" how do you turn talent into action?
Lastly, has anyone checked if Cinema Tresures has rights to any written or photographic material posted on its site?
If my memory serves me correctly, Jeffrey1955, yes, I do remember New York city’s method of razing buildings (at least 50 years ago) was to use an unceremonious wrecking ball on the poor structures â€" wreaking havoc on anything below as we watched. This is always on my mind when it comes to structures like the Keith building, its future questionable in the hands of its present owner. Like all of you, I’d hate to see this happen.
Why is the Keith worth saving? Read Francesca’s response. I don’t think anything can take the place of personal experiences, especially in the neighborhoods we grew up in. What’s worse than having your past wiped away? I think of 9/11.
Many thanks to Davebazooka for providing the Chang Lee photo â€" and I hope there’s no copyright issues with your having posted it. Seeing it was rather scary because the mystery and charm is gone being open to all that light.
Some things are worth repeating, and there is so much in this forum that is excellent…
First: Is it possible to create a time and place for a group to tour the interior of the RKO Keith? I’m only 90 miles away and I’d gladly sign up. Besides, it would be interesting to meet all of you in person. Bring cameras.
Second: I wonder if its possible to create a book about this theatre, the RKO Keith Flushing, using the wonderful drawings from Columbia U., and the many photos taken years ago and yesterday. All the visual material on this message board lends itself so well. Perhaps this group could create a non-profit organization, then grant money could fund the printing. Proceeds could go to where ever the money is needed…an attorney? I know, I’m a dreamer – nothing ventured, nothing gained.
My first comments on RKO Keith’s Theatre were submitted after searching for information on Loew’s Victory Theatre (built 1910) on Third Ave. in the Melrose area of south Bronx. Unfortunately, the Victory was demolished in the late 1950s.
This entry is in response to the Davebazooka Aug 30 ‘06 question regarding the color of the inside lobby ceiling which I recall after seeing my first movie at the Keith in 1958, thirty years after it opened â€"
After paying admittance, I remember entering the foyer, a “courtyard” where a white marble fountain, entrances to restrooms, and white marble staircases to the mezzanine and balcony were all incorporated within a Moorish architectural style as if out of a 1920s Rudolf Valentino movie set; the area was dimly lit with a soft light; but best of all was looking straight up to an intense ultramarine blue sky with stars â€" and looking down toward the tops of the finials and architectural edge of the structures, the sky became a lighter blue, silhouetting these “buildings.” The effect was so arresting and natural, I truly felt as if I were outside in a courtyard at dusk. That experience never left my mind and added to the experience â€" make-believe or not.
Later, I was to understand that the “sky” was actually a ceiling curved at the edges and painted an intense blue getting lighter as it descended; the “stars” were actually tiny white lights. Interesting how that experience left more of an impression than the movies I went to see. As kids, we always looked forward going to the RKO Keith â€" because no matter what time of the day, it was always dusk â€" this “place” so richly decorated compared to our modest apartments.
The drawings from the Avery Library at Columbia University are a real find â€" for even if the Keith were demolished tomorrow, a record exists in the form of “working drawings” which in theselves might allow for restoration or reconstruction in full or reduced scale â€" giving others a glimpse how movie houses amplified the experience of seeing movies.
Thanks to Davebazooka, the original concept drawings of RKO Keith illustrate the creative thought that went into creating Flushing’s architectural gem and why so many wish to save it from the wreaking ball.
Many thanks for offering the petition.
Developers and politicians should know a concerned and seemingly invisible public is watching deeds they choose to bestow on communities other than their own. As a public, awareness behind development on any established property, in any established neighborhood, should be observed, questioned and if necessary, challenged.
Reading the above messages, and focusing on what the RKO Keith site is expected to support … “a trophy tower” … “of 250 condos and 260 parking spaces, with retail stores and a senior center” … “would bring life back to the area,” is what the public has been sold.
Add this to several messages above which currently describe the area as: huge empty buildings which formerly housed department stores now empty; a “foreign” ethnic populus, new to the area, and happy to cater to their own kind in their shops; gridlocked traffic, snarling the streets like some third world backwater. If this description is true of this part of Flushing now, and the kinds of people mentioned here do indeed live and shop in this area, the whole “development” concept still raises more questions than answersâ€"
In this scenario, just who is going to live in the Northern Blvd. “trophy tower” – owners of these ethnic shops on Main St. and Roosevelt Ave.; the burgeoning consumers shopping in this area; maybe the editor of Architectural Digest, or Mayor Blumberg, or Hillary Clinton?
How do you “bring back life to an area” already bulging with life? Does this “silk purse” structure (at the expense of demolishing a well-known theater) really fit the neighborhood for which it is designed? Which seniors will this concept attract?
How will this multi-million dollar development favorably affect the flavor of this existing, less affluent neighborhood? Will “trophy tower” residents really enjoy viewing “the teeming masses” below while sipping chilled Chardonnay?
Sadly, I don’t have any answers to these questions but I do know why the term “development” still gives me the chills.
I stumbled onto this website in search of the Loew’s Victory Theater on Third Ave. in the Bronx and spent an hour reading the many comments about RKO Keith. Both movie houses figured prominently in my life at the ages of 6 through 20.
Unfortunately I was to learn that The Keith, like so many places in my past life in New York have been wiped away with no proof they ever existed: the apartment house, church and school in East Harlem; the apartment building, school and church in the south Bronx, and now the RKO Keith in Flushing.
I wonder what other civilization in the world is so anxious to obliterate structures of their past like New York. Imagine Paris dismantling the Eiffel Tower because its too tall, or Rome bulldozing the Coliseum, because, after all, its juat a hulking ruin taking up valuable real estate. That’s just what happened to Penn Station until someone woke up in defense of saving Grand Central.
Fortunately, there are safeguards to protect such landmarks here and there, but it takes clout, money and a buy-in from the local community and government. I no longer live in New York but grieve over the loss of these architectural treasures which were built with purpose and style with the hope of enduring time. I’m sure the architects and builders who created details like the lobby and interior of the Keith ever considered developer’s greed would destroy their creation.
Since moving to NE Pennsylvania in 1968, I guess I learned a lesson before leaving New York: that attention must be paid to the deeds and merits of those before us. I joined several historical organizations in past years with the idea of educating the public on preservation and giving structures of historic importance a second use.
I wish I had the checkbook or the political clout to make a difference in Flushing, to save a bit of my own childhood and the Keith to pass on to others. There are ways of preventing unscrupulous developers and politicans from destroying the heritage of our neighborhoods.
It would be in the best interest of those in Flushing’s community and those of us who fondly remember such structures as the Keith to create an historical organization, amass a board with some clout and recognition to let those like the Board of Standards and Appeals in NYC, the importance of all structures in the community. Once an abandoned property like the Keith is saved, the next step is to assign a use to justify having saved it.
If the Keith was in a more pristine condition, its easy to see it revived as a movie house, showing certain or special films once again, but also allowing its use to go beyond, as a learning and performing arts center for the community and even a museum.
It takes planning by members of local organizations to attend meetings and fight, fight, fight. It can be done. As for the fate of Flushing’s RKO Keith? Without proper attention to what it was initially designed for, yes, get permission and photograph it thoroughly for the record. Let it be the inspiration to create an organization to prevent other structures in the community from suffering the same fate.
For me, like with other structures I grew up with and have now found gone, I can only recall 50 years ago as a fifth grader, that magical lobby in The Keith which made me feel I was in a courtyard at dusk, the buildings surrounding me in a warm Naples yellow as that acquamarine sky held constellations of tiny white lights above my head. That’s what we’re losing. That’s what is lost.
Does anyone know the cell number of Donald Trump or Bill Gates?
God bless ya, Jeffrey.
This is the only way I can see anything positive happening to this property: concerned citizens getting involved, short of this email I sent to a lady by the name of Jessica who is looking for a property to save in the Long Island area â€" if she is bogus, shame on us…
But if she is for real â€" well, no harm in my response:
Dear Jessica,
Please look into the RKO Keith, Flushing…
It has a wonderful following of concerned citizens who would like to retain this structure, individuals in and out of the area.
Its a venerable theatre in need of monetary support, and its in the right place…but it needs help before it ends up as a pile of bricks and dust.
If you are for real, then this is the deal â€"â€" bank on it, as its supporters will verify.
Check out Cinema Treasures, the RKO Keith, Flushing response board, for all the support you need to consider…for this theatre has touched many…the very same who would hate to see it destroyed.
Thanks for the hopeâ€"
Holy Cow, Jessica, look into the RKO Keith, Flushing…
It has a wonderful following of concerned citizens to retain this structure, in and out of the area.
Its a venerable theatre in need of monetary support and its in the right place…but it needs help before it ends up as a pile of bricks and dust.
If you are for real, then this is the deal â€"â€" bank on it, as its supporters will verify.
As mentioned earlier in this forum, my interest in the RKO Keith Flushing is based on childhood movie experiences when a resident of Bayside and Flushing during the mid-1960s.
My family moved us in ‘68 to Bethlehem, Pa. where I went to college, graduated, and received my teaching degree.
In all the years I lived in the Lehigh Valley, I discovered the power an individual possesses by forming, or participating in organizations which preserve historic landmarks for future residents.
In those days, being an out-of-towner probably helped me to see the value in preserving landmarks, as “natives” apathetically sat by or considered these structures eye-sores worthy of destruction.
This was true in the 1950s through the '70s as landmarks in New York city were taken down for the sake of “progress,” or by simply being “out-dated” (Penn Station).
During the bi-centennial year, I believe there was a re-evaluation of what was worth preserving in our cities, towns and farms â€" and I think it woke people up.
As a snot-nosed college graduate who knew everything but really knew nothing about historical preservation, I got on the bandwagon and helped preserve the 1758 Sun Inn during the early '80s…
and more recently, helped stop development of seven acres of wooded mountaintop lots where a church group, blinded by zeal, had hoped to create a headquarters for their congregation.
As an American in full support of freedom of religion, I helped stop this crazy notion of bringing busloads of supporters numbering in the thousands, leveling a watershed property, covering it with macadam on a steep slope, drilling several wells and installing septic systems to deal with their waste. The real waste of course, was their potential to ruin an area zoned residential as well as the environment incapable of supporting such numbers.
By joining with neighborhood residents, we formed an organization to collectively stop that deal, attended meetings, used our creative skills from our varied professions, and successfully convinced the township of the insanity of this project. We won because we were unified â€" possessing a voice which had power â€" but only as a unit of many.
I still maintain that creating a non-profit organization, or reviving an existing local one in Flushing, Queens, to save this structure could wake up politicians of the will of their constituents. Solitary individuals are not as capable of bringing their message of value in preservation as unified groups â€" I experienced this first-hand.
Bethlehem was just awarded a license to the Sands Casinos, Inc., who will help kick in millions, along with the state, to preserve the brownfields at the Bethlehem Steel site.
This just didn’t happen by one or two concerned indiviudals writing petitions â€" it took town meetings and shouting loud enough to wake up those with vision, cash and clout, because this is what counts.
As a result, four blast furnaces will be saved, icons at a site which helped this country and its allies win two world wars.
Surely saving RKO Keith has as much value as a brownfieldâ€"
that’s evident in this, and all the other inspired responses on this website.
So glad to have checked in on the continuing saga of the Keith, trying to get a sense of its present status.
One comment recently related the possibility of workers removing asbestos from the building. That notion sort of raised my hopes that perhaps the building might not be up for total demolitionâ€"why remove asbestos if you’re going to demolish a building when any airborne dust can certainly be hosed down as the building gets destroyed. Since I’m not a demolition expert, please don’t hold this against me!
After reading all the latest entries since Sept. ‘06, and discovering the “ton” of new great photos and further history shared, I still get the notion of taking all of this material (history, photography and post card/printed memorabilia, etc.) and turning it into a publication, the proceeds toward saving the Keith from potentially becoming a pile of bricks.
I just recently designed my second Civil War book within a year with a private publisher who prints books in limited runs. I wish it were possible to get permission to use all the information posted here, along with the use of the drawings and the recent photos privately taken…and add that to a story line which is basically written by all of you who have responded here so far.
There’s no guarantee how this “book” would sell, but I do know I’d buy a copy if it existed, just to relive my childhood as an RKO Keith patron and soak up the many great photos which can only be seen if I get onto this website.
The main objective with this idea of a book is to save the building from demolition with funds from the book.
This one aspect isn’t necessarily “the answer” to saving this building: other forces would have to kick in to amass further interest and appropriate funds to do the rest â€"â€" saddly, that aspect is out of my realm. But this sounding board has many respondants with talent…which raises the question â€" how do you turn talent into action?
Lastly, has anyone checked if Cinema Tresures has rights to any written or photographic material posted on its site?
If my memory serves me correctly, Jeffrey1955, yes, I do remember New York city’s method of razing buildings (at least 50 years ago) was to use an unceremonious wrecking ball on the poor structures â€" wreaking havoc on anything below as we watched. This is always on my mind when it comes to structures like the Keith building, its future questionable in the hands of its present owner. Like all of you, I’d hate to see this happen.
Why is the Keith worth saving? Read Francesca’s response. I don’t think anything can take the place of personal experiences, especially in the neighborhoods we grew up in. What’s worse than having your past wiped away? I think of 9/11.
Many thanks to Davebazooka for providing the Chang Lee photo â€" and I hope there’s no copyright issues with your having posted it. Seeing it was rather scary because the mystery and charm is gone being open to all that light.
Some things are worth repeating, and there is so much in this forum that is excellent…
First: Is it possible to create a time and place for a group to tour the interior of the RKO Keith? I’m only 90 miles away and I’d gladly sign up. Besides, it would be interesting to meet all of you in person. Bring cameras.
Second: I wonder if its possible to create a book about this theatre, the RKO Keith Flushing, using the wonderful drawings from Columbia U., and the many photos taken years ago and yesterday. All the visual material on this message board lends itself so well. Perhaps this group could create a non-profit organization, then grant money could fund the printing. Proceeds could go to where ever the money is needed…an attorney? I know, I’m a dreamer – nothing ventured, nothing gained.
My first comments on RKO Keith’s Theatre were submitted after searching for information on Loew’s Victory Theatre (built 1910) on Third Ave. in the Melrose area of south Bronx. Unfortunately, the Victory was demolished in the late 1950s.
This entry is in response to the Davebazooka Aug 30 ‘06 question regarding the color of the inside lobby ceiling which I recall after seeing my first movie at the Keith in 1958, thirty years after it opened â€"
After paying admittance, I remember entering the foyer, a “courtyard” where a white marble fountain, entrances to restrooms, and white marble staircases to the mezzanine and balcony were all incorporated within a Moorish architectural style as if out of a 1920s Rudolf Valentino movie set; the area was dimly lit with a soft light; but best of all was looking straight up to an intense ultramarine blue sky with stars â€" and looking down toward the tops of the finials and architectural edge of the structures, the sky became a lighter blue, silhouetting these “buildings.” The effect was so arresting and natural, I truly felt as if I were outside in a courtyard at dusk. That experience never left my mind and added to the experience â€" make-believe or not.
Later, I was to understand that the “sky” was actually a ceiling curved at the edges and painted an intense blue getting lighter as it descended; the “stars” were actually tiny white lights. Interesting how that experience left more of an impression than the movies I went to see. As kids, we always looked forward going to the RKO Keith â€" because no matter what time of the day, it was always dusk â€" this “place” so richly decorated compared to our modest apartments.
The drawings from the Avery Library at Columbia University are a real find â€" for even if the Keith were demolished tomorrow, a record exists in the form of “working drawings” which in theselves might allow for restoration or reconstruction in full or reduced scale â€" giving others a glimpse how movie houses amplified the experience of seeing movies.
Thanks to Davebazooka, the original concept drawings of RKO Keith illustrate the creative thought that went into creating Flushing’s architectural gem and why so many wish to save it from the wreaking ball.
Many thanks for offering the petition.
Developers and politicians should know a concerned and seemingly invisible public is watching deeds they choose to bestow on communities other than their own. As a public, awareness behind development on any established property, in any established neighborhood, should be observed, questioned and if necessary, challenged.
Reading the above messages, and focusing on what the RKO Keith site is expected to support … “a trophy tower” … “of 250 condos and 260 parking spaces, with retail stores and a senior center” … “would bring life back to the area,” is what the public has been sold.
Add this to several messages above which currently describe the area as: huge empty buildings which formerly housed department stores now empty; a “foreign” ethnic populus, new to the area, and happy to cater to their own kind in their shops; gridlocked traffic, snarling the streets like some third world backwater. If this description is true of this part of Flushing now, and the kinds of people mentioned here do indeed live and shop in this area, the whole “development” concept still raises more questions than answersâ€"
In this scenario, just who is going to live in the Northern Blvd. “trophy tower” – owners of these ethnic shops on Main St. and Roosevelt Ave.; the burgeoning consumers shopping in this area; maybe the editor of Architectural Digest, or Mayor Blumberg, or Hillary Clinton?
How do you “bring back life to an area” already bulging with life? Does this “silk purse” structure (at the expense of demolishing a well-known theater) really fit the neighborhood for which it is designed? Which seniors will this concept attract?
How will this multi-million dollar development favorably affect the flavor of this existing, less affluent neighborhood? Will “trophy tower” residents really enjoy viewing “the teeming masses” below while sipping chilled Chardonnay?
Sadly, I don’t have any answers to these questions but I do know why the term “development” still gives me the chills.
I stumbled onto this website in search of the Loew’s Victory Theater on Third Ave. in the Bronx and spent an hour reading the many comments about RKO Keith. Both movie houses figured prominently in my life at the ages of 6 through 20.
Unfortunately I was to learn that The Keith, like so many places in my past life in New York have been wiped away with no proof they ever existed: the apartment house, church and school in East Harlem; the apartment building, school and church in the south Bronx, and now the RKO Keith in Flushing.
I wonder what other civilization in the world is so anxious to obliterate structures of their past like New York. Imagine Paris dismantling the Eiffel Tower because its too tall, or Rome bulldozing the Coliseum, because, after all, its juat a hulking ruin taking up valuable real estate. That’s just what happened to Penn Station until someone woke up in defense of saving Grand Central.
Fortunately, there are safeguards to protect such landmarks here and there, but it takes clout, money and a buy-in from the local community and government. I no longer live in New York but grieve over the loss of these architectural treasures which were built with purpose and style with the hope of enduring time. I’m sure the architects and builders who created details like the lobby and interior of the Keith ever considered developer’s greed would destroy their creation.
Since moving to NE Pennsylvania in 1968, I guess I learned a lesson before leaving New York: that attention must be paid to the deeds and merits of those before us. I joined several historical organizations in past years with the idea of educating the public on preservation and giving structures of historic importance a second use.
I wish I had the checkbook or the political clout to make a difference in Flushing, to save a bit of my own childhood and the Keith to pass on to others. There are ways of preventing unscrupulous developers and politicans from destroying the heritage of our neighborhoods.
It would be in the best interest of those in Flushing’s community and those of us who fondly remember such structures as the Keith to create an historical organization, amass a board with some clout and recognition to let those like the Board of Standards and Appeals in NYC, the importance of all structures in the community. Once an abandoned property like the Keith is saved, the next step is to assign a use to justify having saved it.
If the Keith was in a more pristine condition, its easy to see it revived as a movie house, showing certain or special films once again, but also allowing its use to go beyond, as a learning and performing arts center for the community and even a museum.
It takes planning by members of local organizations to attend meetings and fight, fight, fight. It can be done. As for the fate of Flushing’s RKO Keith? Without proper attention to what it was initially designed for, yes, get permission and photograph it thoroughly for the record. Let it be the inspiration to create an organization to prevent other structures in the community from suffering the same fate.
For me, like with other structures I grew up with and have now found gone, I can only recall 50 years ago as a fifth grader, that magical lobby in The Keith which made me feel I was in a courtyard at dusk, the buildings surrounding me in a warm Naples yellow as that acquamarine sky held constellations of tiny white lights above my head. That’s what we’re losing. That’s what is lost.
Does anyone know the cell number of Donald Trump or Bill Gates?