Tivoli Theatre
365 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
365 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 37 comments
the Tivoli theatre opened on February 8th, 1927. Grand opening ad posted.
On a recent repeat, George Burns mentioned playing this theater (as the Olympic) but getting the hook after only two days…
Brief history and tax photo published here
Ridgewoodken; The original entrance to the Olympic Theatre was on Adams Street, and was moved to Fulton Street when the Tivoli Theatre opened in 1927.
I do not believe that this picture, circa 1928, of the Tivoli has been posted on this page before. In order to get the best results, you need to enlarge the initial picture. This will provide both an excellent view of the Tivoli’s facade as well as the surrounding streetscape. Hope the link works.
By the way, this attachment contains literally hundreeds of terrific photos and maps of old Fulton Street, including a number of other movie houses. It is worth an extended look.
View link
Excellent map John. It shows everything in question very clearly. Thanks for posting the link.
Having taken an even closer look at the map, I saw that it specifically identifies the Tivoli and shows it backing up on Adams St., the street one block east of Washington, with – as JF noted – one entrance on Myrtle Ave. The main, Fulton St. entrance was probably just below – or to the north – of the map. It was probably situated right across from Borough Hall and below the old el’s Borough Hall station.
Kevin Walsh of Forgotten NY has just produced a map of this area that does validate Warren’s point. I have linked it, whith appears at the beginning of Kevin’s excellent survey of Myrtle Ave., at the bottom of this post.
In the photograph, the Tivoli would be just out of sight to the left. Since it was taken north of the Myrtle Ave. intersection, the street immediately in front of the photographer is, in fact, Washington St. Fulton literally crosses diagonally from southeast to northwest in the foreground. Given these facts, the theater appearing in the picture is on Washington St., and the Towne Theater is the only possible choice.
My error involved not realizing how near the Myrtle/Fulton intersection was to Borough Hall. But the map really clears things up.
So, sorry for doubting you Warren.
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Hello John. I had originally thought as you , this based on my illusion that the theater in the photograph was nearer to Boro Hall then in fact it was. Nirenstein’s National Realty Maps, Fairchild Air Service Photos taken in the 1930’s, and photos taken from the building on the southeast of Joralemon and Court Sts. (where the old Corn Exchange Bank was located on the first floor), show that the theater in question is beyond Myrtle Avenue, while the Tivoli’s main entrance is south of Myrtle much nearer to the park by Boro Hall. There was actually a second entrance with marquee for the Tivoli on Myrtle Avenue between Adams and point where Fulton curved west and Washington began.an.
I was able to visit this sight earlier today. Based on what I saw, I will qualify – but not change – the conclusion that I made in my recent comment that the picture recently provided by Warren and J.F. Lundy depicts the Tivoli.
As a first point, I was wrong in stating that Washington St. was situated somewhat to the east of the picture. In fact, the photographer probably took the shot at the very end – or was it the beginning – of this street. Since, however, Washington St. was laid out in a straight north-south direction directly aimed at – but never reaching – Borough Hall, it did not come in at an angle. On the other hand, this is exactly the course that Fulton St. took in the photograph, as it passed by Borough Hall and began its approach to Fulton Ferry. Thus, the picture depicts the Tivoli on Fulton St., just north of the end of Washington St., which ended its run at the Fulton st. intersection.
I know that it is difficult to recreate things that no longer exist, but I think I have gotten this right.
I just discovered this page and what an absolute delight it is. It really is fascinating to revisit a part of Brooklyn that no longer exists. Wonderful pictures, at least for those links that still work.
In taking a closer look at the picture initially posted on 6/11/08 and my Hagstrom’s map, I believe it does, in fact, identify the Tivoli in its post-el days. For one thing, Washington St. occupied the roadbed of what is now Cadman Plaza East. (A small remnant of that street remains near the waterfront and flows directly into CPE.) Now, CPE approaches the Borough Hall area about a block east of what is included in the picture. (It abuts the western end of the old Post Office building.) The picture, on the other hand, depicts Fulton St. just after it passed by Borough Hall – which clearly appears in the background – and is about to merge with Court St. – the road appearing at the right end of the picture – on its way to Fulton Ferry. This is, in short, exactly where the Tivoli once stood.
Hope this helps to clear things up.
This is to correct the identity of the Jun 11, 2008 photo posting
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which I linked above. It is not the Tivoli Theater , but the Towne, nee Crystal Theater, which was located at 327 Washington Street (which extended off Fulton Street in the old Brooklyn street pattern, to the north) beyond Myrtle Avenue. Warren provided the correct identification.
From 1933
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This fine close up of the marquee as it was in 1933 is courtesy of Warren.
“A Tivoli by any other name would still screen as sweet !”
This is the Tivoli under another name.
I can’t read the name of the marquee on the theater in the background. Which theater was by this statue in Borough Park?
http://tinyurl.com/69mmaz
Here is a photo taken in January 1951 showing the Tivoli Theater, “Closed for Alterations” with marquee and vertical bearing name ‘BOWAER". The green trolley car, number 6158, is probably running on the Rte 41 Flatbush Avenue line which at this point near the end of its run is on Fulton Street. Trolleys would be gone a few months later but the BOWAER would reopen, once again as the Tivoli, the next year.
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1942 view of Tivoli after “L” structure was torn down.
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Thanks Joe, I appreciate your help in getting the link right.
J.F.: If you’re referring to the long link you just posted at 3:49pm, when I clicked it, it returned a photo card with printed caption reading “Hyde and Behman’s Theatre on Adams Street”. There’s another line to the caption, above the theatre name, but I can’t make it out because too many of its letters are obscured by a “Brooklyn Public Library” stamp.
This URL from my own search of the site fetches the same photo.
The above link is in error. There is a problem with the Brooklyn Public Library website throwing flyers and not recognizing their own search terms. I originally clicked on this actual link, the text I have cut from the search return page, “Hyde and Behman’s Theater [picture] : Hyde and Behman’s Theater [picture]” while searching through a group of returns provided by use of their search facility. It displayed photo but URL was for another theater when I copied it out to post above. When I ran their own search term to get back there it came up with “not found”. There is such a photo somewhere on the BPL web site.
Here is a link to a photo of the original Adams St facade of the Hyde & Behman’s circa 1902:
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Thanks, J.F. Lundy, for pursuing my idea of “Els Showing The Cinemas”, which I first promulgated on this site 3 years and 2 weeks ago, in early June 2004.
Here is a photo showing the site where the future Olympic Theater would have its new Fulton Street entrance. It was taken not earlier than 1923 nor later than early 1925. By checking other photos linked you can see which building was converted.
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?52019
The above photo is a shot taken from a building that shows the roof of famous “Joe’s” restaurant which opened in the 1880’s and closed about 1957 without any changes in furnishings, menu or waiters. It is immediately in front of photographer in photo.
This link shows Tivoli vertical circa 1929.
http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?52028