Evergreen Theatre

Wow, an AMAZING photo of the Evergreen Building in the NYC Archives from the 1930’s.

http://nycma.lunaimaging.com:8181/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size3/NYCMA~9~9/1119/nynyma_rec0040_4_03561_0027.jpg

Very interesting article. The original name for Seneca Ave is Covert St (that’s why the first article mentions Covert St). The article also mentions Van Cortland Ave, which today is known as 71 Ave.

I looked at he archives too. I remember the article in print….

There’s a story and photo of the Evergreen in this weeks Timesnewsweekly in the “Neighborhood” section. The online version of the should be online in about a week.

There is a photo of the Evergreen Theatre in the 100-year anniversary supplement of the Times Newsweekly (formerly the Ridgewood Times)dated October 23, 2008. Perhaps a link to it will be posted here on the Evergreen Theatre page.

Here’s another aerial view showing what is left of the Evergreen Theater building. The altered building is the C Town store, with the red awning:

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For whatever it is worth, there is mention of the Glenwood Manor which was in the building that once was the Evergreen Theater in the “Our Neighborhood” column of the Times Newsweekly of March 16, 2006. It describes the building and their interesting drink menu. My family memories are that this building burned in the winter of 1956-1957, and we can safely say the menu pre-dates the fire! I stand by my theory that the existing one floor building was once the base of the indoor portion of the Evergreen.
View link

Also, the arial photos are awesome, Bway! In all the photos I am able to see buildings where my family or blood relatives once resided. If I widen the photo of the Ridgewood Theater I can see two buildings I personally lived in on Woodbine St, and the home my maternal grandfather was born in on Cornelia St. The Evergreen photo shows the adjacent homes my family once owned at 930-932 Seneca Ave, my dad’s old barber shop on Wierfield and Seneca, and a house where my family once lived at 54-54 Myrtle Ave. Thanks for these great prospectives you can only get from the air. Billy C.

Lostmemory…I am glad my family’s stories have come in handy. Your research is (as always) very impressive and to be commended. Now if only a photo or two would surface of the building when it was run as a theater.

I spoke to my dad about this. He was born right in the front room of one of the apartments in 930 Seneca Ave in 1935. He agrees that to see the silent films in the open air theater from the backyard of 930 Seneca Ave the screen would most certainly have to have been along the outside perimiter of the property on Hancock Street and facing towards Wierfield St. He seems to remember hearing that the movie theater ceased operation in 1928-in fact he was pretty definite about that.
What he is not sure of is if the three story building that stood here in the 40’s was actually the old theater building renovated for commercial use. We guest-imate that that building went back about 75-80 feet from Seneca Ave. He remembers the following from his young childhood (probably the early 1940’s): the basement housed a small bowling alley; on the ground level starting from the left side of the building was an entrance to upper and lower floors of the this building, Obler’s Photography Studio, Marvel Printing, and then the Bank of the Manhattan Company in its own building on the corner; the second floor contained the Glenwood Manor hall, and the third floor contained a pool hall, and he thinks some storage space. We are 99% sure that this building burned down in the winter of ‘56-57, most likely Jan or Feb 1957.
Now he is trying to remember if the building that is still there is actually the first floor of the older building (possibly the theater building). He thinks the main fire damage in 1957 was to the upper floors and that the ground level stores were damaged but not burned. Additionally, I remember in the backyard of 930 Seneca you could see the one story brick wall of what was then Bohack’s and it extended about 20 feet into the yard. It looked like a old, aged brick wall, and completely covered with grape vine or english ivy in summer. Not like something that was only 6 years old in 1963. I very vaguely recall there may have been what looked like a window that had been bricked up with newer brick, but can’t be sure. It is possible the upper floors were removed and at least the foundation and perimiter walls of the present one story building are actually from the prior, possibly theater building.
Maybe some Ridgewood person in their 70’s and a sharp memory will surface with the missing clues to solve this mystery!

My family owned the two Matthews Flats homes at 930 & 932 Seneca Avenue from about 1920 until the late 1940’s. My great-grandfather is the person who converted the two ground floor apartments at 930 into store fronts. The left side became the Evergreen Barber Shop, and the right side the Evergreen Beauty Shop. His name was Dominic Conte and he ran the barber business with his son (my grandfather) Vito (Willie) Conte. The Beauty shop was run by his daughter, Mary Conte (later Recco). The family lived behind these two store fronts.
My grandmother (Rose Conte), now deceased, married in 1924 and moved to the second floor right side apartment. She used to tell us stories about climbing the first two rungs of the washline pole to look over a brick wall that seperated the backyard of 930 and see the silent movie screen. I wish I knew where the 1920’s family photos have gone to, but as you can imagine there were many fading photos of Seneca Avenue.
Piecing together our family stories with these posts, this is my theory on the Evergreen Theater:
The Matthews Flats were built in the early 1910’s.
I believe the open air theater was on the corner of Seneca and Hancock Street, and the screen was on a wall which either backed Hancock street or at the western (back)end of the property. The screen would have to be at least 60-70 feet back from Seneca Ave in order for my grandmother to see it from her back yard. There is a small parking lot behind the present bank building on Hancock St.-if that was part of the original theater property you would really be able to have a fairly large area for the airdrome.

I would bet the indoor theater was right next 930 Seneca Avenue. I remember from photos seeing a two or three story building there. The building that was between the Bank of the Manhattan Company and 930 Seneca Avenue was operated as a hall for parties called the Glenwood Manor in the 30’s-to 50’s. Mr. Pachtman’s toy store was on the street level. I think there was also a pool hall in the building. I propose that the original theater building had been converted into these businesses. (My dad remembers waking up on hot summer nights by drunken brawls that broke out at parties in the Glenwood Manor.)
This building burned down in the mid 1950’s It burned on a cold winter night. At this time three of the four apartments in 930 Seneca Avenue were occupied by blood relatives of mine and they recall being bundled up outside for hours in the bitter cold as the building burned down.
A new, one story building was erected for Bohack’s “convenience store #1” (as one of the signs called it.) Mr. Pachtman still had his toy store on the right side of this property next to the bank. I don’t think his store went all the way to the rear of the property and the supermarket had that space. I recall he retired to Florida in the early 1970’s and that space was incorporated into the supermarket space.
Does all this make sense?
Bill C.

ps…since my grandmother lived at 930 Seneca Avenue from 1924 till 1972 (and then moved to 56-54 Myrtle Avenue till 1987)I just wish I knew where the many family photos have gone to.

The location given for the Grand View Theatre in Ridgewood is Woodward Avenue and Woodbine Street. Do not confuse this theatre with the Grandview Theatre on Grandview Avenue.

Tom, 68th Ave does not cross or interesect Woodward. However, 68 Road does. The both sides of Woodward is all older buildings, probably built around 1915 or so. However, in the middle of the block of 68th Road (which runs between Woodward and Forest only), there is a large apartment building that was probably built in the late 20’s judging by it’s architecture. I wonder if that is where this “theater” you are talking about was – that is of course if what you read means 68th Road and not 68th Ave, as 68th Ave comes a block short of ever hitting Woodward.

To the best of my knowledge there is no listing for a Ridgewood Folly Theatre that I can find. It would not be in any FDYB that I know of. I have looked in The American Motion Picture Directory 1914-15 with no mention of the Ridgewood Folly Theatre. Trow’s Business Directory for 1912 makes no mention of a Ridgewood Folly Theatre either. This theatre may have closed in 1911. There were many theatres such as the Ridgewood Folly in New York at that time. Many were not licensed or even registered. If the seating remained below 299 they could evade compliance with many building codes of that era. Newspaper archives may be your only hope in finding this theatre.