Re: Ridgewood Theatre....News article. -- BUSHWICK BUDDIES

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Date Posted: 18:58:27 08/05/08 Tue
Author: Bushwick Boy
Subject: Re: Ridgewood Theatre....News article.
In reply to: Nicky 's message, "Ridgewood Theatre" on 11:57:05 08/05/08 Tue

Ridgewood Theatre Closes Its Curtain After 91 Years
by Austin Considine

(Austin Considine) Opened in 1916, the Ridgewood Theatre closed its doors last week and is up for lease.
A landmark of old Ridgewood, the Ridgewood Theatre, closed its doors after more than 91 years of continuous operation last week.
A bright yellow banner that reads �Retail Space Available� hangs draped across the marquee of an historic theater that once advertised Alfred Hitchcock, the first talkies and, most recently, �Alvin and the Chipmunks� and �Untraceable.�

For those who have come to cherish the building over the years, the for lease sign, advertising 17,000 square feet of retail space, is an encouraging sign that, at the very least, the building probably won�t come down. No one seems to know what might take its place, and the theater�s owner was out of town for the reporting of this story.
What�s certain is this Ridgewood block of Myrtle Avenue will never be the same.
�It�s nice that the building is apparently going to remain,� said George Miller, historian at the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society. �It�s a shame to see the theater go. It�s probably the longest running theater in Queens.�
Indeed, the Ridgewood Theatre�s history is long and storied, going back to the dawn of cinema and of modernity.
Opened as a vaudeville house on Dec. 23, 1916, the 2,150-seat theater was converted to movie house the next year.
The theater was designed by the architect Thomas White Lamb, who built more than 300 theaters around the city, around the country and around the world, in countries like Canada, England, Egypt, India, Australia and South Africa.
A number of his theaters were in Queens, including the RKO Keith�s Theatre, in Flushing (now vacant), and the Midway, in Forest Hills, which opened in 1942 and is one of the few that still screen movies today.
Jeff Gottlieb, of the Central Queens Historical Association, has followed the history of Queens movie theaters. In 1992, he conducted a survey of lost cinemas, a survey he updated in 2006. His partial list cited at least 39 movie houses that had been closed in central Queens over the years, most built before World War II. Gottlieb said a full list would include over 100 closures boroughwide. The Ridgewood, he said, �was the last of the operating old time theaters.�
Of those theaters that have not been demolished, many stand today as churches, temples, department stores and offices.
�Big real estate in Queens is not saved that easily,� Gottlieb added. �You want to open up a new supermarket, where do you go? It�s a lot of space, and you don�t have to build a new building.�
Voices from around the community, have already emerged in support of saving the theater. Albert Allie, a Queens-based director and producer, together with Michael Perlman, chair of the Rego-Forest Preservation Council, have drafted a proposal that would turn the space into a non-profit theater and independent film screening house.
�It would not only complement the theater�s architectural and historical significance, but be highly beneficial for a much-needed arts and entertainment venue,� Perlman said in a recent statement.
Over the years, the Ridgewood faced not only shifting social currents and rising New York real estate prices, it also had to deal with stiff competition by modern newcomers like the Regal multiplex at Atlas Park.
�I used to come here as a kid,� said Joseph Renz, 64, a retired printer who has lived in the neighborhood for 31 years. �I thought they were building up the area, but I guess it�s not built up enough that a movie theater gets to keep going.�
These days, he tended to go to the cineplex at Atlas Park. �The area at night isn�t that great,� he said, referring to the Ridgewood�s vicinity. �It�s not like when I grew up.�
The area isn�t the only thing to have changed, however. The whole culture surrounding movies and movie houses has been altered dramatically too, particularly since the advents of television and home video.
Miller noted that the theater used to give away free dishes on weeknights during the 1940�s to attract audiences. His mother would stop by often. �Eventually, you�d have a set of free dishes,� he said.
Smaller movie houses were king before modern cineplexes. On Myrtle Avenue between Wyckoff Avenue and Decatur Street there were two in addition to the Ridgewood � the Parthenon and the RKO Madison, both of which disappeared decades ago.
Typically, films would start in Manhattan, then run for two or three days at the Ridgewood or RKO. After that, they would move down the street to the Parthenon, which would show cheap double features.
People packed theaters like the Ridgewood because movies came and went quickly. One of those was Hitchcock�s, �The Wrong Man,� portions of which were filmed in the neighborhood (specifically, at the courthouse on Catalpa Avenue), which Miller remembers seeing advertised on the old Ridgewood marquee in the early 1950�s.
�If you didn�t get to a movie theater to see the movie you wanted to see in the current week, you might miss it, because they just didn�t keep them,� Miller said.

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