RKO Bushwick Theatre
1396 Broadway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
1396 Broadway,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
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Just found this web site, so let me add my two cents. First some corrections for the record. The address of the Bushwick Theater is 1396, not 1936, Broadway, Brooklyn. It is now the home of the ACORN High School for Social Justice, which is one of the new smaller high schools being created by the City. Its focus is on community service and themes of social justice interwoven into the curriculum. The school will be celebrating its opening at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, March 30, at 4:00 pm. As the owner of the building, I tried to preserve as much as I could, but the interior was shot. Only the exterior could be saved, and unfortunately, much that was unique and beautiful had been destroyed before I purchased the building in 2000. Nevertheless, the preservation of the exterior and the transformation of the building from a derelict hulk to a proud community facility is a gleaming symbol of the revitalization of the Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant commmunities that it is a part of.
To all who would like to view the Bushwick Theatre photos, I don’t have the capabilities to scan and submit photos through the internet or to this site for viewing. From time to time I give slide lectures where I show the Bushwick interior demolition slides. There are more than a dozen photos of the interior. I am in the process of putting all my theatre photos on to a yearly disc at this time. As I become more familiar “procedures of scanning photos”, I will be happy to share my photos with all of you then.
hey Ligg send me some pics, email is above
Orlando, I also would like to see the pictures that you took. Could you send them to ? Thanks! And as I said, I send a picture of the new high school.
One other thing, I will go back there in the next week with a digital camera with updated pictures of the place.
Hi, All, some good new and bad news on this theater. In the last two years the ciy took over the theater and rebuilt the entire thing, but saved the outside and the facade which have gotten a face lift and looks great. The bad new is the city took it over and opened up as a public school as a the Bushwick High School for Social Justice. It opened for the first time this semester. We can thank the city for saving the building and the outside facade. It looks beautiful. But unfortunate, not having been inside, I am sure the inside was completely changed.
Orlando, I would also love to see these photos if you also if you don’t mind can sen me those pics at
Orlando could you snd the pictures to ? I would like to see them if you wouldn’t mind
The RKO Bushwick Theatre is located at 1936 Broadway.
I was in the Bushwick Theatre about a month after the Sept. 11 attacks on the Trade Center. It was on a Sunday and I was admitted to see what was behind the walls of this once magnificent theatre. A B.F.Keith’s theatre before going RKO. After use as a film house in 1968/9 it was in use as a church but never converted to office building. The foreman said to be careful as interior demolition was in progress and not to step off the stage. Sun streamed in from where the exit doors were on the upper balcony levels, the middle balcony had been ½ way demolished and the box seats were also gone. the upper (2nd balcony) was intact minus seating. The proscenium arch was partially demolished but the centerpiece of the arch (a goddess) was still in place. Even though the theatre was in bad shape prior to interior demolition, enough was there to put it back together again. In a movie called “The Believers” with Martin Sheen, an exorcism scene was filmed inside the Bushwick Theatre showing Robert Loggia in the lobby and the the derelict interior of the orchestra and stage (where the exorcism took place). The exterior of the building is also seen. On that Sunday, 90 years after the Bushwick opened, I wept as I took some of the last pictures from the stage that was once trodden by the likes of Moe & Shemp Howard of “The Three Stooges” fame and others. I also left with a piece of plaster from the proscenium arch. The ceiling was still intact at this time. I did jump off the stage and roamed the entire orchestra level of the building. The distinct facade of the Bushwick, the most ornate of any Brooklyn Theatre is to be restored as part of the school facade. At least the exterior will survive.
I always meant to post this ironic story on this page. I used to have a friend and his dad was a policeman in Bushwink during the turbulant late 60’s. Alot of times my friend would go with his father to work and spend the entire day seeing the movies at The RKO Bushwick, Loews Gates and Monroe which were all within a few blocks of each other. One day he told his father he wanted to see the films at the Bushwick and his father said no, there was too much going on in the area right now and it was not a good idea. After his father left for work, he took the train there himself and went to see a double bill of Gypsy and Music Man. When he came out of the theatre there were police, ambulances and fire trucks all over the place. During the 5 hours of fantasy he had no idea that racial tensions had flared up and fires were being set all over to burn down Bushwick. Ah those great old musicals !!!!!!!!!1
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HMm I have just found a site with some exterior pics:
Can anyone provide the video he was talking about or any images of the exterior or interior?
Last time I was there, it was still a closed down dump.
This looked to be a once-grand place. I wish there were pictures of the theater in it hey day. I think they made it into offices or something.
Last summer,end of August/beginning Sept./ me & 2 friends were able to get in.It was like we were in some Indiana Jones movie as it was like an ancient tomb.Unfortunately a lot of the interior was gutted out due to it being converted to a High School.I got video of the remains of the proscenium though the sides were destroyed.My first video was not so good but the next week I got better video though there was more destruction.But I did get some digital camera stills & video of the magnificent ceiling.How sad that this beautiful interior was being destroyed.This was one of the most beautiful theaters ever made. Ironically, in the weeks before,I was looking forward to the 90th anniversary of its grand opening in 1911-September,11th,2001 !
Several scenes from the 2001 film ‘Pootie Tang’ were shot in front of the Bushwick Theatre