Grandview Theater

659 Grandview Avenue,
Ridgewood, NY 11385

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Additional Info

Functions: Funeral Home

Nearby Theaters

Grandview Theater September 2004

Small neighborhood theater dating back to at least April 1912 in the Ridgewood section of Queens. In the days of the silents, movies were shown outdoors during the hot summer months due to lack of air conditioning. Closed late-1940’s to early-1950’s and converted to a funeral home, now known as Ridgewood Chapels.

Contributed by Erwin Markisch

Recent comments (view all 116 comments)

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 23, 2008 at 4:19 pm

Thank you so much for posting your charming and poignant memories of the Grandview, once upon a time, and welcome to Cinema Treasures !

No such hide-away for ladies' hats …. my dad, about twenty years your senior, remembers the message “Ladies please remove your hats” on movie screens. The indoor / outdoor theatre he remembers was the Colonial, in his old home neighborhood of Bushwick, adjoining Ridgewood to the southwest. There is a page for the Colonial on Cinema Treasures. It was on the block bounded by Broadway, Rockaway Avenue, and Chauncey Street. The outdoor screen there must have been an outside wall of the Colonial. My dad remembers folks sitting on their fire escapes on Rockaway Avenue, watching outdoor summer movies for free.

Please join Bway and myself on Bushwick Buddies :

www.bushwickbuddies.com

for more talk of theatres, and of the neighborhoods of Ridgewood and Bushwick. Your input would be most welcome there.

There is plenty more for your reading and (hopefully) posting pleasure on the pages for the Ridgewood, Madison, Oasis, Parthenon, Glenwood, Belvedere, Wyckoff, Wagner, etc. theatres here on Cinema Treasures.

Again, welcome, and I look forward to seeing more posts from you.

Alas, the Ridgewood Theatre’s last day of showing movies was Sunday, March 9, 2008.

jackahearn
jackahearn on July 23, 2008 at 4:54 pm

Peter….thank you for your warm and overly generous comments. I’ll look forward to accepting your kind invitation to visit ‘Bushwickbuddies’. I’ll also take your encouraging suggestion regarding future comments. Perhaps one of the the Myrtle Ave ‘palaces’ will be next to cross the stream (screen?) of my memory.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on July 24, 2008 at 10:07 am

You’re most welcome, once upon a time. I look forward to more posts from you. I think you’ll enjoy this site.

I haven’t even mentioned the Bushwick theatres yet, but I’ve put a lot of myself into those, too.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on November 19, 2008 at 1:32 pm

Thanks, Warren. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I look through that issue.

jackahearn
jackahearn on November 19, 2008 at 3:48 pm

Warren..thank you…I was about to Post the following when your most recent and confirming comments popped in ahead of it

A plausible tie-in as to a joint ownership of the Grandview, Majestic and Belvedere theaters might be; during the 1940’s and (very) early’50’s, all three had their Coming Attractions leaflets processed from the same Printing Company. The folded, single sheet ‘Programs’ were of a deep blue color with the same format and I recall, each of the three theaters were listed on the lower back page.

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on November 19, 2008 at 3:51 pm

No, Warren, I think it only meant that there was more money to be made with those buildings waking the dead than showing movies to the living.

jackahearn
jackahearn on November 19, 2008 at 3:54 pm

Peter..Might I suggest…the outcome of those movie houses is now a..Dead Issue…:)

PeterKoch
PeterKoch on November 19, 2008 at 4:12 pm

Good one, once upon a time !

Bway
Bway on April 19, 2009 at 12:09 pm

Here’s a street view of the Grandview Theater:
View link

Texas2step
Texas2step on April 21, 2018 at 5:32 pm

A Grandview Theatre located at Gates Avenue and Grandview Avenue was advertising in April of 1912.

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