Plaza Theatre

164 East Main Street,
Waterbury, CT

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Additional Info

Previous Names: Garden Theatre, New Garden Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Plaza Theatre

Opened as the Garden Theatre, this old movie house became known as the Plaza and was later demolished.

Contributed by Roger Katz

Recent comments (view all 9 comments)

GaryParks
GaryParks on January 22, 2003 at 2:22 pm

My father, who lived in Waterbury in the 20s and 30s, said this theatre was down a ways from the East Main Street principal concentration of movie theatres. He said tough kids went there and so he and his friends didn’t.

I also have a old newspaper of the era which has a little ad for this theatre with the slogan, “Where Sound is Perfect.”

anexwaterburian
anexwaterburian on August 14, 2005 at 4:35 pm

The Garden, built by the Chotzianoff brothers, opened in 1909 and was leased and operated by the great theatrical impresario of the early 20th-century, Poli. The theater was only a part of the business block the Brothers Chotzianoff built. It stands today, its theater swallowed by the onset of downtown elderly housing. This was Waterbury’s first real moving picture theater, 500 seats, upstairs and down, orchestra pit, one of the city’s great entertainment palaces during its long history as The Garden, New Garden and The Plaza.

shoeshoe14
shoeshoe14 on August 17, 2005 at 10:46 am

I was in Waterbury on Monday and decided to visit every listed Waterbury movie theater, living or deceased. I couldn’t find this building on the right side of the street.

Roger Katz
Roger Katz on August 17, 2005 at 4:15 pm

shoe: How could you miss the building? There’s a huge, brand-new arts magnet school where this theatre used to be.

shoeshoe14
shoeshoe14 on August 18, 2005 at 3:57 am

Oh yeah, oops! The real entrance to that school is from the courtyard. Sometimes when you’re biking and exploring all day, you miss some things. I didn’t have time to write down all the theaters and what’s in their place, just the addresses.

shoeshoe14
shoeshoe14 on September 26, 2007 at 11:10 pm

It seems it had a few more names. It was originally Poli then the State, then the Garden and then Plaza. A dance hall was in the same building on the fourth floor and since the building was slightly on a hill, the feature was the sloping marquee. A picture is on page 58 of Images of America: Waterbury.

Roger Katz
Roger Katz on September 27, 2007 at 3:51 am

The Poli and State were across the street.

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