Loew's Paradise Theatre

Agreed. I grew up in the Paradise, and I can tell you that it looked far worse than this in 1969. Its chief competitor, the RKO Fordham, was demolished. Now THAT’s something to feel bad about.

I have to confess, really don’t understand all this concern over a sign and what color it’s painted. I’ve passed this building and from the outside it looks fantastic, and best of all, it’s still standing and it’s reopened! What color do you all want it to be? A slightly different shade of blue or yellow? If it means that much to you, talk to the owner and maybe they’ll let you repaint it.
Perhaps it’s just me, but coming from an area where any building like this was torn down years ago, I’m just happy to know it’s still standing. Judging from the photo’s posted earlier, whoever re-opened this treasure deserves tremendous credit for the amount of work done to restore this building.
I can’t believe someone who loves theaters actually wrote “an enshrinement of mediocrity and incompetence” to describe the workmanship on a sign. For God’s sake, it’s a sign! Did you see the lobby to this place?! They even have the original chandeliers working!
Let’s keep our priorities straight.

It would be tempting to excuse that wretched sign as a “Bronx thing”, as though patrons there wouldn’t be discerning enough to know or care or don’t deserve better. The truth, though, is that there’s a woeful lack of standards of good workmanship in New York City generally. I wonder if it’s the same in the rest of the country (or the world), or if it reflects the skills possessed (not!) by NYC’s current immigrant population compared to that of the past.

Let me be clear that I am NOT referring to rarefied projects where cost is no object. The superrich have access to quality materials and contractors who employ craftsmen who know what they are doing, just as they always have had. They have standards, and their standards are enforced. For regular folks, though, it’s a world of band-aid repairs and appallingly sloppy work. Your typical New York City apartment building handyman cannot paint a straight line and would paint right over electrical outlets rather than remove switchplate covers. To do otherwise is simply not in his ken.

When we recognize the splendid monuments of the past, we tend to acknowledge that the materials and workmanship of that era can’t be easily duplicated. You couldn’t ask for a more vivid example than that sign! For as much work as was apparently put into polishing the inside of the Paradise, that sign couldn’t even be reproduced with sunbeams that are symmetrical and spaced evenly.

As long as people don’t care or don’t notice or make excuses, these are the standards that will prevail. Not too many posters have taken issue with that ghastly sign; as one previous poster pleaded, “GIVE THEM A CHANCE.” It’s basically an enshrinement of mediocrity and incompetence, and it shouldn’t be acceptable â€" even in the Bronx. I’m hopeful that the Landmarks Commission will compel a re-redesign.

An article on the Paradise reopening, with some pictures, including some of the exterior lit up at night, may be found here:

http://www.backinthebronx.com/paradise.html

The exterior “sunburst” looks much better with the illuminated theatre name, BTW.

I wonder if they have any plans to install a replica of the original flat marquee above the entrance? And given that the word “Loew’s” was maintained in the restoration of the big sign on the facade, would it also be used in the marquee?

Given that the owners of this theater will likely have an uphill financial battle to keep this theater afloat, I doubt there’ll be a lot of attention spent on attempting to re-paint the exterior sunburst to appease our sensibilities. It is a shame, however, that after dedicating so much time and money towards renovating this great palace (an effort that I enthusiastically applaud), it seems as if they spent all of about $35 bucks on this particular element of the original design! This is what folks traveling up and down the Concourse will notice first and foremost as they look at the theater. Hideous is the perfect word, Warren. Embarrassing comes in a close 2nd.

Here, I found it. Page 103 of Ben Hall’s “The Best Remaining Seats”. Chris, if you send me an email I can scan in the photos from this book and you can post them. There’s a closeup of the sidewall, a view of the proscenium and asbestos curtain, a full-color rendering of the interior, and the exterior view I mentioned.

I saw a black and white photo of it at some point; I thought it was in “The Best Remaining Seats” but I can’t seem to find the photo at the moment. Anyway, I could see that it was originally multicolored, maybe three or four colors, each ray was the same width. That’s probably the main problem; the spacing is narrow in spots and wide in others, it looks sloppy. I don’t doubt that the colors were vivid though.

I walked over to the theatre yesterday (through all the snow and slush) to take some pictures of the facade since people were curious about its current appearance. I’ve added them to my webshots gallery.Take a look.
View link

I’ve seen a photo of the “restored” marquee, and the Loew’s sign is still there. Unfortunately, the dark blue background makes it hard to see the lettering at all in the daytime, or when it’s not lit.

Sorry, I just can’t remember where I saw the photo. If I can locate it I’ll post the url.

What happened to Divinity? The Paradise Theaters biggest supporter has been MIA since 10/27!

Well, I was outside the Paradise that evening and can attest to the fact that people entered. I could also hear the salsa music near one of the exits that was partially open. The line of people was about two blocks long. A coworker of mine attended the concert and said it was sold out and was quite good. The question is, what’s next?

Yes, please. For those who were not able to attend, we would like to read a complete report of the gala re-birth of our beloved Paradise!