Mayfair Theatre

301 Lake Avenue,
Asbury Park, NJ 07712

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Showing 26 - 42 of 42 comments

teecee
teecee on May 10, 2005 at 5:00 pm

Good question. Perhaps there was a clock tower that chimed the time?

teecee
teecee on May 10, 2005 at 2:45 pm

In 1927, the J.C. Deagon Company installed a 10 tone bell at this theater. Of the 425 or so worldwide installations, only 2 were at theaters: this one & a 20 tone bell at the Roxy in NY. Pretty impressive company!
Both bells were demolished with their respective theaters.

VincentParisi
VincentParisi on April 11, 2005 at 4:05 pm

Thanks so much for the info. The loss of these two theaters was a tragedy for the city. I saw an ad once for the St James for Sacaramouche. With Ramon Navarro!! So it was damn old! But it had been remodeled in the interior to make it a first class roadshow house. This began the architectural destruction of this once beautiful and classic Jersey shore town. Absolutely sickening.
It was a jewel.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on April 11, 2005 at 3:56 pm

Vincent;
Local citizen’s formed a committee to save the Mayfair and offered to buy the theatre from the Walter Reade organisation. However after lengthy negotiations, all offers were rejected. The asking price was reported to be $300,000. City officials said that the Mayfair owed over $45,000 in back taxes as well as the adjacent St James Theatre, also operated by Walter Reade, which was also included in the demolition plans. It was reported that the St James Theatre was not as old or attractive as the Mayfair and there had been no move by citizens to preserve that theatre.

I am presuming that both theatres were demolished at the same time.

VincentParisi
VincentParisi on April 11, 2005 at 3:20 pm

Ken do you know when the St James was demolished. Do you know if there are photos available of the interiors and exteriors of both. The only ones I know of of the Mayfair are on the Asbury site and they are at a distance.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on April 8, 2005 at 6:46 pm

The Mayfair Theatre opened in 1926, closed in September 1973 and was demolished in 1974.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on March 28, 2005 at 10:08 pm

Sorry, I meant when I was at the Lyric/Park, which while full of atmosphere, was probably not an atmospheric! Never been to the Mayfair, which was already gone by the time I discovered Asbury Park.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on March 28, 2005 at 10:05 pm

The balcony was already closed when I was here, and a drop ceiling over the orchestra, with no access to the ceiling that I could find. I would have loved to have seen the atmospherics, or what may have been left of them.

atmos
atmos on March 28, 2005 at 8:08 am

From the Peter Lucia website this theatre was an atmospheric in style.

VincentParisi
VincentParisi on November 9, 2004 at 1:43 pm

Checking out the site 70mm in NY it looks like My Fair Lady was at the St James and not the Lyric like I thought(they were only a block apart.) So what was playing at the Lyric in this summer of ‘65?

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on July 20, 2004 at 8:45 pm

And maybe the Lyric should have its own listing.

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on July 20, 2004 at 8:44 pm

“I was amazed to read that the Lyric is still standing(it was playing My Fair Lady when I was a boy in ‘65 at $4.00 a seat!!I know that because my aunt went to see it there as it was the only thing they could get tickets to that evening. No wonder.) It is called the Park and is now a porno house.”

Sorry to report that this too is closed and it looks like demolition is at hand. The neighboring Palace Amusements building is now a pile of rubble, and this theater’s exit doors are boarded up.

I visited this last summer, and many architectural elements and posters advertising old Asbury Park cinemas were still visible inside.

In the above link, reprinted here, http://www.asburyboardwalk.com/pic/mayfair/m1.htm you can see the Lyric in the bottom image, directly to the right of the Mayfair. It still looks the same, but with marquee and signage.

If you want an in-person look you’d better hurry because its days seem numbered.

asburypark
asburypark on January 30, 2004 at 4:25 pm

HOW ABOUT JUST ONE PAGE:

http://www.asburyboardwalk.com/pic/mayfair/m1.htm

The noweverthen.com site se well written. You have to read it.

VincentParisi
VincentParisi on January 30, 2004 at 3:27 pm

Thanks very much Asbury Park though it would be heartbreaking to take this virtual tour. I can’t tell you how beautiful this town still was in the 60’s(Atlantic City too, the Traymore was beyond belief.) The Asbury politicians of the 70’s should face criminal prosecution.

asburypark
asburypark on January 30, 2004 at 3:17 pm

See http://www.asburyboardwalk.com and click on Mayfair Link on Top and also take the psotcard/collectible tour. Also see the excellent site by Peter Lucia titled noweverthen.com.

My site is asburyboardwalk.com – dedicated to the past and future of Asbury Park.

Peter’s site is amazing -about 40 chapters of on-line narration of Asbury Park. Excellent. Hope this helps.

VincentParisi
VincentParisi on January 20, 2004 at 5:28 pm

There is a beautiful vintage postcard of the Mayfair at night. It would be great if somebody could find it and post it. The Mayfair was located near though not on the boardwalk. It was situated next to the Saint James and a block away from the Lyric. These were all elegant first run theaters.I saw Cinderella at the Mayfair and later I saw Hello Dolly at the St. James. I returned to Asbury Park in the late ‘70s and it was a ghost town by then(what was it with the '70’s?) and the Mayfair and the St. James had become parking lots. I was amazed to read that the Lyric is still standing(it was playing My Fair Lady when I was a boy in '65 at $4.00 a seat!!I know that because my aunt went to see it there as it was the only thing they could get tickets to that evening. No wonder.) It is called the Park and is now a porno house. What about it Asbury Park? Does anyone want to save one of the few splinters left of its devastated history?

William
William on December 6, 2003 at 9:45 pm

The Mayfair Theatre was located at 301 Lake Ave. and it seated 1776 people.