Totowa Cinema
Route 46 near I-80,
Totowa,
NJ
07512
Route 46 near I-80,
Totowa,
NJ
07512
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A GREAT theater.( was meaning to enter this theater on this site myself) When it was a single screen, the screen itself was indented (kind of 3 dimensional) and made of sheetrock. It was large and outstanding. They showed The Godfather there. I myself saw, films such as “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, “Scarecrow” , “Enter the Dragon”, “Westworld” etc. The last film I saw there as a single screen was “Chinatown”. They twinned it, and it re-opened in Nov. 74 with..Cinema One-Mixed Comany plus Westworld…Cinema II…The Seduction of Mimi…I remember the first film I saw there as a twin was “Death Wish”. When I walked in I was so disapointed. It was once a huge screen now smaller. They built a wall down the middle.
It stayed that way until Fall 1992 when they finally closed it. The fire then happened (suspiciously) then it was gutted (I remember the bulldozers) and now is the Office Max. I get nostalgic every time I go in there. I always remember the long lobby, and the entrance into the auditorium.
In the early 80’s they installed Dolby Stereo capabilities in Cinema One for the opening Empire Strikes Back then Raiders of the Lost Ark. Cinema II was always to be mono. The last films I saw before it closed were…Cinema One..Alien 3…Cinema II..Sneakers.
I loved riding by the huge outdoor marquee to see the signage and what was playing.
A truly great showplace undone by time and multiplexes. Totowa had 2 large theaters, Totowa Cinema and Cinema 46, a few minutes away. Both gone.
If anyone has access to photos from these theaters , it would be great. I hope there’s as good a forum on this theater as that of the Astor Plaza in NY.
The building currently houses an Office Max store, but still looks very much like a theatre. My understanding is the lobby portion suffered a devistating fire in the late 80’s/early 90’s, and was demolished. The shell of the auditorium is now the store.