LAUREL THEATER
Bridgeton, New Jersey
Feasibility Study
Watson and Henry Associates
Bridgeton, New Jersey
DAVIS CROSSFIELD ASSOCIATES – theater consultant
Perhaps these firms have some additional data on the theater.
The second paragraph reference to the Park theater is incorrect. This article is all about the Caldwell Cinema.
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Dec 1, 1998 p043
Legal fray halts new Caldwell cinemas. (ESSEX)
Byline: Rebecca Goldsmith
Plans for a perkier downtown Caldwell are stuck in limbo while competing movie developers face off over who can run a theater on the six-block strip of Bloomfield Avenue.
The former Park Theater, located in the heart of downtown, was supposed to reopen this month under new ownership with five screens and new plush seats, carpeting, and curtains after years of use as offices, a dance studio and a bowling alley.
The cinema was touted this summer by Mayor Paul Jemas as the cornerstone of downtown revitalization. The borough’s walkable stretch of Bloomfield Avenue offers daytime shopping but lacks a large magnet to draw people for food and entertainment on weekends and evenings. The legal dispute pits Jesse Sayegh of Cedar Grove against Chatham-based Clearview Cinemas and its owner, Bud Mayo. Both men built their fortunes in the movie business by focusing on small downtown theaters. Clearview now runs 45 movie theaters in New York and New Jersey, including most of the theaters in the western Essex and eastern Morris County region where Caldwell is located.
At issue are the details of a year-old, $9.5 million deal in which Clearview bought Sayegh’s theaters in Upper Montclair, Cedar Grove, Kinnelon and Middlebrook, according to court records.
Mayo’s attorney maintains that a clause in the contract prevents Sayegh from opening a movie theater within seven miles of any of the four locations. The Caldwell site at 317 Bloomfield Ave. is 2.59 miles from Cinema 23 in Cedar Grove and 3.51 miles from the Bellevue Theater in Upper Montclair.
Sayegh holds that the agreement allowed for one exception in an “undisclosed” location, which turned out to be Caldwell. He said he would not comment on the matter while it is in litigation.
The suit is heading for a spring trial. In the meantime, a state Superior Court judge ruled in October that Sayegh must halt construction plans until the dispute is settled. The injunction blocks a third party from developing the site.
If Mayo prevails, the theater could be delayed for five years unless Sayegh and Mayo reach a deal before then to allow Clearview to run the cinema. Sayegh’s offers so far have been “unreasonable,” according to Robert Lister, Clearview’s vice president.
‘'Five years? We’d be in college,“ exclaimed Jessica McDonnell, an eighth-grader from West Caldwell who learned of the legal dispute after school yesterday from a reporter.
News of the delay hit hard at Grover Cleveland Middle School, where hundreds of students from Caldwell and West Caldwell were looking forward to the freedom of walking to a local hangout. When they want to see a movie, they must ask for rides to theaters in Wayne, Parsippany, Montclair or Livingston.
‘'We’d be able to walk there, and our parents – we wouldn’t have to bug them for rides a lot,“ said Kevin MacKen, 13, of West Caldwell. "They get annoyed.”
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Oct 16, 2002 p021
Irvington senior center is getting a new look. (ESSEX)
Byline: KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Retiree Victoria Cwikla says she’s enjoyed coming to the same downtown Irvington address to socialize for years.
From the days when 1077 Springfield Ave. was the popular Liberty movie theater, later the Art Theatre, and since 1978, the Irvington Senior Citizen Center, Cwikla says the place has been a home away from home.
Now, with the help of $119,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds, major exterior and interior renovations – expected to last through next spring – are under way this week.
That renovation news, coupled with township officials announcing a new and no-cost prescription drug discount program for all residents and municipal employees, has put a smile on the face of the 78-year-old Cwikla, as well as others who use the center. “It’s going to be nice when it’s finished, I’m pretty sure,” Cwikla, a retired waitress, said after seeing an artist’s rendering of how the 1913 building’s exterior will look once it’s completed.
“It’s been long needed in this town,” added Jack Slansky, another of among 500 Irvington seniors who visit the center to chat with friends, play table games and shoot pool.
The exterior changes – expected to take about 60 days to include replacing the aging and leaking entrance marquee with a more stylish and sweeping canopy; installing fabric awnings on the second level of the building; creating more distinguished signs; making the entrance doors higher, wider and accessible to individuals with disabilities; and installing a new sidewalk.
The interior renovation – scheduled to begin early next year and to be completed next spring – will include creating a new vestibule; installing new floor tiles, new lighting, improved heating, air conditioning and ventilation; replacing dated books in the library, redesigning the recreation room and administrative office area; and creating space for hairdressers and barbers.
While the interior reconstruction and remodeling work is done, the seniors will be relocated to a temporary site, officials said.
“It’ll be terrific and even get more seniors to come here,” Slansky said of the planned renovations at the center.
Charlotte Galla agreed, saying, “It’s been a long time coming. It’s great to see. It’s fantastic.”
As for the new prescription drug plan, Irvington and the Garden State Pharmacy Owners Provider Services Corp. in Rochelle Park have developed a public-private partnership that’s the first of its kind in the state, according to Mayor Wayne Smith.
Until now, no other New Jersey municipality has partnered with the pharmacy group to provide comprehensive benefits for its residents and municipal employees, Smith said.
“This service enhances existing coverage of the insured and provides access to those without insurance,” the mayor said. Now, every citizen will have the opportunity to meet one of life’s most basic necessities."
“Those who don’t have (union or job-related) prescription benefits automatically quality for this program,” said Thomas Viola, the pharmacy group’s executive vice president.
Participation in the program will allow consumers to save 10 percent to 50 percent off prescription drugs, Viola said.
After filling out an enrollment form and mailing it into the firm, a “Premium Rx Plus” card will be mailed within seven to 10 days. Users then can go to any one of the pharmacy group’s 55,000 independent and chain pharmacy participants around the nation, including several in Irvington, Viola said.
In Irvington, Viola said, the participating pharmacies include Abels Pharmacy on Grove Street; Briar Hill Pharmacy on Union Avenue; Camp Drugs Inc. on 18th Avenue; Springview Pharmacy on Springfield Avenue; United Pharmacy Inc. on Springfield Avenue; three Rite Aid pharmacies; and the former Schraft’s Pharmacy recently bought by Duane Reade Pharmacy on Springfield Avenue.
Applications can be picked up in the Irvington Municipal Building and at senior citizen complexes in the township. They will not be available at participating pharmacies.
CAPTION(S):
Ken Igou, left, and William Matiash play chess on Friday at the Irvington Senior Center, which is being remodeled with the help of federal funds.
“(Gary)Heckel, whose family owned the Grove Theater in Irvington when he was a child, connected with Roberts accidentally when he took a fill-in projectionist job at the Chatham theater some 20 years ago.”
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), March 25, 2003 p022
No reason to change this story line; Entrepreneur to stay with alternative films. (COUNTY NEWS)
Byline: LAWRENCE RAGONESE
Sitting in semi-darkness in the cavernous Wellmont Theatre in Montclair before opening time on Tuesday, Gary Heckel talked animatedly about recent sleeper movie hits like “Rabbit Proof Fence,” “Mostly Martha,” “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” and “Frida.”
Heckel, general manager of the small Roberts Theatre movie chain, says these are the type of art house and independent flicks his mentor, the late Bob Roberts, brought to North Jersey for three decades. His Lost Picture Show in Union gave audiences intelligent, thought-provoking alternatives to Hollywood blockbusters, he said.
When Roberts died in November, at 74, he was mourned by film lovers, who feared his effort to raise the cinematic bar in the Garden State might die with him. Not so, said Heckel, who is pledging to keep Roberts' cinematic spirit alive. When his former boss' estate is settled in the next few months, Heckel said, he will be in charge of the movie chain, which he vowed will remain an oasis for North Jersey film lovers who are seeking an alternative to big-budget, big-action Hollywood fare.
“We will not change what we are doing – never, never,” said Heckel, whose tiny empire includes just three theaters – the four-screen Wellmont in Montclair, the two-screen Lost Picture Show now located in Bloomfield, and the Chatham Cinema in Chatham Township, one of a handful of single-screen theaters left in New Jersey.
“We are committed to this type of movie and to our customers. A lot of the people who come here to the Wellmont or Chatham know our names, and we know them by name. It’s like a family,” Heckel said recently at the Wellmont, a once-spectacular music hall dating to the 1920s.
Most of the state’s multiplexes concentrate on big budget Hollywood films, hoping to lure huge audiences.
Meanwhile, some critically acclaimed and even Oscar-nominated “art films” are found only at a handful of specialty theaters in Chatham, Princeton, Red Bank, Rocky Hill and Montclair – a haven for art film lovers with three art houses.
“The Quiet American,” for which Michael Caine was nominated for best actor, has played for several weeks at the Chatham Cinema. Until recently it was the lone Northwest Jersey venue for the critically acclaimed film.
“I wish there were more theaters like this,” said Marie Healy of Basking Ridge. She and her husband, Brian, are regular customers at the Chatham theater, especially when they play French films.
“We’re glad it’s here,” agreed Linda Votto of Chester, who also sought out the Michael Caine movie in Chatham last Wednesday.
Making a living with these types of films, however, is not easy, said Albert Nigrin, executive director and curator of the Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center.
“It’s an ebb and flow type of thing. Art houses have to juggle their schedules, sometimes bring in bigger movies, to survive,” said Nigrin. “I’m glad Mr. Roberts has left this to us.”
Roberts was a colorful character with a background as a radio host and television, theater and movie producer. He started acquiring movie theaters in New Jersey in the 1980s, when he opened the original Lost Picture Show as one of the state’s first art movie houses.
Heckel, whose family owned the Grove Theater in Irvington when he was a child, connected with Roberts accidentally when he took a fill-in projectionist job at the Chatham theater some 20 years ago. He later became manager of the Wellmont and a now-defunct Oakland movie house before becoming general manager for Roberts Theatres in 1988.
“Bob (Roberts) was not a follower; he was a leader, an innovator,” Heckel said as he fed film into a projector last week. “He was not afraid to try something new or different, to take a risk with a film.”
Heckel explained that audiences drawn to art films tend to be a little older and more sophisticated, and more forgiving of venues that don’t have the amenities of mall megaplexes, like new chairs that rock, cup holders, and digital sound. They are willing to travel to find a special film and tend to be loyal customers, as Roberts understood.
“He picked a winning formula. No reason to change it,” said Heckel, who said there is money to be made in the art/independent film business – to a point. “Running a theater with this type of film draws a steady stream of people. But I can assure you I will not become as rich as Donald Trump,” he laughed.
Lawrence Ragonese is a reporter in the Morris County bureau. He can be reached at lragonese@starled ger.com or at (973) 539-7910.
CAPTION(S):
Gary Heckel, shown in a theater in Montclair, says he will be true to the legacy of his mentor, the late Bob Roberts, who gave audiences thoughtful alternatives to Hollywood blockbuster movies.
“Newark’s last two movie houses, the Paramount and the Adams went dark in 1986 when their insurance rates increased 500 percent. Newarkers seeking mainstream popular movies had to go elsewhere.”
“Newark’s last two movie houses, the Paramount and the Adams went dark in 1986 when their insurance rates increased 500 percent. Newarkers seeking mainstream popular movies had to go elsewhere.”
“These included the Branford, the city’s largest and most elegant house which seated 3,100. Built in 1941 by Emil Zucker and Herman Steiner, it was named for one of the Connecticut towns that original Newarkers came from in 1666.”
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Sept 26, 1996 p004
this contradicts the main listing for this theater.
http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/njthunt
LAUREL THEATER
Bridgeton, New Jersey
Feasibility Study
Watson and Henry Associates
Bridgeton, New Jersey
DAVIS CROSSFIELD ASSOCIATES – theater consultant
Perhaps these firms have some additional data on the theater.
You can buy a collectible at this site under Businesses:
http://www.patgift.com/cats/cats3.htm
I posted there about the same time you made this post. ESP?
Courtesy of RobertR’s post on the RKO International in New Brunswick, NJ:
View link
This theater was once known as the RKO International. Ad is from 1964 from the movies listed.
Thanks for the post. I read “41” Albany street in your ad, which matches the address in my 6/12/05 post. I’ll do some research on the Trenton theater.
Homepage:
http://www.shawanocinema.com/
Homepage:
View link
Don’t forget your photo ID for R rated admission!
Homepage:
http://www.mbdrivein.com/
Homepage:
http://www.hullsdrivein.com/
What a great site!
Hoempage:
http://user.shentel.net/ccrkcr/drivein.html
Homepage:
http://www.driveinusa.com/
Home page:
http://www.montanadrivein.com/
The second paragraph reference to the Park theater is incorrect. This article is all about the Caldwell Cinema.
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Dec 1, 1998 p043
Legal fray halts new Caldwell cinemas. (ESSEX)
Byline: Rebecca Goldsmith
Plans for a perkier downtown Caldwell are stuck in limbo while competing movie developers face off over who can run a theater on the six-block strip of Bloomfield Avenue.
The former Park Theater, located in the heart of downtown, was supposed to reopen this month under new ownership with five screens and new plush seats, carpeting, and curtains after years of use as offices, a dance studio and a bowling alley.
The cinema was touted this summer by Mayor Paul Jemas as the cornerstone of downtown revitalization. The borough’s walkable stretch of Bloomfield Avenue offers daytime shopping but lacks a large magnet to draw people for food and entertainment on weekends and evenings. The legal dispute pits Jesse Sayegh of Cedar Grove against Chatham-based Clearview Cinemas and its owner, Bud Mayo. Both men built their fortunes in the movie business by focusing on small downtown theaters. Clearview now runs 45 movie theaters in New York and New Jersey, including most of the theaters in the western Essex and eastern Morris County region where Caldwell is located.
At issue are the details of a year-old, $9.5 million deal in which Clearview bought Sayegh’s theaters in Upper Montclair, Cedar Grove, Kinnelon and Middlebrook, according to court records.
Mayo’s attorney maintains that a clause in the contract prevents Sayegh from opening a movie theater within seven miles of any of the four locations. The Caldwell site at 317 Bloomfield Ave. is 2.59 miles from Cinema 23 in Cedar Grove and 3.51 miles from the Bellevue Theater in Upper Montclair.
Sayegh holds that the agreement allowed for one exception in an “undisclosed” location, which turned out to be Caldwell. He said he would not comment on the matter while it is in litigation.
The suit is heading for a spring trial. In the meantime, a state Superior Court judge ruled in October that Sayegh must halt construction plans until the dispute is settled. The injunction blocks a third party from developing the site.
If Mayo prevails, the theater could be delayed for five years unless Sayegh and Mayo reach a deal before then to allow Clearview to run the cinema. Sayegh’s offers so far have been “unreasonable,” according to Robert Lister, Clearview’s vice president.
‘'Five years? We’d be in college,“ exclaimed Jessica McDonnell, an eighth-grader from West Caldwell who learned of the legal dispute after school yesterday from a reporter.
News of the delay hit hard at Grover Cleveland Middle School, where hundreds of students from Caldwell and West Caldwell were looking forward to the freedom of walking to a local hangout. When they want to see a movie, they must ask for rides to theaters in Wayne, Parsippany, Montclair or Livingston.
‘'We’d be able to walk there, and our parents – we wouldn’t have to bug them for rides a lot,“ said Kevin MacKen, 13, of West Caldwell. "They get annoyed.”
Article CJ81646360
Closed in 1978. Previous name: Art Theatre
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Oct 16, 2002 p021
Irvington senior center is getting a new look. (ESSEX)
Byline: KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Retiree Victoria Cwikla says she’s enjoyed coming to the same downtown Irvington address to socialize for years.
From the days when 1077 Springfield Ave. was the popular Liberty movie theater, later the Art Theatre, and since 1978, the Irvington Senior Citizen Center, Cwikla says the place has been a home away from home.
Now, with the help of $119,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds, major exterior and interior renovations – expected to last through next spring – are under way this week.
That renovation news, coupled with township officials announcing a new and no-cost prescription drug discount program for all residents and municipal employees, has put a smile on the face of the 78-year-old Cwikla, as well as others who use the center. “It’s going to be nice when it’s finished, I’m pretty sure,” Cwikla, a retired waitress, said after seeing an artist’s rendering of how the 1913 building’s exterior will look once it’s completed.
“It’s been long needed in this town,” added Jack Slansky, another of among 500 Irvington seniors who visit the center to chat with friends, play table games and shoot pool.
The exterior changes – expected to take about 60 days to include replacing the aging and leaking entrance marquee with a more stylish and sweeping canopy; installing fabric awnings on the second level of the building; creating more distinguished signs; making the entrance doors higher, wider and accessible to individuals with disabilities; and installing a new sidewalk.
The interior renovation – scheduled to begin early next year and to be completed next spring – will include creating a new vestibule; installing new floor tiles, new lighting, improved heating, air conditioning and ventilation; replacing dated books in the library, redesigning the recreation room and administrative office area; and creating space for hairdressers and barbers.
While the interior reconstruction and remodeling work is done, the seniors will be relocated to a temporary site, officials said.
“It’ll be terrific and even get more seniors to come here,” Slansky said of the planned renovations at the center.
Charlotte Galla agreed, saying, “It’s been a long time coming. It’s great to see. It’s fantastic.”
As for the new prescription drug plan, Irvington and the Garden State Pharmacy Owners Provider Services Corp. in Rochelle Park have developed a public-private partnership that’s the first of its kind in the state, according to Mayor Wayne Smith.
Until now, no other New Jersey municipality has partnered with the pharmacy group to provide comprehensive benefits for its residents and municipal employees, Smith said.
“This service enhances existing coverage of the insured and provides access to those without insurance,” the mayor said. Now, every citizen will have the opportunity to meet one of life’s most basic necessities."
“Those who don’t have (union or job-related) prescription benefits automatically quality for this program,” said Thomas Viola, the pharmacy group’s executive vice president.
Participation in the program will allow consumers to save 10 percent to 50 percent off prescription drugs, Viola said.
After filling out an enrollment form and mailing it into the firm, a “Premium Rx Plus” card will be mailed within seven to 10 days. Users then can go to any one of the pharmacy group’s 55,000 independent and chain pharmacy participants around the nation, including several in Irvington, Viola said.
In Irvington, Viola said, the participating pharmacies include Abels Pharmacy on Grove Street; Briar Hill Pharmacy on Union Avenue; Camp Drugs Inc. on 18th Avenue; Springview Pharmacy on Springfield Avenue; United Pharmacy Inc. on Springfield Avenue; three Rite Aid pharmacies; and the former Schraft’s Pharmacy recently bought by Duane Reade Pharmacy on Springfield Avenue.
Applications can be picked up in the Irvington Municipal Building and at senior citizen complexes in the township. They will not be available at participating pharmacies.
CAPTION(S):
Ken Igou, left, and William Matiash play chess on Friday at the Irvington Senior Center, which is being remodeled with the help of federal funds.
LARA SOLT/FOR THE STAR-LEDGER
Article CJ92967779
“(Gary)Heckel, whose family owned the Grove Theater in Irvington when he was a child, connected with Roberts accidentally when he took a fill-in projectionist job at the Chatham theater some 20 years ago.”
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), March 25, 2003 p022
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), March 25, 2003 p022
No reason to change this story line; Entrepreneur to stay with alternative films. (COUNTY NEWS)
Byline: LAWRENCE RAGONESE
Sitting in semi-darkness in the cavernous Wellmont Theatre in Montclair before opening time on Tuesday, Gary Heckel talked animatedly about recent sleeper movie hits like “Rabbit Proof Fence,” “Mostly Martha,” “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” and “Frida.”
Heckel, general manager of the small Roberts Theatre movie chain, says these are the type of art house and independent flicks his mentor, the late Bob Roberts, brought to North Jersey for three decades. His Lost Picture Show in Union gave audiences intelligent, thought-provoking alternatives to Hollywood blockbusters, he said.
When Roberts died in November, at 74, he was mourned by film lovers, who feared his effort to raise the cinematic bar in the Garden State might die with him. Not so, said Heckel, who is pledging to keep Roberts' cinematic spirit alive. When his former boss' estate is settled in the next few months, Heckel said, he will be in charge of the movie chain, which he vowed will remain an oasis for North Jersey film lovers who are seeking an alternative to big-budget, big-action Hollywood fare.
“We will not change what we are doing – never, never,” said Heckel, whose tiny empire includes just three theaters – the four-screen Wellmont in Montclair, the two-screen Lost Picture Show now located in Bloomfield, and the Chatham Cinema in Chatham Township, one of a handful of single-screen theaters left in New Jersey.
“We are committed to this type of movie and to our customers. A lot of the people who come here to the Wellmont or Chatham know our names, and we know them by name. It’s like a family,” Heckel said recently at the Wellmont, a once-spectacular music hall dating to the 1920s.
Most of the state’s multiplexes concentrate on big budget Hollywood films, hoping to lure huge audiences.
Meanwhile, some critically acclaimed and even Oscar-nominated “art films” are found only at a handful of specialty theaters in Chatham, Princeton, Red Bank, Rocky Hill and Montclair – a haven for art film lovers with three art houses.
“The Quiet American,” for which Michael Caine was nominated for best actor, has played for several weeks at the Chatham Cinema. Until recently it was the lone Northwest Jersey venue for the critically acclaimed film.
“I wish there were more theaters like this,” said Marie Healy of Basking Ridge. She and her husband, Brian, are regular customers at the Chatham theater, especially when they play French films.
“We’re glad it’s here,” agreed Linda Votto of Chester, who also sought out the Michael Caine movie in Chatham last Wednesday.
Making a living with these types of films, however, is not easy, said Albert Nigrin, executive director and curator of the Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center.
“It’s an ebb and flow type of thing. Art houses have to juggle their schedules, sometimes bring in bigger movies, to survive,” said Nigrin. “I’m glad Mr. Roberts has left this to us.”
Roberts was a colorful character with a background as a radio host and television, theater and movie producer. He started acquiring movie theaters in New Jersey in the 1980s, when he opened the original Lost Picture Show as one of the state’s first art movie houses.
Heckel, whose family owned the Grove Theater in Irvington when he was a child, connected with Roberts accidentally when he took a fill-in projectionist job at the Chatham theater some 20 years ago. He later became manager of the Wellmont and a now-defunct Oakland movie house before becoming general manager for Roberts Theatres in 1988.
“Bob (Roberts) was not a follower; he was a leader, an innovator,” Heckel said as he fed film into a projector last week. “He was not afraid to try something new or different, to take a risk with a film.”
Heckel explained that audiences drawn to art films tend to be a little older and more sophisticated, and more forgiving of venues that don’t have the amenities of mall megaplexes, like new chairs that rock, cup holders, and digital sound. They are willing to travel to find a special film and tend to be loyal customers, as Roberts understood.
“He picked a winning formula. No reason to change it,” said Heckel, who said there is money to be made in the art/independent film business – to a point. “Running a theater with this type of film draws a steady stream of people. But I can assure you I will not become as rich as Donald Trump,” he laughed.
Lawrence Ragonese is a reporter in the Morris County bureau. He can be reached at lragonese@starled ger.com or at (973) 539-7910.
CAPTION(S):
Gary Heckel, shown in a theater in Montclair, says he will be true to the legacy of his mentor, the late Bob Roberts, who gave audiences thoughtful alternatives to Hollywood blockbuster movies.
TYSON TRISH/FOR THE STAR-LEDGER
Article CJ99162787
Homepage:
http://www.comevisit.com/66drivein/
Homepage:
http://www.capridrive-in.com/
Homepage:
http://www.27drivein.com/
Homepage:
http://www.stardrive-in.com/
http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/njtunkn
This was the 5th largest drive-in in the US.
“Newark’s last two movie houses, the Paramount and the Adams went dark in 1986 when their insurance rates increased 500 percent. Newarkers seeking mainstream popular movies had to go elsewhere.”
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Sept 26, 1996 p004
“Newark’s last two movie houses, the Paramount and the Adams went dark in 1986 when their insurance rates increased 500 percent. Newarkers seeking mainstream popular movies had to go elsewhere.”
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Sept 26, 1996 p004
“These included the Branford, the city’s largest and most elegant house which seated 3,100. Built in 1941 by Emil Zucker and Herman Steiner, it was named for one of the Connecticut towns that original Newarkers came from in 1666.”
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Sept 26, 1996 p004
this contradicts the main listing for this theater.