Loew's Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
98 people
favorited this theater
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Are you in a position to talk about upcoming renovation work? I love the website but it tends to just give an overview of what amazing work has been done by the “Friends of the Loews”. I want to hear about whats coming up.
I also want to ask about the drapes throughout the theatre. Have they been fire retarded. Can they stay? It’s important the originals are retained and sometimes a deal can be struck with the fire department on an historical basis. It is, of course, possible to recreate but the patina of the originals contibutes so much to the ambience of the building. On the same subject, are there any plans to recover items of the original furniture. Do you have any in storage?
Maybe if the website involved its readers with the forward planning aspect of the restoration it might be reflected in donations??? It is such a fantastic opportunity to get involved in restoring one of the countrys most important Cinema Treasures, not to mention one that is so complete.
Thank you Porter. I would be happy to entertain questions if anyone has any. (Nothing political – dealing with the City, please. We have others in “Friends of the Loews” that are doing an excellent job within this area!!!).
Like some of the other Wonder Theatres, the Orchestra Pit at the Loew’s Jersey was also boarded over to provide extra rows of seating. This number I have written down at the theatre, but I do not have it at home right now.(I believe it is 3,214, if memory serves…).
Also, the Loew’s Jersey is unlike any other theatre that I’ve ever been in as it’s not the usual “L” shape. Look at the theatre from a distance straight on (say, from the PATH station across the street), and you’ll see that the actual theatre is built on a curve! It’s deceiving to the eyes when you enter. You will keep walking ever-so-slightly to the right as you walk through the entire length of the theatre. It’s actually built on the cliffs of the PATH tracks. (Must have been an architectual nightmare to design a theatre of this size in such an awkward area.)
The chandelier in the Grand Foyer was restored by hand by members of Friends of the Loew’s in 2001. It’s original cost was $65,000 (1929 dollars), and is made of Pre-war Czekloslovokian (sp) crystal. Takes two members about 45 minutes to lower it to floor level, and three members an hour to raise it. I believe it has 127 lights.
The Orchestra Pit lift, and Piano lift work just fine. The organ lift is being restored while members of the GSTOS are readying the re-installation of our Wonder Morton Theater Organ on the lift. The organ console is actually entered facing the audience. The lift is also a motorized turntable, and has to be turned around so the organist’s back is to the audience before it is raised into position.
What fantastic and informative details on this most spectacular of showplaces. Thanks Mahermusic, I for one am interested in any more you may have to offer.
I am one of the volunteers with “Friends Of The Loew’s”, the organization responsible for saving the Loew’s Jersey from demolition from 1986 – 1993, when the City purchased the building from the developer that bought it from Loews. I can answer some of the above questions…
Restrooms. On the original blueprints for the Loew’s Jersey City, which we own, there WAS planned a lower lounge in the basement which included telephones, a second coat room, mens and ladies restrooms, and a drinking fountain, in addition to the usher’s rooms. For some reason, the facilities were never built. The service stairs down to the basement leads to a HUGE open area, which is where the lounge would be. It is quite odd, for the foundation for the lounge was built, and butts up against the plenum under the orchestra, but this was left open. Usher’s rooms and their bathrooms were built in and around this area. There are no other public bathroom in the Balcony Lounge, just a water fountain was placed up there. We have placed a ADA bathroom in what used to be the Assistant Manager’s office right off the Grand Foyer.
The same blueprints have sound equipment hastily added. (We have quite a few different incarnations of the working blueprints). Other items not added were a set of lights directly above the orchestra, in front of the procenium arch, which shone down on the orchestra pit. There are controls on the board backstage to turn these on, and wires actually exist up to where they would be, but no holes were opened in the ceiling, and no fixtures were ever installed.
Chandelier. There was never a chandelier in the auditorium. No fixture exists, or wires.
There are still ladders hidden behind walls, from when the theatre was being built, that have been hidden since 1929! One such ladder is behind an auditorium wall halfway down on the left side (near where the balcony line is).
Seating. The seats in front of the balcony were taken out after the 1974 triplexing, since no one could sit “down front” anyway. To see anything on the main screen, you had to sit in the balcony. (Our best guess is that people would toss garbage down there, and it made it easier to clean if the seats weren’t there, not to mention using the seats for parts. Original opening day seating was 3,168. Later upped to 3,189 when 21 seats were added to fill in two rows leading to the fire exit on the right side. (The slight indentation in the floor in front of the exit is still there.) We filled in the two front middle sections with seating that we have found from a Jehova’s Witness Hall in upstate New York. Confortable and practical, it is good for now. Seats were left off the front end sections until we finish with the walls (restoration). The same seating from the Loew’s Jersey is in the Loew’s Kings. A deal fell through to allow us to replace the missing seats with the same seats from the Kings. (Remember when they were going to make a megaplex out of the Kings? Magic Johnson… They were going to gut the seating, and we were interested… but it fell through).
There are 10 dressing rooms on two levels (Full stage shows were part of the show from 1929 through 1936 at the Loew’s Jersey), as well as the female dancers dressing room (for the in-house Chester Hale Girls), a full rehearsal studio, and a pinochle (sp) room for the musicians in between shows.
In the air conditioning room, sometime after the theatre opened, both of the two HUGE air conditioning compressors had to be replaced. The floor was opened up in front of where the compressors sat, and they were dropped inside, down to the sub-basement, on the dirt, where they both sit today, painted bright red.
The Loew’s Jersey closed on Thursday, August 21, 1986.
And keep it in the hands of the volunteers who are the reason for its survival and out of the hands of the Mayor’s monied cronies who now want to swoop down like vultures and feed on the work of so many dedicated people who have given with their time and civic pride.
Let the Mayor’s “friends” feast somewhere else.
For those of you who want to see the fabulous JERSEY in all its fabulous splendor of today (yes, today!) go to this site with some 37 color photos taken in April of ‘03: http://www.robbender.com/photos/nj/loewsjersey/
Here web site developer and photographer Robert Bender has captured the actually splendid remains of one of the grandest movie palaces in these United States. It is all the more remarkable that so much remains, given the fact that it had been split into multiple cinemas, and yet so very much remains of the gilding, colors, fixtures and even the grandiose draperies that usually were removed from most every other theatre as kids swung on them like monkeys, and the building inspectors declared the no-longer-fireproofable fabrics a hazard. Sometimes moderns don’t appreciate the luxurious quality that grandiose draperies bring to such buildings and that without them, the spaces take on a 'gilded cavern’ look. Those seen in the lobby in his photos would cost upwards of a million dollars for each set to be made today — if one could find the large drapery house with moderns skilled enough to even copy them! Let us hope the Friends of the Jersey do prevail, for only with affection can such a great place be brought back, especially if there is insufficient film ‘of quality’ available to draw in the crowds needed to support it. If as a previous comment said, there is no room to expand the stage, it will be tough to get many performing groups to use the facility. Still, it is a true gem in Jersey City’s crown, and they should be made to realize that VERY FEW movie palaces like it remain, especially in such good condition. If funds become available, and they do get ownership to sign contracts, then it should not be too difficult to build a lounge and lavatories under the lobby (though expensive, of course). It may not be the very best of Rapp&Rapp’s designs, but it is probably the best preserved over all. Long live the JERSEY!
If I remember correctly though the lower level mens room in the Los Angeles theatre was huge, you could build a few multi-plex type cinemas in it. Each stall had it’s own sink right inside. In alot of the palaces it seems the balcony restrooms were usually the largest ones since the second floor not only had the balcony but also the huge lounge.
The palaces that I worked at or saw a movie in had downstairs restrooms and balcony restrooms also. When I think of it for the size of the main house in the Chinese (Hollywood), they only had one set of each. They had about 14 urinals and 4 stalls. The Loew’s State in Downtown Los Angeles was a large 2388 seat house. They had a small stairwell that went downstairs to a small restroom and also had a small restroom set in the balcony area. There must have been alot of traffic to the restrooms. But remember the concession stands had normal coke and soft drinks, not these large super tankers of today. I not know who’s the architect on the project.
William, thanks for your response. I saw the Jersey during the renovation. The tri-plex era partition walls had been removed. All the seats had been taken out for refurbishing (?) replacement(?).
Ben Hall mentions “an acre of seats in a garden of splendor.” This was more like an acre of scaffolds, ladders, organ parts and extension cords in a garden of somewhat seedy but still undeniable splendor.
My question about the restrooms is that the Jersey was built without a lower lounge. The ONLY restrooms were the single suite under the balcony. If memory serves, it was something like 16 stalls split equally between men and women. Apparently, in 1929 Loew’s thought the restroom traffic would be a continuous trickle (a-hem) rather than the sort of intermission flood we expect today.
I’m curious if extra facilities have been added: a huge expense and a difficult architectural problem. Who is the architect that’s working on this project?
Will
The organ came from the Loew’s Paradise Theatre in the Bronx. The Loew’s Jersey City Theatre Morton organ is installed in the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, California.
Remember Loew’s damaged the theatre when they tri-plexed it. So that would be why there is a problem with seats or missing seats.
My guess on the restrooms is those were the easiest ones to get open. So they could open the theatre. Like you said and I’ve seen have lower lounges with restrooms. The last time I was in the theatre the balcony was still closed the the public. So the lower lounge area might be the same thing. Because recently they were having trouble with the city for a long term lease. Without the security of that lease all their work might be lost. The mayor of the city vetoed recently a lease agreement with them. Now it was up to the councel to approve it. The mayor wanted to bring in another party to manage the project.
Current information about the Loew’s Jersey Wonder Morton theatre organ installation (and others) can be found at www.gstos.org/wonder.htm
There are some pictures showing the good progress being made by Garden State Theatre Organ Society volunteers.
To see a FREE live performance at the Loew’s Jersey, come on Sunday, May 23 at 3:00, when the Ridgewood Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company will present PATIENCE, OR BUNTHORNE’S BRIDE by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, fully staged with 23-piece orchestra. Admission is free to all, no tickets or reservations needed, with direct subway service from New York City via the PATH train to Journal Square Station. This will be the Ridgewood Company’s sixth visit to the Loew’s. The first was in November 2001, and was the first live opera or musical theater performance on that stage in over 50 years. Enjoy the magic of Gilbert & Sullivan in a spectacular house!
I got a tour of the magnificent Jersey while it was under renovation. There’s nothing like a movie palace – even seen at its absolute worst – unwired, unplumbed, undraped, unseated. But even in that sorry state the Loew’s Jersey deserves the title Wonder Theater. Rapp and Rapp at their best.
Three questions guys and girls:
(1) How has the Jersey overcome its SERIOUS lack of restrooms. As built it had no under-lobby lounge and only one men’s and one women’s under the balcony: WOEFULLY inadequate for modern requirements.
(2) One of the “Wonder Morton” theater organs had been found and was to be installed. Was this project completed?
(3) How did you get “Michael’s” comments removed from this page? What can I do to get his comments removed from others? His singleminded and repetitive comments really shouldn’t annoy me (or any of us) but jeez! they sure do.
Opera House? Recording studio!!!!Instead of just posting your idiotic comments MICHAEL why not read the excellent explanation just a few comments above on why this and many other movie palaces are not suitable for Opera or symphonic music. THEY HAVE BAD ACOUSTICS!!! You can overcome cramped conditions backstage but if the sound is bad what is the point?
Maybe you need to get out more, see an opera or music concert and appreciate what is needed for unamplified performance and stop the stupid comments.
Thanks Michael for reposting the same moronic comment 2 ½ months later. We didn’t care the first time.
THis theater must be saved. IT would be a key part in the revitilization of JErsey city
I live in NYC and travel often to the film series here (Forbidden Planet was UNBELIEVABLE). I’m shocked by how many movie buffs in the city know nothing about this theater or the films it shows. It is literally minutes from the West Village via the Path train. It hasn’t gotten the publicity I thought it would. Well, maybe it doesn’t need it—I see that this Saturday’s showing of “Bright Eyes” is already sold out! Anyway—no matter where you live, move heaven and earth to come visit this place…it is an astonishing theater.
Okay heres some self-promotion or “plugging” (as we say in showbiz):
I actually supply Boulevard Drinks at 48 Journal Square (a few doors to the left of the Loew’s Jersey) with their Orange, Lemon-Lime, Lemonade, Grape, Fruit Punch, Pina Colada drinks. I recommend all of you enjoying a nice hotdog here and washing it down with one of my delicious beverages. Spiro is a good guy and a great customer…buys a lot from me too and I appreciate that in these strained economic times!
Seriously though nothing can be better than watching a cinema classic at the Loews Jersey and then walking about 10 feet away and enjoying a hot dog and a drink.I have done it plenty of times myself and enjoyed it each time.
Interesting idea but have you ever noticed that the kind of films that make for a Sundance festival(and there is the Tribeca) would look very out of place in a movie palace which is one of the reasons they came tumbling down at an accelerated rate in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Movie palaces were made for the overblown extravagant Hollywood product of the 20’s and 30’s and they make the perfect framework for those epics. Otherwise your listening to chamber music in the Metropolitan Opera House.
I doubt you’ll ever see a road company of PHANTOM here… The Jersey Loew’s currently has a movie series and a number of smaller live performances – an appropriate combination these days for a theater of this size. There are a variety of seasonal events that appeal to kids & adults, making the theater a nice addition to the community above and beyond being a movie theater.
The last thing an opera company would want is a movie theater with movie theater acoustics – this ain’t the place for major concerts. It’s way too boomy – it’s even a little bouncy for movies.
More good news… I doubt the theater would ever be modified for large scale live performances because the stage (although sizable for a movie theater) is limited and would hardly be a good candidate for the touring shows of today. Unlike many movie theaters which have been demolished from the proscenium back for a modern theater structure, this theater just can’t expand – there’s no place for it to go and the small loading dock is too awkwardly placed for loading shows in and out. These challenges will probably keep the theater from ever being used for purposes other than film and small scale live presentations.
What I would love to see is a film series not unlike Sundance become a part of this theater’s life – something that will bring people from all over the region to enjoy this great space and give it the attention it deserves. The potential for this theater is tremendous – the location is great, it’s near public transit for Manhattanites and (oh, yeah) it’s BEAUTIFUL.
Who is this Micheal person that keeps asking if every theater can be turned into a symphony hall or opera house? The site is called CINEMA TREASURES for the preservations of theaters for showing MOVIES. If you’ve got nothing else to say, stop adding the same comment on every theater page.
No, Michael, it would not. It would be a tragedy to waste a beautiful movie theatre such as this on concerts. It needs to remain a cinema.
The Jersey Theatre opened on September 28, 1929. The Italian baroque movie palace seated 3,200 and was designed by Rapp and Rapp. Atop the Jersey’s exterior clock tower was a life-sized sculpture of St. George who slayed a sculptural dragon every Quarter-hour. Loews closed the Jersey Theatre in August 1986.
This was the Movie house I grew up with. As great as the site is, the pictures do NOT do it justice. This place had a very unique look to it, a golden, glittery look full of intricate details and textures. The Lobby was simply majestic; you could (and in the old days did) have a full blown concert in the lobby.
I am unsure if this is accurate, but if you see Sleepers, supposedly the “kings” theatre which one of the drug dealers holds court is really the Loews Jersey. I am unsure if this is true, but the red velvet in the lobby sure does look like it.
Oscar Glas was my grandfather. Try researching “Belgian Art Studio” Bronx NY and Toronto. He retired to Ghent Belgium in 1958. Student of art academy at St. Martens-Latem near Ghent.