Hey, I was part of that rough crowd in the 80s! Actually I was a college student at Rutgers and this was the closest theater to the campus. We did find it a little rough around the edges, but it was closer & cheaper than the mall.
Interesting fact Peter. Check out this article, which talks about a Ramapo Theater at this location that burned down in 1994 and was then part of an insurance scam:
Vacant from 1976-1986 at which time it was renovated and used as a community center. Closed in 2001 because of water damage. Opened in 2003 as a playhouse.
Extracted from this article:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET
Intimate. Cozy. They’re words to describe what’s waiting inside the Chatham Cinema.
Sandwiched in the Hickory Tree Shopping Center, the movie house and its marquee are almost indistinguishable from surrounding shops and eateries. But that doesn’t stop patrons from swarming in. It’s a real find for moviegoers who are interested in art films.
The 250-seat theater has been owned and operated by Bob Roberts for the last 20 years. A New Yorker, he also owns the Lost Picture Show in Union (see above), the Brook Theatre in Bound Brook and the Wellmont in Montclair.
“We cater to a more sophisticated audience that appreciates the intimacy of a small, single-screen theater,” Roberts says. “People come to us from all over because they can’t find the kinds of films we run in the average theaters.”
His taste gravitates to offbeat, independent foreign products like “The English Patient.” “It’s taken a long time but more people have come to appreciate first-rate art films like this one,” he adds.
After entering the lobby, patrons can linger in an art gallery filled with works provided by such establishments as Affairs of the Palate/Palette, an art gallery and dessert cafe in New Brunswick.
Coffee lovers are treated to a free cup of their favorite brew and the concession stand offers the usual fare of popcorn, sodas and candy.
“This is almost like family rather than a business,” says Chris Smith of Bloomfield, the theater’s manager. “And we want people to feel like they’re part of it.”
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET)
The Galaxy Movie Theatre, 7000 Boulevard East Guttenberg (201) 854-6540
By Carrie Stetler
At first glance, the Galaxy Movie Theatre in Guttenberg could pass for a multiplex. It has three screens and it’s located in a towering mall and condominium complex.
But no multiplex would show a Disney release, a foreign film and a silent movie all on the same night. And no multiplex has a 1927 Kimball pipe organ in one theater and a Moller organ in the lobby. But what really makes it different from a multiplex is that tickets are only $4 to any show.
Once you step inside the Galaxy’s red-carpeted lobby, decorated with mirrors, chandeliers and old B-movie posters, you feel as if you’re in an old moviehouse that’s been remodeled. But the Galaxy opened 15 years ago – though back then, it only had one screen. In 1990, after it was put under new management, the one screen was subdivided into three. The largest theater at the Galaxy, owned by Nelson Page, has 250 seats. Two smaller ones have 100 seats each.
The Galaxy shows a mix of “intermediate run” movies, meaning films that have opened elsewhere a few weeks earlier, art house pictures and restorations of older films. Each year, it shows silent films once a month, beginning in April and ending with a Halloween screening of “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Music for the silent films is supplied by organist Jeff Barker, who plays the Kimball before the 7 and 9 p.m. shows on the weekend and the Moller on Sundays before the matinees.
Parking, on the seventh floor of the condominium garage, is free.
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET)
United Artists Rialto Theater 250 E. Broad St. Westfield (908) 232-1288
By Jenifer Braun
Westfield, although very close to several of New Jersey’s major metropolises, is a town that maintains more than a little of its Rockwell-esque charm. It has an active downtown where people can be seen strolling about even after dark, and a “50s-style neon sign still lights up the Westfield Drug Store.
There’s a little park and a white-spired church, and despite rumors to the contrary, Westfield still boasts a small movie theater, the Rialto.
The Rialto was almost closed down this winter, when United Artists attempted to sell the three-screen theater as retail space. Thanks in part to the outrage of Westfield residents, who formed a “Save the Rialto” committee and threatened to boycott any store that took the theater’s place, the movie house is now just going to change hands rather than close.
It will be renovated, but for right now the theater is open as its old self.
The Rialto has stood in this spot since 1922, although it has been renovated since then. The most notable reminder of its former, one-screen glory is the upstairs screening room, which used to be the balcony. Between the seats and the screen there’s a long, shallow depression, the “ceiling” of the two theaters below that connects the balcony seats to the back wall. It’s painted black, and with the lights out the effect is something like peering at a movie screen over the edge of a bottomless pit.
Aside from that incongruity, the Rialto reeks of neighborhoodliness. If you find a trip to the regional multiplex as traumatizing as a whirl through JFK Airport, the Rialto should be balm to your soul. It is never loud and crowded with troupes of teens, nor does it boast the sophistication and cappuccino counters of an art- house theater. Just Junior Mints, and young couples snuggling throughout “The English Patient,” thank you very much.
The actual screening rooms have the feel of a basement rec room, the rubbery smell of industrial-strength carpet mingling with the popcorn. The seats are just seats – none of those rocking-chair, attached-cup-holder models.
All of this is likely to change with the renovations slated for this spring, but at least the theater will remain. Westfield will keep its idyllic little downtown intact, and we can all go there and visit whenever we get attacks of future shock.
extracted from this article:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET)
Beach Cinema 110 Main St. Bradley Beach (908) 774-9089
By Bette Spero
Beach Cinema in Bradley Beach lights up Main Street like a beacon. On one Monday – Date Night, when two patrons are admitted for the price of one – “Jerry Maguire” drew an SRO crowd to the 500-seat theater.
“We had to turn people away,” says Mary Mazza, the box office cashier for more than 10 years. She’s used to folks showing up an hour early just to get seats.
Here’s the quintessential cheap but cozy date for movie buffs: movie (for two), $3.50; popcorn, $2 or $3 (extra butter 25 cents), and free parking. The price is right – $3.50 evenings ($3 senior citizens), $2.50 matinees. But owner and manager John Esposito says money isn’t everything. “People like the flavor of the place,” he notes.
Doorman Ken Patterson unobtrusively stands watch at the auditorium entrance, his post for the past 13 years, and has seen a lot of movies in his time. “Too many times,” quips assistant manager Walter Wilson.
All the employees, dressed in black and white uniforms, comprise a compact, competent team when assisting moviegoers. “We’re like a small family here,” remarks Mazza.
Only the low-key Wilson stands out from the crowd by wearing a bright blue sweater. The 31-year-old assistant manager began working at Beach Cinema when he was 14, so he’s seen a lot of flicks, too. Whenever Wilson is asked how business is going, he’s likely to retort, “Depends on the movie!”
Esposito, who lives in Bradley Beach near his cinema, also broke into the movie business at a young age. While a high school student in 1969, he ushered at the Baronet in Long Branch, his hometown. Esposito spent much of his career working for Walter Reade, who owned a chain of movie theaters in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Beach Cinema was one of them, but then it was called the Palace – a stark boxy structure that hardly epitomized its name.
The setting today is simple, cozy despite its spacious capacity. Informality pervades the place.
Last month Esposito celebrated his 20th year running Beach Cinema – his name choice. Along the way, he has spruced up the place, which evokes an old-fashioned Shore charm reminiscent of summer vacations 40 or 50 years ago. Sandy feet in the aisles is de rigueur.
It’s the only full-time, single screen movie house left in Monmouth County, Esposito points out proudly, and it’s open year-round every day but Christmas Eve.
extracted from this article:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET)
The Atlantic Triplex 82 First Ave. Atlantic Highlands (908) 291-0148
By Bette Spero
July 1, 1961 – Len Edwards remembers the date as if it were on the cornerstone of his Atlantic Triplex in Atlantic Highlands. But that would read 1912, when the brick-fronted building was a garage. By the time Edwards came along a half-century later, the edifice had become the town’s entertainment center.
When he bought it on that summer afternoon in “61, the Atlantic was a single theater with 335 seats. Now there are three screens and spaces seating 300, 150 and 100 persons, for a total capacity of 550.
The Atlantic has sustained itself the past 35 years. Business is good, and Edwards improves the property regularly. Its stucco facade and bold marquee are a focal point on First Avenue, the Shore town’s main street.
Good box office deals abound. The cost is $5.50 for adults and $3.50 for kids, senior citizens and members of the military. On Mondays and Wednesdays, “date nights,” two are admitted for the price of one. Memphis Pig Out down the street, catering to the chicken and ribs crowd, has a “Movie Meal Deal” Mondays: Buy dinner and get two free movie tickets.
Edwards lives in town and spends a lot of time at the theater, which is staffed by 10 employees, including manager Robert Cavallo, who oversees the day-to-day operations. Edwards, a Rhode Island native, has been hanging around movie theaters since he was a 12-year-old assistant usher at the Strand Theater in Newport.
He hardly ever watches the movies, but he enjoys mingling with the folks who do. “All my life I’ve been in this business. I love it,” he declares. “It’s a life of pleasure. You meet such nice people.”
This article talks about reopening the theater back in 1998.
Are you sure it burned down or perhaps this article was talking about the Caldwell theater.
The Record (Bergen County, NJ), Jan 22, 1998 pB3
CLEARVIEW BUYING MILLBURN CINEMAS. (BUSINESS)(NEW JERSEY REPORT)
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1998 Bergen Record Corp.
CHATHAM – Clearview Cinema Group Inc. announced Wednesday that it has agreed to buy the Millburn Cinemas, 350 Millburn Ave., Millburn, in Essex County. The twin theater has been operated by Toronto-based Cineplex Odeon. Clearview expects to begin operating the theater on Jan. 30. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The Record (Bergen County, NJ), June 5, 2002 pL02
Beloved theater slowly dissolves; Paterson’s Plaza being demolished. (LOCAL NEWS) Scott Fallon.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2002 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Byline: SCOTT FALLON, STAFF WRITER
PATERSON
In about two weeks, the only remnant of the old Plaza Theater on Union Avenue will be a strange-looking, 4-foot piece of decorative porcelain that once adorned the theater’s art-deco exterior.
Built in the early 1920s and the host to generations of moviegoers before closing more than a decade ago, The Plaza is slowly being demolished to make way for an auto-parts store. Little was left of the theater even before the wrecking ball took aim. It was gutted years ago after the theater was turned into apartments and a fast-food joint.
But two brothers, who own the property and are demolishing it themselves, recently unearthed the porcelain piece under a granite facade that had been put over the original exterior. The piece has gold vases and harps carved out of a blue background.
“We have no idea what we have here,” said Anthony Lucci, who runs ALucci Development with his brother Marco. “But everybody who passes by asks us how much we’re selling it for. So we thought this could be a great auction item.”
They want to sell the piece to resurrect their old Boy Scout troop. Twenty years ago, when the Luccis were Scouts, Troop 39 had a fairly active membership. But like the Plaza, the troop has been defunct for years.
“The kids in this city don’t have the same opportunities we had,” said Anthony Lucci, who still lives in Paterson. “They should. ”
The Plaza certainly has sentimental value for scores of current and former Patersonians. During most of the 1950s, The Plaza was one of 11 movie theaters in Paterson, which today has none. The Plaza was a magnet for the residents of Paterson’s Hillcrest and Totowa neighborhoods.
“As a kid, my mom would give me money on Saturdays and my brother and I would see matinees,” said Ed Smyk, the Passaic County historian. “You didn’t have to go downtown to see a movie. It was a neighborhood theater.
“The monuments of my boyhood are vanishing,” he said.
Longtime city resident Tom Evans remembers when the theater would have weekly “Dish Nights” when the owner would give out a piece of dinnerware to every moviegoer to drum up business on slow nights. “Some people would have a whole set,” said Evans, 64.
The demolition will end up costing the Luccis very little. The roof of The Plaza was made of chestnut wood, which is hard to find these days. The brothers are recycling the wood and selling it along with all the scrap metal.
During the demolition, old-timers have come up to the Luccis just to talk about their memories of the movie house.
“We’ve been out here for a few months and we have so many people telling us, ‘When I was a kid, do you know how many movies I saw here?’ ” Marco Lucci said. “We have old men coming up to us saying they met their wife here. Some of them take a brick back home as a memento.”
CAPTION(S):
2 PHOTOS – ELLIE MARKOVITCH/SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
1 – Eugene Clay, above, moving art-deco stones found in the Plaza Theater in Paterson, which is being demolished to make way for an auto-parts store.
2 – Below, the theater building being torn down. The early-1920s building was altered years ago to accommodate apartments and a restaurant.
Thanks LM. By the way, I believe that the FDY address is incorrect. This theater is/was most likely located on S. Olden Avenue, a major street in Trenton.
This was a Walter Reade theater.
Hey, I was part of that rough crowd in the 80s! Actually I was a college student at Rutgers and this was the closest theater to the campus. We did find it a little rough around the edges, but it was closer & cheaper than the mall.
Interesting fact Peter. Check out this article, which talks about a Ramapo Theater at this location that burned down in 1994 and was then part of an insurance scam:
View link
Owned by the father-son team of Spiros and Stefan Papas as of 4/9/98.
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), April 9, 1998 p045
Owned by the father-son team of Spiros and Stefan Papas as of 4/9/98.
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), April 9, 1998 p045
Built in 1926. Purchased by Spiros and Stefan Papas from Odeon in 1998:
View link
Here is an article about the reopening in 1999.
Closed in 1998.
Article regarding the approval for demolition here.
Vacant from 1976-1986 at which time it was renovated and used as a community center. Closed in 2001 because of water damage. Opened in 2003 as a playhouse.
View link
Demolished in May 2004.
Extracted from this article:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET
Chatham Cinema 641 Shunpike Road Chatham Township (201) 822-1550
By Michele Howe
Intimate. Cozy. They’re words to describe what’s waiting inside the Chatham Cinema.
Sandwiched in the Hickory Tree Shopping Center, the movie house and its marquee are almost indistinguishable from surrounding shops and eateries. But that doesn’t stop patrons from swarming in. It’s a real find for moviegoers who are interested in art films.
The 250-seat theater has been owned and operated by Bob Roberts for the last 20 years. A New Yorker, he also owns the Lost Picture Show in Union (see above), the Brook Theatre in Bound Brook and the Wellmont in Montclair.
“We cater to a more sophisticated audience that appreciates the intimacy of a small, single-screen theater,” Roberts says. “People come to us from all over because they can’t find the kinds of films we run in the average theaters.”
His taste gravitates to offbeat, independent foreign products like “The English Patient.” “It’s taken a long time but more people have come to appreciate first-rate art films like this one,” he adds.
After entering the lobby, patrons can linger in an art gallery filled with works provided by such establishments as Affairs of the Palate/Palette, an art gallery and dessert cafe in New Brunswick.
Coffee lovers are treated to a free cup of their favorite brew and the concession stand offers the usual fare of popcorn, sodas and candy.
“This is almost like family rather than a business,” says Chris Smith of Bloomfield, the theater’s manager. “And we want people to feel like they’re part of it.”
Extracted from this article:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET)
The Galaxy Movie Theatre, 7000 Boulevard East Guttenberg (201) 854-6540
By Carrie Stetler
At first glance, the Galaxy Movie Theatre in Guttenberg could pass for a multiplex. It has three screens and it’s located in a towering mall and condominium complex.
But no multiplex would show a Disney release, a foreign film and a silent movie all on the same night. And no multiplex has a 1927 Kimball pipe organ in one theater and a Moller organ in the lobby. But what really makes it different from a multiplex is that tickets are only $4 to any show.
Once you step inside the Galaxy’s red-carpeted lobby, decorated with mirrors, chandeliers and old B-movie posters, you feel as if you’re in an old moviehouse that’s been remodeled. But the Galaxy opened 15 years ago – though back then, it only had one screen. In 1990, after it was put under new management, the one screen was subdivided into three. The largest theater at the Galaxy, owned by Nelson Page, has 250 seats. Two smaller ones have 100 seats each.
The Galaxy shows a mix of “intermediate run” movies, meaning films that have opened elsewhere a few weeks earlier, art house pictures and restorations of older films. Each year, it shows silent films once a month, beginning in April and ending with a Halloween screening of “The Phantom of the Opera.”
Music for the silent films is supplied by organist Jeff Barker, who plays the Kimball before the 7 and 9 p.m. shows on the weekend and the Moller on Sundays before the matinees.
Parking, on the seventh floor of the condominium garage, is free.
Extracted from this article:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET)
United Artists Rialto Theater 250 E. Broad St. Westfield (908) 232-1288
By Jenifer Braun
Westfield, although very close to several of New Jersey’s major metropolises, is a town that maintains more than a little of its Rockwell-esque charm. It has an active downtown where people can be seen strolling about even after dark, and a “50s-style neon sign still lights up the Westfield Drug Store.
There’s a little park and a white-spired church, and despite rumors to the contrary, Westfield still boasts a small movie theater, the Rialto.
The Rialto was almost closed down this winter, when United Artists attempted to sell the three-screen theater as retail space. Thanks in part to the outrage of Westfield residents, who formed a “Save the Rialto” committee and threatened to boycott any store that took the theater’s place, the movie house is now just going to change hands rather than close.
It will be renovated, but for right now the theater is open as its old self.
The Rialto has stood in this spot since 1922, although it has been renovated since then. The most notable reminder of its former, one-screen glory is the upstairs screening room, which used to be the balcony. Between the seats and the screen there’s a long, shallow depression, the “ceiling” of the two theaters below that connects the balcony seats to the back wall. It’s painted black, and with the lights out the effect is something like peering at a movie screen over the edge of a bottomless pit.
Aside from that incongruity, the Rialto reeks of neighborhoodliness. If you find a trip to the regional multiplex as traumatizing as a whirl through JFK Airport, the Rialto should be balm to your soul. It is never loud and crowded with troupes of teens, nor does it boast the sophistication and cappuccino counters of an art- house theater. Just Junior Mints, and young couples snuggling throughout “The English Patient,” thank you very much.
The actual screening rooms have the feel of a basement rec room, the rubbery smell of industrial-strength carpet mingling with the popcorn. The seats are just seats – none of those rocking-chair, attached-cup-holder models.
All of this is likely to change with the renovations slated for this spring, but at least the theater will remain. Westfield will keep its idyllic little downtown intact, and we can all go there and visit whenever we get attacks of future shock.
extracted from this article:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET)
Beach Cinema 110 Main St. Bradley Beach (908) 774-9089
By Bette Spero
Beach Cinema in Bradley Beach lights up Main Street like a beacon. On one Monday – Date Night, when two patrons are admitted for the price of one – “Jerry Maguire” drew an SRO crowd to the 500-seat theater.
“We had to turn people away,” says Mary Mazza, the box office cashier for more than 10 years. She’s used to folks showing up an hour early just to get seats.
Here’s the quintessential cheap but cozy date for movie buffs: movie (for two), $3.50; popcorn, $2 or $3 (extra butter 25 cents), and free parking. The price is right – $3.50 evenings ($3 senior citizens), $2.50 matinees. But owner and manager John Esposito says money isn’t everything. “People like the flavor of the place,” he notes.
Doorman Ken Patterson unobtrusively stands watch at the auditorium entrance, his post for the past 13 years, and has seen a lot of movies in his time. “Too many times,” quips assistant manager Walter Wilson.
All the employees, dressed in black and white uniforms, comprise a compact, competent team when assisting moviegoers. “We’re like a small family here,” remarks Mazza.
Only the low-key Wilson stands out from the crowd by wearing a bright blue sweater. The 31-year-old assistant manager began working at Beach Cinema when he was 14, so he’s seen a lot of flicks, too. Whenever Wilson is asked how business is going, he’s likely to retort, “Depends on the movie!”
Esposito, who lives in Bradley Beach near his cinema, also broke into the movie business at a young age. While a high school student in 1969, he ushered at the Baronet in Long Branch, his hometown. Esposito spent much of his career working for Walter Reade, who owned a chain of movie theaters in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Beach Cinema was one of them, but then it was called the Palace – a stark boxy structure that hardly epitomized its name.
The setting today is simple, cozy despite its spacious capacity. Informality pervades the place.
Last month Esposito celebrated his 20th year running Beach Cinema – his name choice. Along the way, he has spruced up the place, which evokes an old-fashioned Shore charm reminiscent of summer vacations 40 or 50 years ago. Sandy feet in the aisles is de rigueur.
It’s the only full-time, single screen movie house left in Monmouth County, Esposito points out proudly, and it’s open year-round every day but Christmas Eve.
extracted from this article:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Feb 28, 1997 p018
Theater goes the neighborhood; As movie multiplexes become megaplexes, it’s nice to know the Bijou is just around the corner. (TICKET)
The Atlantic Triplex 82 First Ave. Atlantic Highlands (908) 291-0148
By Bette Spero
July 1, 1961 – Len Edwards remembers the date as if it were on the cornerstone of his Atlantic Triplex in Atlantic Highlands. But that would read 1912, when the brick-fronted building was a garage. By the time Edwards came along a half-century later, the edifice had become the town’s entertainment center.
When he bought it on that summer afternoon in “61, the Atlantic was a single theater with 335 seats. Now there are three screens and spaces seating 300, 150 and 100 persons, for a total capacity of 550.
The Atlantic has sustained itself the past 35 years. Business is good, and Edwards improves the property regularly. Its stucco facade and bold marquee are a focal point on First Avenue, the Shore town’s main street.
Good box office deals abound. The cost is $5.50 for adults and $3.50 for kids, senior citizens and members of the military. On Mondays and Wednesdays, “date nights,” two are admitted for the price of one. Memphis Pig Out down the street, catering to the chicken and ribs crowd, has a “Movie Meal Deal” Mondays: Buy dinner and get two free movie tickets.
Edwards lives in town and spends a lot of time at the theater, which is staffed by 10 employees, including manager Robert Cavallo, who oversees the day-to-day operations. Edwards, a Rhode Island native, has been hanging around movie theaters since he was a 12-year-old assistant usher at the Strand Theater in Newport.
He hardly ever watches the movies, but he enjoys mingling with the folks who do. “All my life I’ve been in this business. I love it,” he declares. “It’s a life of pleasure. You meet such nice people.”
Clearview bought this cinema in 1997 from Jesse Sayegh of Cedar Grove.
Joe:
This article talks about reopening the theater back in 1998.
Are you sure it burned down or perhaps this article was talking about the Caldwell theater.
The Record (Bergen County, NJ), Jan 22, 1998 pB3
CLEARVIEW BUYING MILLBURN CINEMAS. (BUSINESS)(NEW JERSEY REPORT)
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1998 Bergen Record Corp.
CHATHAM – Clearview Cinema Group Inc. announced Wednesday that it has agreed to buy the Millburn Cinemas, 350 Millburn Ave., Millburn, in Essex County. The twin theater has been operated by Toronto-based Cineplex Odeon. Clearview expects to begin operating the theater on Jan. 30. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Article CJ70626133
This article details some of the recent renovations by the church, who purchased the building in 1989 and began services in it in 1992.
Opened in February 1926 and demolished in 2000.
View link
The Record (Bergen County, NJ), June 5, 2002 pL02
Beloved theater slowly dissolves; Paterson’s Plaza being demolished. (LOCAL NEWS) Scott Fallon.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2002 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Byline: SCOTT FALLON, STAFF WRITER
PATERSON
In about two weeks, the only remnant of the old Plaza Theater on Union Avenue will be a strange-looking, 4-foot piece of decorative porcelain that once adorned the theater’s art-deco exterior.
Built in the early 1920s and the host to generations of moviegoers before closing more than a decade ago, The Plaza is slowly being demolished to make way for an auto-parts store. Little was left of the theater even before the wrecking ball took aim. It was gutted years ago after the theater was turned into apartments and a fast-food joint.
But two brothers, who own the property and are demolishing it themselves, recently unearthed the porcelain piece under a granite facade that had been put over the original exterior. The piece has gold vases and harps carved out of a blue background.
“We have no idea what we have here,” said Anthony Lucci, who runs ALucci Development with his brother Marco. “But everybody who passes by asks us how much we’re selling it for. So we thought this could be a great auction item.”
They want to sell the piece to resurrect their old Boy Scout troop. Twenty years ago, when the Luccis were Scouts, Troop 39 had a fairly active membership. But like the Plaza, the troop has been defunct for years.
“The kids in this city don’t have the same opportunities we had,” said Anthony Lucci, who still lives in Paterson. “They should. ”
The Plaza certainly has sentimental value for scores of current and former Patersonians. During most of the 1950s, The Plaza was one of 11 movie theaters in Paterson, which today has none. The Plaza was a magnet for the residents of Paterson’s Hillcrest and Totowa neighborhoods.
“As a kid, my mom would give me money on Saturdays and my brother and I would see matinees,” said Ed Smyk, the Passaic County historian. “You didn’t have to go downtown to see a movie. It was a neighborhood theater.
“The monuments of my boyhood are vanishing,” he said.
Longtime city resident Tom Evans remembers when the theater would have weekly “Dish Nights” when the owner would give out a piece of dinnerware to every moviegoer to drum up business on slow nights. “Some people would have a whole set,” said Evans, 64.
The demolition will end up costing the Luccis very little. The roof of The Plaza was made of chestnut wood, which is hard to find these days. The brothers are recycling the wood and selling it along with all the scrap metal.
During the demolition, old-timers have come up to the Luccis just to talk about their memories of the movie house.
“We’ve been out here for a few months and we have so many people telling us, ‘When I was a kid, do you know how many movies I saw here?’ ” Marco Lucci said. “We have old men coming up to us saying they met their wife here. Some of them take a brick back home as a memento.”
CAPTION(S):
2 PHOTOS – ELLIE MARKOVITCH/SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
1 – Eugene Clay, above, moving art-deco stones found in the Plaza Theater in Paterson, which is being demolished to make way for an auto-parts store.
2 – Below, the theater building being torn down. The early-1920s building was altered years ago to accommodate apartments and a restaurant.
Article CJ86741175
Still open as of 1979, playing American & Spanish movies. Previosly played Italian movies.
See/listen to the attached link:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
type Plaza Paterson in the search box and then click on “There was a lot of Italian tradition in the city.”
Thanks LM. By the way, I believe that the FDY address is incorrect. This theater is/was most likely located on S. Olden Avenue, a major street in Trenton.
Not listed in the 1951 FDY; one can assume it was no longer operating as a theater by that year.