I took these pix yesterday … I don’t know how far this demolition is going but clearly the theater is gone … maybe the Hotel will be saved? Who knows? Well, I hope you enjoy these pictures … I did not know that a Droid camera was this good!
Bob I have a question for you. I remember a store downtown from when I was a young child. I dont remember the name of the store but its logo was a neon marching toy soldier, perhaps holding a bass drum. As the neon would switch on and off the legs etc would seem to move. It was up high but then I was very small. It is etched in my mind but I can’t identify it. Can you? I think it was near where the McDonalds is now.
I would have to agree with Bob. This is unlike that theater in Massachusetts where James Taylor gave a concert. That one was amazingly ornate and beautifull inside and out, restored and saved by the townspeople from the wrecking ball at their own expense. As beautiful as our theater might be inside, and regardless of the many memories we all have, it is just another building on the outside. And the people who now reside in Passaic for the most part do not have any nostalgic memories because they are new to this country. Bob is right; at night Passaic becomes a sort of police state. There will likely never be a restoration of what once was a truly great little city because its present inhabitants have no ties to the past and are very busy making a living and feeding their families.
So it was the Central Theater after all? Ain’t that a kick in the head! Well the years do take their toll on one and so I will take your word for it. So now that wonderful art-deco lounge only exists in the memory of those lucky enough to have been there. I wonder if any pictures exist? Now THAT would be a thing I’d love to see. Anyway, thanks for setting me straight Bob!
I remember the Montauk well. I grew up in Garfield, a small city just across the river from Passaic. As young teens almost every Saturday in the early 60’s we would grab the bus to Passaic and spend the day at one of the several movie houses that populated Main Street, depending on what movie was playing where. All for about thirty-five cents. The Montauk was always my favorite. The theater itself was ornate (I found out later it was done up un Art-Deco, which I had no knowledge of as a kid) and we always had plenty of room in the spacious theater. No one, and I repeat this, NO ONE ever bothered us there. Not the employees and not the rest of the people in the theater. Everyone seemed quite pleased to see us having fun of a Saturday afternoon. Downstairs was an amazing lobby done up extremely ornately with amazingly exotic sofas and carpets and this massive television in the middle of an awesome piece of, very probably, hand-crafted entertainment center. We were allowed to spend the entire day there watching the movies, cartoons included, as many times as we liked. We hung out, smoked cigarettes, and strutted our silly adolescent masculinity. The people who worked there seemed to understand and, unless we got really rowdy, never bothered us at all. Even the cleaning lady knew us all by name! It is a great memory for me.
I am a born and raised Garfield boy of Italian descent. I used to know a Larry Luterzo … any relation? I’d love to see a photo of the Ritz when it was open … If you’d like, my email is ; Id love to hear from you.
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I took these pix yesterday … I don’t know how far this demolition is going but clearly the theater is gone … maybe the Hotel will be saved? Who knows? Well, I hope you enjoy these pictures … I did not know that a Droid camera was this good!
Goodbye Montauk theater …
Bob I have a question for you. I remember a store downtown from when I was a young child. I dont remember the name of the store but its logo was a neon marching toy soldier, perhaps holding a bass drum. As the neon would switch on and off the legs etc would seem to move. It was up high but then I was very small. It is etched in my mind but I can’t identify it. Can you? I think it was near where the McDonalds is now.
I would have to agree with Bob. This is unlike that theater in Massachusetts where James Taylor gave a concert. That one was amazingly ornate and beautifull inside and out, restored and saved by the townspeople from the wrecking ball at their own expense. As beautiful as our theater might be inside, and regardless of the many memories we all have, it is just another building on the outside. And the people who now reside in Passaic for the most part do not have any nostalgic memories because they are new to this country. Bob is right; at night Passaic becomes a sort of police state. There will likely never be a restoration of what once was a truly great little city because its present inhabitants have no ties to the past and are very busy making a living and feeding their families.
So it was the Central Theater after all? Ain’t that a kick in the head! Well the years do take their toll on one and so I will take your word for it. So now that wonderful art-deco lounge only exists in the memory of those lucky enough to have been there. I wonder if any pictures exist? Now THAT would be a thing I’d love to see. Anyway, thanks for setting me straight Bob!
I remember the Montauk well. I grew up in Garfield, a small city just across the river from Passaic. As young teens almost every Saturday in the early 60’s we would grab the bus to Passaic and spend the day at one of the several movie houses that populated Main Street, depending on what movie was playing where. All for about thirty-five cents. The Montauk was always my favorite. The theater itself was ornate (I found out later it was done up un Art-Deco, which I had no knowledge of as a kid) and we always had plenty of room in the spacious theater. No one, and I repeat this, NO ONE ever bothered us there. Not the employees and not the rest of the people in the theater. Everyone seemed quite pleased to see us having fun of a Saturday afternoon. Downstairs was an amazing lobby done up extremely ornately with amazingly exotic sofas and carpets and this massive television in the middle of an awesome piece of, very probably, hand-crafted entertainment center. We were allowed to spend the entire day there watching the movies, cartoons included, as many times as we liked. We hung out, smoked cigarettes, and strutted our silly adolescent masculinity. The people who worked there seemed to understand and, unless we got really rowdy, never bothered us at all. Even the cleaning lady knew us all by name! It is a great memory for me.
I am a born and raised Garfield boy of Italian descent. I used to know a Larry Luterzo … any relation? I’d love to see a photo of the Ritz when it was open … If you’d like, my email is ; Id love to hear from you.