originally built inside the mall as a four screen house, the Little Cinemas never were profitable.Two of the screens were converted for retail after about a year of operation in the late ‘70s and the remaining two screens met the same fate the following year.
cinema III still exists as the Clearview Red Bank and is located at 36 White Street. it operates as a twin cinema with an art house policy. The building at 58 Broad St was called the Broad Street Cinema. It only operated for a couple of years in the ‘90s playing a hodgepodge of revivals and second run . The place seated only about 100, and projection was in 16mm. The Broad Street never caught on and has been converted back to retail use.
Sometime around 1961=2 the Fine Arts was severely damaged by a firebomb placed in the auditorium. A salvage company was allowed in to retrieve equipment from the projection booth and the rest of the structure was demolished within a couple of days. It would seem that even the innocuous fare like the Coppola pic was unnacceptable to at least one intolerant person!
good news for the Baronet, at least for the time being…the theater is now officially open for business with a discount price policy, and a few mini concertrs have been booked for the venue as well. Let’s all hope that there is enough public response to keep the Baronet going and save it from “mondo condo”
there was a Park theater operating at that location at least into the early seventies. It was operated by Redstone/General Amusements and most likely closed due to the economic turndown in Newark following the infamous riots.
The Park along with the Colony in Livingston, was originally owned and operated by the Prudential Insurance Company. The Park lost its first suburban run status with the advent of the mall multiplexes in the seventies, and then-owner Dick Nathan tried a revival house policy and was successful for quite a few years. The unfortunate fire happened when a work crew left an exposed wire on a backstage electrical panel, putting a sad end to oneof my favorite Saturday night date places.
The Ampere was s small, intimate therter… difficult to find as its entrance was off on a side street, and the theater had no marquee to give it identity. Last I kew, the building housed a fraternal orginaztio s like the elks or some such.
In its final days the Palace was, indeed, somewhat twinned in that they simply enclosed some of the rear orchestra seats and showed pron movies alog side he regular run stuff on the big screen. An interesting footnote… the Palace auditorium was bisected by the city line between Orange and East Orange, and prior to repeal of some of the old Sunday Blue Laws, the left side of the auditorium had to be roped off on Sundays, as East Orange forbade the showing of movies on Sunday and all seating had to be within the Orange city limits!
the elwood served for a few years in the mid-sixties as the mid-atlantic zone headquarters for General Cinema Corporation. When that lease expired, GCC moved its offices to the Palace in Orange. The Elwood became a Spanish language theater in the early seventies, operated by Dick Nathan. I don’t know the current status of the Elwood.
In the late sixties a new facade was put on the building, and the theater’s name was changed to the Guild. The Guild operated for several years with old battle films, westerns, horror movies and the like, often repeating bookings of given pictures as little as a few weeks apart. By the mid seventies the prints of most of these pix were wearing out and not being reserviced, and the Guild began running out of product to play. A middling renovation of the theater and policy switch to first run films failed to find local support, and the Guild closed in 1976. The space now serves as a clothing store.
This was not the Cameo that operated as a porn house… that was the former Treat theater on Orange Street. The Cameo on Elizabeth Ave. spent several years as a Spanish language theater under the name Teatro Caribe. In the mid seventies changing demographics caused then-owner Dick Nathan to move the Spanish operation across town to the Elwood theater on Broadway.
The theater was originally a free standing building, and shops and offices were added on both sides and above enveloping the original structure. The marquee was removed in the 80’s, but the massive glass entry doors still exist. A redevelopment plan for downtown Asbury Park currently includes plans for a complete restoration of the Savoy.
Hi, Richard! You may be looking for the Paramount Theatre in Long Branch. It was operated by the Walter Reade Organization, and now houses Siperstein’s Paints. The auditorium is still pretty much intact,however minus the seats, and is used primaily as a warehouse. The lobbies house Siperstein’s retail operation. The owners of Sipersteins have recently announced that they are interested in restoring the Paramount and would welcome outside input.Hope this helps!
This was my second home-away-from home…the rococco decor seemed an embarrassment of riches… the auditorium ceiling featured a mural painted by a man named Sweeney, a more than three times the sise replica of the one in the Sistine Chapel, of Jehovah reaching out of the clouds to give Adam the touch of life! The place seated over 2800 on the ground floor with another 900 balcony seats and it featured what was probably the largest screen in the area. I especially loved seeing the 1950’s Christopher Lee Dracula pics there! The house was operated by Warners, and was about one third of the way through a restoration of sorts when the entire chain was sold to RKO… all work was stopped, the place was no longer being maintained properly, and closed in 1974. Public outcry convinced RKO to give it another go, and the house re=opened briefly in 1975, but lack of creative booking kept audiences to a minimum and the Embassy became a fond memory in the winter of 1976. A double shame, as a theater of this size could have been kept going as a perfect mid-size concert venue, and the magnificent artwork on that ceiling deserved better than it got!
The Windsor opened circa 1927 as the Llewellyn, beacme the Edison in the early thirties, and the Windsor around 1939. It featured an elaborate proscenium arch flanked by two double sets of corinthian columns and two large ornate grilles masked a water driven air cooling system. the 1000 seat auditorium also featured burgundy colored tapestry displays on three walls, and an oval lighting dome in the ceiling. The Windsor fared well as a subsequent run neighborhood movie house until the mid fifties and the Windsor run came to an end with the house operating on weekends only in its final season. The theater was renovated in 1957 to accomodate live plays, seating was reduced to 796 seats to allow for a deepened stage, but despite good reviews the venture (called Suburban Playhouse) was unsuccesful. Then followed a few name changes… West Orange Playhouse (1958-60) , second run art films, Suburban Cinema . an unsuccessful stab at silent film reperetory, (1960), Suburban Theater (1960 -62) the theater"s most successful run as a combination neighborhood theater and revival house (this venture closed due to a lease dispute.) The Windsor finally ended its days as a theater as the Majestic… the management at the time just couldn’t find a successful operating policy, and it played its last performance (“Toys in the Attic”) in August 1963.
originally built inside the mall as a four screen house, the Little Cinemas never were profitable.Two of the screens were converted for retail after about a year of operation in the late ‘70s and the remaining two screens met the same fate the following year.
cinema III still exists as the Clearview Red Bank and is located at 36 White Street. it operates as a twin cinema with an art house policy. The building at 58 Broad St was called the Broad Street Cinema. It only operated for a couple of years in the ‘90s playing a hodgepodge of revivals and second run . The place seated only about 100, and projection was in 16mm. The Broad Street never caught on and has been converted back to retail use.
Sometime around 1961=2 the Fine Arts was severely damaged by a firebomb placed in the auditorium. A salvage company was allowed in to retrieve equipment from the projection booth and the rest of the structure was demolished within a couple of days. It would seem that even the innocuous fare like the Coppola pic was unnacceptable to at least one intolerant person!
good news for the Baronet, at least for the time being…the theater is now officially open for business with a discount price policy, and a few mini concertrs have been booked for the venue as well. Let’s all hope that there is enough public response to keep the Baronet going and save it from “mondo condo”
there was a Park theater operating at that location at least into the early seventies. It was operated by Redstone/General Amusements and most likely closed due to the economic turndown in Newark following the infamous riots.
The Park along with the Colony in Livingston, was originally owned and operated by the Prudential Insurance Company. The Park lost its first suburban run status with the advent of the mall multiplexes in the seventies, and then-owner Dick Nathan tried a revival house policy and was successful for quite a few years. The unfortunate fire happened when a work crew left an exposed wire on a backstage electrical panel, putting a sad end to oneof my favorite Saturday night date places.
Same place, thanks for clarifying the address… it’s been many years!
The Ampere was s small, intimate therter… difficult to find as its entrance was off on a side street, and the theater had no marquee to give it identity. Last I kew, the building housed a fraternal orginaztio s like the elks or some such.
In its final days the Palace was, indeed, somewhat twinned in that they simply enclosed some of the rear orchestra seats and showed pron movies alog side he regular run stuff on the big screen. An interesting footnote… the Palace auditorium was bisected by the city line between Orange and East Orange, and prior to repeal of some of the old Sunday Blue Laws, the left side of the auditorium had to be roped off on Sundays, as East Orange forbade the showing of movies on Sunday and all seating had to be within the Orange city limits!
The same one… it is situated on the corner of Broad and Orange Streets. Best…jt
The property is now in use as a mobile home park.
the elwood served for a few years in the mid-sixties as the mid-atlantic zone headquarters for General Cinema Corporation. When that lease expired, GCC moved its offices to the Palace in Orange. The Elwood became a Spanish language theater in the early seventies, operated by Dick Nathan. I don’t know the current status of the Elwood.
In the late sixties a new facade was put on the building, and the theater’s name was changed to the Guild. The Guild operated for several years with old battle films, westerns, horror movies and the like, often repeating bookings of given pictures as little as a few weeks apart. By the mid seventies the prints of most of these pix were wearing out and not being reserviced, and the Guild began running out of product to play. A middling renovation of the theater and policy switch to first run films failed to find local support, and the Guild closed in 1976. The space now serves as a clothing store.
This was not the Cameo that operated as a porn house… that was the former Treat theater on Orange Street. The Cameo on Elizabeth Ave. spent several years as a Spanish language theater under the name Teatro Caribe. In the mid seventies changing demographics caused then-owner Dick Nathan to move the Spanish operation across town to the Elwood theater on Broadway.
The theater was originally a free standing building, and shops and offices were added on both sides and above enveloping the original structure. The marquee was removed in the 80’s, but the massive glass entry doors still exist. A redevelopment plan for downtown Asbury Park currently includes plans for a complete restoration of the Savoy.
Hi, Richard! You may be looking for the Paramount Theatre in Long Branch. It was operated by the Walter Reade Organization, and now houses Siperstein’s Paints. The auditorium is still pretty much intact,however minus the seats, and is used primaily as a warehouse. The lobbies house Siperstein’s retail operation. The owners of Sipersteins have recently announced that they are interested in restoring the Paramount and would welcome outside input.Hope this helps!
This was my second home-away-from home…the rococco decor seemed an embarrassment of riches… the auditorium ceiling featured a mural painted by a man named Sweeney, a more than three times the sise replica of the one in the Sistine Chapel, of Jehovah reaching out of the clouds to give Adam the touch of life! The place seated over 2800 on the ground floor with another 900 balcony seats and it featured what was probably the largest screen in the area. I especially loved seeing the 1950’s Christopher Lee Dracula pics there! The house was operated by Warners, and was about one third of the way through a restoration of sorts when the entire chain was sold to RKO… all work was stopped, the place was no longer being maintained properly, and closed in 1974. Public outcry convinced RKO to give it another go, and the house re=opened briefly in 1975, but lack of creative booking kept audiences to a minimum and the Embassy became a fond memory in the winter of 1976. A double shame, as a theater of this size could have been kept going as a perfect mid-size concert venue, and the magnificent artwork on that ceiling deserved better than it got!
The Windsor opened circa 1927 as the Llewellyn, beacme the Edison in the early thirties, and the Windsor around 1939. It featured an elaborate proscenium arch flanked by two double sets of corinthian columns and two large ornate grilles masked a water driven air cooling system. the 1000 seat auditorium also featured burgundy colored tapestry displays on three walls, and an oval lighting dome in the ceiling. The Windsor fared well as a subsequent run neighborhood movie house until the mid fifties and the Windsor run came to an end with the house operating on weekends only in its final season. The theater was renovated in 1957 to accomodate live plays, seating was reduced to 796 seats to allow for a deepened stage, but despite good reviews the venture (called Suburban Playhouse) was unsuccesful. Then followed a few name changes… West Orange Playhouse (1958-60) , second run art films, Suburban Cinema . an unsuccessful stab at silent film reperetory, (1960), Suburban Theater (1960 -62) the theater"s most successful run as a combination neighborhood theater and revival house (this venture closed due to a lease dispute.) The Windsor finally ended its days as a theater as the Majestic… the management at the time just couldn’t find a successful operating policy, and it played its last performance (“Toys in the Attic”) in August 1963.