For the record for anyone else who visits this page, Ron knows his stuff about this theatre, and knows his stuff about projection. When you go to the movies nowadays and are able to see into the projection booth, you usually see someone barely out of high school fumbling around with the machinery in there, mostly clueless about what is going on with the machinery and film, if they even use film there anymore. Ron and Mr. Kelly from GCC Montclair were masters of the machines and of the film itself, something that is just simply missing in most theatres today. I salute them both.
Hey, Ron! How goes it? “Installations” may be a too generous term, as I don’t mean wiring the place for sound or anything, but did stuff like the “new” interior marquee signs, doing the changeout from the old red and white to the gray and blue seats, etc. In any case, I was pretty intimate with both buildings for a long time…they are still missed by me every time I am around the Montclair Plaza area. Good to “see” you, Ron, and Bill’s name up above as well! I went on a bit of a nostalgia trip today and “Googled” GCC and wound up here. Small world!
With a little digging I can come up with a lot of photos of the place, as I did a lot of banners, signs, and window painting for promotions back then. I have the photos packed away someplace…
I worked at these theatres from 1988 to 1996 or 1997. I can still mentally tour every last square inch of both buildings, top to bottom, inside and out…pretty literally, as I spent a good amount of time behind screens, inside ceilings, and whatnot, doing various installations, fix it jobs, and cleanup. The space that the front building filled is now an Elephant Bar and a Macaroni Grill, while the back building space is a gym. It’s amazing to me how small the space that the front building filled now looks…the restaurants make the spot seem so small, while that front building with three screens seemed so massive back in the day. I miss the place greatly…by far that has been my favorite job ever.
For the record for anyone else who visits this page, Ron knows his stuff about this theatre, and knows his stuff about projection. When you go to the movies nowadays and are able to see into the projection booth, you usually see someone barely out of high school fumbling around with the machinery in there, mostly clueless about what is going on with the machinery and film, if they even use film there anymore. Ron and Mr. Kelly from GCC Montclair were masters of the machines and of the film itself, something that is just simply missing in most theatres today. I salute them both.
Hey, Ron! How goes it? “Installations” may be a too generous term, as I don’t mean wiring the place for sound or anything, but did stuff like the “new” interior marquee signs, doing the changeout from the old red and white to the gray and blue seats, etc. In any case, I was pretty intimate with both buildings for a long time…they are still missed by me every time I am around the Montclair Plaza area. Good to “see” you, Ron, and Bill’s name up above as well! I went on a bit of a nostalgia trip today and “Googled” GCC and wound up here. Small world!
With a little digging I can come up with a lot of photos of the place, as I did a lot of banners, signs, and window painting for promotions back then. I have the photos packed away someplace…
I worked at these theatres from 1988 to 1996 or 1997. I can still mentally tour every last square inch of both buildings, top to bottom, inside and out…pretty literally, as I spent a good amount of time behind screens, inside ceilings, and whatnot, doing various installations, fix it jobs, and cleanup. The space that the front building filled is now an Elephant Bar and a Macaroni Grill, while the back building space is a gym. It’s amazing to me how small the space that the front building filled now looks…the restaurants make the spot seem so small, while that front building with three screens seemed so massive back in the day. I miss the place greatly…by far that has been my favorite job ever.