Princeton Garden Theatre
160 Nassau Street,
Princeton,
NJ
08542
160 Nassau Street,
Princeton,
NJ
08542
4 people favorited this theater
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https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiP3bzkkLvSAhVKLyYKHbCZCjEQqQIIGigAMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nj.com%2Fentertainment%2Findex.ssf%2F2017%2F03%2Fcentral_jersey_film_hall_named_njs_best_movie_thea.html&usg=AFQjCNELEq5VhlBPedDGQedzTcIROPG-Mw&sig2=wHX9lia-x07e_jr1SKsj4g&bvm=bv.148747831,d.eWE Congrats to the winner!!!
With the new management company I would predict a return to more art house movies since the Ambler, HiWay & County offer this genre.
Theater will close for renovations in June, then reopen under new management. Renew Theaters, a nonprofit that runs three single screens in Pennsylvania, will be the new operator. NJ.com story here.
Saw many movies here but the most memorable are The Deep around 1977 and then Poltergeist. Place was packed for both and the experience for Poltergeist was off the hook. The whole crowd was just blown away. Great memory.
The information on this theater is slightly inaccurate. I moved to Princeton in September 1980 and it already had two screens. Also, the theater closed down for a few years in the late eighties and early nineties shortly after the UA Movies at Marketfair opened in 1987.
1947 program:
View link
1948 program:
View link
our new website www.thegardentheatre.com E-mail us to join our monthly newsletter and you will be the first to know about upcoming films at the garden theatre.
The interior photo TC posted of the renovated Garden made me say, “Now that’s more like it.” I’d been to the Garden before it was twinned—both to see movies and to stage a cover photo for the college yearbook (the management graciously gave us the use of the theatre’s marquee and lettering)—and the initial (1981) twinning job was a crime: squalid little shoeboxes with plaster-board dividing wall and tiny screens. I’ll have to make time to take in a movie at this theatre the next time I’m in the area.
Listed in the 1961 FDY as part of Associated Prudential Theatres, Inc.
Interior photo after the renovation at this link:
View link
View link
As promised, here is the color photo and interesting article on the history of this theater.
Not exactly the picture that I was looking for, here is a link to a fairly recent b&w photo before the restoration.
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/00/0918/8e.shtml
There are many articles in the local Princeton press about the theater, just finding the one with the nice color photo is proving to be a challenge.
I had a link with a beautiful modern photo but now can’t locate it. I’ll keep searching.
I haven’t been inside the Garden since the renovation, as I prefer the movies shown nearby in Montgomery. That location, however, is a non interesting strip mall theater.
Ah, I wanted to add this theater but you beat me to it. :)
This theatre shows the more popular of the art films. My boyfriend and I want to see a film here badly, but they never play anything we want to see when we’re in the area (we live 45 minutes away). A question: is this theatre on an independent circuit or does Princeton University do the bookings?