Liberty Theatre
Cummings Avenue and West Street,
Trenton,
NJ
08611
Cummings Avenue and West Street,
Trenton,
NJ
08611
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Hey,
It was good to see your response. I was projectionist at the Olden from about 1970 to 1974. I don’t know if I was working the night of the incident. Every once in a while there was trouble but most of the time it was a quiet night at the Olden. Jack Kosharek ran a good and clean theatre. He was a decent and well educated man (PhD). Once it began showing porn it was the beginning of the end for the Olden. We occassionally packed the house for some shows and at least one-half of the house for the Kid Matinees. He hired beautiful candy-girls and this tended to improve the overall ambience. I lived in North Trenton and never went to the theatre on Paul avenue (near Saint James). The building for the “American” that became a five and dime store remains according to an arial view. The American was associated with the Rialto, now gone. I have a feeling they shared reels and I suspect that the producers never saw a dime from the American showings LOL. The American was right next to Raney’s bar that was on the corner of Princeton and Ingham. My dad owned the Texaco station across Ingham Avenue. I loved being a projectionist and tried to do a good job for the customers. It was a part time job that paid many bills while I was working at RCA Astro.
Only the Garden (vacant), Broad (Catholic Youth Organization Gym), Bijou (church), Victory (Salvation Army outlet), Centre Street (store) and Victory remain standing in Trenton. The RKO Hamilton on South Broad is a church also.
There was a theater at one time on Paul Avenue.
Ah, the Olden, nee Gaiety (pronounce Gay-tee). I remember my parents taking me there to a double feature in the early 1970s and a fight broke out in the lobby. The police were called after the guy picked up the aluminum cigarette ashtray container and threw it into the mirrored walls and smashed it. I think that was the last time I was in there other than the demolition. I have the ticket grinder.
Believe it or not, the double bill was two old Warner Brother musicals films – maybe 42nd Street and the Goldiggers of 1933(?). My mother screamed during the course of events and caused further commotion. LOL.
And Maruca’s Tomato Pies…
I too am a Trentonian and lived in North Trenton for the first twelve years of my life. We moved to Mercerville after that and I lived there until I went into the Navy. I was chief projectionist at the Olden Theatre for a few years. I always had an interest in Movie Theatres and seem to recall driving by that structure (probably lost) and theorizing that it was a movie theatre. I didn’t know anything about its history, however. I would have loved to tour the property although I suspect there is not much evidence left of its original purpose.
Thanks for the response,
Wes
That is the theatre building. I am a Trentonian. It has not operated as a theater for at least 50 years.
I believe that in fact is a movie theatre structure. I suppose that after all of the years the emergency exits have been closed.
I google mapped the address 302 Cummings Avenue and it returned the park like property right at the fork between Cummings and West. If you look about 100 feet to the west of the fork there appears to be a theatre structure with a stage loft. I may be wrong on this count. What do you think?
Wes
This theater was Landolfi’s Food Products (and might still be). Yes, it is located at the intersection of Cummings and West in Chambersburg section. The theater sat at the “point”. Check Google Earth. I remember it being near the Roma Bar Restaurant. I have not been by there in years.
Unless street names have changed, and they do, the theatre could not have existed on Cummings and West State Street as there is no such intersection. More likely, given the name, it was near or on Liberty near Cummings (the two streets do not intersect) about a block or two Southwest of Chambers/Liberty cross.