Loews Towne Theatre
400 Jefferson Road,
Rochester,
NY
14623
400 Jefferson Road,
Rochester,
NY
14623
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Loews
Architects: Joseph Schuler Jr
Previous Names: Jo-Mor Towne Theatre, Towne I & II Theatre, Towne I, II, II
Nearby Theaters
Opened June 4, 1965 by Jo-Mor Enterprises (then Rochester’s largest circuit) as a single screen theatre. It often featured reserved seat roadshow pictures. Jo-Mor Theatres added a second auditorium, almost as large as the original in May 1969 and it was renamed Towne I & II Theatre. Both were very nice.
Jo-More twinned the second auditorium in 1972 making three theatres.
Loews bought the Towne I, II III Theatre in 1981 when Jo-Mor was tightening up operations. The Towne Theatre was a great location because it was near both the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology and did very good business. Loews had to buy the less successful Westgate Theatre from Jo-Mor in nearby Gates to get the Towne Theatre.
Loews twinned the original auditorium making it a four screener. This meant four long narrow auditoriums. Loews eventually dumped the Towne Theatre in the mid-1990’s when they started shutting down older suburban houses. The strip mall the theatre was in went downhill pretty fast and today is occupied by several run-down businesses. Complex looks pretty bad today.
Contributed by
dhroc
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Thanks for posting first I have heard of tis Loews house.
Any other photos?
kjb2012 I goofed this up.
I will take a photo of what is there now so everyone can see where it was.
June 4th, 1965 grand opening ad in photo section.
May 16th, 1969 grand opening ad as Rochester’s first twin cinema also in photo section.
Here’s a new 4-page 50th anniversary FIDDLER ON THE ROOF retrospective featuring a roadshow playdate chronology and historian Q&A. The Towne’s lengthy run is mentioned in the piece.