Mayfair Theatre
301 Lake Avenue,
Asbury Park,
NJ
07712
301 Lake Avenue,
Asbury Park,
NJ
07712
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 42 comments
MayfairMike, Thanks so much for posting, they are wonderful photos! I hope you post more.
I have a box of photos of most of the Asbury Park theaters. I will scan them if I can find it. I am posting some that somehow found their way into a box of family pictures. I worked in Asbury from 1973 to 1978.
MayfairMike do you have anymore pictures of Asbury Park during the end of its hey in the 60s? Anymore outside and inside the St James and Paramount as well? The boardwalk?
August 5th, 1927 grand opening ad in photo section posted by Dallas movie theatres.
I am posting some aerial pictures of the Mayfair If you like “Where’s Waldo” you might enjoy these. Also one at dusk.
I was there the day that Mr. Lurch of Lurch demolition jumped into the crane and hit the main beam with the recking ball and the whole place came down. It even blew out window in the town across the lake.
DEFG, do any of the Walter Reade documents you have reference the Paramount in Asbury Park? If so we would love to see them. Philip LaDue Assistant Technical Director Paramount Theater of Asbury Park
Have you seen this article? Apparently, this guy got a lot of architectural salvage out of the Mayfair and had it reconstructed, in his house! Unless I had too much wine tonight and got it wrong. But the photos are amazing!
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I saw a postcard of the Continental Hotel in Asbury Park online and there appears to be a theater next to the building. Does anyone know the name of the theater?
I found some other info about the Mayfair. Believe it or not, there was a 10-tone Carillon installed in one of the towers! I’ll bet the stupid politicans who let this place get torn down didn’t know that.
Also, I found an article about a church in Laurelton, NJ that used a couple of steel beams that had been in the Mayfair Theater when the church was undergoing a renovation. If true, it’s nice to know that at least a small part of the Mayfair lives on.
My family and I spent several summers in Bradley Beach in the early 60s. We went to Asbury Park many times—via the boards from Bradley and through Ocean Grove or by car, traveling down Main Street and making the right turn onto Lake Avenue. Anyway, I remember going to the Mayfair once to see El Cid with my mother and brother. They loved big epics. I spent most of my time looking all around the theater. I especially remember the ceiling—it was painted to look like the evening sky, complete with stars!! Reminded me of the ceiling in the Hayden Plantetarium. To a kid, an old theater like this was a magic place. Wish I could remember more about it. tragedytragedy
Doorman:
Found some info on your grandfather and emailed it to you.
Enjoy the $7.00 one-scoop ice cream cone!
Probably…(not that there’s anything wrong with that!)
Either way; Asbury ain’t gonna turn into Hoboken (a 12 minute train ride to NYC)which is what greedy land developers will have YOU believe —-for the simple reason of the awkward proximity to NYC.
Is a gay yuppie a guppie? Has that been done already?
Asbury Park is currently pandering to gays and yuppies. This is good and bad. You won’t get the “cozy old fashioned” Asbury back from the 1940’s, nor will you have scuzzy Asbury from the 1980’s. You WILL get a safer neighborhood with two room condos going for $300,000. and specialized ice cream shops with $7.00 for a one scoop cone. It’s the classic “either/or” concept in the wicked econo-structure we live in today! The main problem , however, is that Asbury is a just a little too far commute to NYC, making DAILY travel, pretty draining (most of us can’t even tolerate a 45 minute subway ride). It will remain a “summer spot” I suspect, but the surrounding “ghetto” is still an issue to deal with…
Hi looking for any info about my grandfather Elmer Vaughn who was a projectionis at a theater in Asbury Park area in the early 1920s. We found out that he was murdered,while walking home with his brother George.. If anyone could supply any info..please contact me at
Thank you
Walter Reade paid $1.5M in construction costs for this theater. The 172 foot tower was outfitted with chimes that were controlled by the theater’s $40,000 interior organ.
This is getting more heartbreaking evertime I log in. I now see that the LYRIC theatre in Asbury Park is gone. I was a member of the I.A.T.S.E. Local#243 in Asbury Park in the early 70s. I was also the last projectionist in the Mayfair untill its falling in 74. Now the LYRIC. The Lyric was my first full time job with the local when I was just 17. My father was the Altec service rep. for the Walter Reade chain and also the Pres. and BA for local 243. I have alot of pictures of all the theatres in Asbury Park, the St.James, Mayfair, Lyric, Paramount, Savoy, and also the Strand in Ocean Grove which was just across the lake at the south end of the boardwalk. I will post these pictures soon. As far as the Mayfair on the historic reg. the city in 74 with the help of a man with the last name Frankel, I belive tryed right up to the min. the recking ball went thru the backstage wall to stop it. It was my understanding that the land was worth more as a parking lot for the M&K bar then it was to save a wonderfull theatre and to preserve our history.
signed
Gilbert S. Carney
e-mail,
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Type “Asbury Amusement Park” into the search bar and you’ll see a photo of the Mayfair from 1935 (on the left in the photo).
If anyone wants to buy an old postcard, here it is:
http://www.cardcow.com/product.php?productid=19326
Nice link to a tour of Asbury Park and its theaters, TC. Thanks.
Another photo:
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How could this building be demolished if it is still listed on the National Register of Historic Buidlings? I thought they were off limits for demolition ?
Mayfair Theatre (added 1975 – Building – #74002229)
Lake Ave. and St. James Pl., Asbury Park
Historic Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Event
Architect, builder, or engineer: Lamb,Thomas W.
Architectural Style: Other, Exotic Revival, Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals
Area of Significance: Architecture, Entertainment/Recreation
Period of Significance: 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Vacant/Not In Use
Here is the night photograph that Vincent is looking for:
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