Loew's Rochester Theatre
130 S. Clinton Avenue,
Rochester,
NY
14604
130 S. Clinton Avenue,
Rochester,
NY
14604
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 44 comments
Grand opening ad in photo section.
I forgot to say that it was interesting and exciting being able to see Downtown Rochester’s Skyline growing, from the Town of Greece. You could see Midtown Tower and the ever-growing Xerox Tower. It was just a sad thing seeing all the old movie houses closing. I liked the Lowes, it was big, but as a kid, it was more fun getting lost in all the balconies of the RKO Palace. The Red Velvet Walls, all the mirrors, the stair cases, and the lobby seemed so tall.
In Response to the question of dhroc on August 22, 2011 at 4:14 pm Xerox now stands where the Lowes Theatre was. I recall going to all of the Movie Theatres in Downtown Rochester, that were open in the 50’s through the 70’s, and saw those that fell, one by one. I was in High School at the time, and recall seeing Xerox growing from my homeroom window, located on Maiden Lane. I remember the new Lowes opening across from Pittsford Plaza in the 1960’s and it was huge, until the subdivided it into several theatres. One of the first movies I watched at the Pittsford Lowes, was “The Prize”,in 1963 with Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Elke Sommer
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=movie+the+prize+paul+newman&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Direct link to the interior/exterior photogalleryes mentioned above:
http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2012/10/never-before-seen-photos-of-rko-palace-theater-part1/
ADDITIONAL GALLERY:
http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2012/10/loews-theater-rochesters-other-lost-movie-palace/
FYI, there are some interior photos of the Lowe’s on a website called www.RochesterSubway.com
Click on “Select Month”, and then “October 2012”, then scroll down.
I recall seeing “Rock Around the Clock” in 1956 at the Lowe’s. The movie caused a small riot in the theater when Bill Haley and his group playing the movie’s theme song by the same name. Rochester police were called to bring the audience into control.
To the best of my recollection (from my college years at the UofR 1959-63), the Loew’s Rochester was on the same side of S. Clinton Ave. as the later Xerox tower which replaced it, and the U-U Church, IOW, the east side (if I have my directions right).
Click here for an exterior view of the Loew’s Rochester Theatre in 1931 and here for an exterior view in 1932.
In the 1930 photo you can see the Unitarian Universalist church in the background. That church is on the same side of Clinton Ave. as Xerox. I’m wondering if it actually was Xerox that is now on the theatre site.
I remember walking into the Theatre when I was 12 to see Quo Vadis & my mouth dropped open at the beauty it projected to me opn the inside. Big,beautiful, and a wonderful place to see a Movie but the way downtown Rochester is now it wouldn’t be open for a year!!!!
As Ossie Wieggel’s photos prove, Loew’s Rochester was NOT a center-aisle design. I stand corrected! See http://tinyurl.com/6kcruqj
I must have been thinking of another theater!
tlsloews, copy of what?
The “local firm” that bought the Loew’s Rochester site, and erected their world headquarters thereon, was Xerox! The Xerox Tower now stands where I saw “Ivanhoe” back in the early ‘60s when I was in college. The theater was very ornate, as I dimly recall, with a red and gold scheme; it was a center-aisle design, less popular than the more traditional center-section, side-aisle plan. As for its being “the ugliest” and “most unfortunate looking,” don’t you wish we had it back??? I know I do!! (Somehow, Xerox just ain’t got the ol’ magic for me….)
A classic marquee.
Both marquee shots are great.Those were the days.
Great 1930 photo and slideshow posted by ziggy.
I should credit Brad Smith, who posted this photo on his photostream, along with a lot of other wonderful theatre photographs.
View link
A link to a photo of the Loew’s Rochester marquee in 1930.
Chuck-
I have photographs of the Pittsford theatres somewhere. I’ll try to find them and upload them. No promises; it’s been awhile!
I think ‘Return of the Jedi’ and ‘Mr. Mom’ were playing when the pics were taken.
I remember Hoyt’s Cine well. Nice theatres. I believe they tied for 1st place with Loews Ridge Road as ther best theatres in Rochester in the Democrat and Chronicle…way back when.
Nice interior photos, I do not know why anyone would call it ugly,looks much better than any new multi-plex I have seen anywhere.
Chuck
The triplex.I haven’t been able to find it and am a little surprised. I ran the Hoyts (former SBC) on Ridge Road and added that some time ago.
Granted, they were not palaces, but we seem to be listing all genres here.
Any reason why Pittsford isn’t listed? And, for those that blame Regal, Loews (AMC) built multiplexes in the area that contributed to the demise of their other locations (I believe they had two or three when I worked in Rochester in the late 70’s).
Great picture from Warren Harris.Those were the days…
I like how the theater had pre-printed displays of the stars' first names, like George (Peppard) and Carroll (Baker). It shows how popular they were back then.
Thanks for posting that photo, Warren! It’s nice to finally have a decent picture of the outside.
The Marr & Colton organ from Loew’s was purchased in the 1950’s by Robert Griswold, who moved it to Schenectady and installed it in a huge structure attached to his father’s funeral home. I was told that Bob Griswold died when he was still a young man, before he finished the restoration of the organ. Does anyone know what ever became of this instrument?