Baronet Theatre

205 4th Avenue,
Asbury Park, NJ 07712

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Showing 1 - 25 of 118 comments

tvon
tvon on August 10, 2016 at 10:51 am

The new hotel, “The Asbury” located directly behind this site has taken the Baronet sign and put it on its roof deck. It now shows 2nd run movies for a modest fee and calls it “the Baronet theater”.

rivest266
rivest266 on March 27, 2016 at 8:40 am

June 29th, 1962 grand opening ad as Baronet in the theatre.

rivest266
rivest266 on March 20, 2016 at 8:44 am

June 7th, 1913 grand opening as Ocean ad in the photo section

Luis Vazquez
Luis Vazquez on January 1, 2012 at 6:47 am

The status of this theater should be changed to demolished.

JVN
JVN on November 22, 2010 at 8:31 am

There is still one theater left besides the Paramount that goes back to the vaudeville days and that is the Savoy built in 1911. The Savoy is located at 710 Mattison Avenue inside an office building. Last used as an adult Movie House It closed in 1976. It appears to be safe from the wrecking ball for now. There is reference to trying to reopen it in the above Star Ledger Article. To own this theater you must buy the entire building and most interested theater groups do not want to do that or can’t afford the asking price. Read more At the Savoy Page on this site Cinema Treasures listing 10585. Would be nice if it gets reopened.

teecee
teecee on October 28, 2010 at 6:34 pm

this link has video of the demolition – so sad:

http://www.theshowroomap.com/

Simon Overton
Simon Overton on September 28, 2010 at 10:49 am

So sorry about your loss… I think the smaller neighborhood cinemas are the ‘bread & butter’ for local merchants!

But check the San Francisco “Destroyed” list. It’s so tragic;
They lost over 30 single screen houses in less than a ten-year period; One in particular was due to ‘crooked Mayoral politics’ in City Hall. Hence, the 1929-1963 “fabulous” FOX, a 5,200 seat house was the grandest of the magnificent Fox empire!

Luis Vazquez
Luis Vazquez on September 28, 2010 at 8:57 am

Another sad loss for Asbury. Few cities have destroyed more of their architectural treasures as Asbury Park has. In the general scheme of things, the Baronet is not a major loss; Asbury has lost a great many far, far grander properties, but it is a significant loss nonetheless. One of the things that makes Asbury Park different is its history. The more you erase, the less it has to offer. At least The Paramount appears to have been saved and is secure. That is something to be truly grateful for.

William
William on September 28, 2010 at 8:07 am

Carbon arcs are not projectors, they are just lamphouses that fit behind the projector head. The projector heads were Brenkerts and the carbon arc lamphouses were Ashcraft in the booth.

JVN
JVN on September 26, 2010 at 5:10 am

Correction:
I posted earlier that two projectors were saved. There were actually 4 projectors that were saved. Two I believe simplex smaller looking projectors that were the projectors used when the theater first opened were saved from the booth along with the two bigger carbon arcs that last ran a few years back. Still Don’t know about the Seats.

Jay

Astyanax
Astyanax on September 22, 2010 at 1:41 pm

A real pity that this gem should meet such an end. Did Walter Reade rename Manhattan’s Baronet in homage to its Asbury Park sister movie house?

JVN
JVN on September 22, 2010 at 11:45 am

Only things I know of that were preserved were the Roof Top Sign that still worked and the projectors from the booth. I saw the inside recently and it was in bad shape but looked fixable with money and I had some that was interested. Before he could make an offer time ran out on the roof.

fbognar08
fbognar08 on September 22, 2010 at 11:17 am

Jay, Do you know what the plans are for the land? Also was the facade preserved? I would have loved to gotten a seat from the inside or something of the sort.

JVN
JVN on September 22, 2010 at 11:01 am

Today is a sad day for those of us who loved the Baronet. The entire roof collasped and the city building dept and fire dept gave the order to tear it down on Monday. The two projectors and the Baronet sign were saved and are being held by the owners of the building I- Star. My friends who were interested in leasing it or buying it were never given a call that it was going down. It all happened too quickly. As of this post at 1:58 p.m. the Demo crew is still at work.

fbognar08
fbognar08 on September 22, 2010 at 10:34 am

Seriously FUCK YOU ASBURY PARK!

fbognar08
fbognar08 on September 22, 2010 at 10:33 am

Murdered by a town that doesn’t give a shit about anything that it had. Just rip it all down and build a strip mall. Fuck everyone involved in the destruction of one of my favorite places. The Baronet meant allot to me and a large group of people. This town will suffer for it’s greed.

JVN
JVN on September 22, 2010 at 4:30 am

Baronet update:
Recently there was an inquiry about the baronet at a city council meeting. Some people might be interested in buying or leasing it.
The inside of the theater is in not too good of shape with some mold and ceiling and roof problems. There are some leaks. If no one takes it over from the new Asbury partners (I Star)It could be torn down for safety reasons. Lets hope it can be saved. I understand there is a fence around it now. Over the past few years there was a problem with homeless people breaking in and sleeping there.

markp
markp on September 14, 2008 at 5:10 pm

Indeed Luis, the Paramount is doing some shows. I just worked on a few concerts there within the past month.

Luis Vazquez
Luis Vazquez on September 14, 2008 at 1:36 pm

Just passed by this theater yesterday and it looks abandoned and what you can see of the inside looks very disheveled. The building to the east has been torn down. The “club” to the west also looks shuttered leaving just the sad looking bowling alley to the west of it.

The Paramount just down the street looks like a hotbed of activity and that is great to see but I think this theater is a goner.