Paramount Theatre
33 N. Clinton Avenue,
Rochester,
NY
14604
33 N. Clinton Avenue,
Rochester,
NY
14604
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August 30th, 1967 grand opening ad for the Studio 2 in photo section
March 3rd, 1948 grand opening ad as Paramount also in the photo section.
November 19th, 1916 grand opening ad as Piccadilly also in the photo section. It opened on the 25th.
April 10th, 1931 grand opening ad as Century in photo section.
In the late 40’s when the Century theatre was remodeled, it became 2 theatres. The Paramount theatre’s entrance was on Clinton Ave. North and Century theatre’s entrance on Mortimer St. I recall attending the grand opening of the Paramount theatre and seeing the first muscial film projected in Vista Vision. It’s clearity was impressive but not as wide screen as Cinemascope.
“The most ironic thing about the Paramount/Piccadilly’s demolition is that the city is now attempting to construct a performing arts center on the exact same site!”
Here is a fresh link to the 1948 Boxoffice item with a photo of the Paramount’s remodeled lobby.
The Piccadilly was a Loew’s vaudeville theatre. I don’t know when the Martina gang (did I say that?) took it over but the place was very run down and somewhat unkempt. I saw Omega Man and a couple of others there.
Martina ran a bunch of old downtown theatres and were always in court suing the other chains for unfair booking practices. Thing was, Matina always seemed to get pretty good movies. All the Martinas became pretty run down in the late sixties and early seventies finally closing up in quick succession.
As I entered the Theatre I remember the Lobby being slightly like a hill. My first time there was to see Creature From The Black Lagoon in 3D Wow, hat an experience for a 12 yr old boy back then!!!
A.K.A. Loews Piccadilly,funny sounding name.
My Gosh! You’ve really gotta hate that late 40’s streamlining! It would be great to find some photos showing the original decor. I know the auditorium survived somewhat intact right up to the end.
The architect for the conversion of the Century Theatre into the Paramount in 1948 was Rochester’s own Michael J. DeAngelis. There’s a picture of the post-renovation lobby in Boxoffice, May 22, 1948.
movie534: Interesting that a CT member would comment about my post almost 2 years later! Anyone have some updated news?
Too true Patsy, too true.
“The most ironic thing about the Paramount/Piccadilly’s demolition is that the city is now attempting to construct a performing arts center on the exact same site!” This is very ironic and so sad that the City of Rochester didn’t have the foresight then to have kept what they had so the saying comes to mind…“one doesn’t know what one has until you lose it.”
The first listing of the Piccadilly Theatre appears in the Rochester, NY, city directory for the year beginning August 15, 1916. Page 1560 lists Theatres and Places of Amusement, and the address given for the Piccadilly is “35 Clinton av. N.” The publication “Architecture & Architects of Rochester, NY” (Schmidt, 1959) attributes the design of the building to the firm of Foote & Headley, Rochester (i.e., Orlando K. Foote and Arthur B. Headley).
Here’s a link to a photo on the Rochester Library’s website.
View link
(You can use the photo if you keep the information intact at the bottom of the photo.)
I’m sure the street number is correct, but the name is actually Clinton Avenue. There is no Clinton Street in Rochester.