Multi-Media Arts Center
562 Bloomfield Avenue,
Bloomfield,
NJ
07003
562 Bloomfield Avenue,
Bloomfield,
NJ
07003
3 people
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The May 10, 1913 issue of The American Contractor had an item about a theater to be built in Bloomfield. The address and name of the theater weren’t given, but the description said that a 2-story building 50x164, was to be built for owner Joseph Green. It was being designed by Newark architect Frank Grad. The size and timing are right for this project to have been the Lincoln, and the details and handling of materials in the original façade certainly call to mind other works of the period designed by Grad.
Grand opening ad for the Lincoln Theatre on March 7, 1914 with the film, “A Message From Mars” in photos. The theater closed in 1930. The theatre became the Broadmoor Theatre equipped with new sound systen by Rapf & Ruden in 1931 likely on a 15-year lease. It closed though re-emerging on March 21, 1946 and was renamed the Center Theatre launching with a new streamlined look and the films, “My Reputation” and “The Lone Wolf.”
I was in Montclair yesterday working at the Wellmont, and passed this place. As was just mentioned, it it definitely closed, and sadly looks ready for demolishon. The sad part is that the Royal up the street was in mint condition when it was torn down years ago and made into a parking lot.
As you can see in the photos I just uploaded, it is most certainly still closed. It was the MMAC when it closed around 2010. I was disappointed to find that they had definitely demolished the original ceiling. However, upon peeling back a curtain I was surprised by a cascade of damaged plaster falling to my feet. However, further attempts to remove the curtain proved pointless, as more and more plaster was coming down. The building is being sold as a shell, and the most likely future for this theater is that it will be torn down as a part of the town redevelopment.
This is open for both film and live events as the Multi Media Arts Center.
http://www.multimediaartscenter.com
I recently called the bank holding the note on the theater to see if it was available to rent, I was informed that the theater is a complete wreck inside. The roof has caved in, No HVAC systems, Electric system is shot out, Anything and everything is gone seats, screen etc. Also it is a haven for junkies and homeless. Needles, trash and human waste litter the place. I was told that ½ million was still owed on the property and the place would need a minimum of 1 million to restore it. It will up for auction very soon to be sold only as a “shell” to renovate. I was surprised because from the street the lobby, box office area and office was in decent condition. Shame another theater bites the dust.
This theater is closed now
I seem to recall seeing my first movie at this theatre. My older sister took me to see Pinnochio when I was about 5. This would have been about 1962
Old ticket:
View link
New owner as of 1/8/2008
Multi Media Arts Center, LLC
www.TheMMAC.net
973-748-MMAC
Listed as part of Rapf & Ruden in the 1956 Film Daily Yearbook.
Listed in the 1970 Film Daily Yearbook as part of Triangle Theatre Service Inc.
My experience with the Center predates its being twinned. It was an okay neighborhood theatre, never very comfortable, that got kinda run down by the time I stopped going there in the late ‘80s. I think it may have switched to all-Indian films before Roberts bought it, twinned it and renamed it the Lost Picture Show (I’ve been to the original Lost Picture Show in Union, which I believe is now closed). It had been in the downtown area of Bloomfield probably since the 1930s, and while it probably did have live shows in its early years—as I recall, it had a stage although the screen was pretty far forward in the stage area—my experience with it was strictly as a moviegoer. I grew up in Bloomfield, and so this was within walking distance for me. I recall seeing “Taxi Driver,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoos’s Nest,” “The Exorcist,” “Black Sunday,” “Sorcerer,” and a couple dozen other movies there in the late '70s and early '80s. Probably about 500 seats including a balcony, decent-sized 'scope screen (no curtain) and sightlines, cramped lobby. Did not get stereo sound until after Roberts bought it; in fact, sound and projection got progressively more murky from about 1983 on.
Wan’t there also a ‘Lost Picture Show’ theater in Union, N.J.?
The Center Theater, about three blocks away, runs Indian films, some with English subtitles, exclusively.
The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), July 26, 1998 p039
Listed in the 1951 FDY as having 955 seats and located at 560 Bloomfield Avenue.
Yes, the Royal Theatre sounds correct. I am curious about the address given above for the Center Theater – wasn’t this one on Bloomfield Avenue also? Is the Belmont Avenue address a mistake?
The Lost Picture Show was a twin screen theatre that closed in 2004. The current occupants of this theatre are 12 Miles West Theatre Company. The seating for the current theatre is 398; 99 up and 299 down.
Perhaps micohen is thinking of the Royal Theatre which was located at 614 Bloomfield Ave.
Wasn’t there another theater in Bloomfield, a few blocks west of this one on Bloomfield Ave? I’m pretty sure I saw “Natural Born Killers” there in 1994, but when I drove by recently there was no sign of it in any form – I think it must have been completely torn down.