Back in April I already posted some exterior shots of this Jersey City gem and today I will finally show you what you can expect inside. The theater had opened its doors in September 1929 and closed down almost 60 years later. Luckily it was saved from its fate of being torn down by a developer. In February 1993 it was bought by the Friends of the Loew’s for the bargain price of $325,000. Since then the Friends of the Loew's are restoring the theater to its former glory with the help of volunteers. Every weekend volunteers are working at the Theater and do
everything from minor repairs to major construction. This unique but successful approach was adopted out of necessity, as the theater has been rescued by ordinary citizens. Hooray for community involvement and volunteers!
Do you guys have an old revived gem like this in your neighborhood or something you would like to rescue yourselves? I always run into buildings I would love to save and then a while later someone else who has the funds does so...
Happy weekend my friends! Hope to be on a more regular schedule soon...
PS. Before the movies start someone plays the organ of the theater. Unfortunately it's not the original organ which now resides at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara, CA. The current organ came from the Loew's Paradise in the Bronx.
Unfortunately there aren't any super old things in Texas but the things we do have, we preserve the heck out of. One old theater in Houston has now been turned into a Trader Joe's. Yeah, I don't quite get it either...
ReplyDeletei can't believe that anyone would even think to tear a place down like this! it is beautiful. that ceiling and all those candles! i can't think of anything we have that is so amazingly ornate but we do have a lot of buildings that i went to as a kid that weren't so nice and have since been restored - especially old theaters.
ReplyDeleteWhat an absolutely stunning space. How could anyone try to demolish that?? Thank goodness for the kindness of locals, pitching in to save and restore the theater. It's so beautiful, I think I'd be distracted during a movie. We have an old theater in the middle of downtown that has been vacant for 10 years but is always on the brink of being bulldozed and then is saved, but people cant get the money together to restore it. It's sad, it was a great theater. Smaller and less grand than this one, for sure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyd_Theatre
ReplyDeleteWow!! What an incredible theatre! I am dreaming of a romantic date night here now :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely gorgeous. And there is definitely NOT anything like this in my town :-/
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