AMC Loews Paramus Route 4 Tenplex
260 E. Highway 4,
Paramus,
NJ
07652
260 E. Highway 4,
Paramus,
NJ
07652
24 people
favorited this theater
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The Bergen Mall was originally built with 2 theatres, one live, and one for movies. This was by the choice of the builder, who wanted to recreate a downtown fell. There was even a little kiddie amusement park in the middle of the mall. At the time, the mall was not enclosed. The movie theatre, the Mall Theatre, was located towards spring valley road at the east end of the mall, the entrance was outside toward the parking lot. The Playhouse On The Mall’s entrance was on the inside walkway, at the west end of the mall. There was never a theatre across from the Bergen Mall. E.J. Korvette’s department store was located directly across, taking up all of what is now a strip mall. The bridge across the highway at that time extended all the way to a second floor entrance to Korvette’s.
The Stanley Warner, as the marquee called it, was a magnificent theatre as a single with marble walls and art deco wall sconces in the lobby. The last film I saw there as a single was The Godfather. In the early 1970’s, they built The Route 4 Cinema next to it. Although there was no space between the buildings, The Route 4 was a seperate building with it’s own marquee, boxoffice, etc. It had a magnificient waterfall curtain. A few years later, the Stanley Warner was twined by extending and walling up the balcony. The original projection room became the upstairs projection room, and a new projection room was built behind the consession stand on the main level for the “big” theatre. Then, at some point, they split the balcony theatre into 2 theatres, and the big theatre got split into 3 theatres by putting a wall down the middle, with one long hallway theatre on the left, and 2 small theatres (one in front of the other) on the right. Sometime in the late 1980’s, they finished destroying the theatre by ripping out most of the original lobby, and building the rest of the 10-plex.
Just to let you know, plans are still underway for a 16-screen theatre to replace both the Route 4 and Route 17 theatres once it opens sometime in the future.
I remember 1977. I was 12 years old and even at that age my friend and I would refer to it as “the route 4 Stanley Warner”. We’d cut school and go there to see Star Wars all day long. The ushers rarely threw us out between showings. I’m from Garfield, NJ. We’d hop on a bus early in the morning on Midland Avenue in front of “The Garden State Farms” in Saddle Brook, NJ to get to the Garden State Plaza. Before the movies started we’d always eat at “Rustlers Steak House”. My friend Nicky would order me “The Westerner” and pay for it because I had no money and he, somehow, always did. Come to think of it, he’d always pay for my movie ticket to. I think he found his parents “cookie jar” where they stashed their change, anywho, after we ate we’d walk over to the theatres from the Plaza.
That “Star Wars” ad looks like it is from August 1977 after the release expanded to region-wide. The exclusive engagement ads from May reference the Paramus engagement as “RKO/Stanley Warner Triplex Paramus.”
Here it is in 1977 known as Triplex Paramus, sounds like they were not sure who owned it at the time :)
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I believe the very first digital showing of “The Phantom Menace” was at the Meadows 6 in Secaucus. That’s what they said at the theater anyway, when they gave out the commemmorative badges. The shows may have opened to the public on the same night in both Secaucus and Paramus, but I think the first test of the system took place in Secaucus.
If you wish to count newspaper ads, additional AKAs for this theater used during the late-70s include “RKO Paramus” and “RKO-Stanley-Warner Triplex Paramus.”
“The Route 4 theater was one of only 3 in New Jersey, and 32 nationwide, to open "Star Wars” on May 25, 1977.“ (Damien Farley)
There were four New Jersey theaters included in the original 5/25/77 limited market launch of “Star Wars.” They were located in Edison, Lawrenceville, Paramus, and Pennsauken.
I bet you got your reference to three NJ theaters from the list posted on the starwars.com website. A more comprehensive list appears here:
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“In the (possibly 1950’s and) 1960’s, they showed three strip Cinerama/Cinemiracle … and just a few years ago they were the first theater in the state to present the digitally projected Star Wars Episode I.” (Robert MacLeay)
I’m not aware of any Cinerama engagements at this theater.
Clarification on the digital cinema comment: this theater was among the first to be equipped since “The Phantom Menace” played simultaneously at two NJ venues, this and the Loews Meadows Six in Secaucus.
Now that Loews Cineplex and AMC will merge during the time period when the new 16-plex is constructed and completed, will things change a bit? This and the new Rockaway 16 plex will be big investments for the new AMC-Loews chain.
It stays open until the construction is under way, same as the Tenplex. They continue to use the Triplex as a ‘move-over’ house with films from the Tenplex.
Whats up with the triplex?
From today’s Bergen Record—-say Goodbye to the Paramus Tenplex. The real estate alone where the tenplex now resides is probably worth God only know how many millions:
Theater complex upheld in Paramus
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
By MERRY FIRSCHEIN
STAFF WRITER
PARAMUS – The borough’s Planning Board was allowed to approve an application for a 16-screen movie theater at Garden State Plaza, the state appellate court unanimously ruled Monday.
The decision comes as a result of a lawsuit filed by the borough against its own Planning Board and Westfield Corp., the parent company of the shopping mall.
In the suit, filed originally in December 2003, the borough said the Planning Board didn’t have jurisdiction over Westfield’s application to build a 163,000-square-foot “entertainment lifestyle precinct” at the mall.
The ruling could be the last step in a three-year quest by Westfield to build the project. Along with the cinema, the proposed addition would include shops and restaurants.
Attorney Brian Giblin represented the borough on May 25 before Appellate Division Judges Howard Kestin, Jose L. Fuentes and Naomi G. Eichen. He argued that the zoning board should have heard Westfield’s application. Giblin said only a zoning board can hear issues of square footage, parking and building height.
Westfield attorney Stephen Sinisi told the judges that the shopping center corporation fulfilled all the requirements asked of it and should not be penalized.
The judges, in Monday’s nine-page decision, unanimously agreed, saying that state Superior Court Judge Jonathan N. Harris was correct in his June 2004 decision when he said the Planning Board was the right place for Westfield’s application.
The panel also ruled that the borough cannot use a new ordinance to stop the project. That ordinance is the focus of a lawsuit brought by Westfield against the borough. A trial date in state Superior Court has not been set.
Planning Board Attorney Paul Kaufman said the ruling found that “the Planning Board acted completely within its authority and within the applicable law.”
Westfield officials said they are ready to start their project.
“We look forward to getting back on track with our reinvestment with Garden State Plaza,” said Katy Dickey, Westfield’s vice president of communications.
The concept of “entertainment lifestyle precincts” includes stores with a hands-on component, such as a Sony store or an Apple computer store or other stores with a large entertainment aspect.
Experts see this as a natural progression for the shopping experience, which some say has become routine.
“When it’s more fun to shop at Costco than the Garden State Plaza, then we’re missing the ball,” John Goodwin, Westfield’s vice president of development, said at the 2003 hearings.
There is no start date for building at the mall because Westfield still must get county and state permits before beginning any construction.
Construction is expected to take between 18 and 24 months.
Giblin said he hasn’t spoken yet with the mayor and council on Monday’s ruling. Giblin was the borough attorney in 2004.
“I’m sure [borough officials] will want to review it and ask me whatever questions they might have about it, and they’ll make their decision” on whether they want to appeal, Giblin said.
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I just saw “Revenge of the Sith” there on the big screen. I had to see it there on the big screen main auditorium because I’ve seen every Star Wars film on that screen since 1977. That experience in “77 was one of the best. I could only imagine what the theater was like as a single screen.
JohnO: any way you can scan the pictures from that magazine and put them in here?
They should revamp the Tenplex as a state-of-the-art movie theatre with all digital sound in all auditoriums, stadium seating, bigger screens, and a museum showing the history of the theatre.
This is one of the safest theaters around because it’s in a very nice town and such. But the new theater (located in the Garden State Plaza) is not yet a done deal. The town of Paramus is doing some in-fighting and I don’t believe that they mall owners have been given anything near a green light yet.
So that puts this place in limbo and it looks it. While the theaters are clean, the place looks very tired. Seats need to be replaced, carpet should be replaced as well as a new paint job all around. But why do it when a bigger and better place might open…eventually?
Re: The Bergen Mall movie theater
I can confirm there was a movie theater in there, with entry only from the south side’s parking lot. The last movie I specifically remember seeing there was “The Sheltering Sky,” so it was open until at least then (1990).
Oh, I know already. 16, just like the new Rockaway theatre that will open next spring in 2006. When will this new theatre open in Paramus?
How many screens will this new theatre have?
They’ll be closing those two locations once the new megaplex is built (it’s waiting for final approvals from the towns involved) in the back parking lot area of the Garden State Mall.
I thought this and the Centurys Triplex were both coming down? Has something changed?
THe last time I went to this theatre was nearly 5 years ago, when I went to see “X-Men” and it was crowded. The sound was allright and the picture OK, but the seats were uncomfortable although the movie was enjoyable. It’s time that the Route 4 Tenplex gets a makeover or soon this theatre could be extinct. Other movies I saw at this theatre were “Congo”, and “Outside Providence” as a rough cut before it was released theatrically to poor box office. The last I heard about the tenplex was from my aunt who went to see “Monster-In-Law” with a few friends, one of whose husband works as a security guard (excellent job) at the movie theatre. It’s good that this popular multiplex is one of the safest theatres around.
I have a “Boxoffice/Modern theatre” magazine from 1966. It introduces the “New Stanley Warner Route 4 Theatre as a 1,908-seat entertainment center of modern design. it is also reported as the firm’s first "highway oriented” theatre in New Jersey.
The magazine goes on to say that the “new” theatre is located on busy route 4, in the center of a landscaped 1,000-car parking area. so as to afford an imposing view from the highway. Adjacent to the Bergen Mall. the Garden State Plaza and other large retail units, it is termed as an “integral part of the world’s largest shopping complex.”
Opened in October, the 50-foot-high structure was designed by architect Drew Eberson and blends various masses and areas into an unusual treatment. The side walls of the main building are sculptured block. The front facade is dominated by a huge lighted panel that embodies the theatre name and the attraction letters. The effect is to provide a brightly-lighted landmark easily spotted by the highway traffic.
The entrance lobby has a lace-like grille effect. Large expanses of glass wall incorporate seven pairs of entrance doors that create an airy indoor-outdoor feeling and allow a full view from the exterior into the massive, colorful lobby.
The lobby and foyers, as well as the theatre front, are faced with marble. The 50-foot-high lobby walls are decorated with modern dramatic sculpturings and reliefs by the Italian sculptor, Francis Bevelacqua. The wall covering is plastic gold.
The main feature of the lobby- and an innovation among New Jersey theatres- is the Otis escalator that transports patrons to the mezzanine-balcony levels. The escalator is push-buttoned controlled to reverse downward during show breaks. The escalator’s side rail is of glass, thereby giving the installation a light transparent treatment rather than a heavy, ponderous rail of the traditional escalator.
The general decorative color scheme is red, gold and white. The carpeting-in red, gold and black by Alexander Smith-is in original design made exclusively for Stanley Warner Theatres. The seats are red and by American Seating. they have foam padded seats. Over-stuffed spring-back type seats are in loge and balcony.
The auditorium, with it’s unusual decorative treatment and floor-to-ceiling gold drapes, has been carefully engineered to incorporate the latest techniques in audio-visual presentation. The wall-to-wall screen is 62 feet wide and 31 feet high. A six-channel Ampex stereophonic sound system with 18 surround speakers is used.
There’s so much more in this magazine to type and 7 GREAT pictures! The following is a listing of theatre credits:
Architect: Drew Eberson
Carpeting: Alexander Smith
Escalator: Otis
Projectors: Century
Public Address Amplifiers: Bogen
Screen: Technikote
Seats: American Seating
Sound: Ampex
Tape Recorder: Ampex
If you ever get a chance to get this magazine, it’s the January 17, 1966 New England Edition!!!
WOW! My fingers are tired. I’m not a good typist. Hope you enjoyed the reading. Like I said, there’s so much more on this theatre in this mag.
Well….I was there in 1999 to see “Unbreakable” and it was one of the worst experiences I ever had at any theater. The theater I saw it in (not one of the four main ones…it was in the newer area) was in horrible condition…broken seats, wet, sticky floors, you name it.
But one bad experience doesn’t mean the place has gone all to hell. The last two times I’ve been there, it was a lot better than I remebered it. Yes, rough around the edges (especially the concession stand) but still decent enough.