Paramount Theatre
195 Market Street,
Newark,
NJ
07102
195 Market Street,
Newark,
NJ
07102
16 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 84 comments
Willburg145, you know that the Proctors also stands in Newark, not far from the Adams.
I was in the area today and took some photos of the Paramount and one of the Adams'….I doubt these movie palaces will be resurrected. But I hope I’m wrong.
I would just like to add to what LuisV said. I work as a stagehand at the prudential center. Most times I get parking in the deck next door. But there are times, as was the case a week ago after the Stones concert, that I had to park blocks away on the street. The first time a year or so ago I was nervous about doing this, but now, even at 4 am I felt safe and ok. As far as the Paramount, as well as the Adams and the Proctors, it is truely a shame they are just rotting away. Its too bad years ago when they were building the NJPac that someone didnt just think about saving these structures, which still have more beauty than anything new built today.
It’s utter nonsense that you need a “police escort” to get from the train station to Prudential Center. That said, HDTV267 is right about most old theaters just being a piece of real estate to their owners. That’s a fact. He is also correct that the Paramount is in a terrible location and very far gone. I certainly wouldn’t invest money in this location when there are many other theaters in much better locations that would have a better shot a sustaining themselves after restoration. Mind you, I don’t have the money to restore any theater, but if I did, it wouldn’t be for this one. :–)
Tom De Poto writes in the The Star-Ledger “Newark OKs early plan to revitalize the Four Corners downtown district” on December 19, 2012 that a rehab plan is in the early stages of development as part of the Four Corners Millennium Plan in which the Paramount is “slated to have 2 floors of retail and the the remaining floors will house 220 housing units”, contingent on landmark preservation approvals and receipt of New Jersey Urban Transit Hub tax credit; funding may come in part from Goldman Sachs. See mention: http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2012/12/newark_oks_early_plan_to_revit.html#incart_river_default
Was over in Newark yesterday, grabbed a few shots of the Paramount.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aonghais/7844531580/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/aonghais/7844532228/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/aonghais/7844532774/
Cheers!
I was working at the Prudential Center arena for the NBA draft about 2 weeks ago and passed both the Paramount and Adams Theatres in Newark. (Did not have time to get to the Proctors) The Paramount is indeed all boarded up. There is a dollar type of store in what looks to be the lobby of the Adams. If I am in town again (maybe July 20 – 21 for Jennifer Lopez concert) I will try to find out more on both venues.
That article is from April 2009 and was previously linked in a comment back around that time. Sobering to note the lack of movement on any redevelopment in the last three years! In fact, I think that even the retailers who had occupied the former lobby space on short term leases are now shuttered. I wonder if the property is still in the hands of the same owner!
http://www.nj.com/news/mustsee/index.ssf/2009/04/paramount_theater_owner_looks.html
This theater actually opened in 1886 as H.C. Miner’s Newark Theatre, not 1895. For more information check out my blog post After the Final Curtain
I walked by the Paramount on 5/9/11. It is completely boarded up. Whatever store was there is gone. No notice that any future construction or renovation was planned.
Thanks Alex and AlbanyGregg.
Any word on what is happening at this theatre?
Has the new owner done anythning with it?
Nowadays I work just down the block from the Paramount. It really is horrible to see how awful it, and all of Market Street, looks, especially with the new Prudential Center on the next block.
Back in the mid-1960s, when I was little, I was a big Jerry Lewis fan. As a Paramount star, they were always showing revivals of his films at the Paramount in Newark. I remember making my poor mother (who was NOT a Lewis fan) take me to the Paramount to see “The Errand Boy,†“The Bell Boy†and “Cinderfella.†I only have a vague memory of the interior, just of sitting in the balcony and marveling at the vast, elegant space. It was probably the largest theatre I was ever in (except possibly the Lowe’s in Newark) until finally went to Radio City Music Hall.
Well, it looks like Don Lewis and Ayers have discovered another long lost theater! I searched the database to see if there was another Paramount listed in Newark as a former name and there is not. This theater looks rather substantial. What we don;t know is if it actually showed movies. If this photo is accurately from the early 1900’s it is possible that it was solely a vaudeville house and never actually showed films, but it looks like it was a beautiful theater nonetheless.
The 1900s postcard view of the Paramount and the 2009 view are two different Paramount theaters. The 1900s Paramount is located on Broad St right across from city hall the 2009 theater is located on Market St near the Prudential/ Rock arena.
Thanks gallion.Jerry Lewis writes about his theatre days in “DEAN and ME” he even writes about his failed twin cinemas.
From the early 1900s a postcard view of the Paramount Theater in Newark.
From 1948 to 1952 there were four first run movie theaters in downtown Newark.
They were Loews State, Paramount, Branford, and Proctors. The Adams was not in
their league during this time. I was head usher at Loews State in 49&50 and later
asst mgr there. I read somewhere about “Ben Hur” shown at the Adams in the late
fifties. Not likely as this was MGM and Loews was still open then.
Also, the local wisdom them was that Jerry Lewis had worked at the Paramount in
the early forties as an usher. About 10 years ago Jerry mentioned, during a TV interview, that
he worked at Loews State around 1941, and was fired for trying to unionize his
fellow ushers. I am hazy on the Adams, but believe it became a burlesque house
in the late forties. There was also a burlesque on Washington called the Empire, and
perhaps I am confusing these two. Loews State on Broad st was to my mind the most
beautiful of these old movie palaces. by gallion 6/13/10
Sounds like it could be the Adams Theatre on Branford Place?
In the late 1950’s my family lived in Linden, NJ. In June of 1959 my cousin visited from MO and we went to see “Around the World In 80 Days” at a theater in downtown Newark. The lobby was all white, appeared to be mostly marble, with a huge staircase leading to the balcony. Does anyone recall which theater that was and if it is still standing? I’ll never forget how beautiful the lobby was.
Here is a thought; Imagine if the new Owner, Prudential/Rock, and Corey Booker and the City of Newark pooled thier resources together and refurbished the facade and marquee of this theatre it could be a win win for all involved. The Rock (around the corner) could advertise events at the arena on the marquee and to take it a step further reclaim the lobby space and have a mini pro-shop offering Devil’s and Newark Bears licensed merchandise, after all sports wear seems to be the attraction on Market St. and maybe a part time box office for all of Newarks Art’s, NJPAC, The Rock, Symphony Hall, Bears Stadium.
Just a poor man’s idear.The theatre may never open again but for a CT'r this would be a little foreplay!
registering
Here is a 2004 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y8a77br
Does anyone have contact info for Morris Shasho? I’m trying to dig it up but to no avail.
Thanks!