Address is 915 White Horse Pike, Oaklyn NJ 08107. Although the theater is in Haddon Township, it has an Oaklyn mailing address and was always shown as an Oaklyn theater in movie listings.
The Hollywood building was up until at least the early ‘80s—I remember seeing it out the window on a casino bus trip. It was not open when I saw it, but that was during the winter and it might still have been open seasonally. If it has not been demolished since then, it has been converted to another use. The last cinema to operate in Atlantic City was the Beach Theatre, which was gutted by a fire in the late '80s or early '90s.
Did anyone else notice the Riviera’s cameo in a TV commercial last year? It was an ad for an auto service chain that featured people saying “I brake for” various things. One segment must have been shot across the street and south of the theatre as the marquee was visible on the left side of the screen—only for a few seconds, but once you noticed it it was obvious. It ran a lot during the baseball playoffs (although there must have been more than one edit as the Riviera shot was not included every time).
The Howard closed during or before 1976; some print reports in later years said that the city had shut it down over health code violations. By then the vertical sign and ornate marquee had been removed, replaced by a plain oblong marquee in shades of brown, very similar to the dark blue one in use on the Lake Shore at Broadway and Belmont at the time.
The new marquee was removed around 1978 or ‘79, after a plan was announced to convert the building into a mixed-use development called “The Howard,” probably inspired by the then-successful “The Main” in Evanston. The theater would have been restored under this plan, most likely as a music or stage venue. Apparently the financing did not work out and the project never got underway.
This theater opened as the Family Theatre in the late 1920s. By the early ‘30s it was already being described in print as a grind house. In the '50s it was staying open all night, and the Shore Patrol declared it off limits to Naval personnel. After a homicide in the theater in 1969, the police reported finding a number of weapons stashed around the auditorium, as well as large quantities of empty bottles and discarded food. Later that year the name was changed to the Apollo, supposedly to commemorate the moon landing.
The booking policy eventually shifted from last-run features to adult films. After the Convention Center was built in the area the Apollo’s location became more valuable and the building it was in was sold and demolished in the late 1990s.
Address is 915 White Horse Pike, Oaklyn NJ 08107. Although the theater is in Haddon Township, it has an Oaklyn mailing address and was always shown as an Oaklyn theater in movie listings.
The Hollywood building was up until at least the early ‘80s—I remember seeing it out the window on a casino bus trip. It was not open when I saw it, but that was during the winter and it might still have been open seasonally. If it has not been demolished since then, it has been converted to another use. The last cinema to operate in Atlantic City was the Beach Theatre, which was gutted by a fire in the late '80s or early '90s.
Did anyone else notice the Riviera’s cameo in a TV commercial last year? It was an ad for an auto service chain that featured people saying “I brake for” various things. One segment must have been shot across the street and south of the theatre as the marquee was visible on the left side of the screen—only for a few seconds, but once you noticed it it was obvious. It ran a lot during the baseball playoffs (although there must have been more than one edit as the Riviera shot was not included every time).
The Howard closed during or before 1976; some print reports in later years said that the city had shut it down over health code violations. By then the vertical sign and ornate marquee had been removed, replaced by a plain oblong marquee in shades of brown, very similar to the dark blue one in use on the Lake Shore at Broadway and Belmont at the time.
The new marquee was removed around 1978 or ‘79, after a plan was announced to convert the building into a mixed-use development called “The Howard,” probably inspired by the then-successful “The Main” in Evanston. The theater would have been restored under this plan, most likely as a music or stage venue. Apparently the financing did not work out and the project never got underway.
This theater opened as the Family Theatre in the late 1920s. By the early ‘30s it was already being described in print as a grind house. In the '50s it was staying open all night, and the Shore Patrol declared it off limits to Naval personnel. After a homicide in the theater in 1969, the police reported finding a number of weapons stashed around the auditorium, as well as large quantities of empty bottles and discarded food. Later that year the name was changed to the Apollo, supposedly to commemorate the moon landing.
The booking policy eventually shifted from last-run features to adult films. After the Convention Center was built in the area the Apollo’s location became more valuable and the building it was in was sold and demolished in the late 1990s.