Pix Theater

Status: closed, being used as a church. The former foyer has been turned into a store.
Screens: 1
Style: Art Deco
Function: church/retail
Seats: 500
Chain: ?
Architect: ?
Firm: ?
There is an old bronze plaque on the office building portion of this edifice that says, "Bergen Theatre Building." The theatre was almost certainly built during the 1930s. I went there many times in the 1970s as a kid for their 99 cent Saturday matinees. There was a small "grand staircase" with a large mirrored wall on the side of it. Above the foyer was an upstairs lounge (where the coffee was served) next to the projection booth. The door to the booth was usually open. It was a nice little cinema and well remembered.

My grandmother was the manager of the Pix Theater in Jersey City for many years. As children, my siblings and my cousins worked as "ushers" and at the candy counter.

Jersey City had it's three "Grat Theatres" at the square. But in 1965 it was the PIX that played the Beatle's "HELP"!

I also remember seeing "Fritz The Cat" at the PIX in the early 70's. After the theatre closed, it became a roller rink. Anyone remember?

Listed as the Bergen in the 1951 FDY. Address is 789 Bergen Avenue with 589 seats.

What's the FDY?

Would anyone know where to find memorabilia from the Pix?

FDY - Film Daily Yearbook. Among other things, it contains a listing of every operating movie theater in the US, by city and state, for a particular year.

Thanks TC

The "Bergen" was remodeled and renamed the PIX in 1953. It reopened as an "art-house" with Charlie Chaplin's LIMELIGHT and to the opening-night picketing by the American Legion (because of the falacious pro-communist accusations against Chaplin at that time).
The Developer/Operator was Nathan Steinberg of Greenwich, Conn.(who unfortunately passed away one week after the opening which I, his son, attended) and the theater archetect was John MacNammera who trained with the master, Thomas Lamb. The theater decor was ultra-modern 50's sophisticated with posh, rocking-chair seating. Demi-tasse coffee was served in the upstairs lounge by aproned maids,and
the walled mirrors were a burnished bronze color.
Mrs. Holleran was the fine manager who worked with my mother for many years.

to navist: Mrs. Holleran was my grandmother. The tea cart that held the silver setting in the upstairs lounge is in my home. The memories I have from growing up in that beautiful theatre are absolutely priceless.

To girl2: Your grandmother, Mrs. Holleran, was a great support and very much appreciated by my mother over many years. Yes, the theater had a warm wonderful sense about it, especially at Christmas when fully decorated with evergreen festooning and pointsetta holiday cheer. One day in the mid-fifties in the theater basement, my mother and Mrs. Holleran discovered 5ft.twin Chinese Antique Wedding Vases that had adorned niches on either side of the old Bergen Theater screen. They went right into my Mother's wagon, and they remained in Mother's entrance hall in Greenwich from thereon. Thanks for trading memorabilia.

Listed as a Brandt Theater in the 1976 International Motion Picture Almanac.

Also listed as far back as the 1944 Film Daily Yearbook.

Listed as part of Island Theatre Circuit in the 1961 Film Daily Yearbook.

The Pix Theater in Jersey City will forever remain fondly in my memory as the place I discovered adult theme films. My parents took my sister and I to see our first adult film there in summer of 1965 -- "A Patch of Blue" starring Sidney Poitier and Shelly Winters. Next door to the Pix was one of the very first Blimpie Bases and a great pizza parlor, Prince of Pizza. Across the street from the Pix on that summer evening of 1965, construction was well underway for Hudson Catholic High School --where I would attend some 6 years later.

Over the years, I saw so many great films at the Pix-- "Charly," "Lovers and Other Strangers," the 1970 comedy which never had a first run in Jersey City before hitting the Pix. "Lovers" was "Held Over" at the Pix for weeks--the longer run I recall.

I also later saw "Love Story" and some great double bills such as "See No Evil"/"Buck and the Preacher" and "Bob&Carol&Ted&Alice"/"Cactus Flower." I don't recall the last film I saw at the Pix--I guess because it turned into an X-rate theater while I was attending Hudson Catholic in the early 70s.

Still, I'll alwasy remember the place as the theater where my life-long love of cinema took root.

And, of course, I will always remember that clock with the blue/purple glow around it.

Bob

Bob mentioned the Pix showing adult-themed movies. I recall attending a budget hearing at Jersey City's City Hall back in the late 60s or very early 70s, and listening to Mayor Thomas J. Whelan ranting and raving about the Pix showing "dirty" movies (a v-e-r-y relative term, belive me), a particularly egregious sin, since the theater was directly across Bergen Avene from Hudson Catholic High School. The irony is that Mayor Whelan later got thrown in jail (with a good handful of Jersey City and Hudson County officials) following his conviction on federal corruption charges.

The louder they yell, the harder they fall.

Well, I think around '72, the PIX did start showing x-rate fare such as "I Am Curious (Yellow)" and "Fritz the Cat." Perhaps Whalen was ranting about those "dirty" movies.

And as "X-rated" fare, "Curious" and "Fritz" were pretty clean stuff.

In the mid 70's the Pix alternated between X-rated and standard fare. I remember being about 8 or 9 and seeing a matinee of Disney's animated "Robin Hood". A week later I walked past the theater (it was in my neighborhood) and it was showing "The Devil in Miss Jones"!!
By Summer 1975 the theater had returned to 2nd run standard fare at a cost of 99 cents. I have fond memories of the first show they had, "The Towering Inferno". I remember about 14 kids from the block going up on a hot summer night to see the film.
I spent many days of my youth watching endless double bills in the dark at the Pix. Usually the 2 films had absolutely nothing in common. "Earthquake" & "The Great Waldo Pepper", "Once Is Not Enough" & "Harold and Maude", "Shampoo" & "The Stepford Wives", "Futureworld" & "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" were just a few. I remember the upstairs lounge and I remember that there was no time between shows. When the film ended, it (or the second feature) began immediately.
I probably saw more movies in any given year at this time then in all the years I have ahead.
I still remember the last films I saw at the Pix on a rainy autumn afternoon in 1976. Just before the theater closed, they may have been the last show. "The Omen" & "Race With The Devil"
After that it became a roller rink before its current incarnation.
The fond memories will never fade.

I graduated from Hudson Catholic in '75, but, I don't recall having gone to the Pix past '72 or so. Do you remember the Journal Square palaces? I have fond memories of the Hudson Plaza Cinema in the late 60s up till around '75. I moved out of Jersey City (to Clifton in '77) and then to NYC in 1980.

Bob

Pix, please.

Old program
cover:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b8df01b3127cceb493973f60c000000026108IZsW7Zwzc-


inside:

47b8df01b3127cceb4939766e1a900000026108IZsW7Zwzc-

And I almost forgot about the color television in the upstairs lounge. It was placed there by Goodman's furniture store, just a bit north of the Pix on the other side of Bergen Avenue. Nice way for Goodman's to get folks to come to their store for their first color TV. And, ironically, a harbinger of a not-too-distant future.