Castle Theater
1115 Clinton Avenue,
Irvington,
NJ
07111
1115 Clinton Avenue,
Irvington,
NJ
07111
1 person
favorited this theater
“Don’t know much other than it has long shown films which would interest an African-American audience. I haven’t been inside. It has or had a Wurlitzer that was shipped on 12/19/1922 and I would presume that is about when the theater was built. I haven’t seen it in years, but I know it was still open until recent times.”
Contributed by
John
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
I grew up in Irvington and graduated IHS in 1977. My movie theater of choice was always the Sanford Theater. However, I do remember one specific visit to the Castle Theater to see the movie Tommy. There had to be about 600 kids in there, all of us on hallocinogens of one kind or another, tripping in the Castle Theater watching Tommy. I also believe they had a balcony which I was sitting in during this movie! LOL!! I believe at a later time, they were the only theater in Irvington that started doing the Rocky Horror Picture Show as I had some friends that used to go.
Listed as open in the 1944 FDY as a Warner Bros. Theater. Listed in the 1961 FDY as part of Triangle-Liggett Theatre Sercice & in the 1970 FDY as part of Triangle Theatre Service Inc.
My uncle is Ralph Elsman. J.T. Castles, is his grandmother Laura’s brother and his great-uncle. My uncle has a plaque from the Castles Ice Cream Company, also located in Irvington. James S., please let me know if you are still interested in locating the Elsman family.
I’d love to see some photos of this theater. Does anyone know of any online, or can post any they have?
I saw Frankenstein there for the first time with my sister in the summer of 1956. We lived on Union Avenue. I was there in 2000 visiting and the marquee had been torn down, but the theatre was still operating apparently. I also went to the Sanford frequently. Saturday matinees were great back in the 50s.
As an aside…anyone here attend Irvington High in the late 50s?
This website has a few photos of the Castle Theater.
1981 Photo
1982 Photo
I graduated IHS in 1958, and was at the Castle Theater for many Saturday matinees. Unlike some of the other readers, I did not prefer the Sanford – it was a longer walk to get there. I remember seeing “Frankenstein” with my cousin. Afterwards, we drew stitches on our foreheads. I remember choking on popcorn while Esther Williams swam among the coral. In the 1960’s I saw “The Graduate” with my mother, and was so embarrassed by the sexually explicit content! It’s too bad that the marquee has been removed. All the best to my friends in Irvington! DHJ in Orlando, Florida
The front looks new – and enlarged. it is now a beauty salon. It’s hard to tell about the auditorium – either this is a new building that replaced a long narrow lobby leading back to a large wide non-balconied auditorium or it was a fairly compact auditorium close to the street. I suspect it may have been the former. The old photos show a quite narrow entrance.