Loew's Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
77 people
favorited this theater
One of the five ‘Wonder Theatres’ in the New York City area, the Loew’s Jersey Theatre opened on 28th September 1929. Later in January 1975, two additional screens, each seating 524, were placed in the orchestra seating area beneath the balcony, leaving the main screen in the balcony, with a seating capacity of 1,078. The theatre closed on Thursday August 21, 1986.
Preservationists saved the theatre from becoming an office building and the Friends of the Loew’s embarked on an ongoing renovation/restoration project. The wall dividing the orchestra seating into two screens was removed.
Unfortunately, the original Jersey Theatre’s Morton ‘Wonder’ organ had already been removed from the building, but happily it is now located in the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, California. The Garden State Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society acquired a ‘sister’ identical Robert Morton ‘Wonder’ organ that had been originally installed in the Loew’s Paradise Theatre, Bronx. After several years extensive work on the instrument, it was ready for its debut in its new home at the Loew’s Jersey Theatre in late-2007.
The Loew’s Jersey Theatre had reopened in early-2002 as a venue for classic films, concerts and live performances. The theatre has become the centerpiece of the Journal Square renaissance.
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Recent comments (view all 1,369 comments)
We will be able to continue purchasing carbons and projecting 35 mm for quite a while, but we are still preparing for the inevitable.
I will always be fascinated with old movie theaters because of its rich history.
Hi FOL, Just checked your film schedule. Are there any films scheduled for the end of this month, or are skipping straight to June?
Do to a scheduling mishap, the show that should have taken place the last weekend in May will actually take place on the first weekend of June 1st & 2nd. The final classic film show of this season will take place the following weekend, June 8th and 9th, programming to be announced.
The rectangular Loew’s Jersey building and its shiny black roof can be seen just below the center of this spectacular aerial view of Jersey City: lunaimaging
Tinseltoes, Great photo! Thanks for sharing. This was taken in the early 1970s because the PATH station is still under construction, probably before the theatre was tri-plexed.
And the writing on the back wall can be seen in the photo:
LOEW’S THEATRE
The Home of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
You can still see it even today, but it’s badly faded.
The Stanley Theatre can also be seen in that aerial view, but it’s not as easy to spot.
From that view you can see the odd kidney bean shape of the building, and how the lobby is on an angle with respect to the auditorium.
Also, the “shiny” part of the roof is where there used to be a spray pond for the building’s old air conditioning system (replaced in 1949 with the cooling tower that’s currently on the lobby roof).
I can also make out the double water tower on top of the Loew’s. I found the Stanley!—bottom left side. If you go up from the Loew’s about 1 inch in the photo, there is a nice full view of the old State Theatre (demolished). Pretty impressive entertainment area in its day: 9,800 theatre seats within a short city block walk.