Loew's Fairmount Theatre

The Fairmount Theatre was one of the largest Loew’s theatres in the Bronx, opening on September 12, 1928, a full year before it was eclipsed by the Paradise. Designed by architect Joseph Orlando, the Fairmount was in French Renaissance style. The auditorium was semi-Atmospheric style, with patches of dark blue sky peeking through the latticed ceiling, but without floating clouds or twinkling stars.

The Fairmount Theatre opened with vaudeville and movies, but after the Paradise’s debut, it went to straight movies and playing them two weeks after that Grand Concourse showplace. Loew’s dropped the Fairmount in the late 1950’s, but it struggled on under “indie” ownership until conversion into a Hispanic cultural center and museum.

Then, in a surprising development, realty developer Greg Morris took over the building in 1986, with plans to convert it to a movie fourplex, retaining as much as he could of the original auditorium. I don’t know whether that ever happened. A recent photo of the site on the Internet shows most of the building being used for a supermarket.

Recent comments (view all 12 comments)

lostmemory on September 28, 2005 at 2:28 pm

A Robert-Morton organ Size 3/19 was installed in the Loew’s Fairmount Theater in 1928.

Alanem on July 12, 2006 at 7:27 pm

My dad and his partners ran the Fairmount Theater from 1960—1969. It was a beautiful theater.
A few years later they bought the Deluxe theater on Tremont and Belmont, a block away. Dad was a great manager and showman. They turned both theaters into money makers.
It’s was heyday of great films, 1960-1969.
What actors! What directors! What films!
There were movie theaters all over the Bronx—
the RKO Chester, the Vogue, the Loew’s Elsmere, the Fairmount, the Deluxe, the Crotona, the Art, the Devon, the Dover, the Ascot, the Loew’s Paradise, the RKO Fordham, the Valentine, the David Marcus, the Palace, the Earl, The Ogden, and many others.

KenRoe on August 21, 2006 at 10:47 am

Three photographs of the Loew’s Fairmount Theatre I took in June 2005:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/221335905/
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/221336917/
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/221337783/

LuisV on December 12, 2006 at 7:51 am

Has all of the internal ornamentation been lost? Are there drop ceilings protecting the original ceiling?

APK on January 24, 2008 at 10:54 am

Loew’s Fairmount
708 East Tremont Avenue

Bronx, New York 10457

The 1928 Robert-Morton theatre pipe organ was disassembled some time prior to 1985 and is now installed in the studio of Paul van der Molen of Wheaton, Illinois.
The organ was described as having “18 ranks, 6 tuned percussions,” and “a toy counter for special effects.”

There is at least one recording of the organ: a two-cassette collection* of hymns entitled “Glory Sounds” played by organist Tom Hazleton. The set was issued by:

Wheaton-Fox Productions
O North 468 Witlow Road
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

(*spotted at a used-book store outside Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

lostmemory on June 4, 2008 at 7:21 am

This is a photo of Loew’s Fairmount.

lostmemory on July 2, 2008 at 6:25 pm

Here is a new link to the photo posted on Jun 4, 2008.

lostmemory on April 18, 2009 at 10:23 am

This is a photo from 1981. That is one ugly marquee.

lostmemory on April 18, 2009 at 10:35 am

Still had the vertical sign in this 1976 photo.

TLSLOEWS on February 11, 2010 at 8:45 am

Looks like the old LOEWS marquee with the Loews ripped off.