Paramount Theatre

33 N. Clinton Avenue,
Rochester, NY 14604

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rivest266
rivest266 on January 24, 2016 at 9:40 am

August 30th, 1967 grand opening ad for the Studio 2 in photo section

rivest266
rivest266 on January 23, 2016 at 11:32 am

March 3rd, 1948 grand opening ad as Paramount also in the photo section.

rivest266
rivest266 on January 22, 2016 at 4:22 pm

November 19th, 1916 grand opening ad as Piccadilly also in the photo section. It opened on the 25th.

rivest266
rivest266 on January 22, 2016 at 4:15 pm

April 10th, 1931 grand opening ad as Century in photo section.

jasen
jasen on February 10, 2013 at 2:11 pm

In the late 40’s when the Century theatre was remodeled, it became 2 theatres. The Paramount theatre’s entrance was on Clinton Ave. North and Century theatre’s entrance on Mortimer St. I recall attending the grand opening of the Paramount theatre and seeing the first muscial film projected in Vista Vision. It’s clearity was impressive but not as wide screen as Cinemascope.

Patsy
Patsy on January 31, 2013 at 6:22 pm

“The most ironic thing about the Paramount/Piccadilly’s demolition is that the city is now attempting to construct a performing arts center on the exact same site!”

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 22, 2012 at 6:38 pm

Here is a fresh link to the 1948 Boxoffice item with a photo of the Paramount’s remodeled lobby.

dhroc
dhroc on August 15, 2011 at 4:27 pm

The Piccadilly was a Loew’s vaudeville theatre. I don’t know when the Martina gang (did I say that?) took it over but the place was very run down and somewhat unkempt. I saw Omega Man and a couple of others there.

Martina ran a bunch of old downtown theatres and were always in court suing the other chains for unfair booking practices. Thing was, Matina always seemed to get pretty good movies. All the Martinas became pretty run down in the late sixties and early seventies finally closing up in quick succession.

martymia2009
martymia2009 on June 18, 2011 at 12:48 pm

As I entered the Theatre I remember the Lobby being slightly like a hill. My first time there was to see Creature From The Black Lagoon in 3D Wow, hat an experience for a 12 yr old boy back then!!!

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on August 4, 2010 at 2:29 pm

A.K.A. Loews Piccadilly,funny sounding name.

Ziggy
Ziggy on May 28, 2010 at 7:40 am

My Gosh! You’ve really gotta hate that late 40’s streamlining! It would be great to find some photos showing the original decor. I know the auditorium survived somewhat intact right up to the end.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 12, 2009 at 1:00 am

The architect for the conversion of the Century Theatre into the Paramount in 1948 was Rochester’s own Michael J. DeAngelis. There’s a picture of the post-renovation lobby in Boxoffice, May 22, 1948.

Patsy
Patsy on May 5, 2008 at 8:36 pm

movie534: Interesting that a CT member would comment about my post almost 2 years later! Anyone have some updated news?

markp
markp on May 5, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Too true Patsy, too true.

Patsy
Patsy on May 11, 2006 at 2:16 pm

“The most ironic thing about the Paramount/Piccadilly’s demolition is that the city is now attempting to construct a performing arts center on the exact same site!” This is very ironic and so sad that the City of Rochester didn’t have the foresight then to have kept what they had so the saying comes to mind…“one doesn’t know what one has until you lose it.”

kodapendant
kodapendant on October 21, 2005 at 2:02 pm

The first listing of the Piccadilly Theatre appears in the Rochester, NY, city directory for the year beginning August 15, 1916. Page 1560 lists Theatres and Places of Amusement, and the address given for the Piccadilly is “35 Clinton av. N.” The publication “Architecture & Architects of Rochester, NY” (Schmidt, 1959) attributes the design of the building to the firm of Foote & Headley, Rochester (i.e., Orlando K. Foote and Arthur B. Headley).

TourTheLoopDotCom
TourTheLoopDotCom on August 21, 2005 at 3:16 pm

Here’s a link to a photo on the Rochester Library’s website.
View link
(You can use the photo if you keep the information intact at the bottom of the photo.)

Ziggy
Ziggy on August 30, 2004 at 7:17 am

I’m sure the street number is correct, but the name is actually Clinton Avenue. There is no Clinton Street in Rochester.