New Park Cinemas

JeffreyM on August 6, 2007 at 7:17 pm

We need more information on the original Park Theatre in Roselle Park, New Jersey.

I remember seeing Rocky and Gator on a double Bill for I think one dollar. I was only 10. As long as I could remember the balcony was closed.

I remember that Twin Boro Ford clock.

I remember before the New Park Theatre Opened in around 1990 there was talk of it being fully restored, and that folks from Italy fle over to work on the gold leaf, then all of a sudden we got the New Park Cineam Multiplex with drop ceilings. At least the bathroom was like it used to be till they upgraded it a bit.

spiders24 on April 11, 2009 at 1:27 pm

I grew up in Roselle Park during the late 70s to mid 80s, saw many movies there including Red Dawn, Purple Rain and Return of the Jedi, me and a freind sat there all day and watched Jedi like 4 times and no one said a word. At some point I remember seeing a sign in the window that it was owned by Consolidated Theaters, the place was not maintained and was in bad shape, you could see that peices of the paint hwere falling away from the ceiling.Story is at some point the new fire code was in place due to the tragedy at Great Adventure and would have required the place to have sprinklers installed so it closed, some years later I was walking by and saw a side door open and the place was being extensivly renovated to its original condition, the celings where all repainted, it looked incredible, then someome changed there mind and covered all the beautiful work and split the old place up

markp on May 27, 2009 at 11:46 am

Thats the problem with a lot of these multiplexes today. You have these teenage projectionist wanna-bees, and you end up with piracy. All these companies wont hire union guys cause they say it costs too much, so they hire these kids for $8.00 an hour, and of course they want more money, so they do what they can to get it. You would never catch an old timer like me doing this. I have more brains then to get caught and lose my job.

hondo59 on January 14, 2011 at 3:20 pm

In the 1970s and the early 1980s the Park was still a single theater. It did not have a balcony – it was what they call today stadium-type seating. The entrance into the auditorium was in the center with the stadium seating/loge on either side. The aisles were in the center and on both sides. It was a wide theater.

It had a large ornate, circular relief in the center ceiling where there was probably once a large chandelier. By the time I saw this place, it ran double features for a dollar and later two dollars. I saw many good double bills here and I remember the Park fondly. Not much money was put into maintenance which meant some sticky floors, broken seats, and beatup restrooms painted in odd colors.

There were several leaks in the ceiling ornamentation which resulted in water-damaged plaster. Years later I returned to see it when it was quad-ed. It was cleaner and a lot more expensive but it had lost its charm.

Joe Vogel on October 1, 2014 at 5:04 pm

As the only theater in Roselle Park, and with an organ having been installed in 1927, the Park Theatre must have been this project noted in the “Theatres in Construction” column of Variety for December 1, 1926:

“Roselle Park, N. J. — (Also stores, offices). $200,000. Westfleld avenue. Owners. D. Bender and N. Goldine, care of architect, Wm. Friedberg, Newark. N. J. Policy not given.”

Architect Willaim Friedberg opened his office in Newark in 1922, but I’ve been unable to find out anything else about him.