Ramsey Cinema
125 E. Main Street,
Ramsey,
NJ
07446
125 E. Main Street,
Ramsey,
NJ
07446
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 29 comments
This was unfortunate the theater closed. It was saved by a GoFundMe campaign. All new projection equipment seats as well. I don’t think this theater will reopen again. It was open for 93 years.
Please update, theatre CLOSED
Article about theatre closinghttps://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/ramsey/2020/09/23/ramsey-theater-falls-victim-coronavirus-up-sale-after-93-years/3492119001/?fbclid=IwAR2W65lLR8pUucAxygAjkdFAs8JzIB8Z8hFuWwsfau2sbiEp9jxIv1JKDD0
Website for theater: http://www.ramseytheatre.com/
Vincent Trainor launched the Superba Theatre in 1918. In the 1920s, the theatre changed names to the Holly Theatre. As theatres converted to sound, the owners of the Holly were charged with setting fire to their own theatre though the fire only damaged the building. The Holly got new owners, was repaired, and equipped for sound in the rebranding as the Ramsey Theatre in January of 1936.
During the early days of television, the theatre reduced to just Friday-only operation before closing in 1952. The theatre relaunched as the Ramsey Cinema with widescreen presentation on June 3, 1960. In September and October of 2001, the theatre was closed while it added a second screen becoming a twin-screen operation on November 16, 2001.
The newly renovated “Ramsey Theatre” reopened on January 8th, 2014. Still two screens, 83 seats in one, 114 in the other. All digital now.
On December 27, 2013 New Jersey Public Television (NJTV) reported that the theater will reopen in January 2014.
The kickstarter campaign successfully raised the funds and they have begun the renovation process. They are hoping to re-open by mid-December.
Thanks, RidgewoodKen!
Lindsey B, I click on your link and nothing happens. Usually links that work show up blue on the page.
Here is a link to the kickstarter campaign to re-open the cinema! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ramseytheatre/bring-back-a-beautiful-new-and-digital-ramsey-thea
There will be a Kickstart campaign starting on October 1st to re-open the theater! I will post a link when it becomes available if anyone is interested.
And to you as well, Lindsey B. The union is giving me work at the arena in Newark, but its not a steady paycheck.
Sorry to hear that, markp. Best of luck to you.
Pretty impressive that they only lost 3 seats in the split. And to DeerinSpace, I know how you feel. I have been/was a union projectionist for over 37 years before losing my job to digital earlier this year.
Seating was 150 seats for Cinema 1. 113 seats for Cinema 2. Before conversion into a twin in Sept. 2001, the single auditorium had 266 seats. Screen size remained original large size by creating the 2nd auditorium in front of the other, rather than splitting it down the middle. Theater is currently closed (8/19/13) due to sale of building. No word if it will re-open as a theater.
I’m sad to report the cinema has closed as of Monday August 19, 2013. The building has been sold to a new owner. There is no word yet on if the new owner will keep it a theater or turn it into something else. I have been one of the managers/projectionists there for the last eleven years. Sad day.
Cool theatre.
this theater now has 3d projection.
> and rebuilt seats by the new operator
Those were “balcony” seats, they were designed to be mounted on a level floor. Unfortunately, this theatre had a sloped floor, so the seat backs tilted slightly forward, making them rather uncomfortable. The rows were rather close together for a total seating of around 400. In the summer 1980, those seats were replaced with better seating purchased used from the closing little Willowbrook Mall Cinemas. At that time the seating was reduced to 296, giving more leg room with wider rows. There is no basement.
An item in Boxoffice of June 20, 1960, announced the reopening of this theater which had been closed for eight years. The item calls it the East Main Street Theatre, but I think the writer must have mistaken the location for the name. The house had been closed by the Board of health in 1952 following a series of fires. It was updated with new wiring, wide screen, and rebuilt seats by the new operator, Bertil J. Carlson.
Boxoffice gave the seating capacity in 1960 as 296, so I’m wondering how they’ve managed to not only twin it but increase seating to 380. From the photos it’s apparent that the building has not been expanded. Did they add an auditorium in the basement?
Looked much better with the old marquee, but at least its still in business.
The marquee was taken down in the 1980’s, but the theater’s front remains the same.
The marquee was already gone by December of 1979 and the flat marquee in use today was there. The only difference was back then, there was a picture of a crown between the words Ramsey and Cinema.
Hello – I am very happy to tell you I visited this theater last month and took a photo of the exterior of the building:
View link
I did go inside, but the photo I took of the stage and curtain was unusable. Other than the partitioned room, the theater itself is small and plain. I regret not taking pics of the lobby as that was somewhat more decorated, but according to the manager may not have been the original interior structure. The manager did recommend a Ron Kase book titled Images of America RAMSEY, published by Arcadia in 2001 and captioned the following photo:
View link
The Ramsey Theatre is shown as it appeared in 1940. The marquee was taken down in the 1980’s, but the theater’s front remains the same.
According to the Bergen Record on 3/27/07 Page L01, this theater once showed silent films, placing it older than my 3/2/06 post.
This is the only movie theater in Ramsey remaining after the closing of the Loews Interstate theater. Did most of the employees of the now gone Franklin theater in Nutley move to the Ramsey location along with the digital sound and projection equipment from that triplex?