Loew's Paradise Theatre

2413 Grand Concourse,
Bronx, NY 10468

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mlkaufman
mlkaufman on December 20, 2005 at 4:19 pm

Agreed. I grew up in the Paradise, and I can tell you that it looked far worse than this in 1969. Its chief competitor, the RKO Fordham, was demolished. Now THAT’s something to feel bad about.

Ziggy
Ziggy on December 20, 2005 at 3:59 pm

I agree with Bobs. It’s amazing that, before the theatre opened, we kept hearing that it will never reopen. Now that’s it’s been largely restored and reopened all we hear is that it will never stay open. Then the nitpicking starts about what’s wrong. Yeah, the sign looks like crap, and you know what? A fresh coat of paint will fix it. I went to the holiday show at the old Loew’s State in Syracuse. The heat was too low. The lighting levels in the lobby are too high. The new refreshment stand is obtrusive, but you know what I kept telling myself? IT’S STILL STANDING. Someone cares enough about it to keep it standing and open, and that’s a great start. As far as I’m concerned, the Paradise is off to a great start. I hope it’s a huge success. Maybe someday they can do a proper restoration of the sign, and then all you whiners can find something else to complain about.

RJS
RJS on December 20, 2005 at 3:47 pm

I have to confess, really don’t understand all this concern over a sign and what color it’s painted. I’ve passed this building and from the outside it looks fantastic, and best of all, it’s still standing and it’s reopened! What color do you all want it to be? A slightly different shade of blue or yellow? If it means that much to you, talk to the owner and maybe they’ll let you repaint it.
Perhaps it’s just me, but coming from an area where any building like this was torn down years ago, I’m just happy to know it’s still standing. Judging from the photo’s posted earlier, whoever re-opened this treasure deserves tremendous credit for the amount of work done to restore this building.
I can’t believe someone who loves theaters actually wrote “an enshrinement of mediocrity and incompetence” to describe the workmanship on a sign. For God’s sake, it’s a sign! Did you see the lobby to this place?! They even have the original chandeliers working!
Let’s keep our priorities straight.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on December 20, 2005 at 12:33 pm

Well written, stevebob. I couldn’t agree more.

stevebob
stevebob on December 20, 2005 at 12:19 pm

It would be tempting to excuse that wretched sign as a “Bronx thing”, as though patrons there wouldn’t be discerning enough to know or care or don’t deserve better. The truth, though, is that there’s a woeful lack of standards of good workmanship in New York City generally. I wonder if it’s the same in the rest of the country (or the world), or if it reflects the skills possessed (not!) by NYC’s current immigrant population compared to that of the past.

Let me be clear that I am NOT referring to rarefied projects where cost is no object. The superrich have access to quality materials and contractors who employ craftsmen who know what they are doing, just as they always have had. They have standards, and their standards are enforced. For regular folks, though, it’s a world of band-aid repairs and appallingly sloppy work. Your typical New York City apartment building handyman cannot paint a straight line and would paint right over electrical outlets rather than remove switchplate covers. To do otherwise is simply not in his ken.

When we recognize the splendid monuments of the past, we tend to acknowledge that the materials and workmanship of that era can’t be easily duplicated. You couldn’t ask for a more vivid example than that sign! For as much work as was apparently put into polishing the inside of the Paradise, that sign couldn’t even be reproduced with sunbeams that are symmetrical and spaced evenly.

As long as people don’t care or don’t notice or make excuses, these are the standards that will prevail. Not too many posters have taken issue with that ghastly sign; as one previous poster pleaded, “GIVE THEM A CHANCE.” It’s basically an enshrinement of mediocrity and incompetence, and it shouldn’t be acceptable â€" even in the Bronx. I’m hopeful that the Landmarks Commission will compel a re-redesign.

IanJudge
IanJudge on December 20, 2005 at 3:00 am

Looking at the photos, um, they spelled Loew’s as Lowes on the ticket… either they are being sponsored by a hardware chain or someone there is not on the ball.

Comparing the old photos of the sunburst sign and the new photos, I would guess that it is tin, that the outlines of the original sunburst were visible even on a fuzzy photo from a couple of years ago, and that the new paint job extends the paint down an extra foot or two beyond where it originally went, nevermind being sloppy and amateurish. Granted, they may not have a ton of money to spend, but this is exterior paint here, folks. It shouldn’t cost that much to pay someone a day or two pay to do it right.

I wish them nothing but success, but with no events lined up, how do they expect to pay the rent? The heating and electric bill on that place has got to be around 2k a month, at least, even while closed.

mlkaufman
mlkaufman on December 20, 2005 at 12:28 am

An article on the Paradise reopening, with some pictures, including some of the exterior lit up at night, may be found here:

http://www.backinthebronx.com/paradise.html

The exterior “sunburst” looks much better with the illuminated theatre name, BTW.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on December 15, 2005 at 3:31 pm

Here’s a link to the Paradise’s cinematour page which features an array of photos taken while renovations were still in progress back in August 2004. Please forgive if this is a duplicate of an earlier post, but there are so many comments to sift through on this page I thought it’d be useful to take a look at them now that the theater is open again:

http://www.cinematour.com/tour.php?db=us&id=16520

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on December 12, 2005 at 12:25 pm

I wonder if they have any plans to install a replica of the original flat marquee above the entrance? And given that the word “Loew’s” was maintained in the restoration of the big sign on the facade, would it also be used in the marquee?

mauriceski
mauriceski on December 12, 2005 at 11:48 am

Just maybe,they restored the inside first,make some cash then restore the outside. How about that?. Rome was not restored in one day either. GIVE THEM A CHANCE

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on December 12, 2005 at 11:24 am

Given that the owners of this theater will likely have an uphill financial battle to keep this theater afloat, I doubt there’ll be a lot of attention spent on attempting to re-paint the exterior sunburst to appease our sensibilities. It is a shame, however, that after dedicating so much time and money towards renovating this great palace (an effort that I enthusiastically applaud), it seems as if they spent all of about $35 bucks on this particular element of the original design! This is what folks traveling up and down the Concourse will notice first and foremost as they look at the theater. Hideous is the perfect word, Warren. Embarrassing comes in a close 2nd.

christopher667
christopher667 on December 12, 2005 at 11:00 am

Thanks Brian! I’ve uploaded the pictures you sent me into my webshots gallery.

View link

Broan
Broan on December 10, 2005 at 4:42 pm

Here, I found it. Page 103 of Ben Hall’s “The Best Remaining Seats”. Chris, if you send me an email I can scan in the photos from this book and you can post them. There’s a closeup of the sidewall, a view of the proscenium and asbestos curtain, a full-color rendering of the interior, and the exterior view I mentioned.

stevebob
stevebob on December 10, 2005 at 4:41 pm

I commented on this last July, as did others. I tried to be kind, but the truth is that the blue and yellow sunburst doesn’t look historically correct or appropriate at all.

Warren, it would be great if such a thing could get them in deep trouble with the authorities, but the city’s priorities with respect to the Grand Concourse have not generally been what they should be. For instance, decades of unenforced zoning regulations for ground floor apartments have transformed what was intended to be an entirely residential boulevard (except for the segment roughly between 183rd Street and Fordham Road) into something quite different in character.

Broan
Broan on December 10, 2005 at 4:33 pm

I saw a black and white photo of it at some point; I thought it was in “The Best Remaining Seats” but I can’t seem to find the photo at the moment. Anyway, I could see that it was originally multicolored, maybe three or four colors, each ray was the same width. That’s probably the main problem; the spacing is narrow in spots and wide in others, it looks sloppy. I don’t doubt that the colors were vivid though.

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on December 10, 2005 at 2:18 pm

Could it be that was the original color-scheme, and over the many years it became bleached and faded by the sun?
What is that sign made of? The first time I saw a photo of it I thought it was mosaic tile. The photo at the heading of this page shows it as plain beige.

christopher667
christopher667 on December 10, 2005 at 1:36 pm

I walked over to the theatre yesterday (through all the snow and slush) to take some pictures of the facade since people were curious about its current appearance. I’ve added them to my webshots gallery.Take a look.
View link

movieguy
movieguy on December 6, 2005 at 2:11 am

Did anyone make it to the HOT 97 event on Nov 25th? I was away but they were having
some good bands.For all the talk about the Paradise opening agaon for the past few years,
there has to some people on this site who have gone to the last two events.
Hopefully thre will be moe in the spring/summer

mlkaufman
mlkaufman on December 6, 2005 at 1:38 am

I’ve seen a photo of the “restored” marquee, and the Loew’s sign is still there. Unfortunately, the dark blue background makes it hard to see the lettering at all in the daytime, or when it’s not lit.

Sorry, I just can’t remember where I saw the photo. If I can locate it I’ll post the url.

IanJudge
IanJudge on December 6, 2005 at 1:35 am

Even though they are calling it ‘Paradise Theater’ (and understandably not using the Loew’s name to spare confusion) I am assuming they still restored the neon sign on the front marquee to say “Loew’s Paradise Theatre”. Can one of you confirm this? Any pictures of the exterior since the reopening floating around out there? Google image search doesn’t seem to find any.

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on November 14, 2005 at 11:40 am

What happened to Divinity? The Paradise Theaters biggest supporter has been MIA since 10/27!

Vito
Vito on November 14, 2005 at 9:42 am

What a grand day for movie palace lovers!
It’s too bad the new owners have said that there will be no movies, just live concerts and sports events. Still, it’s great to have the magnificent old dame back.

rabbitlaz
rabbitlaz on November 11, 2005 at 11:39 pm

Well, I was outside the Paradise that evening and can attest to the fact that people entered. I could also hear the salsa music near one of the exits that was partially open. The line of people was about two blocks long. A coworker of mine attended the concert and said it was sold out and was quite good. The question is, what’s next?

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on November 11, 2005 at 1:30 pm

Didn’t ANYBODY on this forum go to the grand re-opening of this magnificent showplace?

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on November 9, 2005 at 2:53 pm

Yes, please. For those who were not able to attend, we would like to read a complete report of the gala re-birth of our beloved Paradise!