Loew's Paradise Theatre
2413 Grand Concourse,
Bronx,
NY
10468
2413 Grand Concourse,
Bronx,
NY
10468
63 people
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Showing 426 - 450 of 671 comments
You’re right, Shoe, a search for Valencia should have turned up this listing. The search feature aropund here is a little rudimentary.
The auditorium has been restored to its original 4000 seat splendor.
Sorry. I was looking for “Valencia” instead. Stupid me. Thanks “saps”. Btw, is it still a quad inside the Paradise? I hope not.
Boo-hoo, Shoe, here’s the link to Valencia /theaters/903/
You’ve been talking about the Valencia for quite some time and nobody has posted it as a new theater. Sometimes I’m sick of reposting other people’s comments as the intro post/description of the theaters mentioned.
See if you notice a numerical error in the text.
Great News Everyone!
Tours of the Grand Concourse, as well as the Loew’s Paradise Theatre will be held this month. Click on the link and read all about it!
http://www.bronxmuseum.org/gc.htm
The Valencia closed almost two decades before the Paradise. The Paradise was obviously more successful at remaining open for a longer period of time.
Does anyone know if all 4 of the Wonder theaters in NYC have been given full and proper landmark status?
1977
When did the Valencia close?
Was the Paradise the most successful of the five Loew’s Wonder theatres built along with the Valencia? I know from William that both the Paradise along with the Valencia that they enjoyed exclusive runs into the 1960’s. I think the Paradise enjoyed exlusive runs longer than the Valencia due to the competition in Brooklyn.I am just so thrilled that this theatre is being restored. It would be a tribute New York City/New Jersey if all five of the Loew’s wonder theatres were restored. I hope there is a lot of coverage in the New York Times when the theatre reopens.brucec
Thanks Jim, Thats a brilliant feature. Best wishes.
Hello, Porter; it’s been a long time since we have heard from you, and I thought you might like to know that until they enlarge the forthcoming images, anyone using Internet Explorer 6 or later can turn on the Magnifier feature and it will open a window about two inches wide above the main window in which one can view the main screen portion that the cursor is over in several different magnifications according to the setting one adopts (3x is usually the best). If you put the cursor over the photos, they will be much more easy to see. This works for most anything on the screen, so enjoy!
Thanks Divinity!
Where’s the eagerly awaited Photo Gallery? I want detailed BIG photos.
The page is still under construction but the images are simply divine.
Hello everyone,
The Loew’s Paradise finally has a website: http://theparadisetheater.com/
Enjoy all!
Perhaps this should now be placed at the top of the page.
rivjr, Thirty years ago no part of this city was safe, and it was the “south bronx” that was crime ridden. At that time, much of the northern Grand Concourse and Fordham Road were very beautiful and safe. If a person didn’t belong on the Concourse, they were asked to leave by a policeman. I do agree that it isn’t looking as good as herald square, but do you remember what that looked like some years ago. However I did pass by the Paradise this evening and it looks far from “trashy”. The marquee was brightly lit and the Pilasters were illuminated with bright light shining from the four art deco sconces that were recently removed and restored. At least we still have our beloved movie palace as a sight for sore eyes.
In the heyday of LOEW’S PARADISE, major movies either played LOEW’S or at RKO. ALL, by the way, were double features except on Broadway. A LOEW’S display ad would list all the theaters playing a certain moves, similar to ads today, a long list. Invariably, the listing contained “Bronx: PARADISE Queens: VALENCIA”. These two theatres ALWAYS had the exclusive on whatever movie they were showing, and filling lots of seats. Can this happen again? Movie box office is rich, not dead. People drop $10 a ticket like never before, except they spend it in crummy theaters —– for lack of alternative. WALT DISNEY has restored the large and famous EL CAPITAN in Los Angeles. It operates with great success across the street from the huge GRAUMAN’S CHINESE and a couple of blocks from the EGYPTIAN. There’s no reason to assume the PARADISE wouldn’t draw a big audience.
LAST MONTH I went by the PARADISE. The whole area is trashy. Yes, but remember that 30 years ago the Bronx was so crime-ridden that the GUARDIAN ANGELS were formed because girls and women weren’t safe on Grand Concourse or elsewhere in the Bronx at 3 pm on a sunny day. Since Rudy, unimpared crime isn’t tolerated in New York and the cops actually arrest criminals, unheard of 20 or 30 years ago.
I know this is off topic, but that incredibly long url can be shortened at www.tinyurl.com, which results in http://tinyurl.com/bh8hd
Hello Everyone,
Attached is a website that has images of several Loew’s movie palaces. The bum uncle tale above could be true since it appears that there were in fact swords mounted above the fireplace in the lovely mens lounge. It is probably because of the uncles act of vandalism and unruly behavior that the pieces were removed. Scroll towards the bottom of the page and you can see a photo of the projection room and the mens lounge. Enjoy!
link
The shops are not occupied yet because the owner is asking for more than $75.00 per square foot and he would prefer more tasteful buisnesses to occupy the spaces. There was until recently a cheap gift shop in the attached taxpayer but it has since moved to the building to the left of the theatre.
Yes, I guess the lines generally follow the same shape but the material looks totally contemporary. I doubt very much that the original sunburst was made out of plastic, and this was the point I was trying to make.
Looking at pre-restoration photos on cinematour, it looks to me like they followed the same sunburst lines. What looks different to you?
I drove up the Grand Concourse this afternoon so I didn’t get a sustained look, but exterior work is clearly still going on (sidewalk shed, etc.). The terra cotta looks so clean and is a very pretty color. It appears that the marquee (the ornate bas-relief scroll above the entrance) is being updated with the addition of the sunburst that was once the background for the letters spelling out “Loew’s Paradise Theatre”. It doesn’t look like a recreation of the original, but rather a modern geometric interpretation. Not bad, just different.
I have to say, though, that there’s something mysterious about this whole project. Maybe it’s just that it took so long to get back on track after the well ran dry for the first developer and it’s all been so low-key. I wonder how promotion will take place considering there’s not yet even a website. (Correct me if I’m wrong!?) It would be nice if local press and NY1 News took notice, because something phenomenal is apparently happening right in our midst. How often is a movie palace of such exquisite quality resurrected?
Finally, it looks like the retail shops still aren’t rented, which seemed a touch amusing considering that that was supposed to be the issue that sunk the first developer. I guess this one has deeper pockets!
A sad pic during the closed period
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