Thanks for that link Scott. I have several photos of the first and second Paradise marquee, but that’s the only one I’ve ever seen in color, and actually a few seonds of film! I agree, it’s frustratingly brief, but still incredible.
Also, that site has several other very short films of the Times Square area, including several now demolished theaters along with the old Astor Hotel. Very good link.
Recently found some photos I took of the Victoria in 1985 and I’ve attached them here. The interior was in pretty poor condition at the time, but it was easy to see this was a real palace at one time. KenRoe mentioned the Majestic was next door but it must have been demolished long before I took this photo and a newer JC Penney built in its place. I understand both the Victoria and JC Penney are now gone.
Attached is a photo I took of the former Roxy Theater after the fire had damaged the building and a number of nearby buildings. The photo is dated April 1991, so the fire must have occurred during the winter of 1990/1991 and not mid-1990’s as I indicated above.
RJS
commented about
Movieson
Mar 16, 2006 at 6:39 am
I had the opportunity to tour this theater during spring of 2003. Repairs had recently been completed to the roof area of both the auditorium and lobby. The current owners had completed some interior work in the lobby area to repair damage done due to the leaking roof.
The theater restrooms are located on opposite sides of the auditorium, in the basement. Both were in total disrepair. The art deco auditorium had dark red seats that appear to have been installed during the 1950 era, many were in good condition. Much of the auditorium was in pretty bad shape, many ceiling tiles were missing and water stains along both walls, although the owners were beginning to repaint the walls white. The screen and sound system were gone. The HVAC system did not appear to work. There was still an old projector in the booth but it appeared to be in pieces.
The building also has two small storefronts on the left and right side of the lobby. These were in very poor shape, mostly from the previous roof leak. The storefronts would probably work as new restrooms for the auditorium.
Unsure what the owners have planned although they were considering some type of community center.
I happened to be in the Times Square area over the weekend of 03-12-06. It appears demolition has begun on what was once the Broadway entrance to the Lunt-Fontanne/Globe Theaters. I believe this entrance was converted to retail stores back in the 1950’s. It also appears demolition is taking place at the former Howard-Johnson and Gaiety Theater building just south of the Luntâ€"Fontanne.
Weida:
You may want to try the local paper, website is mcall.com. They’ve been around for about 100 years and may have something in their archives. They have an online archive, but only goes back to 1984. Not sure if they can help you given the fact of your location, but worth a try.
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.
I’m thrilled to read work on this theater is nearly complete and will be reopening this weekend. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the opening on Saturday, but intend to visit during one of the later engagements. The pictures others posted here look fantastic!!
The new Paradise website they created is much improved, but I’m concerned they are ONLY using macromedia flash for their homepage. All search engines, google, yahoo and others, use a “crawl†to determine the position of websites. The “crawl†searches and looks at website text and counts the occurrence of each text word. Since their homepage contains no text at all, their website won’t have a good position if you search for paradise theater bronx. Macromedia flash may look nice, but if no one finds the website then it doesn’t help much. There are multiple other links where the average web surfer may find their homepage, but many folks get frustrated if they don’t find it on the first or second search page from whatever search they use.
Wasn’t sure where to post this question. Does anyone know the name of the theater located approx. 2 blocks north of where Loew’s State was located? The theater still exists but is now closed. The façade faces west and currently has a small marquee (with ‘for lease’ sign) squeezed in with a number of other store front signs. I think it was last known as a UA and had multiple screens but not certain. When looking up behind all the billboards plastered over the façade, looks like an older structure. I’ve checked a number of listings here, but none seem to match.
The zip code for this theater should be updated to 18101.
This theater was sold by UA in the late 1980’s and the new owner did nothing with it except lock the doors. It pretty much stood empty and totally unused and not maintained until the city started cracking down because it was falling into disrepair.
The owner made a few roof repairs around 2000, but then stopped because he lacked the proper permits for the type of work being completed.
For at least 5 years city engineers kept saying the building was in danger of collapse, but it just kept on standing. After many court battles, the city began demolition March 2005. I drove by in August and an empty lot remains. The location is directly to the west of the old Lehigh County courthouse.
This building was taken over by PP&L (Pennsylvania Power & Light) and used for office space, although not sure if they own or lease the space. I worked as a computer contract employee for them in the late 1990’s and was not able to see anything indicating the building was once the Rialto. Hondo59 indicated the auditorium was razed, but from talking with old-timers at PP&L, they said the building was totally gutted to the walls and re-worked into office space. The auditorium area now has multiple floors of office space.
It’s possible that some of the lobby remains since only the first floor entrance was used as a bill payment center (now closed) by PP&L. I was never able to get into the second floor space above the bill payment area, so not sure what it looks like.
The Allentown Boyd was located on 9th Street directly behind the PP&L tower building. It was razed in the late 1960’s and replaced with a large PP&L office building referred to as the North building. I added the Allentown Boyd here months ago, but for some reason it never appeared. The Allentown Boyd was part of the Boyd chain of theaters also in Bethlehem and Philadelphia, it was quite popular because of its location across the street from Hess’s department store which was also razed in 2000.
TC:
I may be in that area later this week. Will post any info I find. Lived in Pottsville when in college and don’t recall anything looking like a theater at that address, but the building may have been really changed.
If you ever drive into the area, be sure to check out the Strand in Hamburg, small but very cute place. Added it here a few weeks back.
davebazooka , IMHO keep on posting the photos. Most of us don’t have the ability to pass the Beekman site every day and its important to remind everyone what’s happening. Your photos provide more info then can be expressed in words.
It’s also important to document the death of a theater as much we document its life. Calling attention to the current situation of the Beekman may give people incentive to work harder in those communities where a building may be facing a similar fate.
If you don’t want to view the photo, just don’t click on the link.
I was able to take an exterior photo of the Berwick theater in August 2005. It seems to be showing second run at this time. You can view the photo here. The entrance is the set of doors to the left.
I was able to take a photo of the Lyric theater in August 2005, it currently is being used as both restaurant and bar. It appears the exterior was recently painted. You can view the photo here
Thanks for that link Scott. I have several photos of the first and second Paradise marquee, but that’s the only one I’ve ever seen in color, and actually a few seonds of film! I agree, it’s frustratingly brief, but still incredible.
Also, that site has several other very short films of the Times Square area, including several now demolished theaters along with the old Astor Hotel. Very good link.
Recently found some photos I took of the Victoria in 1985 and I’ve attached them here. The interior was in pretty poor condition at the time, but it was easy to see this was a real palace at one time. KenRoe mentioned the Majestic was next door but it must have been demolished long before I took this photo and a newer JC Penney built in its place. I understand both the Victoria and JC Penney are now gone.
View link
View link
Attached are two photo’s I took of the Victoria in the fall of 1985. The exterior appeared to be in very good condition at the time.
View link
View link
Attached is a photo I took of the former Roxy Theater after the fire had damaged the building and a number of nearby buildings. The photo is dated April 1991, so the fire must have occurred during the winter of 1990/1991 and not mid-1990’s as I indicated above.
View link
I had the opportunity to tour this theater during spring of 2003. Repairs had recently been completed to the roof area of both the auditorium and lobby. The current owners had completed some interior work in the lobby area to repair damage done due to the leaking roof.
The theater restrooms are located on opposite sides of the auditorium, in the basement. Both were in total disrepair. The art deco auditorium had dark red seats that appear to have been installed during the 1950 era, many were in good condition. Much of the auditorium was in pretty bad shape, many ceiling tiles were missing and water stains along both walls, although the owners were beginning to repaint the walls white. The screen and sound system were gone. The HVAC system did not appear to work. There was still an old projector in the booth but it appeared to be in pieces.
The building also has two small storefronts on the left and right side of the lobby. These were in very poor shape, mostly from the previous roof leak. The storefronts would probably work as new restrooms for the auditorium.
Unsure what the owners have planned although they were considering some type of community center.
Another small image can be seen View link
I happened to be in the Times Square area over the weekend of 03-12-06. It appears demolition has begun on what was once the Broadway entrance to the Lunt-Fontanne/Globe Theaters. I believe this entrance was converted to retail stores back in the 1950’s. It also appears demolition is taking place at the former Howard-Johnson and Gaiety Theater building just south of the Luntâ€"Fontanne.
The status of this theater should be changed to open. They have a new website, the url is www.shermantheater.com
Weida:
You may want to try the local paper, website is mcall.com. They’ve been around for about 100 years and may have something in their archives. They have an online archive, but only goes back to 1984. Not sure if they can help you given the fact of your location, but worth a try.
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.
It has since been learned that this theater was much larger and held about 2400. Here is a photo of the marquee exterior.
View link
Somehow the photo’s I posted were deleted. Here they are again. First is front of building. Second shows the depth of the building from the side.
View link
View link
I’m thrilled to read work on this theater is nearly complete and will be reopening this weekend. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the opening on Saturday, but intend to visit during one of the later engagements. The pictures others posted here look fantastic!!
The new Paradise website they created is much improved, but I’m concerned they are ONLY using macromedia flash for their homepage. All search engines, google, yahoo and others, use a “crawl†to determine the position of websites. The “crawl†searches and looks at website text and counts the occurrence of each text word. Since their homepage contains no text at all, their website won’t have a good position if you search for paradise theater bronx. Macromedia flash may look nice, but if no one finds the website then it doesn’t help much. There are multiple other links where the average web surfer may find their homepage, but many folks get frustrated if they don’t find it on the first or second search page from whatever search they use.
Wasn’t sure where to post this question. Does anyone know the name of the theater located approx. 2 blocks north of where Loew’s State was located? The theater still exists but is now closed. The façade faces west and currently has a small marquee (with ‘for lease’ sign) squeezed in with a number of other store front signs. I think it was last known as a UA and had multiple screens but not certain. When looking up behind all the billboards plastered over the façade, looks like an older structure. I’ve checked a number of listings here, but none seem to match.
One would assume “Mythical symbol” because it was like walking into a fantasy or, dare I say, Paradise.
The zip code for this theater should be updated to 18101.
This theater was sold by UA in the late 1980’s and the new owner did nothing with it except lock the doors. It pretty much stood empty and totally unused and not maintained until the city started cracking down because it was falling into disrepair.
The owner made a few roof repairs around 2000, but then stopped because he lacked the proper permits for the type of work being completed.
For at least 5 years city engineers kept saying the building was in danger of collapse, but it just kept on standing. After many court battles, the city began demolition March 2005. I drove by in August and an empty lot remains. The location is directly to the west of the old Lehigh County courthouse.
This building was taken over by PP&L (Pennsylvania Power & Light) and used for office space, although not sure if they own or lease the space. I worked as a computer contract employee for them in the late 1990’s and was not able to see anything indicating the building was once the Rialto. Hondo59 indicated the auditorium was razed, but from talking with old-timers at PP&L, they said the building was totally gutted to the walls and re-worked into office space. The auditorium area now has multiple floors of office space.
It’s possible that some of the lobby remains since only the first floor entrance was used as a bill payment center (now closed) by PP&L. I was never able to get into the second floor space above the bill payment area, so not sure what it looks like.
The Allentown Boyd was located on 9th Street directly behind the PP&L tower building. It was razed in the late 1960’s and replaced with a large PP&L office building referred to as the North building. I added the Allentown Boyd here months ago, but for some reason it never appeared. The Allentown Boyd was part of the Boyd chain of theaters also in Bethlehem and Philadelphia, it was quite popular because of its location across the street from Hess’s department store which was also razed in 2000.
Here is another current color photo of the former Loyola Theater.
Here is another photo I took showing what the former Forty-Fort Theater looks like in August 2005.
TC:
I may be in that area later this week. Will post any info I find. Lived in Pottsville when in college and don’t recall anything looking like a theater at that address, but the building may have been really changed.
If you ever drive into the area, be sure to check out the Strand in Hamburg, small but very cute place. Added it here a few weeks back.
Here is a photo I took of the Holland Theater as it appears today. Took the photo August 2005. Seems to be well maintained as a church.
davebazooka , IMHO keep on posting the photos. Most of us don’t have the ability to pass the Beekman site every day and its important to remind everyone what’s happening. Your photos provide more info then can be expressed in words.
It’s also important to document the death of a theater as much we document its life. Calling attention to the current situation of the Beekman may give people incentive to work harder in those communities where a building may be facing a similar fate.
If you don’t want to view the photo, just don’t click on the link.
The offical website for the Martin is
http://www.martintheatre.com/
Also includes several photos.
Here is a small image of the Forty-Fort Theater, unsure the year this photo was taken.
I was able to take an exterior photo of the Berwick theater in August 2005. It seems to be showing second run at this time. You can view the photo here. The entrance is the set of doors to the left.
I was able to take a photo of the Lyric theater in August 2005, it currently is being used as both restaurant and bar. It appears the exterior was recently painted. You can view the photo here