Loew's Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
54 Journal Square,
Jersey City,
NJ
07306
98 people
favorited this theater
Showing 651 - 675 of 1,501 comments
Totally agree. That is a wonderful restaurant. Lots of atmosphere there and the food is good too. I also highly recommend it. I’ve been going there for years—since it was the Summit House. I like how you used Google Maps to show where the restaurants are located around “The Square.” When I was a kid we used go to White Castle, but that was another time in my life. Newark Ave. is getting to be a fun place these days! Lots of nice street activity and very interesting stores and restaurants.
The easiest way to get to the Blue Ribbon from the Loew’s on foot is through the PATH Center. Just go downstairs to the concourse and walk straight on through to Magnolia Ave. Follow Magnolia one short block to Summit Ave. and the Blue Ribbon is right there, directly across the street.
I realize that this post is a bit off topic for Cinema Treasures but it is appropriate for attendees of events at the Loew’s Jersey.
If you are to visit the Loew’s Jersey for a movie or event, I strongly suggest that you visit “The Blue Ribbon” restaurant. It can be found on the map on the Dining page of www.loewsjersey.org
The restaurant is located within the oldest existing structure in Jersey City and offers a wonderful atmosphere (exposed wooden beams, working fireplace, etc), a friendly staff and a great menu of American favorites with a full bar.
I think it is the perfect combination for a Loew’s Jersey experience – a delightful pre or post show meal in a historic building and a great film in a classic movie palace.
What could be better?
New York Paramount and the Loew’s Jersey — a very short comparison (since the two theatres were built by the same architects and are about the same size):
Marquee:
View link
http://www.leonardmaltin.com/LoewsJersey.jpg
Organ console:
http://lostprovince.com/PTOS/CentII.jpg (NY Paramount)
View link
Auditorium:
View link
View link
Bob, there are two sides of the coin to this great theatre being in NJ. One is that it is in the relative “boonies.” OK, that’s a problem. Perhaps things will get better as Journal Square develops into an upper-middle class residential area. The other side of the coin is that if this theatre had been in say Times Square, it would in all likelihood no longer exist. The Times Square Paramount was very similar to the Loew’s Jersey. It was by the same architectural firm, and the auditoriums were nearly identical. Also, the organs consoles in both theatres were nearly identical. Both theatres had that French curved front entrance. THE Paramount has been gone for 40+ years now. The Loew’s is still with us. Adrian and Luis are both correct. We should be grateful for what is left and “do what we can, wherever we can.”
To GabeDF…I grew up with The Valencia so I too know what its like to have an emotional favorite. The reality is that all FIVE of these theaters make up an incredible collection of theater architecture and history and should be left to subsequent generations as an example of a way of life that no longer exists. For 4 out of the 5 Wonder Theaters, I think that will happen. I believe the futures of The Jersey, the 175th Street, The Valencia and The Paradise are assured. Like you, my overriding concern is the Kings. We’ve lost so many grand theaters of the past; The Roxy, the Capitol, The Flushing RKO Keiths, The Brooklyn Fox, Loews Pitkin, I could go on and on. It is very important that we keep what is left.
I’ve been following the saga of The Boyd theater in Philadelphia with dismay at how close that city is to losing its one remaining movie palace. This is the only one left in the 6th? largest city in the country! What a shame. While we in New York complain a lot about our losses, the reality is that we still have an enviable amount of theaters remaining. Besides the Wonder Theaters we have Radio City, The Hollywood, The New Amsterdam, The Beacon, The St. George. Others are now fully restored houses of worship like The Hollywood in Times Square, The Metropolitan in Brooklyn, The Elmwood in Queens and of course, The Stanley in Jersey City. Still others are tantalizing in the possiblities of restoration like the Brooklyn Paramount and The Richmond Hill RKO Keiths. There are still many others around the city.
It doesn’t mean that we should be complacent. We should continue to press to save and keep as many of these theaters as we can But we shouldn’t lose sight that in New York (and Jersey City) we’re fortunate to have as many as we do still standing and still in use.
I’m going to resist my usual diatribing and instead simply mention that this week, I’ve been trawling the CT pages and am constantly stunned by how much has been lost. In just about every major city in North America. (I’m constantly amazed that my ‘home town’…population when I was growing up of less than 250,000…had TWO Thomas Lamb cinemas a block apart. Both now gone.) My point here is that while we see these ‘palaces’ in a particular light, others, many others, MOST others, don’t.
We live in a world of diminishing appreciation of our heritage. More value is placed on ‘new’ than ‘old’. (This goes for people as well as buildings.) Much can be said about how this reflects ‘modern’ values. And yet we began knocking down many of these gems forty, fifty, sixty years ago. So it’s not a new development, this disregard, this disrespect.
If our own neighbours don’t put any value on these nostalgic gems, these cathedrals of film, if they can’t be bothered to want to reclaim, refurbish and restore, why would you expect someone from thousands of miles away to? The skewed perception of ‘Hollywood’s role’ aside (and subsequent naive railings at the same), I suppose we just have to do what we can, wherever we can.
Gabe, I’m very cynical about “Hollywood,” old or new. In the words of Vincent Price, “It was an evil place.” Yes, I agree with you it would be nice if the “Studios” would maintain the surviving Movie Palaces as something like museums and show fully restored, pristine prints of their old movies all the time. It would be wonderful, FABULOUS!!! But it ain’t gonna happen. And as for “Money is not God”… Oh, just call me Mr. Cynical.
To LuisV: You are entitled to your own tastes and opinions. I’m glad that you think so highly of the 5 Wonder Theatres. We are in total agreement on that count. I would place the King’s as a very close 2nd to the Jersey, but that’s just my opinion. I’m not unbiased. H grew up with the Loew’s Jersey. It was my neighborhood movie house. The lobby of the King’s is without question one of the most beautiful in the country (restored or not). Next to the Loew’s Jersey, the King’s is my biggest concern. I hope it can be saved and fully restored. It should be.
Isn’t this thread about the Loew’s Jersey (and more broadly about movie palaces), Rory? I am strictly speaking of theatres that were built to show movies, and not converted vaudeville houses. The Loew’s Jersey Theatre was created specifically to show movies, with the 2nd purpose being vaudeville. The old Roxy Theatre in New York was also created to show movies, as were Broadway’s Rivoli and Rialto. If you should go to the Loew’s Jersey, you would see that this is obvious. Radio City is not strictly speaking a movie palace because it was created for a grander form of vaudeville. Similarly, the State Theatre (Jersey City) was not a movie palace, because it was a converted vaudeville house.
The Loew’s Jersey was/IS a MOVIE palace. Loew’s was a theatre chain that created/bought MGM to fill its theatres with “product.” After 1935, and while Loew’s still owned the Jersey Theatre, vaudeville was dead. So from 1935 to 1948 the parent company Loew’s showed their subsidiary company’s (MGM) movies in their movie theatres. So in this case, the theatre was intimately tied in with the studio.
Of course that’s in the past, and modern Hollywood has little to do with the old theatres, if anything. Yet modern Hollywood is more than happy to ride on the coat tails of old Hollywood, aren’t they? Don’t you think they owe old Hollywood something for that goodwill? Modern Hollywood (collectively, and even if they are just sub’s of major corporations) OWES old Hollywood and its theatres something. New Yorkers believed that the New York Central R.R. owed Grand Central Terminal something. The railroad wanted to tear it down and make a real estate killing. The battle went all the way to the Supreme Court. New Yorkers won, and Grand Central is still there. As it turns out, NY State actually restored the structure. So perhaps it will take government intervention to restore the best of the old movie palaces. If NJ were only more like Ohio in that regard. Have you ever seen the (Loew’s) Ohio Theatre in Columbus?! What a job the state did on that old theatre. Why can’t that be done in NJ?
Perhaps in 100 years, modern Hollywood will be defunct (thanks in no small part to its blown up video game comic book movies) and the existing movie palaces will still be here beautifully restored. They were certainly built to last forever. Call my views naive, tradition bound, or “European,” but these ideas are my opinions. Money is not God. People need culture too.
I have to respectfully disagree with GabeF regarding the Jersey. While I do believe that it is a spectacular theater that should be fully restored, I believe all four of the other Wonder Theaters were even better. I would even throw in The Hollywood Theater in Times Square.
The Paradise, which is fully restored is astonishing. The 175th Street theater, which you think is gimmicky, is one of the best fusion style theaters remaining in the world and it too is fully restored. The Valencia, while grotesquely repainted to reflect its current use as a church is also a more beautiful theater than the Jersey. Finally, I believe The Kings (which I had to opportunity to view on a tour last year) would outshine all of the others if it were restored to it former opulence. Even in its decayed state, it is jaw droppingly beautiful. The Hollywood, by the way, is awe inspiring in its glamour restoration by the church.
Again, no disrespect to the Jersey is intended. The Loew’s Wonder Theaters have to be the finest quintet ever constructed as a group by one company. But, if I had to rank them, I would place the Jersey last.
The movie studios, to my knowledge, didn’t create whatever surviving movie palaces there are. The vast majority of what where called “Movie Palaces” were old Vaudeville houses that were merely converted to movie theatres. Another thing that has to be remember is that the modern “studios” aren’t the same companies they were in the past. Mostly they’re now just logos that larger multi-national corporations now use to distribute motion pictures. 20th Century-Fox, for instance, has been sold and resold so many times that not only isn’t it the same corporation it was in the thirties and forties, it isn’t even the same company it was in the sixties and seventies! The modern incarnations of the film studios don’t feel they owe a thing to the past, believe me — they’d laugh you off whatever “lots” they got left, and in fact are only interested in preserving and restoring their old library titles because they, thankfully, still think there’s a buck in it. Get real! ; )
To Rory: Yes, the “corporate subsidiaries” that are “the studios” have a duty to preserve their history, including the breath-taking theatres that they created from about 1920 to 1933 (or so). Look at what Ted Turner did to save many of the old movies! TCM is a literal television museum of old movies and obviously it doesn’t make a red cent for Turner or his companies. He did it because he recognizes his duty to preserve our heritage. The Dolan family of Cablevision restored Radio City. Why? To make money? I don’t think so. If the studios won’t step up to the plate of saving their history, the government should step in and save them. The Paris Opera and La Scala don’t turn a profit, but there they are. Can’t we in America have at least one grand movie palace whose main purpose is to show movies (which, btw, are our greatest artistic contribution to the world)? Is that too much to ask? Well, the English had to make “Chaplin” so perhaps England and France will step in and save a couple of our movie palaces. One of them would certainly be the Loew’s Jersey Theatre.
The new site is wonderful! I think you are doing a great job of combining the best of the old site with the updated elements and pages. The main page really grabbed my attention and it is faithful to the atmosphere of the theatre. I also like the Quicktime VR view. Perhaps you could do one of the auditorium as well, and perhaps the auditorium from the stage? Just a thought. All in all, the new web site is a very nice improvement!
BTW, I’m so glad you included that video of the interior. People should see this theatre in motion, so that they can get a spacial sense of the place.
GabeDF,
Thanks again for mentioning that video – I have gone ahead and incorporated it into the www.loewsjersey.org website.
Susan S., another volunteer, and I worked hard over the Christmas holiday to launch the new site.
Have you had a chance to explore it?
Hollywood has a duty?!!! I guess you mean the modern corporate subsidiaries euphemistically know as “the studios.” Hell, it’s taken decades for them to wake up to caring about the film and sound elements in their vaults. Now you think they should also care about some old buildings scattered across the country? Sir, these are souless, bottom-line, don’t-do-nothin'-unless-they-smell-a-huge-profit creatures who probably won’t give you the correct time!
This is not my video, but I highly recommend it if you’re curious to see what all the fuss is about. The best thing about this video is that it gives an excellent idea of the lobby of the theatre (a tour really), and you do get a peek (a dark one) of the auditorium as well. Also, you do get to see the real movie screen as it begins to show “Miracle on 34th Street.” Again, this is well worth watching:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VA2ArQFb38
When we talk about the Loew’s Jersey, we are not talking “small change.” This is one of the grandest movie palaces still standing; and it is largely (99 percent) unchanged from it’s 1929 opening.
And might I add, IMHO, that this theatre is perhaps the most beautiful and least “gimmicky” of the remaining 1920s movie palaces. There are no Chinese temples or Egyptian sphinxes here, just sheer red and golden Italian Baroque grandness, as only Rapp & Rapp could accomplish. Sure R&R took architectural liberties here, but in general they stayed pretty close to the books as far as proportion and balance go. The theatre is just plain beautiful without engendering a snicker. Yes, this theatre is beautiful and huge. It is something to be awed. It should and does leave people looking up with their mouths wide open, speechless. In that way, it reminds me of Grand Central Terminal. Both are places whose loss would be unacceptable. They must be saved and restored at all costs. That is my opinion of this truly great theatre. Nothing should be holding this place back, nothing. I agree with Brucec that Hollywood needs to respect and recognize it’s past by giving this place money to continue and someday finish the restoration. For the Loew’s Jersey was, in many respects and from 1929 to 1948, Hollywood; not just the Loew’s Jersey, of course, but all movie theatres on the scale and grandeur of the Jersey. During that time, the theatres came first, and the movies were 2nd in terms of investment and in their ability to draw an audience. Hollywood really should recognize it’s real history. If we could ask him, Marcus Loew, which came first and second, I’m sure he would say without hesitation, that the theatres always came first; not DVDs and not concession stands, and not even the movies themselves. Remember, Loew’s owned MGM. It was NOT the other way around. I’ll even go so far as to say that Hollywood (is that TCM today?) has a duty to save the best of what is left, and certainly this theatre is among those places.
Why are the FOL’s hands tied? What’s the problem? NOTHING should hold back this great theatre from becoming again what it once was. It is all to rare and a precious jewel today. You don’t throw away the Hope diamond.
Just a very choice few of these places remain. It is a crime to not restore them to the completion — including everything from the ticket booth to the draperies, to the orchestra pit railing, to the lounges, etc. etc.
What on earth could be the problem with progress on this true Wonder Theatre — an equal (IMO) of the Chicago, the Ohio, and Shea’s Buffalo?
All of this is true…except that there’s another player here. One that has not, to my reckoning, as it’s been explained to me, allowed the Friends of the Loew’s to make the most of its stewardship. And when your hands are tied…it’s tough to perform the magic you’re capable of.
Until that situation changes, there’s a ceiling on what can be accomplished, no matter the extent of the volunteer support.
Im amazed at what the Loew’s Jersey has accomplished by its volunteers. Who would have thought that a 3300 seat movie palace on the brink of demolition would come back as a home for classic film and a restored Organ concerts in Jersey City. Just think what they could do with a larger budget. This should be a template what could be achieved by using volunteers on a shoestring budget. This is the type of theatre that classic American movies were meant to be shown. I think Turner Classics should spotlight this theatre and Hollywood with all its money should take a lesson on what a movie palace showing classic films should look like and not like the Egyptian in Hollywood. I think Steven S and Martin S should focus some of there preservation funds to this wonderful venue. I think the preservation of our last historic movie palaces is just as important as the preservation of film.brucec
FYI for anyone headed to The Loew’s Jersey for the Orson Wells Weekend.
There is a new listing of restaurants and eateries near the theatre on their website.
Visitor Information –> Dining
www.loewsjersey.org
ORSON WELLES WEEKEND â€" this MORE than makes up for the absence of movies in January!
Friday, Feb. 1 â€" his first starring role in cinema…
8:00 PM: “Citizen Kane†(1941, 119 min.) – AFI’s #1 film pick on their “100 Years…100 Movies†list.
Saturday, Feb.2 â€" three fabulous features all in one day…
3:00 PM: “The Lady from Shanghai†(1948, 87 min.)
6:30 PM: “The Magnificent Ambersons†(1942, 88 min.)
8:40 PM: “Touch of Evil†(1958, 111 min.) â€"caps off the weekend with the PREMIERE 50th Anniversary screening of a pristine, NEWLY struck print!
PLUS, another classic film weekend (TBA), tentatively scheduled near the month’s end (Feb. 22-23). Monitor the newly redesigned and enhanced Friends’ Website for future updates.
When designing my recent NYC visit, I most wanted to see the Loew’s. I get the weekly newsletter and I’m always sad that I can’t volunteer there.
I got my first view of the theatre from across the street…and I was all smiles for the next hour or so…even through our journey back to NYC.
We were greeted at the door by Patty, whom I had spoken to on the phone that morning. She was incredibly gracious with her time, with her enthusiasm in answering question, everything. (In fact, after chatting for about half an hour on the stage…with two young volunteers happily racing about, and joined by a co-worker of hers, I was the one who cut the chat short, as I was mindful of taking up too much time.) We even got a primer about local politics, both current and that of the early 20th century.
What an amazing building. So much has been done already, and it’s got such character, such personality…even those elements that are crying out for restoration.
I won’t hold forth on a polemic regarding the duty Jersery City (and its citizens) have in allowing The Friends of The Jersey to get on with their stewardship…but I will say that my heart was full in leaving the building, and my hopes go out to everyone involved that this movie palace is allowed to be restored to its former glory, taking its place once again in the lives of all who are fortunate to take part in its entertainments.
Bravo to Patty and everyone involved in the ongoing efforts.
I have put up a Picasa photo album of our visit; please email me for the link.
That above post really scared the hell out of me until I read the fine print. When I hit the link the New York Times page it appeared on it had today’s date. I breathed a sigh of relief after I read THE REST of the post that said the publication date was from 1984, and confirmed it on the NYT page. Whew! On the other hand, at this point I think I’m more prepared for disappointments like this because it’s become a regular occurrence for the most part. Thank god it wasn’t what I thought it was, and that the Loews Jersey has been living on and will continue to live on well into the future.
In preparation for a post about a recent visit to the Loew’s, I happened to find this article in a search…which is ironic, given the previously mentioned reportage about development plans:
http://tinyurl.com/2n9uel
The publication date is listed as October 14, 1984.