Loew's Paradise Theatre
2413 Grand Concourse,
Bronx,
NY
10468
2413 Grand Concourse,
Bronx,
NY
10468
63 people
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Borrowed from /theaters/1381/
Also known as Loew’s Paradise. This Grand Concourse movie palace still stands. Plans to restore are in limbo. The organ console is now at the fully-restored Loew’s Jersey on Journal Square in Jersey City, NJ.
(originally posted by DougDouglass on Aug 4, 2002 at 6:47pm)
Speaking of Roger Anthony’s Dec 25 2003 7:16pm posting:
Back in 1997, me and my friend Joey were going to open up a nightclub at this location: “The Double J Lounge”. I was in negotiations with the real estate broker. However my friend’s financing fell through.This has been the norm, as far as our business ventures go: finances usually are non-exsistent…we’re both working-stiffs. The moral of this comment: Starting any business requires sound capital and responsible financing prior to beginning the licensing procedures.
edward are you a joaurnalist? if yes for which newspaper you work? can you tell me please, if you are maybe I can help you with some information about lowes paradise.
That’s great news. Maybe they will do some movie nights as well!
I passed be the theater recently and a security guard told me that the interior of the theater is almost fully restored and that the theater will open in the summer for major concert events such as pop/latin and rock music. If true, I think it would be a marvelous revival of such a grand space.
One should take heart from BAM amd the Majestic in Brooklyn. This is one area that would hardly be conducive to preserving classic theaters far older than the Paradise. Yet they are thriving. In fact the area is now after many years just starting to turn around, due to many factors of course, but the theaters are an important one. The block that the Paradise is on has landmark status and of course it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.
I came upon this site by accident and had to look up Loews Paradise. I have very fond memories of my Mom taking me and my brother to the movies after a shopping trip to Alexanders. I was sad to see it close. The chances of the Paradise reopening are slim, not because it’s in the Bronx (the Bronx IS great), but because Fordham Rd. saw such a decline in the early ‘90s. Many area businesses small and large failed during that time. The Paradise thrived as long as Fordham Rd. was the place to shop in the Bronx. Too bad…it was a beautiful theater.
A New York Times article on the Loews Paradise’s uncertain future:
View link
Do any interior photos exist of this theatre online?
Somewhat recent article on the Loews Paradise’s future:
View link
Do any interior photos exist of this theatre online?
Let’s face it, all movie palaces are dinosaurs. They were made to cater to the needs of now what seems like another civilization. In our society today not one of them should exist. Yet a few still do because they are great buildings and it doesn’t matter where they are. And hey, you don’t have to see a movie you could just sit there and look up at the stars.
Vincent, there are three major reasons why no one is proposing to reopen this as a theatre again:
No one wants to travel into the Bronx to attend a theatrical performance especially when Manhattan has the world’s most famous theatre district. It obviously can’t work as a movie theatre in the modern world either. It is a dinosaur and unless it is converted to retail it will probably sit there until it crumbles down into its own foundation.
From the photo of this theater in the Time Life series This Fabulous Century this has to be one of the greatest theaters left in the country. Does it have any kind of historic protection? I’m amazed that there is not any mobilization of theaters lovers and historic New York lovers doing everything possible to save this glorious building. It’s as if they wanted to tear down the NY Roxy or Paramount or San Francisco Fox all over again. And again nobody gives a damn. So much for the overated renewed appreciaton of our past.
The Paradise closed in 1994. The status above that says “Renovating” is wrong. It’s likely it will never reopen again as the owners are trying to find a tenant to fill the space. While a theatre would be nice, it will probably end up as retail.
Does anyone know when Loew’s closed the Paradise and when it will reopen again?
My Mother, Edith M. Aranow, 1918-2002 grew up near that theater. She had fold memories of it and of lights in the ceiling that looked like stars in the heavens. She loved that theater. When I visited in the 1990’s, those lights were still there!
The Loew’s Paradise Theatre is located at 2413 Grand Concourse at 188th Street.
The Paradise opened in the Bronx on September 7, 1929. The 3,800 seat auditorium, designed by John Eberson, featured a sky ceiling which included stars laid out in the constellation of Marcus Loews’ astrological birth sign. The Paradise was one of the five Loews’ “Wonder Theatres†so named because each was equipped with identical Robert Morton pipe organs (the “Wonder Mortonsâ€).
I loved going to the movies in loews because of the art such as those gargoyles that hung inside and those very high ceilings. I cant wait to see what they do with it now and I cant wait to go inside.
I used to go to the Paradise in the 1960’s. It was my refuge. I used to stare at the stars, and dream what it would be like when I was on my own. I just loved this place. I hated when they turned it into a multiplex. I look forward to it being renovated, but I am confused, since the website in 2000 said it would reopen soon.
I am 14 years of age and I have went to the Loews Paradise theater during it’s last years. I live near the theater and my mother knew the manager so I got to see films for free. Theaters like this gave me such a love for films. I saw Class Act, Poetic Justice, Coneheads, Passenger 57, The Addams Family, Boomerang and countless other films here. This theater has to be my favorite next to the Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan. I love the Paradise.
There is a wealth of information on the fabulous PARADISE in the Bronx in the Annual of 1975 of the Theatre Histrorical Society of America, titled: “Loew’s PARADISE In The Bronx” by the late Michael Miller, past president of the Society. It is 32 pages in length, 8-1/2x11 long format, with 16 black and white photos of the theatre plus many drawings and a portrait photo of its architect: John Eberson. It can be had for $12.50 plus shipping from the society. Details under their sidebar: PUBLICATIONS: ANNUALS> Ordering Information, at: www.HistoricTheatres.org. There is also a nice color rendering of its auditorium in that seminal work in the field: “The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace” by the late Ben M. Hall. Out of print, but www.Amazon.com may be able to locate a copy for you. Only the FIRST edition of the book has that color plate, but it is also in another collectable: the hardbound issue of defunct “American Heritage” magazine of October 1961, still to be found at many collector’s and old books stores. The PARADISE is a fabulous super movie palace still standing, and was (along with the Chicago PARADISE THEATRE), the cause of the spread of that name to many structures of lesser stature. Do order the Annual while it is still available, for it may not be reprinted again.