Amboy Multiplex Cinemas

US Highway 9 and State Route 35,
Sayreville, NJ 08872

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Showing 76 - 100 of 228 comments

Seattleprojectionist
Seattleprojectionist on June 30, 2017 at 5:32 pm

amboyurbex: kudos on the pictures. And a question for markp: was this ever a GCC house? The fantastic pictures showing the Century projectors/soundheads, Christie consoles and platters, along with what I think is a Rank Cinemation Mark III and a Lehigh dimmer all makes me think of the older General Cinema booths.

markp
markp on June 27, 2017 at 3:58 pm

amboyurbex, I give you a ton of credit for going in there and getting photos. The air must be foul. I was in there in late 2008 to get screens and sound equipment out and the air was stale then. And rumor has it cinema 1 and 2 flooded during Sandy when the Raritan River swelled. You brought back a flood of memories for me when I saw those projection room photos. Spent 21 years working there.

amboyurbex
amboyurbex on June 26, 2017 at 7:13 am

markp, I looked into the concession stand and did not see any sinkhole. There were mostly cracks on the floor. It must have been primarily under the cabinets. I am certain under the floor tiles and debris, the sinkhole is more prominent, but I wasn’t willing to risk my safety any more than being in that building alone in the dark to test fate.

davidcoppock, other than the concession stand and water damage in the ceiling, the building was mostly okay looking. I’m sure for just one or two people, it was okay, but I wouldn’t expect daily crowds of moviegoers to go there like they once did. I took every step as if I was walking on glass (especially upstairs) and made no sudden moves. I’m sure I didn’t have to be that careful, but I’m not a structural engineer and didn’t want to find a hole in the floor the hard way.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on June 24, 2017 at 5:36 am

Is the cinemas building in any danger of colapsing?

markp
markp on June 24, 2017 at 4:22 am

The sinkhole is in the center of the concession area in the area where the attendants would have served you and where all the storage cabinets in the middle area was.

amboyurbex
amboyurbex on June 22, 2017 at 8:36 am

Hey all. I am back. Sorry for the belated response. Sadly this isn’t a site I frequent too much. It appears my photos and story were spread on Facebook, which is fine, but what I didn’t account for was this site seems to show highly detailed and revealing EXIF data. A person I know did find me to give me a heads up. To those who found me, I am not afraid of being found and respect your perseverance, but I would at least like to stay on the down low until that theater is demolished. I would like to add that while I did enter the building, I did so in a respectful way to document and preserve what was left behind.

I decided to delete all the pictures I already posted here so unfortunately your comments are gone. But as an added bonus, I decided to add them again with some more pictures from that day. I am not really a fan of the upload feature of this site and that EXIF thing causes me to double my efforts to share my work, so I may upload a few more shots in the future.

To answer SNdoniB_1999’s question: Sadly there were no posters of movies on the walls. There were ads for food and there was a mural for the upcoming Madagascar painted on the front window. I did not get a photo of that because I didn’t want to shine my flashlight on the widows what with Route 9 and the Parkway being right there. The front windows are boarded up, but a little light does shine through and I would assume my light would be visible to the outside. I honestly felt exposed being in the lobby using my flashlight to light anything really.

It appears the sinkhole is there and I knew of it before going there, but I didn’t see it. It could be I overlooked it or that it was hidden under the concession stand. In any case, I was extra cautious there and spent little time by the concession stand because I was not sure of the nature of the sinkhole. I didn’t want to fall into it if it was bad.

fred1
fred1 on June 21, 2017 at 6:37 am

To David Coppock http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/11134

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on June 21, 2017 at 1:46 am

Whar was the name of the drive-in that was there?

markp
markp on June 20, 2017 at 10:14 am

I keep saying a nice 3 or 4 screen drive-in would be a big hit on this site. It once was a huge drive-in.

optimist008
optimist008 on June 20, 2017 at 5:49 am

Can they claim this property as some type of tax write off??? If not, why didn’t they sell it off before retail went down hill??

markp
markp on June 20, 2017 at 2:22 am

I highly doubt after 12 years that this place will ever reopen. I was a projectionist here from 1984 till 2005.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on June 20, 2017 at 1:28 am

Is there any plans to fix and reopen these cinemas?

The_Batman_Professor
The_Batman_Professor on June 20, 2017 at 12:11 am

Those photos are equally chilling and fascinating. Can’t tell you how many films I saw there between 1985 and 1996. I know the first film I saw there was LIFEFORCE, and I believe the last was HELLRAISER BLOODLINES. By ‘96, it was getting sketchy, and we switched to Hazlet until we moved out of NJ in '99. What memories.

SNdoniB_1999
SNdoniB_1999 on April 5, 2017 at 5:22 pm

My email is

SNdoniB_1999
SNdoniB_1999 on April 5, 2017 at 5:14 pm

I do have one big question AmboyUrbanEx, are there any photos of the posters that put up in Theatre or any marquee for any films that were slated to be shown there as well as a photo of the sinkhole in the consession stand ? If so I would love to see them !!!!!!!!!!! I’m so glad that you posted these photos as I said before, but I would just love to see anymore photos that you have of the buildings interiors especially the lobby.

SNdoniB_1999
SNdoniB_1999 on April 4, 2017 at 6:46 pm

AmboyUrbanEx there are no words to express how much I want to thank, my mom used to go to this theater all the time like to see films Indiana Jones 3. She was really taken back by all these photo. God bless you !!!!!!

Ccano
Ccano on March 29, 2017 at 5:33 pm

See here AmboyUrbex, I cannot thank you enough for those photos. You have been blessed to be able to go inside. You don’t know how much that means to all of us and me. Wow, makes me so sad. Please email me if you have more pictures. As well I do urban exploring in Perth Amboy.

Email:

markp
markp on March 29, 2017 at 4:39 pm

While I agree with you about not going in there, thanks for the photos, particularly the projection room. I spent 21 years working in that booth. The theater you took the photo with no screen has to be either 8 or 14. We removed those screens in dec 2008 to take to the Ritz in Elizabeth. I think a lot of the water damage is from the fact vandals have stripped the a/c units on the roof.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on March 29, 2017 at 3:50 pm

The regal in sayreville will open next year, ending a 13 year drought for movies near the driscoll bridge.

amboyurbex
amboyurbex on March 29, 2017 at 1:06 pm

I went inside Amboy Cinemas last year. I will not tell anyone how I got inside, nor will help anyone do it and/or accompany them. For the record, I will never go in there again. It is situated by the Parkway, Route 9, and Route 35 and even though I know what I am doing, I consider myself incredibly lucky I was not detected at all considering the high traffic all around. Not to mention, just days after I gained access a cop killed himself on that property, which scared me and made me hesitant to share these photos. I don’t want to sound harsh, but I want nothing to do with anyone else’s urban exploration excursions unless I know and trust them. Maybe when they tear the place down, I can reveal my research and methods, but until then, I do not wish to have any part in anyone’s plans to go there.

That said, I posted a few photos of my time there. It is very dark in there and once I gained access, the air was old and stale. There were many signs of water damage but it seems like no one vandalized the building and it seems like very few people have ever been inside since it closed. Although there was evidence of people messing around with what was left. Much of the office furniture is there as well as movie related equipment. I walked into only a couple theaters. Some posters and signs were still up. One of the last movies that played there was Star Wars Episode III, and they had mentions of the cartoon Madagascar coming there soon.

If you have questions, I will be happy to answer some, but nothing related to gaining access. I know people will feel the need to go now that I revealed it can be accessed so I will offer one last warning and advice. Do not go if you are unprepared, ill-equipped, and did not do the proper scouting prior. If you do, you must not be detected at all including from the highways. I have had the cops called on me by a person passing in a vehicle just for taking pictures on an overpass (legally). Consider any passerby a snitch and in that location, someone will see you unless you know the correct access point and time to go… and have luck on your side. It is also 100% dark inside and there are many hazards on the floor. Do not think a cell phone flashlight will be enough to see. I had to change the batteries on my main light, and I used my cell phone to see that. It was not enough to see across the theater. I would suggest to not do it, but I won’t tell anyone what to do.

SNdoniB_1999
SNdoniB_1999 on November 1, 2016 at 7:06 pm

Is there still a way to gain access inside the building, or is that kind of stuff out of the question ?

rivest266
rivest266 on October 23, 2016 at 10:48 am

December 7th, 1979 grand opening ad in the photo section. National Amusements also opened the Showcase Cinemas North on the same day in Pittsburgh and maybe the Sunrise cinemas on Long Island.

SNdoniB_1999
SNdoniB_1999 on October 17, 2016 at 10:16 pm

Does anyone know the last bunch of films that played at the theater before it officially closed and if so what were they ? I would really love to know. 😊

Ccano
Ccano on October 13, 2016 at 9:13 pm

Shit I’d do a job like that, all that facinates me. Also the theatre was very dull colorish. red, white, maybe like a beige color too. I’m trying to imagine how it can look, ah man. I just don’t get why it’s not alllowed to go inside, because once they say to take it down, it’s going all garbage

markp
markp on October 13, 2016 at 12:53 pm

Yes you do remember that theatre. I was never a big fan of the additions they did that kept making that hallway from cinema 1 up to 9 and 10 so long. If you had to use the restroom it was like a half mile walk, LOL. The job in Pru center is ok. But its more for young guys, not someone like me whos gonna be 58 years old in 3 months.