Paramount Theatre

I’m the guy that had hoped to stage a show at the lobby on June 21. I got the owners permission, printed posters and everything but got halted by the fire department. Now a stand pipe test is scheduled for August. If that goes well I’m trying for another performance date. I also got into contact with some city departments in hopes of doing it all legally. I’ve only been here since 2000 so I only know about the good old times through friends or blogs like this one. Yes, the main theater itself is completely gutted. And I imagine the lobby itself had chandeliers and all that fancy stuff. That’s all gone. But what remains here at least is a beautiful art deco structure, staircase, gallery and wall ornaments, that would make a great performance venue, holding about 100-200 people.
Our musical revue is still taking place on June 21 at a Gallery around the corner. http://northshore.noizart.com

Oh, and I also found this link to an old Metallica bootleg: http://www.bootlegs.ws/met/met83-04-08.html

I just put it on my calendar. I will go just to see what they’ve done with the foyer, last time I got in there it was filled with junk….

Vito, clever reuse for the marquee letters!

LuisV, you brought up a point I had forgotten to mention, the Stapleton area is in very poor condition. Most of the store fronts are boarded up and there is very little life left in that once wonderful old town. No one in their right mind would build there now. We had a glimmer of hope a few years back when the navy announced the building of a new sea port there, but that idea has died.
In fact one of my visits to the theatre was around the time there was interest in saving the theatre because of the talk of the Navy yard and revitalization of the neirborhood. Even Tappen Park was spruced up for a while. But that’s all over now and the theatre or what’s left of it just continues to deteriorate. During the time of the first crack at restoring the St. George we had hoped to salvage some objects from the Paramount to set up as a sort of tribute to the great lady in the St George downstairs lobby area. The man who bought the Paramount building from Steckman told us to “take what we want”
Sadly however, over the years from the last days as a movie house through the years as a dance club, most of what the Paramount was had been removed. Even the entire projection room had been stripped of all the equipment. Likewise the stage, whish had little left to salvage. I did manage to take four marquee letters to spell out “VITO” which I have mounted in my basement.

Based on many of the posts above it would appear that a “restoration” of this theater is highly unlikely due to the fact that most or all of the interior has been gutted. I recently attended a performance at the nearby St. George which has been substantially renovated and was amazed a what a huge and beautiful theater it is. It is probably the largest renovated theater in New York City that virtually no one has ever heard of. Yet it is a 5 minute walk from the the Staen Island Ferry terminal. It’s quite a different story at The Paramount where the immediate neighborhood is uninviting and forbiding though it is close to the Staten Island Rail Road station. Nonetheless, I don’t see anybody putting up money to rebuild this theater in this kind of neighborhood and expect to make money from it.

Each community has its own type of residents, and their interests should be surveyed. I don’t feel that one performing arts center per community is too much.

Lets all hope and pray this one gets saved NativeForestHiller. We don’t need another one going retail or condo. Why can’t people see that reportory and performing arts is the way to go?

Any updates on the Paramount Theatre? Please e-mail me at

I remember going to the Rex, I think it closed about 1950. I do not recall if it was ever called the Park, although it probably was because I only recall three theatres in Stapelton, the Paramount, Liberty and Rex. As a teen, going to the movies often meant heading over to Stapelton.
The Rex played combinations of B movies, often westerns like
the Durango Kid. It was a small theatre maybe 400 seats with no balcony and was in the Brewery section on canal Street.
The Liberty was also a second run double feature house, bigger than the Rex with about 1000 seats, including a balcony. They had vaudeville there in the early days, so did the Paramount by the way.
The Star was a nightmare, it had about 450 seats no balcony and the
SIRT railroad train ran right behind the buliding, you could often hear the rumble of the train going by. The theatre also had a bit of a rodent problem, and was coined the RATS (Star spelled backwards)

Good point Warren, unlike today where the ads are placed by the studios, prior to the 6os the ads were placed mainly by the theare owners.(Loews,RKO,etc) I guess it all changed with the introduction of circuit runs like Blue Ribbon,Red Carrpet etc.

Garth, adult movies did have a very short run. It was in 1978 after UA had given up its lease. The soft core porn films were shown in 16mm from the balcony. The projector and some of the films were still in a store room in the booth last time I saw the place. As you stated the Advance article put an end to the showings, and in 1978 Steckman leased the theatre out as a dance club. The last movies shown here by UA were in 1977. I have not been back to investigate the new doors. I hate going there and seeing the theatre in its current condition. I still have nightmares from my last visit.

I don’t remember the Paramount running adult films. And, it didn’t close in the early 1970’s. I saw “Poseidon Adventure” there in 1974, “Eiger Sanction” there in 1975, and “Midway” and “The Enforcer” there in 1976. I don’t remember when it closed, (late ‘70s, perhaps) but I have fond memories of the place.