Capitol Theatre
326 Monroe Street,
Passaic,
NJ
07055
326 Monroe Street,
Passaic,
NJ
07055
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 151 - 156 of 156 comments
The Capital was built by Samuel Harris, a Passaic businesman. I disagree with a comment above. Abe Preiskel, was the police chief in Passaic, and i would be curious of the author’s source of him as the architect.
Was purchased on 12/16/71 by John Scher, a young concert promoter. He wanted a theater that could make NJ the rock capital of America. With the closing of the Fillmore East in Manhattan he made his move in the NJ market. He continued the Fillmore’s innovative tradition of showing cartoons and film clips between performances. Major groups such as the Stones, the Who, the Eagles & the Allman Brothers performed in the Capitol.
Bob, one summer (early 80’s) a couple of guys on our stage crew begin to restore/repaint some of the cornice work. However, as the story goes, the budget was slim and the project never really advanced. The had worked on some stuff near the stage, house-left.
Their work was restricted to after 9 PM, that’s when the porno movies would end and they could turn on the house lights to work. Plus, summer was the best time for that work, since the theatre air conditioning was really unable to handle a capacity concert crowd in the heat of summer, the place was only used for pornos.
The Capitol was an odd theater. For its age and size, it was unusually bland. I can remember little (if any) architectural details.
However, when they were tearing it down, some previously covered details of the original proscenium were exposed. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Otherwise, this theater had all the architectural splendor of a concrete bunker.
The Theatre was demolished in April 1991. Anyone who worked at the Theatre during its rock and roll heyday or as a motion picture house is encouraged to join the Yahoo! Group View link
Membership is restricted to former employees of the Theatre.
After it closed in 1986, the Capitol suffered from an arson fire and was destroyed.