This: [img]http://www.plainfieldlibrary.info/OnlineExhibits/LBNF/Images/TheaterC21204.jpg[/img] is the Paramont in Plainfield. The interior was as marvelous as the exterior. It wasn’t Chinese in style – it was Egyptian revival style (like the outside) – with two large seated gold figures (20' tall or so) seated in large recesses on either side of the stage. I imagine the pipe organ pipes were behind them.
It was torn down in the mid ‘60’s as part of the fad of “Urban Renewal” – where the federal government funded the buyout of business districts with the idea of leveling them and having something like a shopping mall take their place.
They did level the entire block, unfortunately including the Paramont.. and the block became a dirt parking lot for the next few decades as businesses around it left for the highway malls, or simply went out of business.
Really loved that theatre – it was one of the few that equaled the other theatres in Asbury Park that the Reade organization destroyed.
See the photo section for photos of the actual theatre. I have no idea what the one above was – but it wasn’t the Paramount.
This: [img]http://www.plainfieldlibrary.info/OnlineExhibits/LBNF/Images/TheaterC21204.jpg[/img] is the Paramont in Plainfield. The interior was as marvelous as the exterior. It wasn’t Chinese in style – it was Egyptian revival style (like the outside) – with two large seated gold figures (20' tall or so) seated in large recesses on either side of the stage. I imagine the pipe organ pipes were behind them.
It was torn down in the mid ‘60’s as part of the fad of “Urban Renewal” – where the federal government funded the buyout of business districts with the idea of leveling them and having something like a shopping mall take their place.
They did level the entire block, unfortunately including the Paramont.. and the block became a dirt parking lot for the next few decades as businesses around it left for the highway malls, or simply went out of business.
Really loved that theatre – it was one of the few that equaled the other theatres in Asbury Park that the Reade organization destroyed.