Centre Theatre
424 Centre Street,
Trenton,
NJ
08611
424 Centre Street,
Trenton,
NJ
08611
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Associated Theaters of Trenton, Hunt's Theaters Inc.
Functions: Laundromat
Previous Names: Centre Street Theatre, Hunt's New Centre Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Centre Street Theatre was opened on October 24, 1913. It closed in 1929 unable to convert to sound. It was taken over by Hunt’s Theaters Inc. chain and reopened as Hunt’s New Centre Theatre on July 10, 1931 with “Lawless Woman”. A neighborhood house that was operated by a local chain called Associated Theaters of Trenton. In 1945 its interior was gutted by a fire. It reopened as an African American theatre.
In 1959 it became a church, followed by retail use. Until about 2000 the building was occupied by a party-supply rental firm; later it became a pharmacy and is currently a laundromat. The name of the theatre can still be clearly seen in a stone panel at the top of the building’s red brick facade.
Contributed by
RickB
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
The theater you are referring to is the Victory Theater. In fact, there is a Victory Florist across the street or around the corner. It is located on the same side of the street as the RKO BROAD but a half-a-block closer toward downtown. It was another small neighborhood theater that has been a Salvation Army thrift shop ever since I remember it.
Listed on page 126 of the 1917 Trenton City Directory under “Moving Pictures”. Address is given as 422 Centre Street.
According to The Times of Trenton article “Trenton’s Bijou days are bygone” 5/24/1993, the Centre was at 422 Centre Street and it is now Adams Rental. A web search finds http://www.adamsrental.com/ still an active business.
From Boxoffice magazine, February 1955:
Nicholas Capone and Michael Fonde are now operating the Center in Trenton.
August 2009 photo here.
See “Photos” for the October, 2011 photo that I just posted. This building currently houses a laundromat.
the bijou is now a church & has been for several years——there is also a church on broad st in hamilton across from mcdonalds that used to be a theater to—does anybody know the name?
RKO Hamilton at S. Broad and Maddock. Sister to RKO Brunswick on Brunswick Ave near Circle, both built late 40s.
Adams Party Rental occupied the Centre Street Theater at 422 Center Street from approximately 1962 to 1999. Frank and John Adamczyk (Adams) replaced the original elevated wood floor with a flat concrete slab but made very few additional changes. The second floor had a large doorway through which flame-driven projectors were lowered to be sent to a school in Poland. Frank died in 1978. John sold the business to David VanDenburgh in 1988. I’ve looked, but never found any photos from when it was a theater.
John told a story about his father moving the family from Cleveland to Trenton during the depression, in search of jobs. John was five years old when his father took him to the Centre Street Theater as a reward because of John’s good behavior on the trip from Cleveland. When the bad guys started shooting at the good guys in the Western, John’s dad took him out to the street because John was so afraid. As a 75-year-old man, with tears in his eyes, John would say, “And I never dreamed I would one day own the building.” Many customers used to stop in just to reminisce about watching movies at the Centre Street Theater at the cost of a nickel.
The Centre Street Theatre opened October 24, 1913 as a southside neighborhood house showing third tier films for a nickel. It closed in 1929 unable to make the transition to sound. W.C. Hunt Theatre Circuit took on the venue as Hunt’s New Centre Theatre relaunching on July 10, 1931 with the independent Chesterfield Pictures film, “Lawless Woman.”
The theatre’s interior is gutted by a 1945 fire. It reopens twice as an African American theatre becore being repositioned as a church in 1959 likely to reduce its taxing liability. It is later converted for retail purposes.