Baronet Theatre
205 4th Avenue,
Asbury Park,
NJ
07712
205 4th Avenue,
Asbury Park,
NJ
07712
6 people
favorited this theater
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The new hotel, “The Asbury” located directly behind this site has taken the Baronet sign and put it on its roof deck. It now shows 2nd run movies for a modest fee and calls it “the Baronet theater”.
June 29th, 1962 grand opening ad as Baronet in the theatre.
June 7th, 1913 grand opening as Ocean ad in the photo section
The status of this theater should be changed to demolished.
There is still one theater left besides the Paramount that goes back to the vaudeville days and that is the Savoy built in 1911. The Savoy is located at 710 Mattison Avenue inside an office building. Last used as an adult Movie House It closed in 1976. It appears to be safe from the wrecking ball for now. There is reference to trying to reopen it in the above Star Ledger Article. To own this theater you must buy the entire building and most interested theater groups do not want to do that or can’t afford the asking price. Read more At the Savoy Page on this site Cinema Treasures listing 10585. Would be nice if it gets reopened.
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Thanks TC.
this link has video of the demolition – so sad:
http://www.theshowroomap.com/
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So sorry about your loss… I think the smaller neighborhood cinemas are the ‘bread & butter’ for local merchants!
But check the San Francisco “Destroyed” list. It’s so tragic;
They lost over 30 single screen houses in less than a ten-year period; One in particular was due to ‘crooked Mayoral politics’ in City Hall. Hence, the 1929-1963 “fabulous” FOX, a 5,200 seat house was the grandest of the magnificent Fox empire!
Another sad loss for Asbury. Few cities have destroyed more of their architectural treasures as Asbury Park has. In the general scheme of things, the Baronet is not a major loss; Asbury has lost a great many far, far grander properties, but it is a significant loss nonetheless. One of the things that makes Asbury Park different is its history. The more you erase, the less it has to offer. At least The Paramount appears to have been saved and is secure. That is something to be truly grateful for.
Carbon arcs are not projectors, they are just lamphouses that fit behind the projector head. The projector heads were Brenkerts and the carbon arc lamphouses were Ashcraft in the booth.
Correction:
I posted earlier that two projectors were saved. There were actually 4 projectors that were saved. Two I believe simplex smaller looking projectors that were the projectors used when the theater first opened were saved from the booth along with the two bigger carbon arcs that last ran a few years back. Still Don’t know about the Seats.
Jay
A real pity that this gem should meet such an end. Did Walter Reade rename Manhattan’s Baronet in homage to its Asbury Park sister movie house?
Only things I know of that were preserved were the Roof Top Sign that still worked and the projectors from the booth. I saw the inside recently and it was in bad shape but looked fixable with money and I had some that was interested. Before he could make an offer time ran out on the roof.
Jay, Do you know what the plans are for the land? Also was the facade preserved? I would have loved to gotten a seat from the inside or something of the sort.
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:(
Today is a sad day for those of us who loved the Baronet. The entire roof collasped and the city building dept and fire dept gave the order to tear it down on Monday. The two projectors and the Baronet sign were saved and are being held by the owners of the building I- Star. My friends who were interested in leasing it or buying it were never given a call that it was going down. It all happened too quickly. As of this post at 1:58 p.m. the Demo crew is still at work.
Seriously FUCK YOU ASBURY PARK!
Murdered by a town that doesn’t give a shit about anything that it had. Just rip it all down and build a strip mall. Fuck everyone involved in the destruction of one of my favorite places. The Baronet meant allot to me and a large group of people. This town will suffer for it’s greed.
Baronet update:
Recently there was an inquiry about the baronet at a city council meeting. Some people might be interested in buying or leasing it.
The inside of the theater is in not too good of shape with some mold and ceiling and roof problems. There are some leaks. If no one takes it over from the new Asbury partners (I Star)It could be torn down for safety reasons. Lets hope it can be saved. I understand there is a fence around it now. Over the past few years there was a problem with homeless people breaking in and sleeping there.
Here is a 1987 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y8ex2qk
Indeed Luis, the Paramount is doing some shows. I just worked on a few concerts there within the past month.
Just passed by this theater yesterday and it looks abandoned and what you can see of the inside looks very disheveled. The building to the east has been torn down. The “club” to the west also looks shuttered leaving just the sad looking bowling alley to the west of it.
The Paramount just down the street looks like a hotbed of activity and that is great to see but I think this theater is a goner.