Monday, May 11, 2009

a large format movie palace

I have decided that every once in a while I will post some fairly unique photos that BEG to be shown at full size and here is one.

This is a pic of the Loew's Paradise Theatre located at 2413 Grand Concourse in the Bronx, New York. I would date this photo around late '29 as they are showing the Marion Davies feature "Marianne" (released in a silent and talkie version in the fall of that year) and the theater opened on September 7, 1929 with Warner Oland in "The Mysterious Dr. Fu-Manchu".

Thankfully, the theater was listed as a
New York City Registered Landmark building 1997, fully restored, and is still in use today as a special events venue.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

RICHARD FINEGAN said...

Very cool picture Louie!
The details are so interesting.
For example, what is printed on those two flags?
And, what are those pictures above the clock?
And what an intersting truck the Rembrandt Lamp Corp. had...rims with no tires?
And don't miss the laundry hangin' out at the right!

J. Theakston said...

I was inside the Paradise about two years ago and got a lot of photographs (have to dig for those). The restoration is stunning, but the decorating choices... erm... reflected the area that the theater is now in.

The Paradise is one of the five Wonder Loews theaters-- the wonder now is that they're all still standing! The five were: The Valencia, The Kings, 175th Street, The Paradise, and The Jersey.

Louie said...

Rich,
I have no idea what is written on the flags.
Above the clock appears to be a sculpture of St. George defeating the dragon.
There are tires on that truck just with a very narrow tread.

Jack,
Would love to see those pics. Some of the ones from the link I posted look pretty wonderful.

Marie Reed said...

It's just marvelous!

VP81955 said...

The organ at the Loew's Paradise is now at the Loew's Jersey:

http://loewsjersey.org/content/view/36/51/1/6/

And here's the Jersey's "St. George and the Dragon":

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c149/VP19/miscellaneous/loewsjerseycity15.jpg