The Loew's Jersey Theatre is a theater in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Loew's Wonder Theatres The Loew's Wonder Theatres were movie palaces of the Loew's Theatres chain in and near New York City. These five lavishly designed theaters were built by Loew's to establish its preeminence in film exhibition in the metropolitan New York City are ...

, a series of flagship Loew's

movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...

s in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

area. It was designed by the architectural firm of

Rapp and Rapp C. W. & George L. Rapp, commonly known as Rapp & Rapp, was an American architectural firm famed for the design of movie palaces and other theatres. Active from 1906 to 1965 and based in Chicago, the office designed over 400 theatres, inclu ...

in a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style. Tri-plexed in 1974, and then closed in 1986, it was dark for years. It was purchased by the city in 1993 and has been operated by a volunteer organization, the Friends of the Loews, since that time. The theater was designated as a New Jersey Registered Historic Site in 2009. In a move opposed by Friends of the Loews, the city in June 2014, agreed to let

AEG Live Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...

operate the venue. After going to court, the lease by Friends of the Loews remains in effect. In February 2021 it was announced that the theater would undergo an $72 million restoration expected to begin in 2022.

History

The cost of construction in 1929 was $2 million. The capacity of the theatre on opening day was 3,021 patrons. The theatre was added to the

New Jersey Register of Historic Places The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The program is administered by the New Jersey's state historic preservation office with ...

on August 15, 1985. It also received a Determination of Eligibility from the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on October 17, 1985, but was not listed due to an objection by the owner. It was subsequently listed on the National Register in 2022.

Closure

The theatre closed in August 1986. The final film shown was '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives''. The Loew's Corporation sold the theatre to Hartz Mountain, who announced plans to demolish the theatre and build a new structure on the site.

Restoration

Volunteers began restoration of the theatre once it had been acquired by the city of Jersey City, to prevent it from being demolished. The Garden State Theatre Organ Society acquired a sister pipe organ to the missing Loew's Jersey pipe organ, originally installed at the Loew's Paradise theatre, and began the installation and restoration of the organ. A video of the organ being played on November 3, 2007, is available on YouTube.

Programming

The Loew's Jersey is a popular venue for film and photography shoots. The lobby of the Loew's Jersey was the disco in the film ''

The Last Days of Disco ''The Last Days of Disco'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Whit Stillman, and loosely based on his travels and experiences in various nightclubs in Manhattan, including Studio 54. Starring Chloë Sevigny and Kate Bec ...

'' and was featured in a 2007

Geico The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is a private American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owne ...

commercial featuring their

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character. In February 2011 the band

The Strokes The Strokes are an American rock band from New York City. Formed in 1998, the band is composed of lead singer and songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Mor ...

shot a music video for the single "

Under Cover of Darkness "Under Cover of Darkness" is a song by American rock band The Strokes. The single served as the lead single for their fourth studio album, ''Angles'', and was released online on February 9, 2011 as a free download for 48 hours exclusively. It was ...

" off of their 2011 album ''

Angles The Angles ( ang, Ængle, ; la, Angli) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name is the root of the name ...

'' at the Loew's Jersey Theatre, featuring the main lobby, promenade, and stage. The theater is a popular venue for fundraising, corporate events, and weddings.

References

External links

Official Website of Loew's Jersey TheaterLoew's Jersey on the Cinema Treasures website
{{coord, 40.7322, -74.0645, region:US-NJ_type:landmark, display=title Cinemas and movie theaters in New Jersey Theatres in New Jersey Movie palaces Culture of Jersey City, New Jersey Buildings and structures in Jersey City, New Jersey Theatres completed in 1929 Tourist attractions in Jersey City, New Jersey Event venues established in 1929 Loew's Theatres buildings and structures National Register of Historic Places in Hudson County, New Jersey