Warren Theatre

2015 Boardwalk,
Atlantic City, NJ 08401

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Showing 26 - 50 of 72 comments

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 27, 2008 at 8:55 pm

There’s an IMAX over on the walk, which is a batch of stores close to Columbus Park. That area looks like a huge shopping mall. My former school at South Carolina and Pacific is now a Marriott hotel.

edblank
edblank on May 27, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Ken, Any interesting changes in Atlantic City? Is there a functioning moviehouse of any kind within a mile or two of the area where the many Boardwalk and Atlantic Avenue theaters used to be?

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 21, 2008 at 10:00 pm

I’m not sure about the eligibility. The theaters were part of the amusement pier and never really had their own identity. We had this discussion a while ago about the theater on the Queen Mary. I will take some pictures if I get over that way, though.

edblank
edblank on May 21, 2008 at 9:54 pm

Ken, Sure would appreciate it if you’d take a photo of what’s left of Steel Pier and open the blog on Steel Pier with it. I’m sure many of us would like to contribute to that link. It had three moviehouses within it(though only two were used for films during the second part of the 20th Century), so it should be eligible. – Ed Blank

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 21, 2008 at 9:47 pm

I’m going back to Atlantic City this weekend. I would take some pictures but offhand I can’t recall any theaters that are still standing. Even the Warner is down to a facade.

veyoung52
veyoung52 on May 21, 2008 at 1:29 pm

Thanks, all. Saved me a trip to the A.C. library.

veyoung52
veyoung52 on May 21, 2008 at 10:10 am

Thanks, when I’m in AC I’ll check the AC “Press” for the time period I was there and see if the address in the ad matches that of the Stanley. Stay tuned.

edblank
edblank on May 21, 2008 at 9:42 am

I liked the Roxy a lot. I remember seeing “A Hole in the Head” there in the summer of 1959. Can’t remember any other specific films I saw there, and I don’t know when it closed. – Ed Blank

veyoung52
veyoung52 on May 20, 2008 at 11:02 pm

Yes, Ed, me, too. Do you have information about the Roxy on the boardwalk? Even Mr. Hauss hasn’t been able to uncover much history of that palace. I saw “The Big Country” there in October of 1958..a luxurious palace with a tremendous screen. All I know is that when I started researching “Windjammer” at the Warren/Warner which ran in the late summer of 1960, the Roxy was already not oprational, but I don’t know if had been demolished by then. I’m going to the A.C. library sometime in the next couple of weeks. Will keep you posted. Vince

edblank
edblank on May 20, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Thank you very much for that start, VEYoung. Every year from 1954 through 1961 or maybe 1962, I spent a week in Atlantic City with my folks. I always went straight to the Steel Pier to get that week’s schedule and to work out a one-day itinerary so we could see the diving horse, the main movie, which was always in the Casino, the secondary movie, which played the larger Music Hall with that week’s name attraction (Guy Mitchell with his leg in a cast one year, a pairing of June Valli and Jean Carroll another year), as well as the water show at the end of the pier featuring the diving horse. For whatever reason, we never bothered with “Tony Grant’s Stars of Tomorrow” show, which was in a third theater. The Grant show might have been in the auditorium you refer to as the Ocean. I sure wish Steel Pier had a Cinema Treasures entry. – Ed Blank

veyoung52
veyoung52 on May 20, 2008 at 1:32 pm

Hi, Ed. I was just speaking yesterday with Allen Hauss, author of “Images of America: South Jersey Movie Houses.” In his book there is a little information on the Steel Pier and its theatres.“Steel Pier, Atlantic City, 1941. Built in 1900 at Virginia Avenue and the famous boardwalk, the Steel Pier is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Atlantic City. Movies arrived as an occasional attraction in the early 1900’s. By the 1930s, there were three theatres on the pier; the Music Hall (2,250 seats) with a vaudeville and film format, the Casino (2,000 seats), and the Ocean (1,406) seats.” That’s all that appears for the Pier itself, although the book goes into more detail about other locations in the Shore communities. Hope this helps.

edblank
edblank on May 20, 2008 at 1:17 pm

Can anyone tell me how to find the Steel Pier’s theaters in Cinema Treasures? As I recall the two moviehouses on the pier were called the Music Hall and the Casino, but neither of them, nor Steel Pier, seems to have an entry here among the Atlantic City cinemas. – Ed Blank

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 9, 2008 at 10:54 am

Thanks. I saw the Traymore implode when I was in sixth grade. That’s the large hotel seen in the distance.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 9, 2008 at 12:10 am

Warren, can you post the 1949 photo again?

edblank
edblank on May 8, 2008 at 11:18 pm

I recall the Warner/Warren as being the most beautiful of all Atlantic City theaters when my family was vacationing there annually in the 1950s. I was always eager to see what was playing there when we got to town. An oddity: During the summer of 1956 the theater played “Pardners” (Martin & Lewis) and “Moby Dick” on alternate weeks, apparently to encourage two visits by vacationers regardless of when they arrived. – Ed Blank

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 27, 2007 at 9:56 am

Here is a postcard that shows the interior:
http://tinyurl.com/2op369

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 26, 2007 at 11:35 pm

Here is a photo when the Warner was a restaurant:
http://tinyurl.com/ytb2su

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 5, 2007 at 9:23 am

When it was a bowling alley in the seventies, there wasn’t much left of the interior. I never saw it when it was a theater.

AdoraKiaOra
AdoraKiaOra on November 5, 2007 at 7:24 am

What a gorgeous facade with or without the beautiful old marqee. Anty pics available of the auditorium.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 15, 2007 at 5:42 pm

Anyone recall the Surf near Convention Hall? Possibly an AKA? The story is dated 11/21/63 from the Auburn Advertiser:

Arson Suspected As Fire Destroys Theater

A general alarm fire destroyed the Surf Theater and threatened a nearby chemical plant early today shortly after three eyewitnesses told police they smelled gasoline and saw a man running down the street carrying a can.

The blaze, in this shore resort’s business section, broke out only hours after a known arson suspect was cleared of any suspicion in the Surfside Hotel fire which killed 25 elderly persons last Monday. The scene was about a mile and a half from the tragic hotel fire, and less than two blocks from the famed Convention Hall. Five children and seven adults were routed from their apartments above the theater. No injuries were reported.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 16, 2006 at 10:39 am

It did stand alone, but that was in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I wasn’t around when Ballys built the add-ons. I recall there were no buildings on either side.

veyoung52
veyoung52 on July 16, 2006 at 10:38 am

Yes, Ed, and I believe it was in the 90’s before Ballys Casino took over the block. The entranceway and lobby were intact. The auditorium had been razed and became a parking lot. As you faced the entrance, this parking lot was on the left (south) side of the building itself.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on July 16, 2006 at 9:05 am

Was there a time – in the ‘90’s perhaps – when this facade and a portion of the old structure (the lobby/foyer area) stood alone on the boardwalk with no adjacent buildings on either side? I seem to recall photographing this facade when I was in AC about 8 or 9 years ago. At the time, I think it was merely a storefront and I don’t recall any signs of a 4000 seat auditorium behind it… only the long rectangular shape of the lobby vestibule. I’ll have to see if I can dig out that photo and scan a copy to post.