Adams Theatre

28 Branford Place,
Newark, NJ 07102

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Showing 51 - 60 of 60 comments

teecee
teecee on October 29, 2005 at 3:34 am

Appears to be site for some exterior movie filming. In the Star Ledger dated 10/22/05, page 21 there is an article titled “Newark: The way it was” I can’t find the text online at nj.com. There is a photo of a marquee and the caption states that it is on Branford Place. The photo looks a lot like that in my 3/23/05 post, except that the Adams name is removed (hopefully just for the filming?) and there is a new traffic light clearly visible in the newer photo.

The theater is being used as a recreation of 1960 Broadway (yes, THE Broadway in NYC) for the upcoming movie “Across The Universe”.

Can anyone confirm if this is the Adams Theater?

teecee
teecee on September 18, 2005 at 6:30 am

Listed as a Negro Theater in the 1951 FDY.

teecee
teecee on July 27, 2005 at 11:00 am

Listed as a “Florin’s” theater in March 1969 when it showed 2001 (courtesy of Bill Huelbig):
View link

teecee
teecee on June 30, 2005 at 4:51 am

“Newark’s last two movie houses, the Paramount and the Adams went dark in 1986 when their insurance rates increased 500 percent. Newarkers seeking mainstream popular movies had to go elsewhere.”

The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), Sept 26, 1996 p004

teecee
teecee on March 23, 2005 at 8:29 am

Newer photo:
View link

teecee
teecee on March 11, 2005 at 5:46 pm

Beautiful recollections at this site:

View link

teecee
teecee on March 11, 2005 at 5:41 pm

Managed by Mr. Pasquale for 40 years.

cozmikchuck
cozmikchuck on November 19, 2004 at 10:05 am

What’s left of the Adams Theater is on Branford, between Broad and Halsey Streets. The old neon sign is missing a few letters and there are some retail establishments in what was the lobby.

Scholes188
Scholes188 on October 30, 2004 at 11:33 am

How far is this from Newark Penn Station? Is this near the Newark Paramount?

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on August 31, 2004 at 9:44 am

The Adams Theater has quite a history. When it was the Shubert, many big names played its stage, including Eddie Cantor, Sophie Tucker and the Marx Brothers. Most of the big bands played there in the swing era, and Jerry Lewis worked as an usher when he was a teenager.

We walked through this theater about 5 years ago, when I was working for the Loew’s Jersey. It needs a lot of help. There were early signs of water damage at that time, and plaster was beginning to fall onto the seats. We were surprised to see that it still many original light fixtures, including beautiful chandeliers over the side boxes in the auditorium.

Unfortunately, the owner at that time was allowing crews from film shoots to gut the stage of all the vintage lighting. He even offered to sell us some of the light fixtures, but with the leaky roof, none of us were willing to climb above the ceiling to see how to lower the chandeliers!

It was so sad to see this great Newark showplace rotting away while they were sinking millions into the nearby Performing Arts Center.