Plaza Cinema
Route 42,
Turnersville,
NJ
08012
Route 42,
Turnersville,
NJ
08012
5 people
favorited this theater
When the Plaza Cinema opened in 1971, it had the Washington Township movie market all to itself. But a year later, a New York firm bought the theater and began showing pornography. A group of churchgoing teenagers set up a picket line around the theater. They carried signs such as, Smut and Filth Out' orGet Out.‘ A week later, the Plaza’s 26-year-old manager was arrested on `a charge of showing obscene films’ after an undercover operation by township. Nonetheless, the cinema survived on this format until it closed at the end of April 2002. It was the last full time X rated theater in South Jersey. The last owner was Cinema Art Theaters Inc. of Haverford, PA.
The Plaza Cinema was demolished in the summer of 2008.
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tc
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
This person was obviously upset at the closing:
http://www.philadungeonsociety.com/oz_plaza.htm
this place lays completelt abandoned behind the kohls shopping center. this place looked very seedy, i have a funny story about me and a friend trying to go inside.
Listed as part of Milgrim Theatres, Inc. in the 1985 International Motion Picture Almanac.
I had lots of fun at the Plaza in the 1970’s. Saw several films there while it was still a ‘legitimate’ theatre. And I’m certain it hadn’t gone porno until at least 1978…I distinctly remember seeing “Jaws 2” there; I recall vividly walking thru a giant set of cardbord jaws as entrance into the seating area.
I went inside the theater a few years ago with my camcorder. Here’s the footage I shot:
View link
Here’s some more footage:
View link
Man, that is a scary place to drive past still. I drove past it all the time as a teen ager, as it’s parking lot was a short cut to my girlfriend’s house. I also remember the protestes happening very weekend. Why has this not been torn down? I guess because there is really no need for the land. It has got to be one of the oddest locations for a movie theater- the back of a strip mall, where they dump the dishwater.
RIP Plaza Cinema – got torn down a couple months ago. it got replaced with some cement walkways and grass. i had lots of fun times with my friends goin into that place, it was really nasty
Jim7788hitchcock, Are you able to replace your footage of The Plaza Theatre as both of the above links are broken? Thank you.
I would like to hear nursebrittany’s funny story re her and friends entrance into this theatre, if you have time to type details. Thanks
Lived in the area in the mid 1990s and it was a sketchy venue. I drove by but never went in because I think it was a $20 cover charge for entry.
Wish jim7788hitchcock could post the videos on YouTube for us to see