Loew's Paradise Theater
2415 Grand Conc | also 2417 Grand Conc, 2419 Grand Conc, 2403 Grand Conc | Fordham Heights | built 1929
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1927
Loew's takes over the planned "Venetian" movie palace from Paramount-Publix
Paramount-Publix's Hewitt Place Corporation assembled land here from 1925 and hired John Eberson, whose $1.8 million theater and office building, provisionally called the Venetian, was refused city permission in June 1927 after neighbors protested. In December 1927 Hewitt bought 2403 Grand Concourse from Samuel Kronsky, and that same month Loew's subsidiary Concourse Realty agreed to buy the whole assemblage, which became one of Loew's five Wonder Theatres.
“Loew's subsidiary Concourse Realty Corporation decided to buy Hewitt's entire assemblage later the same month.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1929
Loew's Paradise opens with "The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu"
The $4 million Paradise opened on September 7, 1929, the same day as Brooklyn's Kings Theatre, with the national anthem, musical numbers, shorts, a live show and the film The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu. Seats cost 25 cents to a dollar. Over the following years its stage shows featured Cab Calloway, Eddie Cantor, Ben Bernie, George Burns and Bob Hope, until Loew's dropped vaudeville here in September 1935.
“Loew's Paradise Theatre opened on September 7, 1929, the same day as the Kings Theatre.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1929
Eberson's ceiling shows the stars as they stood at Marcus Loew's birth
John Eberson designed the 3,855-seat auditorium as an atmospheric theater meant to feel like an open Italian courtyard, with plaster statues, foliage and even stuffed pigeons. Tiny lights in the dark-blue ceiling reproduce the constellations at the moment Loew's founder Marcus Loew was born, laid out by Eberson's son Drew, and a machine sent clouds drifting across. On the facade, Saint George on horseback slashed a dragon every hour beside a Seth Thomas clock.
“The ceiling also depicts constellations as they appeared when Loew's founder Marcus Loew was born.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1932
A dynamite bomb with a faulty fuse is found in the projection booth
In September 1932, almost two dozen dynamite sticks, enough to level the theater, turned up in the Paradise's projection booth while 3,000 people were inside. The bomb failed to go off only because its fuse was defective. Unhappy film operators were blamed for the plot.
“…the bomb did not detonate only because it had a defective fuse. Disgruntled film operators were accused of planning the attempted bombing.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1942
Mayor Fiorello La Guardia gives an air-raid preparedness speech here
During World War II the Paradise ran newsreels, and in 1942 Mayor Fiorello La Guardia spoke at the theater about preparing for air raids. That same year its heating plant was switched from oil to coal.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1965
A reporter finds the Paradise gone dusty, its lobby fish poisoned
In 1965 Bernard Weinraub of The New York Times described the theater as dusty and almost eerie. The goldfish pond in the lobby had been drained after patrons poisoned the fish, furnishings had been removed or damaged, and the Saint George and dragon figures had been stolen from the facade. Loew's invited antiques dealers to take the theater's art away for safekeeping.
“The fish pond in the lobby had been drained after customers poisoned the fish.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1973
Loew's splits the Paradise auditorium despite a cultural-center plan
In August 1973 Loew's announced it would divide the auditorium into a lower and an upper screening room, after Bronx borough president Robert Abrams had proposed making the Paradise a cultural center. The split went ahead that year; a third screen followed in the mid-1970s and a fourth in 1981, hiding most of the decoration. It was the only Wonder Theatre carved up this way.
“…it was the only Wonder Theatre to be divided in this manner.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1994
The Paradise closes as Loew's loses its lease
The theater shut in January 1994 behind signs claiming a temporary renovation, though Loew's said it had lost the lease. The owner then defaulted on a $4.8 million mortgage, a new owner proposed a shopping mall, and a fire badly damaged the stage in May 1996 while trespassers stripped decorations. Actor Tony Randall backed restoration, and the facade became a city landmark in April 1997.
“The Paradise Theater was closed in January 1994.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2005
The restored Paradise reopens as a live-event venue
After a stalled restoration by boxing promoter Richard P. DeCesare, developer Gerald Lieblich bought the theater for $4.5 million in 2003, removed the partitions and installed new seats. It reopened on October 29, 2005, hosting Latin music concerts, graduations and weddings, and later acts such as Rick Ross and The Killers. Its interior became a city landmark in May 2006.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2007
Actress Cathy Moriarty and Joe Gentile buy the theater
Actress Cathy Moriarty and her husband, developer Joe Gentile, bought the Paradise in July 2007 through their company Utopia Studios. They renamed it the Utopia's Paradise Theater and planned family-oriented shows. After a brief closure it reopened on October 24, 2009, under concert promoters Derrick Sanders and Shelby Joyner, and later booked Nicki Minaj and Vampire Weekend.
“The actress Cathy Moriarty and her husband, the developer Joe Gentile, acquired the Paradise Theater in July 2007…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2012
Creflo Dollar's World Changers Church moves into the Paradise
In October 2012 the theater was leased to the World Changers Church, the prosperity-gospel congregation of Atlanta pastor Creflo Dollar and his wife Taffi. A fire the following month, started by sparks from construction workers' tools, damaged the interior. The church turned the box office into a prayer station and stopped services in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Paradise Theater (Bronx)Wikipedia
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