The Loew's Jersey Theatre, the 1929 movie palace across from the Journal Square Transportation Center, has reopened after its restoration, and its first full calendar of shows runs from this Wednesday into the new year. The theater's new operator billed this weekend as the moment the curtain rises again, and the next show on the schedule is Jodeci's 35th anniversary tour on Wednesday, November 18.

A theater Jersey City saved twice

The Loew's opened on September 28, 1929, as one of the five Loew's Wonder Theatres built around New York City. Its opening program paired the film Madame X with a live orchestra, and through the 1930s it drew more than a million patrons a year to films and stage shows by performers including Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. The theater's own history notes the Sinatra family's account that a young Frank Sinatra saw Crosby perform there in 1933 and decided to sing himself.

The auditorium was split into three screens in 1974, and the theater closed in August 1986 with demolition on the table. Residents organized as the Friends of the Loew's, and after years of campaigning the City of Jersey City bought the building in 1993. Volunteers reopened it partially in 2001, the first time in 15 years, and over the next two decades it hosted films, community events and concerts. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 25, 2022.

What the restoration did

The restoration is a partnership between the City of Jersey City, the State of New Jersey through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, and Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, the company behind the Prudential Center. The city's progress reports describe full plaster and paint restoration in the auditorium and grand lobby, conservation of the original artwork and ornamental finishes, a rebuilt pair of towers on the facade, restored original light fixtures alongside new replicas, newly fabricated seating and reproduced curtains and drapery.

The room now works two ways. A standing-room floor and flexible seating let the theater hold between 2,600 and 4,000 people depending on the show, which opens it up to concerts and comedy tours that a fixed-seat house could not book. The Friends of the Loew's, the volunteer group that kept the building alive for three decades, also credit the Garden State Theatre Organ Society with restoring the theater's Wonder Morton organ.

On the calendar

  • Wednesday, November 18: Jodeci, 35th Anniversary Tour of Forever My Lady.
  • Tuesday, December 8: Derek Hough, Dance for the Holidays.
  • Wednesday, December 9: Unwrapped: An Acoustic Holiday.
  • Thursday, December 10: Christmas with Chris Tomlin.
  • Saturday, December 12: Chelsea Handler, The High and Mighty Tour.
  • Saturday, December 19: Nimbus Dance's Jersey Nutcracker.
  • Saturday, January 9, 2027: Jeff Dunham, Inappropriate Contact Tour.
  • Saturday, January 23, 2027: Gary Owen, No Hard Feelings Tour.

Further out, the theater has announced Jimmy O. Yang on February 27, Matthew West on May 1 and a World of Warcraft music concert on May 8, 2027.

Getting there

The theater is at 54 Journal Square Plaza, directly across from the Journal Square Transportation Center, which puts it one PATH ride from Hoboken, Newark and Manhattan, with NJ Transit buses stopping at the same hub. Drivers reach it from I-95, I-78 and Routes 1 and 9. Tickets, event details and a newsletter that sends presale codes are on the theater's website, and general questions go to info@loewsjersey.com.

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