4. The Newark Paramount Theatre, NJ

Image via After The Final Curtain

Venturing into New Jersey, the Paramount Theatre originally opened as the H.C. Miner’s Newark Theatre on October 11, 1886. A Brooklyn-based theater management company ran it as vaudeville house. In 1916, it was sold to Edward Spiegel who purchased the building next door as well to make the theater larger. Spiegel hired none other than Thomas Lamb to double the size of the lobby and renovate the auditorium..

In 1932, the owners struck a deal with Paramount-Publix (which would later become Paramount Pictures) who remodeled the vaudeville theater into a movie theater, renovating it once again. This time Lamb’s work was covered up with flat paint. It was after this deal that the H.C. Miner’s Newark was renamed The Paramount.

The Paramount closed due to increased insurance rates on March 31, 1986. Since then, the lobby has been used as an Army/Navy surplus store and other pop-up retail shops. There are current plans to renovate it into a multi-use entertainment complex that would demolish the whole auditorium, leaving only the original facade.