Loews Paradise Theatre in the Bronx starts a $50 million restoration drive

Fordham’s landmarked Loews Paradise Theatre now operates as the Paradise Performing Arts Center. The nonprofit aims to raise $50 million to restore the Bronx venue and plans to keep it in use while the work goes on.

Theater officials say the 4,000-seat house opened in 1929, just five weeks before the Great Depression took hold. Its Brooklyn sister, the Kings, opened on that same day. Both were part of the original five Loews Wonder Theaters, which were designed to show movies as well as live stage acts. Among the city’s theaters, only Radio City is bigger.

What the Paradise Theatre restoration plan includes

The ornate interior has held up well, and the building still hosts private events. Plenty of longtime Bronx residents remember coming here for movies and graduations. The nonprofit wants to bring the hall back to its original appearance and make the updates it needs. Its leaders picture a venue flexible enough for anything from neighborhood performances to big productions and concerts.

The Paradise is an atmospheric theater. Its ceiling was built to light up with stars while projected clouds drifted overhead. Peter Martin, a managing director of the center, said restoring that effect is part of the plan.

Executive director Scott Perrin put the project alongside the city’s best-known stages, listing Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, City Center and the Apollo in Harlem. “The Bronx needs more performing arts centers,” he said.

Programming ideas from the theater’s past

Charles Piazza, another managing director, said the theater’s own history can shape what it books next. Back in the 1930s, posters advertised “Harlem comes to the Bronx” nights starring Cab Calloway, and he hopes to bring that concept back nearly 100 years later.

Supporters say that with restoration plans now moving ahead, years of preservation work may finally be paying off.