Restoration Project Lowdown (cont.)

Creating a new office. Like many renovators, we were confronted with the need to adapt our old Theatre to new needs. When the Loew's Jersey was built, most of its programming was planned in a central New York office that oversaw all Loew's theatres; it therefore did not need a very big office. The renewed operation of our Theatre will, however, require more office space. To help deal with this problem, volunteers converted part of an attached store into office space.
 

Restoration of the original orchestra pit elevators. Our Theatre's orchestra pit was originally equipped with two screw-jack elevators capable of lifting the entire orchestra to stage level, serving as a thrust stage, and hauling props and other equipment up to the stage. Unfortunately, the orchestra pit and its elevators had been covered over years ago. The motors and controls of the lifts had been left to corrode. An architectural survey of the Theatre determined that the old lifts had to be replaced at a cost of $200,000.

Like many renovators on a budget, we couldn't afford such a steep price, so a volunteer spent months cleaning and rebuilding the corroded controls and motors.  We spent a weekend uncovering the pit and its lifts, removing tongue-and-groove flooring and joists that were large enough to be stored in a barn. Incredibly, in the course of this work we found a receipt for nails dated 1949 -- telling us when the pit had been covered. After the pit was uncovered and the lifts' screw jacks and gears greased, we turned on the old motors -- and everything worked! We had repaired the two lifts for a cost of about $38 in WD-40 and spray paint.

Restoration of original stage lighting equipment. The stage lights are controlled by an impressive control board of pilot lights, toggle switches and dimmer handles that connect to a bank of dozens of magnetic relay switches. Unfortunately, the control board was rusted and the dozens of relays were badly corroded and unable to work. Virtually no one believed any of this equipment could be salvaged. But the same volunteer who rebuilt the orchestra lift controls spent months taking apart and rebuilding each relay and refinishing and repairing the control board. Today, all of the original stage lighting works, and is a rare example of an intact 1920s theatrical lighting system.
 

Restoration of the marquee. The Theatre's once eye-catching marquee had become an eyesore. Dozens of panes of milk glass had been smashed out and pigeons had moved in. The stainless steel frames holding the glass were all tarnished. The white paint inside the marquee that was supposed to reflect the back-lighting had flaked off. Sockets were broken. Neon lettering was broken.  Seams in the marquee's sheet metal needed to be sealed to stop leaks. It was estimated that it would cost between $50,000 and $70,000 for a contractor to fix the marquee. Incredibly, volunteers did all of this for just $3,000.

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