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BY ERIC MODEL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
JOURNEYS INTO NEW JERSEY
Today it's a stop on the PATH line.
In another time it was a town center — crossroads — perhaps not "Crossroads of the World" like Times Square, but it was the center of a world to many in Hudson County and beyond.
Journal Square was created in 1923 when the city condemned and demolished the offices of the Jersey Journal, thus creating a broad intersection with Hudson Boulevard which itself had been widened in 1908. The newspaper built new headquarters and the new square was named in its honor.
It was construction of the 1912 opening of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Summit Avenue station many were demolished to make way for modern buildings, including the still standing Labor Bank Building and the Public Service building.
Prior to that time, Even into the early 20th century the area was amazingly rural and farm-like.Journal Square served as a terminus for many Public Service Railway trolley and bus lines, as well as the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (which later became and still is known s PATH).
In addition to the PATH, trolleys and buses, the Square has been anchored by theaters. In fact, for most of the twentieth Journal Square was the cultural entertainment center of Hudson County, home to the movies palaces built in the 1920s: The State (1922), the Stanley (1928), and the Loew's Jersey (1929). By one version of the story, it was after watching Bing Crosby at the State Theater that Frank Sinatra decided to be an entertainer.
One description described Journal Square as "crown jewel, a glowing commercial, entertainment and transportation hub of the city."
Journal Square was the site of history in the making in 1960, when two days before Election Day. John F. Kennedy made his last campaign speech at the Square before returning home to New England to await the results.
But ask most folks from that time period their lasting memories of Journal Square, and most will start with its theaters.
For example, The Stanley Warner, that architectural and cultural gem just off the Square was when it opened the second largest theater on the East Coast (4,300 seats), behind only Radio City Music. Now, the Stanley ranks number four, behind Radio City, and the Detroit and St. Louis Fox theaters. For years it was considered an elegant and popular prime venue into the 1960s, featuring popular culture of the times with entertainers ranging from Three Stooges and Jimmy Durante to Tony Bennett, Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, and The Grateful Dead.
Architecturally, it, like many movie palaces of that era, is a memorable place the leaves a lasting impression. For example, a copper marquee spans the entrance, overhanging the solid brass doors. Over the marquee are three large arched windows. Building materials include marble from Italy, Vermont, and Texas, limestone from Indiana, and granite from Maine to face Corinthian columns.
Once inside, one finds a three-story lobby adorned with columns, a broad center staircase with trompe l'oeil alabaster handrails and balusters, lamps, velvet drapes, and stained glass windows of faux "Chartre Blue" in the foyer. Allegorical paintings by Hungarian muralist Willy Pogany originally adorned the ceiling and walls.
The larger of two crystal chandeliers, suspended from the second floor, is from the New York 's original Waldorf Astoria of the 1880s; it is thirteen feet tall and ten feet wide, and illuminated by 144 bulbs that reflect onto 4,500 hanging crystal teardrops.
The grand staircase is the main feature of the three-story lobby. During the day, sunlight streams in, illuminating the lobby. An immense crystal chandelier shines after the sun sets. On three sides of the lobby, stands a formation of marble columns topped by a balcony. A nearly celestial ceiling actually had machine generated clouds and points of light that twinkled like stars.
