Exclusive Old Photos of the Plaza Cinema Adult Theater in Turnersville, NJ
Here's a story that you'll read but won't admit to knowing anything about -- do you remember the old Plaza Cinema adult movie theater on the Black Horse Pike in Turnersville, Washington Township?
First things first -- given the nature of this theater, allow me to say this: I never went to that theater, I was never inside of that theater, I never knew anyone that went there.
And for the folks in our corporate IT department -- I was searching for old adult movie theaters in South Jersey on company time because I was trying to find the history of this place, not, well, you know...
Anyway...
So, as to why I have pictures of it -- I bought my first digital camera over 20 years ago and as a fan of old buildings and stuff, I have pictures of everything. And a lot of pictures of places that people would have never documented -- places like an old mansion-turned-disco in West Atlantic City or the old Echelon Mall (check out those below).
With those disclaimers out of the way, let's discuss the old Plaza Cinema.
This little theater (I'm guessing it only had one screen) was located on the Black Horse Pike -- but not right on the road. This building was way behind a big shopping center, nowhere near the highway.
This is where Kohl's and Petsmart are now, but as a kid, I remember Pathmark being on one end of that shopping center, a Thrift Drug was in the middle, an arcade or video game store was there (which is where I bought PacMan for my Atari 2600), and a Mr. How's home improvement store (or something like that) was at the other end.
And you would never know this creepy adult theater was there except for a sign on Route 42.
From what I found online, the Plaza Cinema opened in 1971 showing new movies. However, starting sometime in the mid-1970s, the theater featured pornographic movies until it closed in the spring of 2002.
The building was demolished in 2008.
If you have any recollection of the Plaza Cinema, please drop me an e-mail.