Strand Theater (Lakewood, New Jersey)
The Strand Theater is a vaudeville theater in Lakewood Township, Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, that has been included on the List of Registered Historic Places in New Jersey.
The theater was designed by Thomas Lamb, and built for the Ferber Amusement Company in 1922 as a place for pre-broadway runs of shows. The first event at the theater was a showing of a silent film, Peacock Alley starring Mae Murray. The next show was a pre-broadway run of "The Devine Cook" starring Florence Reed.
Within a few years of its opening, the Strand began to host vaudeville shows and silent films. Among the stars who appeared on the Strand's stage early in their careers included Burns and Allen, Milton Berle, and Ray Bolger.
During World War II, the theater became a cinema house, and omitted the vaudeville acts. As suburban multiplex movie theaters were built, the single screen theater lost its audience. During its economic decline it became a porn theater in the 1970s. In 1981 the theater was added to the List of Registered Historic Places in New Jersey. In May 1982, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The theater received a $2.4 million grant from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority in 1994 for restoration of its Neo-classical and Art Deco interiors. The theater serves as the Ocean County Center for the Arts.
