It was May of 1990 and at that time I was co-hosting the morning show on WOBM.  My partner and I were given a sneak preview of the new movie theatre that was opening in the Seacourt Pavilion on Hooper Avenue in Toms River. I was blown away by the state-of-the-art Loews Seacourt 10…that’s right 10 theatres which was very new to Toms River.  At that time there was still a movie theatre in the Ocean County Mall that had three screens, Cinema Alley off of Washington Street (not nice) and I’m not sure if the Dover Theatre at the intersection of Route 37 & 166 was still in operation.

What I do know is the Lowes Seacourt 10 was truly spectacular at that time and for many years it was the place to go, although you had to deal with a lot of kids on weekends who had a new hangout.  Regardless my wife Jane and I were regulars and happy we didn’t have to drive far to enjoy comfortable seats, a decent concession stand, great sound and plenty of film options.

AMC replaced Loews at some point and the cinema became old.  When the Marquee Cinemas opened its Orchard 10 on Route 37 West near the Toms River/Manchester border in 2007 it was nicer, cleaner and much more comfortable and it became our movie theatre of choice.  I honestly can’t remember the last time we saw a movie at the Seacourt 10 but it was well before the pandemic shut it and all other theatres down in March of 2020.  By that time the AMC was kind of gross and very outdated.

Step up to buy your tickets by Sunday
Step up to buy your tickets by Sunday
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I mention this because word got out this week that the one-time revolutionary Loews Seacourt 10 is closing its doors on Sunday as their lease is ending and clearly they don’t want to make the necessary upgrades to keep up with others,including their own AMC Brick Plaza 10 which is where some of the workers from Toms River will go.

I still think back to when we got that sneak preview 32 years ago and left feeling like we had truly seen something special.  It was then but it’s clearly not now.

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