Business & Tech

Golden Age Theater Approved by Westwood Board

Owner Ray Walsh said he hoped to have the "bucket list" business opened by January.

A "golden age" movie theater which will show classic films mostly from the 1930s and '40s looks like it will be opening in Westwood.

Ray Walsh's application to open the 96-seat theater in a former law office on Kinderkamack Road was approved by the Westwood Zoning Board Monday night. The theater will play movies twice each night from Wednesday to Saturday.

"I just can't wait to open," Walsh said.

Opening the business is a "bucket list" item for Walsh, he said. He had previously co-owned a similar, but smaller, theater in Ridgewood and wanted to open a new theater after he retired.

Walsh, a Ramsey resident, spent about a year searching for a location. He was at a film festival in upstate New York when he saw the 1924 silent film "The Speed Spook," which was filmed in Westwood. The movie wasn't very good, but it gave him the idea to look for a spot in the borough, he said.

He found the Kinderkamack Road spot on the edge of Westwood's central business district and brought his plan to the board last year, along with another business owner who planned to open a children's playhouse.

After the first hearing for the plan, the owner of the Westwood Cinema on Center Avenue objected to the application. Walsh's plan was put on hold, while the playhouse was approved and recently opened.

Walsh returned to the board with a new application last month, running through the testimony in one night, but the board waited to vote because of concerns over how they could ensure the use variance for screening movies wouldn't allow another owner to come in the future and play X-rated movies there.

This time, there was no objection, and Walsh's attorney wrote up a condition blocking X-rated films, so the board voted to approve the application.

"What a relief!" Walsh said.

Walsh told Patch he hoped to have the theater open by January, but he will have to wait until a board meeting next month for the resolution granting him the needed variance is official. Until then, an objector still could come forward, so the necessary work inside the building will have to wait.


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