About Us
title
Find Us & Contact
map
location
We are located at 5 Mine Brook Road, Bernardsville NJ 07924 - which is Route 202, on the right side heading south. Phone (908) 766-0770
Parking
There is street parking and a parking lot at the train station just south of the theater as well as parking at the rear of the theater building.
directions
From I-287 South
* Take exit 30B from I-287 S towards Bernardsville.
build_consumer_template.sh build_consumer_website.sh check-lint-suppressions.cjs check-shared-boundary.cjs deploy.sh dist ensure-node-heap.sh env.sh gql jira lint-changed.sh lint.sh ls-merged-branches.sh manual_deploy.sh netlify netlify.toml rm-merged-branches.sh setup_workspace.sh stripe Go one block and turn left at the first light onto 202 South, which is Morristown Road.
build_consumer_template.sh build_consumer_website.sh check-lint-suppressions.cjs check-shared-boundary.cjs deploy.sh dist ensure-node-heap.sh env.sh gql jira lint-changed.sh lint.sh ls-merged-branches.sh manual_deploy.sh netlify netlify.toml rm-merged-branches.sh setup_workspace.sh stripe Proceed about 2 miles. The Bernardsville Cinema is on the right.
From I-78 West / I-287 North
* Take I-78 West to I-287 North. Take exit 26B onto Mine Brook Road.
* Stay on Mine Brook Road for approximately 2.3 miles. Make a left at the light in the center of town. The Bernardsville Cinema is immediately on your right.
history
History of the Bernardsville Cinema
Our charming, quaint downtown theater building was built in 1910 by Frank Allen. Mr. Allen was an important developer of the Borough's downtown at the turn of the 20th century. Upon his death, his daughter, Dr. Anna Allen inherited all of his property. Just prior to her death in 1983, all her downtown property was sold by her trust to the Olcott Square Corporation, which retains ownership of the cinema building to this day.
In 1913, the original cavernous 500 seat theater was opened as the Columbus Theater and operated by Joseph DeBelloni. At that time, it was a vaudeville theater with a balcony above the 400 seat main floor and featured live performances. The business was sold in 1918 to Harry Miller who patriotically renamed it the Liberty Theater. The balcony was eliminated and a second floor motion picture projection room took its place. In 1920, silent films replaced vaudeville acts and were shown with dramatic piano accompaniment to enhance the experience until 1929 when "talkies" came in.
The theater has been in continuous operation since its opening with little change to the exterior. In order to keep up with the changing times, the interior of the grand old theater was converted to a triplex theater in the early 1990's by Clearview Cinema Corporation, a division of Cablevision. In 2013, Clearview sold the theater to BowTie Cinemas, which continued to run the business until 2019 when Bernardsville Cinema, LLC, took over its management. In 2020, the 110 year old building celebrated its 100th anniversary as a continuously run motion picture theater. 2023 United Leisure Cinemas reopens the theater as a first run cinema once more, after the pandemic to inspire the next generation of filmmakers and filmgoers. Today, we are a totally independent theater with no chain affiliation.
