TELL US: What Should Go Here?

Once upon a time, "dinner and a movie" had a real meaning in the Fords section of . That was when people throughout the township would trot on down to the Fords Theater on New Brunswick Avenue to see a show, get a bite to eat, and browse the compact but lively Fords downtown.

The rise of the multiplex era threw the local theater on hard times. Since it was shut in the 1980s, the theatre has had its marquee stripped off and been subdivided into several storefronts, one of which was rented to a dog grooming establishment last year in 2011.

The other stores stand vacant and a 'For Sale' sign sits in a neglected window.

In 2009, Mayor John McCormac and coterie toured the privately-owned building with an eye toward turning it into a community arts center.  After noting that "none of us think it's salvageable" in a Star Ledger article, the mayor still spent $150,000 of township and county money to commission a study that came to the same conclusion.

A year later in 2010, McCormac told the Star Ledger that tearing down and reconstructed a building would cost $10 million or more. The township abandoned plans to redo the theater.

What do you think should go here? Another theater? Is the Fords Theater a hopeless relic? Is there some way to refurbish the building to be a cornerstone of the New Brunswick Avenue downtown once again?

And finally, for you history buffs, do you remember what the Fords Theater was like? What movies did you see there? What was the building like in its heyday?

Tell us what you think should go in the long neglected theater that would thrill the community and enliven the Fords downtown.