On Tuesday, March 7, 2023, the Camden County Commissioner honored filmmaker Steven Spielberg with a historical placard ceremony at the site of the former Westmont Theatre in Haddon Township, New Jersey. The Westmont, located four blocks from Spielberg’s elementary school, is where his passion for cinema was sparked after watching Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth with his parents in May of 1952. Steven Spielberg’s movie The Fabelmans is a fictionalized version of his actual childhood and recreates his experience at the Westmont Theatre. The legendary filmmaker has called The Westmont “a place of worship.”

Spielberg’s father, Arnold, was an electrical engineer at RCA in Camden City during the 1950s, where he was involved in the development of computers. The family lived in Haddon Township prior to moving to Phoenix in 1957.

The Westmont Theatre, which opened on September 5, 1927, was listed on the New Jersey Registry of Historic Places on July 8, 2010, but just six years later was converted into a Planet Fitness. However, the building’s exterior was completely renovated back into its original condition during construction of the fitness center.

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