Wollaston Theatre
14 Beale Street,
Quincy,
MA
02170
14 Beale Street,
Quincy,
MA
02170
13 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 165 comments
Nope, nothing there.
Have the condos (or anything else) been built on this site yet?
Yvonne Chandler, co-owner of the Wolly with her husband Arthur, passed away a few weeks ago. She used to run the ticket booth in the latter days of the theater, while Arthur ran concessions and the projector. My wife and I’d go for Dollar Nights (Tuesdays?) and have a cheap date with a slice of pizza on the corner, a dish of ice cream at Brigham’s, and perhaps some pastries to take home from O'Brien’s Bakery. All gone now, and that was less than 20 years ago.
The Wollaston Theatre was the subject of the “Whatever happened to…?” feature in the Quincy Patriot Ledger of Oct. 30. The text mentions that when the theatre was sold to Arthur & Yvonne Chandler in 1979 it had been owned by the Edward Sears family for 50 years. There is an undated photo of the entrance and marquee listing the movie “Grease” Wed thru Tuesday; the movie “Fluffy” at 2PM Sat and Sunday; and a stage show at 730PM on Sunday. The text mentions that although it was demolished several years ago, there is still nothing on the site today, but there are plans for condos.
Sadly the theatre was demolished. I went by today and took some pictures. It’s rather devastating. Nothing left. Smashed to bits. History. I wrote a blog post if you are interested in seeing it. http://www.analisamendmentblog.com/history-demolished-disrespected-wollaston-theatre/
Ron Newman- Plans are not firm to build anything on the site- Owner is mulling possibilities. He purchased the theater to raze it or convert it into a large Asian foodmarket, but then his original older plan to convert a factory in N. Quincy has recently been approved after a long struggle. So now he has two sites. There are vague plans to save and sell off some artifacts from the “Wolly” at some future date. See Quincy Patriot Ledger, Sat. June 4 2016 edition.
What will be built on this site? Is there a news story about it?
Demolition began about June 1st. First action was to remove the seats, then they began to gut out the interior. The failure to save “The Wolly” all boils down to one important thing: $$$$ Money $$$.
From the google street view, the auditorium does not look long and thin it actually looks reasonably wide (It looks like a single level of seating), but the stage is definitely shallow.
When one enters they go through a vey long lobby before turning right into the auditorium. The auditorium actually faces against the next street over hence the long lobby.
On October 6th a rally was held in an attempt to save the Wollaston Theatre. I went for informational purposes only. Where there biggest problems are is the length of time it has been closed (2003) and if you hold a rally you need electronic media coverage to have on their late news. Social media and the local papers can only go so far.
A small group has formed with the intent to preserve the Wollaston as a PAC. Problem is that it makes a poor PAC, with its shallow stage and its long auditorium. When it first opened in the late-1920s it was a live playhouse featuring the Al Lutringer Stock Company presenting a repetoire of plays onstage. I knew someone who was a season ticketholder, now long deceased, who told me that if you sat in the rear half of the auditorium you couldn’t hear or see anything.
I’m new to Cinema Treasures. I’m hoping to find info. or pictures of Codman Square Theatre (Dorchester, MA closed late 50’s. How do I go about doing that?? FrankLaPrise
Link to the demolition story. Link to a second-day reaction story.
The owner of the Wollaston Theatre has expressed his intent to demolish it, starting this fall. I don’t know if the demolition would include the entire building or only the auditorium and stagehouse in back. (The front building which includes the lobby entrance has 4 occupied retail shops.) He claims that the building is now unsafe. He has not actually applied for a demolition permit. The city building inspector states that he is aware of some issues there, but that it is not in danger of imminent collapse. The owner also currently has no plans for re-use of the space. There are no individuals or groups interested in preserving the theater. All of these facts are from a front-page article in the Quincy Patriot-Ledger print edition, Thurs. Sept 17, 2015.
There is a feature occasionally in the Quincy Patriot Ledger on the lines of “whatever happened to —” or “Where is it now?” A couple weeks ago the subject was the Wollaston Theatre. There was a brief summary of the theater’s history, and the recent efforts to do something with it. Then, the item ended with the news that a poster for a realty company has been affixed to the theater entrance with the implication that the building may have been put up for sale.
One day in mid-Sept there was a mini sidewalk fair in Wollaston which utilized the outer lobby of the Wollaton Theatre, the sidewalk in front and the parking spaces along that section of sidewalk. The theme was Where is the Wollaston business district going? There was a city planner there, some local business people and community activists. Old movie posters were on display. Many people who stopped by expressed the wish that the theater could reopen. The theater owner was also there and said that he would like to do something with the building, and that the building now is no longer in good condition.
Beside the Wollaston Theatre and school auditoriums, the only other theater in Quincy now is the Masonic Auditorium, located on Hancock St. in Quincy Center and very near the Quincy Center MBTA station. It was ruined by a massive fire today, 9-30-2013.
Seems reasonable; most of these places, once they are saved, need live performances to stay in business.
The Quincy Patriot Ledger yesterday ran one of its reader polls: “Do you think the Wolly will ever reopen as a movie house?” (voting is conducted on-line). The results: 350 responses- Yes- 16%, No- 83%.
Here’s a link to the original Patriot Ledger story http://www.patriotledger.com/entertainment/x842391792/Wollaston-Theatre-sold-to-C-Mart-owner
The Quincy Patriot Ledger of January 31 has a front page story about the sale. The sales price was only $600,000. The buyer is a business man from Weston who runs Asian supermarkets, the C-Mart chain. He’s been trying to open an outlet in North Quincy but has been thwarted by various zoning issues. He says he is not sure what he will do with the theater. The seller, Mrs. Yvonne Chandler, is quoted in the article as remarking that she would “rather forget the whole thing.” The article was written by reporter Jack Encarnacao.
The new owner says he has is looking for community input- http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/quincy/2012/01/quincys_wollaston_theater_sold.html
Link to the place where you read this news, please?
Apparently the Wolly has been sold and is going to be turned into an Asian Market, because Quincy clearly needs another one of those.
Today’s Quincy Patriot Ledger has a feature article which reports that two entities, a group and an individual, have approached the mayor’s office with an interest in going forward with the Wolly restoration project. There will be a meeting at 630PM on Monday, Feb. 14 at the Thomas Crane Library in Quincy Center to discuss the theater. Restoration cost is estimated at $6M – $7M, which seems rather low for theater projects like this one, but possible, I guess.