Unless you go to rock shows, or occasionally jazz or country music shows, you don’t really think about the Orpheum. It isn’t used anymore for movies, opera, ballet, legit theatre, or anything else.
I also recall Sack showing Snuff at one of their houses, probably the Saxon. They took a lot of heat for that one, which got them picketed — deservedly, in my opinion.
On the Saxon page I already posted a comment about their showing of Caligula, which resulted in a vice squad raid and a court case.
Tom N asked: “If you add up all the screens at the Boston Common and Fenway, do those pretty much equal Sack/USA at their peak in the city of Boston?”
In 1984, after Copley Place opened, Sack had 23 screens in Boston Proper*, Nickelodeon had 5 screens, and Exeter Street had one screen. I believe this was their high point. Although they later added one more screen at the Cheri and two more at the Copley Place, I think this happened only after they started closing their other theatres.
Now, Loews has 19 screens, AMC has 13, and that’s it.
*Boston Proper meaning Beacon Hill, Downtown, Back Bay, and Kenmore/Fenway. It doesn’t include Allston, Brighton, or other outlying neighborhoods.
Ian, what about the RKO Boston? It was subdivided decades ago and has sat vacant since about 1991. It’s obviously not generating any rent for the building’s landlord. Could it be brought back as a cinema?
And if Loews closes Fresh Pond, would you consider taking it over?
The Landmark Center, which contains this theatre as well as retail and office space, is on the National Register of Historic Places. This redevelopment of an old Sears warehouse won several preservation awards. Some links to pages by Bruner/Cott, the developer:
Tom N: Perhaps, but since the Boston Common and the Fenway mostly show the same movies (and then sometimes on multiple screens), the result is a sharp drop in the number of different movies being shown at one time within the city of Boston.
I walked into the mall again tonight. They’ve taken down the ‘Loews Copley Place’ sign, the marquee, and the lettering that said CLOSING JAN 30TH. They painted the box office windows and the glass doors solid black. They also put a couple of kiosks with black curtains on either side of the entrance, obscuring some (now-empty) movie poster cases on the walls behind them.
Tom N is correct. If you visited the mall today and didn’t know it used to have a cinema, you’d never find it now.
The only Loews theatres still operating in the Boston area:
Boston Common (19 screens)
Harvard Square, Cambridge (5)
Fresh Pond, Cambridge (10)
Assembly Square, Somerville (12, I think)
Liberty Tree Mall, Danvers (20)
The Loop, Methuen (lots of screens)
Of these, only Assembly Square and Harvard Square remain from the days of Sack Theatres or USACinemas.
Looks like they still show a few old movies here, between the live productions. The 2005 schedule includes the first Harry Potter movie in February, a Monty Python festival in April, an unnmaed “family movie” later in April, and a Three Stooges festival after Christmas.
That sounds like the Larcom Theatre, 13 Wallis Street, Beverly. They do have magic shows there, but I know nothing more. If it ever showed movies, it should get its own entry here.
If this is the current Thomas Moser store, then its address is 19 Arlington Street, Boston 02116. I’d guess that the former auditorium is now used as storage, but I don’t know that for sure.
When I arrived in Boston in 1975, this (then-closed) theatre had signs that said Loew’s Abbey. I don’t know if it started out as part of the Loews chain. If anyone knows when it first opened, when it closed as the Abbey, and when it reopened as the first Nickelodeon, that would be useful information to add here.
I got a message from someone who says he was a former manager at Loews Copley Place. He says:
“I don’t think Loews always thinks in a big picture type manner. The [boston Common] complex is evident of that. They give out more refunds there than most of the northeast combined. When LA Fitness opened in the Tower, the steam in the saunas would set off the smoke detectors for quite sometime until they adjusted their locations. Each and every time that happened, the cinema had to be evacuated. Thats a huge loss! A power transformer blew out in the basement back in 2003. It took 4 days to be replaced…The entire weekend was lost. (Manny Ramirez sued Millenium for the loss of use of his home in the resident section.)
“Loews had a no-fault clause and lost the entire weekend. They had an exclusive on a new movie that weekend, Deliver Us From Eva, and it was exclusive for Loews at [boston Common], that weekend. The movie tanked and Loews was partly to blame. Loews & the distributor wanted Copley to take the prints, (which we did take their prints of Chicago and Narc), but Simons [owner of the Copley Place mall] refused to let us use the print of an urban-based movie with LL Cool J as the star!”
“Loews had a no-fault clause and lost the entire weekend. They had an exclusive on a new movie that weekend, Deliver Us From Eva, and it was exclusive for Loews at that location [boston Common], that weekend. The movie tanked and Loews was partly to blame. Loews & the distributor wanted Copley to take the prints, (which we did take their prints of Chicago and Narc), but Simons [owner of the Copley Place mall] refused to let us use the print of an urban-based movie with LL Cool J as the star!
My next story will be about our pick-pocket that hit the cinema up every Friday & Saturday, and would always be left free, because he was a snitch for the Boston Police Department, and they wouldn’t do anything to him!"
More from my correspondent who is a former manager of the Copley Place:
“Just wanted to tell you that a theater in Florida purchased the projectors, sound equipment, and most of the seats and stuff like that. I spoke to my former co-manager on Wednesday and he told me that the Florida company was gutting the theater this week, and expected to be done by today. Chris has his last days of management cleanup on Thursday, and was saying good bye to the building and Loews, as he also closed the Cheri, before being transferred over to Copley. From what was told to me, Loews did not offer the managers any transfer options over to the [boston Common] complex without taking a lesser position.
“There is a very good chance that Loew’s Fresh Pond will be closed before the end of the year. If it isn’t a megaplex of some sort, the small theaters are being relinquished by the big chains.
“I left [Loews] in 2003. I didn’t know that the parent owners that had just bought them out of bankruptcy sold it again to another financial holding company with European and Mexican interests. I know that when I worked for Loews, Fresh Pond was DEAD! Their numbers were abyssmal every night. I wouldn’t doubt if they pruned it from the system. Look what they did in Danvers, they build the new cineplex, and then sold the old building to a company to open up as a theater immediately! I don’t think Loews always thinks in a big picture type manner.”
“The [boston Common] complex is evident of that. They give out more refunds there than most of the northeast combined. When LA Fitness opened in the Tower, the steam in the saunas would set off the smoke detectors for quite sometime until they adjusted their locations. Each and every time that happened, the cinema had to be evacuated. Thats a huge loss! A power transformer blew out in the basement back in 2003. It took 4 days to be replaced…The entire weekend was lost. (Manny Ramirez sued Millenium for the loss of use of his home in the resident section.)”
When I add a theatre, the form does ask when the theatre first opened, as well as when it closed. But for some reason, this information isn’t being displayed.
To answer a much earlier question: General Cinema filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2000, less than four months after opening its new Boston flagship Fenway 13.
AMC signed a letter of intent to buy General Cinema in December 2001, and completed the purchase in March 2002. At that point, the General Cinema name disappeared from theatres around the country.
For Tom N and anyone else interested, I’ve added the AMC Fenway (formerly General Cinema Fenway) and the Loews Boston Common to this site.
I’m not sure these two are “cinema treasures” of any kind, but then neither was the Copley Place. In any event, they are all we have left in Boston now.
For some history of how Boston came to have only two movie theatres, both opened within the last five years, see the extensive comments on the Copley Place Cinemas page.
The short version: Sack Theatres (later called USACinemas) built a monopoly in Boston and Cambridge, then was sold to Loews, which over the following 17 years proceeded to close almost every theatre that Sack had built or acquired.
Unless you go to rock shows, or occasionally jazz or country music shows, you don’t really think about the Orpheum. It isn’t used anymore for movies, opera, ballet, legit theatre, or anything else.
I was wondering if the name ‘E-Walk’ was inspired by certain George Lucas characters.
I also recall Sack showing Snuff at one of their houses, probably the Saxon. They took a lot of heat for that one, which got them picketed — deservedly, in my opinion.
On the Saxon page I already posted a comment about their showing of Caligula, which resulted in a vice squad raid and a court case.
Slightly correcting the above — after Exeter closed and USACinemas bought the Nickelodeon, they had 28 screens. THAT was probably the high point.
Tom N asked: “If you add up all the screens at the Boston Common and Fenway, do those pretty much equal Sack/USA at their peak in the city of Boston?”
In 1984, after Copley Place opened, Sack had 23 screens in Boston Proper*, Nickelodeon had 5 screens, and Exeter Street had one screen. I believe this was their high point. Although they later added one more screen at the Cheri and two more at the Copley Place, I think this happened only after they started closing their other theatres.
Now, Loews has 19 screens, AMC has 13, and that’s it.
*Boston Proper meaning Beacon Hill, Downtown, Back Bay, and Kenmore/Fenway. It doesn’t include Allston, Brighton, or other outlying neighborhoods.
I can see the newspaper headline already: “From Loews to Lowes”.
Ian, what about the RKO Boston? It was subdivided decades ago and has sat vacant since about 1991. It’s obviously not generating any rent for the building’s landlord. Could it be brought back as a cinema?
And if Loews closes Fresh Pond, would you consider taking it over?
The Landmark Center, which contains this theatre as well as retail and office space, is on the National Register of Historic Places. This redevelopment of an old Sears warehouse won several preservation awards. Some links to pages by Bruner/Cott, the developer:
Landmark Center
Landmark Center: text description
Links to interior, exterior, and construction photos
What does the name ‘E-Walk’ mean?
Tom N: Perhaps, but since the Boston Common and the Fenway mostly show the same movies (and then sometimes on multiple screens), the result is a sharp drop in the number of different movies being shown at one time within the city of Boston.
I walked into the mall again tonight. They’ve taken down the ‘Loews Copley Place’ sign, the marquee, and the lettering that said CLOSING JAN 30TH. They painted the box office windows and the glass doors solid black. They also put a couple of kiosks with black curtains on either side of the entrance, obscuring some (now-empty) movie poster cases on the walls behind them.
Tom N is correct. If you visited the mall today and didn’t know it used to have a cinema, you’d never find it now.
Will this headquarters contain any movie theaters or live stages?
I thought Sack bought this in the late 1970s — did they really run it as a soft-porn operation?
The only Loews theatres still operating in the Boston area:
Boston Common (19 screens)
Harvard Square, Cambridge (5)
Fresh Pond, Cambridge (10)
Assembly Square, Somerville (12, I think)
Liberty Tree Mall, Danvers (20)
The Loop, Methuen (lots of screens)
Of these, only Assembly Square and Harvard Square remain from the days of Sack Theatres or USACinemas.
Looks like they still show a few old movies here, between the live productions. The 2005 schedule includes the first Harry Potter movie in February, a Monty Python festival in April, an unnmaed “family movie” later in April, and a Three Stooges festival after Christmas.
That sounds like the Larcom Theatre, 13 Wallis Street, Beverly. They do have magic shows there, but I know nothing more. If it ever showed movies, it should get its own entry here.
If this is the current Thomas Moser store, then its address is 19 Arlington Street, Boston 02116. I’d guess that the former auditorium is now used as storage, but I don’t know that for sure.
When I arrived in Boston in 1975, this (then-closed) theatre had signs that said Loew’s Abbey. I don’t know if it started out as part of the Loews chain. If anyone knows when it first opened, when it closed as the Abbey, and when it reopened as the first Nickelodeon, that would be useful information to add here.
I got a message from someone who says he was a former manager at Loews Copley Place. He says:
“I don’t think Loews always thinks in a big picture type manner. The [boston Common] complex is evident of that. They give out more refunds there than most of the northeast combined. When LA Fitness opened in the Tower, the steam in the saunas would set off the smoke detectors for quite sometime until they adjusted their locations. Each and every time that happened, the cinema had to be evacuated. Thats a huge loss! A power transformer blew out in the basement back in 2003. It took 4 days to be replaced…The entire weekend was lost. (Manny Ramirez sued Millenium for the loss of use of his home in the resident section.)
“Loews had a no-fault clause and lost the entire weekend. They had an exclusive on a new movie that weekend, Deliver Us From Eva, and it was exclusive for Loews at [boston Common], that weekend. The movie tanked and Loews was partly to blame. Loews & the distributor wanted Copley to take the prints, (which we did take their prints of Chicago and Narc), but Simons [owner of the Copley Place mall] refused to let us use the print of an urban-based movie with LL Cool J as the star!”
And more from him…
“Loews had a no-fault clause and lost the entire weekend. They had an exclusive on a new movie that weekend, Deliver Us From Eva, and it was exclusive for Loews at that location [boston Common], that weekend. The movie tanked and Loews was partly to blame. Loews & the distributor wanted Copley to take the prints, (which we did take their prints of Chicago and Narc), but Simons [owner of the Copley Place mall] refused to let us use the print of an urban-based movie with LL Cool J as the star!
My next story will be about our pick-pocket that hit the cinema up every Friday & Saturday, and would always be left free, because he was a snitch for the Boston Police Department, and they wouldn’t do anything to him!"
More from my correspondent who is a former manager of the Copley Place:
“Just wanted to tell you that a theater in Florida purchased the projectors, sound equipment, and most of the seats and stuff like that. I spoke to my former co-manager on Wednesday and he told me that the Florida company was gutting the theater this week, and expected to be done by today. Chris has his last days of management cleanup on Thursday, and was saying good bye to the building and Loews, as he also closed the Cheri, before being transferred over to Copley. From what was told to me, Loews did not offer the managers any transfer options over to the [boston Common] complex without taking a lesser position.
“There is a very good chance that Loew’s Fresh Pond will be closed before the end of the year. If it isn’t a megaplex of some sort, the small theaters are being relinquished by the big chains.
“I left [Loews] in 2003. I didn’t know that the parent owners that had just bought them out of bankruptcy sold it again to another financial holding company with European and Mexican interests. I know that when I worked for Loews, Fresh Pond was DEAD! Their numbers were abyssmal every night. I wouldn’t doubt if they pruned it from the system. Look what they did in Danvers, they build the new cineplex, and then sold the old building to a company to open up as a theater immediately! I don’t think Loews always thinks in a big picture type manner.”
“The [boston Common] complex is evident of that. They give out more refunds there than most of the northeast combined. When LA Fitness opened in the Tower, the steam in the saunas would set off the smoke detectors for quite sometime until they adjusted their locations. Each and every time that happened, the cinema had to be evacuated. Thats a huge loss! A power transformer blew out in the basement back in 2003. It took 4 days to be replaced…The entire weekend was lost. (Manny Ramirez sued Millenium for the loss of use of his home in the resident section.)”
When I add a theatre, the form does ask when the theatre first opened, as well as when it closed. But for some reason, this information isn’t being displayed.
To answer a much earlier question: General Cinema filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2000, less than four months after opening its new Boston flagship Fenway 13.
AMC signed a letter of intent to buy General Cinema in December 2001, and completed the purchase in March 2002. At that point, the General Cinema name disappeared from theatres around the country.
For Tom N and anyone else interested, I’ve added the AMC Fenway (formerly General Cinema Fenway) and the Loews Boston Common to this site.
I’m not sure these two are “cinema treasures” of any kind, but then neither was the Copley Place. In any event, they are all we have left in Boston now.
For some history of how Boston came to have only two movie theatres, both opened within the last five years, see the extensive comments on the Copley Place Cinemas page.
The short version: Sack Theatres (later called USACinemas) built a monopoly in Boston and Cambridge, then was sold to Loews, which over the following 17 years proceeded to close almost every theatre that Sack had built or acquired.