In the mid-1970s, Sack ran these theaters in central Boston: Beacon Hill, Pi Alley, Savoy (now Opera House), Saxon (now Cutler Majestic), Gary, Cinema 57 (now Stuart Street Playhouse), Music Hall (now Wang Center), and Cheri. They later took over the Charles and Paris.
I’m pretty sure that the Beacon Hill Theater I saw in the 1970s replaced an earlier theater on the same spot.
In the 1970s this was part of a small art-house chain called “Sonny & Eddy’s Theatres” which also ran the Allston Cinema, Central Square Cinemas, Galeria Cinema (which a later owner renamed to “Janus Cinema”), and Academy Twin Cinemas in Newton.
Sadly, the Sack Copley Place multiplex — a block away, and the antithesis of this place — put them out of business.
In the 1970s, this was part of a small art-house chain called “Sonny & Eddy’s Theatres”, which also ran the Allston Cinema, Exeter Street Theatre, Galeria Cinema (which under a later owner became the Janus), and Academy Twin Cinemas in Newton.
Besides the ‘South Station Cinema’ there was another porno house under the same ownership called the ‘North Station Cinemas’. This was not the same venue as the West End/Pussycat and was located on one of the north-south streets (probably Friend or Portland).
This neighborhood is nearly unrecognizable today, even to someone who last saw it a year ago. The Green Line elevated is totally gone, and so is the elevated I-93.
Sadly, the West End/Pussycat was demolished for a development that was supposed to happen a decade ago, and never did. The site is currently a parking lot. As the Big Dig winds down, I expect this and other small parking lots to become hot sites for new development.
demolished:
Gary (Plymouth) – torn down to make way for State Transportation Building
Astor (Tremont) – site now occupied by Loews Boston Common multiplex cinema
converted to live stage:
Fenway – now Berklee Performance Center. (On Mass. Ave., not to be confused with the current AMC Fenway multiplex)
also, some tiny little Back Bay venues like the Pru Cinema, Cinema 733, and Garden Cinema simply disappeared and were replaced by restaurants or retail stores
This is what I recall of the old downtown and Back Bay Boston movie houses:
converted to live stages:
Orpheum – now used mostly for rock concerts
Music Hall – now Wang Center for the Performing Arts
Saxon – now Emerson College’s Cutler Majestic Theatre
Savoy – now the Opera House, reopened this summer and currently featuring “The Lion King"
Cinema 57 – now Stuart Street Playhouse
demolished:
Pilgrim
State (Park)
EM Loew’s West End Cinema
Nickelodeon
converted to other uses:
Paris – now a Walgreen’s drugstore
Cheri – now a nightclub and bowling alley
Beacon Hill – now a Copy Cop
Pi Alley – some other retail use
Stuart – now a McDonald's
Charles – disappeared into Charles River Plaza redevelopment
Park Square – some other office or retail use
Kenmore Square – now Boston University Barnes & Noble bookstore
vacant, awaiting restoration:
Paramount
Modern (Mayflower)
vacant, awaiting possible demolition:
Publix (Gaiety)
vacant, awaiting some new tenant and use:
Exeter Street (which has been Conran’s furniture store, Waterstone’s bookstore, and offices of a dot-bomb called “idealab!”)
Initially this had 9 screens. It was later ‘expanded’ to 11.
The newspapers have been expecting this to close ever since Loews Boston Common opened. If it does go dark, Boston will have only two movie theaters wholly within city limits: Loews Boston Common and AMC Fenway.
After Alan Friedberg’s USACinema chain (formerly Sack Theatres) bought both the Nickelodeon in Boston and the Harvard Square in Cambridge, he had visions of creating a sub-chain of Nickelodeon art houses throughout the region. They actually put a Nickelodeon sign on the Harvard Square’s marquee for a few years, but the plan never got beyond that point.
When the Nickelodeon first opened, it was an art house that often shared bookings with the Orson Welles Cinema across the river in Cambridge.
After Alan Friedberg’s USACinemas (formerly Sack Theatres) bought it, he talked of creating a chain of Nickelodeon Cinemas, and even put a “Nickelodeon” sign on the Harvard Square Theatre in Cambridge. But this plan never went anywhere, and the Nickelodeon gradually lost its distinctive art-house identity, especially after Loews acquired USACinemas. By the time the Nickelodeon closed, the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge had become the Boston area’s major art-house venue.
Blandford Street, not Brandford. The Abbey (first Nickelodeon) has been converted to office or lab space in a BU science building. The second Nickelodeon was torn down within the past year to make way for another BU science building.
When it was still the World, it was part of a small chain that also included the Bexley 1&2 in Bexley, and I think a couple of other theaters in other cities. The booking policy of both the Bexley and World gradually devolved from art-house fare to porn. The Bexley was razed within the last 10 years and replaced by a McDonald’s, which itself then closed.
Probably the building had all of the addresses 1001-1007. The theatre’s address was 1001 and some of the other businesses might have had addresses 1003, 1005, or 1007.
In the mid-1970s, Sack ran these theaters in central Boston: Beacon Hill, Pi Alley, Savoy (now Opera House), Saxon (now Cutler Majestic), Gary, Cinema 57 (now Stuart Street Playhouse), Music Hall (now Wang Center), and Cheri. They later took over the Charles and Paris.
I’m pretty sure that the Beacon Hill Theater I saw in the 1970s replaced an earlier theater on the same spot.
In the 1970s this was part of a small art-house chain called “Sonny & Eddy’s Theatres” which also ran the Allston Cinema, Central Square Cinemas, Galeria Cinema (which a later owner renamed to “Janus Cinema”), and Academy Twin Cinemas in Newton.
Sadly, the Sack Copley Place multiplex — a block away, and the antithesis of this place — put them out of business.
In the 1970s, this was part of a small art-house chain called “Sonny & Eddy’s Theatres”, which also ran the Allston Cinema, Exeter Street Theatre, Galeria Cinema (which under a later owner became the Janus), and Academy Twin Cinemas in Newton.
Besides the ‘South Station Cinema’ there was another porno house under the same ownership called the ‘North Station Cinemas’. This was not the same venue as the West End/Pussycat and was located on one of the north-south streets (probably Friend or Portland).
This neighborhood is nearly unrecognizable today, even to someone who last saw it a year ago. The Green Line elevated is totally gone, and so is the elevated I-93.
Sadly, the West End/Pussycat was demolished for a development that was supposed to happen a decade ago, and never did. The site is currently a parking lot. As the Big Dig winds down, I expect this and other small parking lots to become hot sites for new development.
The theatre/hotel building is at the corner of Main and Flat Streets, so both addresses make sense.
The Drexel is actually located not within the City of Columbus, but rather in the suburb of Bexley (which is entirely surrounded by Columbus).
Oops, I left out at least three
demolished:
Gary (Plymouth) – torn down to make way for State Transportation Building
Astor (Tremont) – site now occupied by Loews Boston Common multiplex cinema
converted to live stage:
Fenway – now Berklee Performance Center. (On Mass. Ave., not to be confused with the current AMC Fenway multiplex)
also, some tiny little Back Bay venues like the Pru Cinema, Cinema 733, and Garden Cinema simply disappeared and were replaced by restaurants or retail stores
This is what I recall of the old downtown and Back Bay Boston movie houses:
converted to live stages:
Orpheum – now used mostly for rock concerts
Music Hall – now Wang Center for the Performing Arts
Saxon – now Emerson College’s Cutler Majestic Theatre
Savoy – now the Opera House, reopened this summer and currently featuring “The Lion King"
Cinema 57 – now Stuart Street Playhouse
demolished:
Pilgrim
State (Park)
EM Loew’s West End Cinema
Nickelodeon
converted to other uses:
Paris – now a Walgreen’s drugstore
Cheri – now a nightclub and bowling alley
Beacon Hill – now a Copy Cop
Pi Alley – some other retail use
Stuart – now a McDonald's
Charles – disappeared into Charles River Plaza redevelopment
Park Square – some other office or retail use
Kenmore Square – now Boston University Barnes & Noble bookstore
vacant, awaiting restoration:
Paramount
Modern (Mayflower)
vacant, awaiting possible demolition:
Publix (Gaiety)
vacant, awaiting some new tenant and use:
Exeter Street (which has been Conran’s furniture store, Waterstone’s bookstore, and offices of a dot-bomb called “idealab!”)
I’m from Columbus but I’ve never heard of “College Point” — where is it?
Initially this had 9 screens. It was later ‘expanded’ to 11.
The newspapers have been expecting this to close ever since Loews Boston Common opened. If it does go dark, Boston will have only two movie theaters wholly within city limits: Loews Boston Common and AMC Fenway.
July 15, 1983, according to the Boston Globe archives.
After Alan Friedberg’s USACinema chain (formerly Sack Theatres) bought both the Nickelodeon in Boston and the Harvard Square in Cambridge, he had visions of creating a sub-chain of Nickelodeon art houses throughout the region. They actually put a Nickelodeon sign on the Harvard Square’s marquee for a few years, but the plan never got beyond that point.
When the Nickelodeon first opened, it was an art house that often shared bookings with the Orson Welles Cinema across the river in Cambridge.
After Alan Friedberg’s USACinemas (formerly Sack Theatres) bought it, he talked of creating a chain of Nickelodeon Cinemas, and even put a “Nickelodeon” sign on the Harvard Square Theatre in Cambridge. But this plan never went anywhere, and the Nickelodeon gradually lost its distinctive art-house identity, especially after Loews acquired USACinemas. By the time the Nickelodeon closed, the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge had become the Boston area’s major art-house venue.
Blandford Street, not Brandford. The Abbey (first Nickelodeon) has been converted to office or lab space in a BU science building. The second Nickelodeon was torn down within the past year to make way for another BU science building.
When it was still the World, it was part of a small chain that also included the Bexley 1&2 in Bexley, and I think a couple of other theaters in other cities. The booking policy of both the Bexley and World gradually devolved from art-house fare to porn. The Bexley was razed within the last 10 years and replaced by a McDonald’s, which itself then closed.
When General Cinemas bought it they changed the name from “University Theatre” to “University Flick”.
It’s sad that there are no longer any movie theaters on High Street across from Ohio State.
I saw my first ballet, Coppelia, here as a young child in the mid-1960s.
By the 1960s and 70s this had become a third-run movie house. It was the last movie screen remaining in downtown Columbus when it closed.
When I lived in Columbus in the late 1960s, this theater’s name had been changed to “Grand Cinerama”. I saw 2001 there.
This was an adult theatre, the “Livingston Art”, in the 1960s and 70s. Later it was converted to medical offices.
I recall this being a venue for stage shows, not movies.
The chain was called “Academy Theatres”. In the 1960s and 70s they ran many second-run theaters including the ones listed above.
Probably the building had all of the addresses 1001-1007. The theatre’s address was 1001 and some of the other businesses might have had addresses 1003, 1005, or 1007.
Even though the theatre has been closed for years, they are still running an answering machine at 617-773-4600 .