Franklin Park Theatre
616 Blue Hill Avenue,
Dorchester,
MA
02124
616 Blue Hill Avenue,
Dorchester,
MA
02124
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Showing 26 - 33 of 33 comments
Anyone know how many former Dorchester movie theatre buildings are still standing?
The ones I know about:
Franklin Park Theatre – now a church
Strand Theatre – now a live stage
Dorchester Theatre aka Park Cinema – now a Radio Shack and single-room-occupancy apartments
Oriental Theatre – now an electrical supply store and warehouse
Are there others now standing empty, or serving other uses?
The Magnet Theatre was at 301 Washington St. in Dorchester. It had quite an impressive facade, and over 1400 seats.
My mother seems to remember the name of the theater that gave away dishes as “The Magnet”??
The Franklin Park Theatre was at 616 Blue Hill Avenue. It’s a church now, and occasionally can be seen in TV news footage, since there have twice been shootings near it recently. The Liberty Theatre was nearby, but I don’t have the street number. The architects for teh Franklin Park were Funk & Wilcox, and it opened about 1914. I have 1390 seats. The MGM Theatre Photograph & Report form for this theatre has a photo dated April 1941. There is a triangle marquee with 4 lines of black letters on white background. What looks like the M&P herald is at the apex of the triangle. Movies are “Virginia” and Road Show". There are 3 pairs of double doors. The Report states that the house has been presenting MGM product for less than 5 years; That it’s in Fair condition, and is a “Nabe”, and the seats are 784 on the main floor, and 608 in the balcony; total: 1390.
David – I just found this site and after living in Dorchester through the 50’s and 60’s, I find we are now neighbors in Florida. I am in Cape Coral. Anyway, I do remember Lakin’s Candy Store and the Field Drug at the corner of Harvard St. and Talbot Ave. I can ask my parents about your other questions as they may remember.
I remember the Franklin Park Theater as well as the Morton & the Oriental from their heyday in the 50s.
Does anyone remember the name of the cafeteria which was located where Harvard St. & Talbot Ave joined up with Blue Hill Ave? And while I’m at it, does anyone remember the name of the street that was later named Ansel Rd. at the corner of the G&G.
There also was a theater on Washington St. near the four corners – where Harvard St. came into Washinton St. Don’t remember its name, but do remember that they frequently gave away dishes as a way to encourage business.
David Aiken, Fort Myers, FL
From the Boston Globe City Weekly, March 17, 2002:
Q. Can you find someone who will prove me right when I say that in the 1940s there was a theater on Blue Hill Avenue named the Liberty? I am not referring to the Oriental or the Franklin Park theaters. – R.S., Miami Beach.
A. Before, during, and after the 1940s, the Liberty Theatre, complete with a small white screen and a Wurlitzer Pipe Organ, was open for business on Blue Hill Avenue near Franklin Field. After it closed, the building was used as a church for many years. One Liberty Theatre fan recalls that performances in Yiddish would be featured there and, he says, if they apeared to have staying power, they would be moved up the avenue to the larger Franklin Park theater near Columbia Road.
From a Boston Globe obituary for Edward I. Milden, founder of the Grove Hall Cafeteria, published March 31, 1987:
Actors and actresses would come to the Grove Hall Cafeteria after performing at the Franklin Park Theater, which before becoming a movie theater, was a Yiddish Vaudeville Theater. Present-day performers such as comedian Norm Crosby freqeunted the cafeteria when in Boston.
The Dorchester Athenaeum website says:
Franklin Park Theatre, on Blue Hill Avenue at Ellington Street, close to Columbia Road, originally a Yiddish theatre, the actor who starred in Fiddler on the Roof (Zero Mostel?) played in this theatre.
Some photos:
Blue Hill Avenue in 1932, with theatre on right (second photo)
Theatre is now a church (second photo)