Paramount Center
549-59 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
549-59 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
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Showing 76 - 100 of 266 comments
This architect’s site has three interior pictures that show that care has been taken to preserve many elements of the original design: http://www.acentech.com/studio_a/paramount.html#
Here and here are 2009 photos of the Paramount.
“Someone Who Was There” got inside the Paramount very recently and confirmed that the decor in the new auditorium is very much like the old original.
I heard over a year ago that the design in the new auditorium would be influenced by the original design. I have not seen any photos, but someone I know was inside the Paramount very recently and was very impressed and happy about what he saw. The main auditorium is a good deal smaller than the original. It’s due to open during the upcoming 2009 – 2010 season.
I was recently shown photos of the work being done inside the Paramount and I have to say that I was pleasantly astounded at the level of re-creation in what has been built inside the four walls of the auditorium. Certainly the layout of the house is a bit different but the ceiling and side-walls have been rebuilt and decorated to match the original art deco designs and looked fabulous. It may not be original at all (though it appears they saved and reused the grille-work above the proscenium) but it is a damned good recreation, or at least it appeared so in the photos. I had feared the interior would be completely foreign to what had been there originally but it would appear they have gone out of their way to capture what the Paramount looked like. I look forward to seeing it in person when the venue reopens.
The Celebrity Series of Boston has scheduled several events for the Paramount in March and April 2010:
Max Raabe & Palast Orchester – A Night in Berlin – March 6
Black Grace Dance Company March 12-14
Dee Dee Bridgewater – Lady Day March 27-28
Maya Beiser, cello – World To Come April 23
Danish Dance Theater April 27-28
I might or might not be wrong, but the 1969 night photo of the Paramount Theatre doesn’t look at all like the one in Boston, but the Paramount Theatre in Newton.
Look carefully at that 1969 night photo. That cannot possibly be the Paramount Theatre in Boston. Perhaps it is the one in Newton.
Photo is several years old, as the ‘High Voltage’ store is no longer in the Bijou building, and the Bijou facade itself is now largely hidden by construction work.
danpetitpas in his posting above mentions that the amusement arcade in the Bijou Building next to the Paramount had an adult bookstore in the 1960s-70s. I believe that it was the first such store in downtown Boston, opening around 1962. It was in the right side of the arcade, at the front. It at first featured girlie magazines, pin-up calenders and main-stream books on sex. By the late 1960s, it had added erotic paperback storybooks, mostly reprints of British storybooks from the 1920s and 1930s. The first porno magazines came in around 1970. By that time, other stores had opened further south on Washington St., in the Combat Zone. When you went inside, you could hear the loud sounds of the pinball machines, which were mechanical and not like the later electronic games. The patrons were nearly all young males, with ducktail haircuts, tattoos, and leather jackets.
Thanks for all the memories. There’s some more recent photos posted yesterday at:
View link
I remember my mom taking me there in the ‘60s to see Disney movies. It had a small but beautiful marble lobby, which has been preserved along with the facade, but, obviously, the rest has been gutted. I think I saw Jerry Lewis’ Which Way to the Front there in 1970, and my brother and I were definitely at the Planet of the Apes marathon mentioned previously, probably in 1973.
As said before, the Paramount was on the edge of the Combat Zone. In fact, the arcade next to it sold adult books in the ‘60s-'70s, although it did have an excellent science fiction section and it had all the Doc Savage and Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks when I was growing up. I’m sure many parents had to avert the eyes of their youngsters when going down to that area.
My guess is that since Emerson College restored the Majestic (Saxon), it didn’t need another theater and didn’t want to take on another restoration project. But Emerson does need space, and both Emerson and Suffolk University are gobbling up that block with Suffolk slated to develop the Modern Theater and Emerson making several black box theaters out of the Paramount.
A damn shame we lost that lovely interior — whenever we lost it. Judging from the history, we lost it a long time ago.
I don’t recall any access to the sidewall balconies from the upper lobby. I think they were decoration. Don’t forget, the Paramount was built as a moviehouse. I doubt they would have had seats off to the side as they would have had a lousy view of the screen. Then, again, they had seats all the way down to the apron and people had to practically lie on their backs to look up at the huge screen.
I went into it many times in the 1950s and 60s, but the houselights were never on, however I recall that the color scheme in the auditorium was “cool” like blue and not “warm” like red. I think that the sidewall extensions of the balcony had no seats in them and were for access to fire exits, not sure of that. The seating capacity of the Boston Paramount was just under 1800. I was there yesterday and the construction in back continues- the steel work is now out to Mason St. Oddly, there doesn’t seem to be any construction going on in the rear section of the Paramount which was demolished a few months ago (the proscenium and stage).
I remember winching down that big light fixture to change the bulbs. In those days, they didn’t have long life bulbs.
Finally, a photo of the INTERIOR of the Boston Paramount!!
http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/paramount.jpg
As we can see, it is by far closer to the Denver Paramount than the Aurora Paramount. It is a fairly narrow auditorium, (smaller too- 1,600 seats vs Denver 2,090) and the designs are very similar to the Denver Paramount; with slightly different decorations at the top of the columns (although the light fixtures are virtually the same). Also note the narrow extension of the balcony along the sidewall. I really like the sun-ray motif above the proscenium – was the Denver paramount similar originally? One comment I read about some years ago about the color scheme of the Boston Paramount is the predominant colors on the sidewalls were blue and gold versus the Aurora’s predominant red and gold.
Anyway, enjoy the picture! I wish it were in color! I wish I had been able to see it when it was still open!
I also remember Duggan Hill and his “City Lights” troupe in the early 1980s. He was a “dreamer” ! He wanted to convert the Paramount into a venue for Modern Dance, similar to the Joyce Theatre in New York City. He spent several years trying to push the right buttons to make the dream a reality, but it was hopeless.
I remember seeing a few movies here back in the late 60’s early 70’s.
I also recall Duggan Hill the founder of City Lights, a dance troupe trying to purchase the theater from the city for a $1! I think this was circa 1983 – 5. Obviously, nothing ever came of that. I believe Hill ended up with a home for City Lights on Washington Street near the old Nick the Greeks in the South End.
I’m glad Emerson is doing something with the Paramount – but, I’m not as attached to that theater as I was say, The Center, The Puritain, and the National. Those were the theaters I mainly frequented as a kid To my late teens.
I’ve heard that the plans have undergone changes. The other 2/3 or ¾ of the building site could be used for facilities such as studios, workshops, classrooms, small “black-box” theater, movie screening room, etc. Emerson teaches Theatre, Cinema, Radio-TV; maybe journalism, public relations, advertising, too? Years ago, I know that Speech Therapy was taught there also. And they are building a branch campus on a parcel of land on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.
Still a damn shame they razed the whole interior!!! I spent many happy hours in there back in the 70’s :( Would love to see any pictures of interior if anyone has any?? thnx
Glad to hear this. If the new theater will be only 1/3 the size of the original, how will the other 2/3 of the building be used? My impression is that the new dormitory use will be in the Bijou and the new back building, not in the Paramount itself.
Ron: Good news…after all!
All is not quite lost, after all. I was contacted this morning by someone who told me that when the Paramount Center is finished, there will be a theater inside about one-third the size of the original which will have decorative elements suggestive of the original Paramount interior and which will complement the Deco facade outside.
Ron: Thanks for your on site description and yes, so much for “historic preservation” in an historic city! Go figure! At least there is a nice marquee and facade yet NOTHING behind it…sort of like a “bun with no meat” as Simon on American Idol recently referred to one of the female singers after she sung! It’s the gal from Mesa AZ.
I visited the site today to see for myself. I went around back to Mason St. They demolished the rear of the theater, from a point just forward of the balcony front. You can see the outline of the big balcony along the south interior wall. There is nothing left of any decoration in what’s left of the auditorium – it has been stripped down to the brick walls. There was someone working up within the roof either welding or grinding metal. There were periodic showers of sparks coming down. The orchestra floor is also completely gone.