Construction is to begin next fall and be completed in the fall of 2008.
I’m pleased to see that they no longer plan to subdivide the Paramount, but instead will convert it into a 500-seat live stage. The second, 125-seat live stage will go into the adjoining new building which appears to occupy some or all of the former Bijou and B.F. Keith Theatre footprints.
I’m also happy that the complex will include a 200-seat film screening room. Perhaps Emerson could be persuaded to reuse the name “Bijou” for either the smaller stage or the screening room?
Construction is to begin next fall and be completed in the fall of 2008.
I’m pleased to see that they no longer plan to subdivide the Paramount, but instead will convert it into a 500-seat live stage. The second, 125-seat live stage will go into the adjoining new building.
I’m also happy that the complex will include a 200-seat film screening room. Perhaps Emerson could be persuaded to use the name Bijou for either the smaller stage or the screening room?
Next to the entrance to McDonald’s restaurant, at 327 Washington Street, is a plaque commemorating the Province House that formerly stood on the site. The McDonald’s is a storefront in a large building devoted to the jewelry industry; I assume the first Old South theatre was torn down to make way for this building.
This page mentions several Negro minstrel companies who performed at the Province House during the 1850s and 60s, when it was also called Ordway Hall.
I’d much rather have a movie theatre converted to a church than have it chopped up, left to rot, demolished, or turned into some other use that doesn’t involve a stage and an audience.
Also, sometimes houses of worship get converted INTO theatres. Here in Boston, the Charles Playhouse (a live stage) is in a building that started out as a church and later became a synagogue. The Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, one of the area’s most beloved Cinema Treasures, also started out as a church.
The Solomon Pond mall appears to straddle the Marlboro-Berlin line. Regal’s web site gives it an address of 591 Donald Lynch Blvd. in Marlboro, but the Boston Globe movie ad lists it in Berlin. In any event, it is a different theatre than the one listed on this page.
Do you mean reopening old downtown theatres for movies, or building brand new downtown cinemas?
Two cities I’m very familiar with, Boston and Columbus Ohio, both have new downtown multiplex cinemas. But in both cities, these opened years after every old downtown movie theatre had closed (or been converted to live stage use.)
Emerson College has issued a new press release about the Paramount Center project.
“New drawings prepared by Elkus/Manfredi Architects show a revised design for the buildings and the layout and space utilization inside the buildings. It depicts two theaters — a 550-seat main stage theater in the existing Paramount Theater with a proscenium opening, trap room, orchestra pit, dressing rooms and green room — and a 125-seat black box theater in the new building with dressing rooms and a green room. There will also be a 200-seat film screening room in the new building.”
I’m not sure what has taken so long, but Mudflat Studio finally purchased the Broadway Theatre from the City of Somerville last month. They will turn it into a pottery studio, with related classrooms, offices, and a kiln. You can read more about it here. They expect to begin construction early next year and move in by the end of 2006.
The 8-screen Drexel Gateway opened on at 1550 North High Street on Friday, November 4. Someone who has been there should add it (and also Drexel’s downtown Arena Grand Theatre) to this website.
I went to this theatre last Friday night to see Wallace & Gromit, and the place did not seem at all bustling or busy. Will AMC modernize it, replace it, or close it?
I never seem to be logged in here until I explicitly log in, and I don’t do that unless I’m going to post a comment. That’s probably true for many of the other ‘guests’ as well.
When was this theatre renamed from Loew’s to Civic? When I saw that ballet somewhere between 1965 and 1968, the theatre was called the Civic. But Paul recalls it being called Loew’s in 1967.
I have some vague memory that Sack closed the Saxon in the late 1970s (maybe 1977) in order to lease or sell it to some other non-profit. The transaction fell through, and Sack then reopened the theatre to show movies for a few more years, until Emerson bought it. Perhaps someone else here can provide more details.
How many theatres did ‘Theatre Development Enterprises’ operate? I recall they had this one, the Norwood, and the Dedham Community Theatre.
Belmont is still primarily dry, but like neighboring Arlington, they do now allow some beer and wine licenses for restaurants. Arlington has had much more success than Belmont in using this policy to attract restaurants.
I still wonder why it closed on a Tuesday — usually theatres close either on a Thursday night (right before the Friday changeover) or a Sunday night (after the weekend is over).
The closing leaves quite a large area of metro Boston without any movie theatres. There are no longer any in neighboring Swampscott, Marblehead, Lynn, Saugus, or Peabody. Beverly still has the single-screen Cabot Street Cinema. Danvers has two large multiplexes (Loews and Hollywood Hits), but they are not nearly as conveniently located as this one in Salem’s downtown.
The Salem News had an article, but it’s not online (except maybe if you’re a paying customer), and I haven’t found a hardcopy yet.
The Boston Globe published this on October 30:
Salem theater closes suddenly
Salem may be the Halloween Capital of the World, but it’s not a place for Hollywood flicks. At least in the view of Patriot Cinemas.
The Hingham-based movie chain closed Museum Place Cinemas last week, 10 years after taking over the former Salem Flicks from Sony Loews in downtown Salem. The theater, which this summer hosted a first-run showing of the ‘'Bewitched" movie, fell dark last Tuesday.
David Scott, the company treasurer, declined to comment on the closing.
Rinus Oosthoek, executive director of the Salem Chamber of Commerce, said the closing is a surprise. ‘'I don’t think many people expected it,“ he said. ’‘I hope another movie theater will open there. A small cinema is a great thing for a downtown.”
I e-mailed Patriot Cinemas to ask about this closing, and got this reply from David Scott:
“Yes, the theatre is now closed. We are disappointed as well. The future of the theatre is now in the hands of the mall ownership. We were hoping that it could continue to operate as a theatre, but it doesn’t seem to be the plan.”
From Emerson College’s news office:
Planning proceeds for College’s Paramount Center development on Washington Street
Construction is to begin next fall and be completed in the fall of 2008.
I’m pleased to see that they no longer plan to subdivide the Paramount, but instead will convert it into a 500-seat live stage. The second, 125-seat live stage will go into the adjoining new building which appears to occupy some or all of the former Bijou and B.F. Keith Theatre footprints.
I’m also happy that the complex will include a 200-seat film screening room. Perhaps Emerson could be persuaded to reuse the name “Bijou” for either the smaller stage or the screening room?
More from Emerson College’s news office:
Planning proceeds for College’s Paramount Center development on Washington Street
Construction is to begin next fall and be completed in the fall of 2008.
I’m pleased to see that they no longer plan to subdivide the Paramount, but instead will convert it into a 500-seat live stage. The second, 125-seat live stage will go into the adjoining new building.
I’m also happy that the complex will include a 200-seat film screening room. Perhaps Emerson could be persuaded to use the name Bijou for either the smaller stage or the screening room?
Next to the entrance to McDonald’s restaurant, at 327 Washington Street, is a plaque commemorating the Province House that formerly stood on the site. The McDonald’s is a storefront in a large building devoted to the jewelry industry; I assume the first Old South theatre was torn down to make way for this building.
This page mentions several Negro minstrel companies who performed at the Province House during the 1850s and 60s, when it was also called Ordway Hall.
I’d much rather have a movie theatre converted to a church than have it chopped up, left to rot, demolished, or turned into some other use that doesn’t involve a stage and an audience.
Also, sometimes houses of worship get converted INTO theatres. Here in Boston, the Charles Playhouse (a live stage) is in a building that started out as a church and later became a synagogue. The Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, one of the area’s most beloved Cinema Treasures, also started out as a church.
I didn’t know that! Here’s a photo of Our Lady of the Railways chapel, dated 1963.
The Solomon Pond mall appears to straddle the Marlboro-Berlin line. Regal’s web site gives it an address of 591 Donald Lynch Blvd. in Marlboro, but the Boston Globe movie ad lists it in Berlin. In any event, it is a different theatre than the one listed on this page.
The Globe says this theatre is called the “Westborough Stadium 12”, so both the city and the number of screens need to be corrected.
And the Solomon Pond theatre is in Berlin, not Northboro.
I wonder if it also means “a house with a clientele so undemanding that it doesn’t matter how badly the prints are scratched”.
Do you mean reopening old downtown theatres for movies, or building brand new downtown cinemas?
Two cities I’m very familiar with, Boston and Columbus Ohio, both have new downtown multiplex cinemas. But in both cities, these opened years after every old downtown movie theatre had closed (or been converted to live stage use.)
No. The Millennium/Ritz complex has two glass towers. Loews Boston Common is in the other one, which is out of view to the left of the picture.
Is jmorong still around? The link to his photos doesn’t work anymore.
Emerson College has issued a new press release about the Paramount Center project.
“New drawings prepared by Elkus/Manfredi Architects show a revised design for the buildings and the layout and space utilization inside the buildings. It depicts two theaters — a 550-seat main stage theater in the existing Paramount Theater with a proscenium opening, trap room, orchestra pit, dressing rooms and green room — and a 125-seat black box theater in the new building with dressing rooms and a green room. There will also be a 200-seat film screening room in the new building.”
I’m not sure what has taken so long, but Mudflat Studio finally purchased the Broadway Theatre from the City of Somerville last month. They will turn it into a pottery studio, with related classrooms, offices, and a kiln. You can read more about it here. They expect to begin construction early next year and move in by the end of 2006.
When did it close? I recall seeing listings for it in the Columbus Dispatch well into the 1970s, when I moved away from the area.
Unfortunately, the downtown HMV Records has closed. I think it’s been gone for at least a year.
The closing of Harvard Square’s much larger HMV store has reduced foot traffic around the Brattle Theatre, contributing to its financial difficulties.
I posted comments for two theatres today, but neither one shows up in the “Recent Comments” list.
The 8-screen Drexel Gateway opened on at 1550 North High Street on Friday, November 4. Someone who has been there should add it (and also Drexel’s downtown Arena Grand Theatre) to this website.
I went to this theatre last Friday night to see Wallace & Gromit, and the place did not seem at all bustling or busy. Will AMC modernize it, replace it, or close it?
I never seem to be logged in here until I explicitly log in, and I don’t do that unless I’m going to post a comment. That’s probably true for many of the other ‘guests’ as well.
What is the current name of this theatre?
When was this theatre renamed from Loew’s to Civic? When I saw that ballet somewhere between 1965 and 1968, the theatre was called the Civic. But Paul recalls it being called Loew’s in 1967.
I have some vague memory that Sack closed the Saxon in the late 1970s (maybe 1977) in order to lease or sell it to some other non-profit. The transaction fell through, and Sack then reopened the theatre to show movies for a few more years, until Emerson bought it. Perhaps someone else here can provide more details.
How many theatres did ‘Theatre Development Enterprises’ operate? I recall they had this one, the Norwood, and the Dedham Community Theatre.
Belmont is still primarily dry, but like neighboring Arlington, they do now allow some beer and wine licenses for restaurants. Arlington has had much more success than Belmont in using this policy to attract restaurants.
I still wonder why it closed on a Tuesday — usually theatres close either on a Thursday night (right before the Friday changeover) or a Sunday night (after the weekend is over).
The closing leaves quite a large area of metro Boston without any movie theatres. There are no longer any in neighboring Swampscott, Marblehead, Lynn, Saugus, or Peabody. Beverly still has the single-screen Cabot Street Cinema. Danvers has two large multiplexes (Loews and Hollywood Hits), but they are not nearly as conveniently located as this one in Salem’s downtown.
The Salem News had an article, but it’s not online (except maybe if you’re a paying customer), and I haven’t found a hardcopy yet.
The Boston Globe published this on October 30:
Salem theater closes suddenly
Salem may be the Halloween Capital of the World, but it’s not a place for Hollywood flicks. At least in the view of Patriot Cinemas.
The Hingham-based movie chain closed Museum Place Cinemas last week, 10 years after taking over the former Salem Flicks from Sony Loews in downtown Salem. The theater, which this summer hosted a first-run showing of the ‘'Bewitched" movie, fell dark last Tuesday.
David Scott, the company treasurer, declined to comment on the closing.
Rinus Oosthoek, executive director of the Salem Chamber of Commerce, said the closing is a surprise. ‘'I don’t think many people expected it,“ he said. ’‘I hope another movie theater will open there. A small cinema is a great thing for a downtown.”
I e-mailed Patriot Cinemas to ask about this closing, and got this reply from David Scott:
“Yes, the theatre is now closed. We are disappointed as well. The future of the theatre is now in the hands of the mall ownership. We were hoping that it could continue to operate as a theatre, but it doesn’t seem to be the plan.”