I don’t understand people coming here and lobbying against preservation. If preserving the theatre means putting up a 50-story skyscraper next to it, then put up the skyscraper. Don’t destory a theatre.
I don’t believe that French’s Opera House in Hyde Park has been demolished. It is the home of Riverside Theatre Works. I’m not sure movies were ever shown there.
by Andrew LaVallee
Quincy Patriot Ledger
Published: July 21, 2005
CAMBRIDGE – Employees of the Kendall Square Cinema will vote next week on whether to join a union as the workers seek improved benefits and more structured wage increases.
The vote on July 30 will determine whether the 20 members of Kendall Square’s floor staff become part of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 791, a chapter representing more than 6,000 workers in Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island.
The Kendall Square Cinema opened in Cambridge in September 1995 and quickly became one of the most popular art-house theaters in the country. It is owned by Landmark Theatres, a Los Angeles-based chain focused on art-house and foreign films. The company couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.
If the union vote is successful, it will lead to the first union at any Landmark theater.
The floor staff are responsible for selling tickets and working the concessions, as well as cleaning the nine-screen theater. Starting wages have remained at $7.25 an hour since 2002, and few staffers are employed full-time.
The floor staff do not receive vacation pay or sick days, and are paid only time-and-a-half on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, said Lauren Ryder, a 30-year-old Somerville resident who has worked at the theater for five and a half years. They also did not receive promised wage increases in January, she said.
“It was never a very good-paying job,” she said, but after Landmark Theatres was acquired by 2929 Entertainment in September 2003, reviews and raises nearly stopped.
Nancy Campbell, a 33-year-old Somerville resident who had worked at Kendall Square since its opening, resigned from her assistant manager position on July 17. She said she was asked by Landmark’s management to dissuade employees from voting for union participation.
“Ultimately, they do not want the movie-going public to know this is happening behind closed doors,” she said.
She said it was not uncommon for her to work 39-hour weeks. She said that after 10 years there, she has never received benefits such as health insurance.
I hesitate to quote the Herald again after the fiasco two weeks ago, but here goes:
Condo developers may help to revive Hub theaters
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald, Friday, July 22, 2005
A condo development firm has snapped up two Downtown Crossing buildings in a deal that is expected to provide another boost to City Hall’s efforts to revive a trio of historic lower Washington Street theaters.
Gold Associates has bought two buildings next to the defunct Modern Theatre, according to Harry Collings, executive secretary for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
The firm plans to convert the buildings to condos, possibly with additional floors and height, he said.
In turn, the development firm is in talks with City Hall about taking on the first floor of the adjacent Modern Theatre and rehabilitating it into a performance venue, the details of which have yet to be hammered out, Collings said.
Perhaps, but also one of the least imaginative. I can’t recall ever seeing a Showcase Cinema run an exclusive premiere or promote an undiscovered small film.
The Bostonian Society has this July 1972 photo of the ‘Cinema X Twin’, which was crudely carved out of a storefront on Washington Street in Boston. The photo is described here. To get a better copy of the photo, without a watermark, contact the Bostonian Society.
(The Publix/Gayety theatre next door, which was never a porn theatre, is currently being demolished. The ‘Cinema X Twin’ building is now a Vietnamese gift shop, and will soon be demolished as well.)
This Boston Phoenix article shows a photo of Boston’s former Pru Cinema. The signs advertise a double feature of Sexual Witchcraft and Deep Throat (which played the Pru for years).
Earlier in this discussion, some people asked what would happen to the Boston Film Festival, which in past years has taken place primarily at the Copley Place.
Last week’s Somerville Journal has an article on this year’s festival. It will be split between Loews Boston Common and Loews Harvard Square theatres. It will also be shorter this year — just seven days, September 9-15, instead of ten.
Loews has hosted and supported the festival for many years, as did its predecessors Sack Theatres and USACinemas. I hope AMC will continue to keep it going after it takes over Loews.
The Herald ran a tiny little correction on the Business page yesterday, saying that the Friday article should have been about the façade of the Gaiety, not the Modern. The correction is not online, and the erroneous article is still online.
I phoned both the Sager Foundation and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and both denied that the Modern is being demolished.
The BRA said that the building is legally protected against demolition.
The Sager people think the Herald may have confused the Modern with the Gaiety — which is being demolished, several blocks south of the Modern. If so, I wonder how a major newspaper could make such an egregious mistake.
The Boston Herald published this short article yesterday. I don’t know anything more:
Collapse scare stops traffic
By Herald staff
Friday, July 15, 2005
Traffic was gridlocked on Washington Street between Chinatown and Downtown Crossing yesterday when the dilapidated Modern Theatre building looked as if it might collapse into the street.
The building, which is being demolished, was acquired for $1.5 million in 2003 by the Sager Family Traveling Foundation, and then transferred to the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
The foundation, in turn, was given rights to redevelop the site.
Efforts are focused on preserving the building’s historic facade, which dates to 1913, while tearing away most of the crumbling structure behind it.
Yesterday, however, engineers spent considerable time studying the site while traffic was routed around it.
City Hall hopes to preserve the Modern in much the same way the nearby Paramount Theatre and the Opera House have been revitalized.
Yes, National Amusements (also known as Showcase Cinemas).
This weekend’s AP wire has a long feature about this and other new Texas drive-ins.
What was the last downtown Providence theatre before this one, and when did it close?
The photo must be at least a year old, because the ‘Fleet Pavilion’ advertised on the marquee is now called the Bank of America Pavilion.
(Actually, it was called the FleetBoston Pavilion, before that the BankBoston Pavilion, and before that Harborlights.)
Here’s a page from Historic Boston, Inc. about the Everett Hall Theatre. Since you seem to be familiar with its history, please submit it as a separate entry here at CinemaTreasures.
The Everett Hall’s address is 23 Fairmount Ave in Hyde Park, while the still-in-use French’s Opera House is at 45 Fairmount Ave.
‘Lindo’ also means ‘pretty’ in Spanish. I bet someone had that in the back of his mind when he submitted this name to the contest.
Most English-speakers will be more familiar with the feminine form of the word — Linda.
I don’t understand people coming here and lobbying against preservation. If preserving the theatre means putting up a 50-story skyscraper next to it, then put up the skyscraper. Don’t destory a theatre.
How will a small rural town of barely 40,000 people support such a large multiplex?
I don’t believe that French’s Opera House in Hyde Park has been demolished. It is the home of Riverside Theatre Works. I’m not sure movies were ever shown there.
A strike may be in the Kendall Square Cinema’s future:
It’s showtime: Movie theater workers set to vote on union
by Andrew LaVallee
Quincy Patriot Ledger
Published: July 21, 2005
CAMBRIDGE – Employees of the Kendall Square Cinema will vote next week on whether to join a union as the workers seek improved benefits and more structured wage increases.
The vote on July 30 will determine whether the 20 members of Kendall Square’s floor staff become part of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 791, a chapter representing more than 6,000 workers in Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island.
The Kendall Square Cinema opened in Cambridge in September 1995 and quickly became one of the most popular art-house theaters in the country. It is owned by Landmark Theatres, a Los Angeles-based chain focused on art-house and foreign films. The company couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.
If the union vote is successful, it will lead to the first union at any Landmark theater.
The floor staff are responsible for selling tickets and working the concessions, as well as cleaning the nine-screen theater. Starting wages have remained at $7.25 an hour since 2002, and few staffers are employed full-time.
The floor staff do not receive vacation pay or sick days, and are paid only time-and-a-half on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, said Lauren Ryder, a 30-year-old Somerville resident who has worked at the theater for five and a half years. They also did not receive promised wage increases in January, she said.
“It was never a very good-paying job,” she said, but after Landmark Theatres was acquired by 2929 Entertainment in September 2003, reviews and raises nearly stopped.
Nancy Campbell, a 33-year-old Somerville resident who had worked at Kendall Square since its opening, resigned from her assistant manager position on July 17. She said she was asked by Landmark’s management to dissuade employees from voting for union participation.
“Ultimately, they do not want the movie-going public to know this is happening behind closed doors,” she said.
She said it was not uncommon for her to work 39-hour weeks. She said that after 10 years there, she has never received benefits such as health insurance.
I hesitate to quote the Herald again after the fiasco two weeks ago, but here goes:
Condo developers may help to revive Hub theaters
By Scott Van Voorhis
Boston Herald, Friday, July 22, 2005
A condo development firm has snapped up two Downtown Crossing buildings in a deal that is expected to provide another boost to City Hall’s efforts to revive a trio of historic lower Washington Street theaters.
Gold Associates has bought two buildings next to the defunct Modern Theatre, according to Harry Collings, executive secretary for the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
The firm plans to convert the buildings to condos, possibly with additional floors and height, he said.
In turn, the development firm is in talks with City Hall about taking on the first floor of the adjacent Modern Theatre and rehabilitating it into a performance venue, the details of which have yet to be hammered out, Collings said.
Does AMC own any other live venues besides the Midland? Do they ever show movies (classic or otherwise)in the Midland?
Perhaps, but also one of the least imaginative. I can’t recall ever seeing a Showcase Cinema run an exclusive premiere or promote an undiscovered small film.
The Bostonian Society has this July 1972 photo of the ‘Cinema X Twin’, which was crudely carved out of a storefront on Washington Street in Boston. The photo is described here. To get a better copy of the photo, without a watermark, contact the Bostonian Society.
(The Publix/Gayety theatre next door, which was never a porn theatre, is currently being demolished. The ‘Cinema X Twin’ building is now a Vietnamese gift shop, and will soon be demolished as well.)
This Boston Phoenix article shows a photo of Boston’s former Pru Cinema. The signs advertise a double feature of Sexual Witchcraft and Deep Throat (which played the Pru for years).
There’s another “Bridge Cinema de Lux” in Philadelphia. It was originally intended to be a Sundance Cinema.
I think the entrance change was made to give the theatre at least some lobby and concession space (though both are still tiny).
The Boston Film Festival, which was held for many years at the late unlamented Copley Place Cinemas, will be split this year between the Harvard Square and Loews Boston Common.
It will be shorter than last year’s, just seven days instead of ten, September 9-15. Last week’s Somerville Journal had an article about the festival:
Diamond’s not forever: Robin Dawson takes over the Boston Film Festival
The Boston Film Festival, which was held for many years at the late unlamented Copley Place Cinemas, will be split this year between Loews Boston Common and Loews Harvard Square.
It will be shorter than last year’s, just seven days instead of ten, September 9-15. Last week’s Somerville Journal had an article about the festival:
Diamond’s not forever: Robin Dawson takes over the Boston Film Festival
Earlier in this discussion, some people asked what would happen to the Boston Film Festival, which in past years has taken place primarily at the Copley Place.
Last week’s Somerville Journal has an article on this year’s festival. It will be split between Loews Boston Common and Loews Harvard Square theatres. It will also be shorter this year — just seven days, September 9-15, instead of ten.
This link to the article will probably be good for only a few weeks: Diamond’s not forever: Robin Dawson takes over the Boston Film Festival
Loews has hosted and supported the festival for many years, as did its predecessors Sack Theatres and USACinemas. I hope AMC will continue to keep it going after it takes over Loews.
No. Marcus Loew was the founder of Loew’s (which dropped its apostrophe some time in the late 1960s).
The Herald ran a tiny little correction on the Business page yesterday, saying that the Friday article should have been about the façade of the Gaiety, not the Modern. The correction is not online, and the erroneous article is still online.
King’s book says the St. James Theatre was Marcus Loew’s, not E.M. Loew’s.
I phoned both the Sager Foundation and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and both denied that the Modern is being demolished.
The BRA said that the building is legally protected against demolition.
The Sager people think the Herald may have confused the Modern with the Gaiety — which is being demolished, several blocks south of the Modern. If so, I wonder how a major newspaper could make such an egregious mistake.
The Boston Herald published this short article yesterday. I don’t know anything more:
Collapse scare stops traffic
By Herald staff
Friday, July 15, 2005
Traffic was gridlocked on Washington Street between Chinatown and Downtown Crossing yesterday when the dilapidated Modern Theatre building looked as if it might collapse into the street.
The building, which is being demolished, was acquired for $1.5 million in 2003 by the Sager Family Traveling Foundation, and then transferred to the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
The foundation, in turn, was given rights to redevelop the site.
Efforts are focused on preserving the building’s historic facade, which dates to 1913, while tearing away most of the crumbling structure behind it.
Yesterday, however, engineers spent considerable time studying the site while traffic was routed around it.
City Hall hopes to preserve the Modern in much the same way the nearby Paramount Theatre and the Opera House have been revitalized.