What the article refers to as the “Arcade building”, at 543-547 Washington Street, used to contain the Bijou Theatre and an entrance to the B.F. Keith’s Theatre. I believe the ‘vacant North Lot parcel’ is the former site of the Keith’s.
Today’s Boston Globe has an article about Emerson College’s plans to redevelop the adjacent Paramount Theatre. Their plans include reusing the 545-547 Washington building which once contained both the B.F. Keith’s entrance and the Bijou Theatre.
Some of this redevelopment will also take place on “a vacant parcel called the North Lot”, which I believe is where the B.F. Keith used to stand.
See today’s comments on the Paramount Theatre page for more information.
Today’s Boston Globe has an article about Emerson College’s plans to redevelop the adjacent Paramount Theatre. Their plans include reusing the 545-547 Washington building which once contained both the Bijou and an entrance to the now-demolished B.F. Keith’s Theatre.
See today’s comments on the Paramount Theatre page for more information.
The long-awaited renovation of Washington Street’s Paramount Theater moves a large step closer to reality today, with Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s planned announcement of a new partnership with Emerson College. The $70 million Paramount Center project would redevelop the Theater District landmark and two neighboring properties to provide two theaters, rehearsal rooms, student residences, and restaurant space.
Menino plans to join leaders of Emerson College, Millennium Partners-Boston, the American Repertory Theatre, and other local arts groups today to announce the project. Loosely projected to open in 2008, it would include the Arcade building at 543-547 Washington St., next to the Paramount, and a vacant parcel called the North Lot, behind the Arcade.
…
Emerson’s trustees voted Monday to take on the project and to earmark $70 million for it, bringing the college’s investment in Theater District properties to more than $350 million, according to board chairman Ted Benard Cutler. Millennium Partners acquired the Paramount as part of its deal with the city to develop nearby Millennium Place, and it has already spent $1.6 million on repairs.
…
Emerson is working with Elkus/Manfredi Architects on preliminary designs. Plans are sketchy but will probably include a theater seating about 450 and a smaller, 75- to 125-seat black-box theater. One of Gund’s designs had featured a 700-seat space, and BRA spokesman Susan Elsbree said yesterday that the final size will depend on the needs of the nonprofit arts groups that the city wants to include.
…
The project still faces substantial challenges. Built in 1932 as an Art Moderne movie house, the Paramount has a shallow stage — just 11 feet deep — and a nearly flat auditorium floor that creates some bad sightlines. Most of the theater’s original details have not survived its long, slow spiral, which bottomed out in the building’s last incarnation as a porn theater before closing in 1976.
http://www.capa.com/ohio/school_tours.htm , but these seem to be oriented mainly towards school groups, and might not be scheduled at all during the summer. But you should still try phoning or e-mailing Jenny Snead, the contact at the bottom of that page.
The Ohio is an absolute gem and you should find any reason at all to visit it. They have a summer film series every year, but I don’t see any announcement yet for 2005. Last year’s series is described at http://www.capa.com/movies/ and http://www.capa.com/movies/schedule.html . Try checking these links again later this year.
When the owner originally tore down this theatre, what was his reason for doing so? Was he planning to replace it with some development that financially fell through?
And now one more question, if anyone knows the answer:
Were movies ever shown in the old Boston Opera House? This was on Huntington Avenue, a block or two past Symphony Hall, and was demolished in the late 1950s.
This discussion thread has a photo of the theatre building as it appeared yesterday, still standing but boarded up. There’s more scaffolding on other walls that you can’t see in this photo.
In the 1960s and 70s, AVCO owned Cincinnati’s WLW radio and a regional network of Ohio and Indiana TV stations, all of whose call letters began with WLW.
After further research, I have to amend the above statement. At one point, the Harvard Square Theatre (then a single screen) was part of Sonny & Eddy’s. It is still open today as a five-screen Loews multiplex.
To my knowledge, no other former Sonny & Eddy’s theatre is still open.
The ‘Dorchester Athenaeum’ web site has a detailed page about the Strand, including a 1950s photo (unfortunately identified only as “Photo taken from the internet, September 2003”)
The ‘Dorchester Athenaeum’ web site has a list of 16 theatres that used to be in Dorchester and Mattapan.
Only one of them, the Strand, still operates, and it no longer shows movies. Cinema Treasures has listings for a few of the others, such as the Oriental and the Park Cinema, but I’ve never heard of most of these.
A 1910 panoramic photo of Tremont Street and the Boston Common):displayType=1:m856sd=pan:m856sf=6a06343), from the Library of Congress online collection. At the far right, partially hidden by a subway kiosk, you can just barely see the Tremont Theatre’s street-level marquee. (Third building from the right edge.) There’s also a TREMONT sign, presumably lit at night, on top of the building.
Further to the left, I think the BF Keith’s Theatre arched entrance building is partially hidden by another subway kiosk.
A 1943 photo of the Bundy Theatre)+@field(COLLID+fsa)):displayType=1:m856sd=fsa:m856sf), from the Library of Congress online collection.
Described as “Theater on the highway from Los Angeles, California to Santa Monica where many large aircraft plants attract the midnight movie crowd.”
The marquee reads:
OPEN ALL NIGHT TO 5 AM
“I LIVE ON DANGER"
"WINTER CARINVAL"
COLOR CARTOON
A few other resources I’ve used, which may be helpful to people doing similar research in other cities:
Find books that contain old or historical photos of your city. Some of these photos may contain pictures of old theatres, which can help document when a theatre opened, or when it closed, or when it showed a particular movie, or when it changed its name. Here in Boston, I’ve found theatre photos in Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City * (which also has photos of Los Angeles and Jersey City theatres), Walter Muir Whitehill’s Boston: A Topographical History, and David Kruh’s Always Something Doing: Boston’s Infamous Scollay Square. I still need to look through Lost Boston and Boston Then and Now* and other books.
The photo books of Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series are also worth looking at. There’s probably at least one for your neighborhood or your city.
Another one that needs more research is the Franklin Park Theatre on Blue Hill Avenue, which I believe still stands today as a church. At one time it was a big venue for live Yiddish theatre.
The second link — Rejuvenated Theater Could Be Just The Thing — doesn’t work.
What the article refers to as the “Arcade building”, at 543-547 Washington Street, used to contain the Bijou Theatre and an entrance to the B.F. Keith’s Theatre. I believe the ‘vacant North Lot parcel’ is the former site of the Keith’s.
Here’s a recent photo and description of the 543-547 Washington Street building.
Today’s Boston Globe has an article about Emerson College’s plans to redevelop the adjacent Paramount Theatre. Their plans include reusing the 545-547 Washington building which once contained both the B.F. Keith’s entrance and the Bijou Theatre.
Some of this redevelopment will also take place on “a vacant parcel called the North Lot”, which I believe is where the B.F. Keith used to stand.
See today’s comments on the Paramount Theatre page for more information.
Today’s Boston Globe has an article about Emerson College’s plans to redevelop the adjacent Paramount Theatre. Their plans include reusing the 545-547 Washington building which once contained both the Bijou and an entrance to the now-demolished B.F. Keith’s Theatre.
See today’s comments on the Paramount Theatre page for more information.
Some good news in today’s Boston Globe!
Emerson College to redevelop Paramount Theatre
The long-awaited renovation of Washington Street’s Paramount Theater moves a large step closer to reality today, with Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s planned announcement of a new partnership with Emerson College. The $70 million Paramount Center project would redevelop the Theater District landmark and two neighboring properties to provide two theaters, rehearsal rooms, student residences, and restaurant space.
Menino plans to join leaders of Emerson College, Millennium Partners-Boston, the American Repertory Theatre, and other local arts groups today to announce the project. Loosely projected to open in 2008, it would include the Arcade building at 543-547 Washington St., next to the Paramount, and a vacant parcel called the North Lot, behind the Arcade.
…
Emerson’s trustees voted Monday to take on the project and to earmark $70 million for it, bringing the college’s investment in Theater District properties to more than $350 million, according to board chairman Ted Benard Cutler. Millennium Partners acquired the Paramount as part of its deal with the city to develop nearby Millennium Place, and it has already spent $1.6 million on repairs.
…
Emerson is working with Elkus/Manfredi Architects on preliminary designs. Plans are sketchy but will probably include a theater seating about 450 and a smaller, 75- to 125-seat black-box theater. One of Gund’s designs had featured a 700-seat space, and BRA spokesman Susan Elsbree said yesterday that the final size will depend on the needs of the nonprofit arts groups that the city wants to include.
…
The project still faces substantial challenges. Built in 1932 as an Art Moderne movie house, the Paramount has a shallow stage — just 11 feet deep — and a nearly flat auditorium floor that creates some bad sightlines. Most of the theater’s original details have not survived its long, slow spiral, which bottomed out in the building’s last incarnation as a porn theater before closing in 1976.
You’re welcome (but I bet that Jenny is a Ms., not a Mr.)
Does anyone know when this theatre dropped “and United Artists” from its name and marquee? It was just “Loew’s Ohio” by the late 1960s.
http://www.capa.com/ohio/school_tours.htm , but these seem to be oriented mainly towards school groups, and might not be scheduled at all during the summer. But you should still try phoning or e-mailing Jenny Snead, the contact at the bottom of that page.
I meant only that you might not be able to visit the theatre unless you found a scheduled event to attend. (I could be wrong about this.)
The Ohio is an absolute gem and you should find any reason at all to visit it. They have a summer film series every year, but I don’t see any announcement yet for 2005. Last year’s series is described at http://www.capa.com/movies/ and
http://www.capa.com/movies/schedule.html . Try checking these links again later this year.
When the owner originally tore down this theatre, what was his reason for doing so? Was he planning to replace it with some development that financially fell through?
And now one more question, if anyone knows the answer:
Were movies ever shown in the old Boston Opera House? This was on Huntington Avenue, a block or two past Symphony Hall, and was demolished in the late 1950s.
This discussion thread has a photo of the theatre building as it appeared yesterday, still standing but boarded up. There’s more scaffolding on other walls that you can’t see in this photo.
In the 1960s and 70s, AVCO owned Cincinnati’s WLW radio and a regional network of Ohio and Indiana TV stations, all of whose call letters began with WLW.
After further research, I have to amend the above statement. At one point, the Harvard Square Theatre (then a single screen) was part of Sonny & Eddy’s. It is still open today as a five-screen Loews multiplex.
To my knowledge, no other former Sonny & Eddy’s theatre is still open.
Thanks. The article, published a year ago, announces an upcoming Fall 2004 opening. Did the theatre in fact open?
Something’s not right here — if it was impacted by 9/11 it would not have closed in 1993 or 1994.
Is it currently operating as a live stage? If so, the status should be “Open”.
The ‘Dorchester Athenaeum’ web site has a detailed page about the Strand, including a 1950s photo (unfortunately identified only as “Photo taken from the internet, September 2003”)
The ‘Dorchester Athenaeum’ web site has a list of 16 theatres that used to be in Dorchester and Mattapan.
Only one of them, the Strand, still operates, and it no longer shows movies. Cinema Treasures has listings for a few of the others, such as the Oriental and the Park Cinema, but I’ve never heard of most of these.
If you go to this Library of Congress page and enter the following into the form:
Enter search terms: beekman theater
Match all of these words
Include word variants
you will be rewarded with 13 photos of the Beekman, both inside and out, taken in April 1952.
A 1910 panoramic photo of Tremont Street and the Boston Common):displayType=1:m856sd=pan:m856sf=6a06343), from the Library of Congress online collection. At the far right, partially hidden by a subway kiosk, you can just barely see the Tremont Theatre’s street-level marquee. (Third building from the right edge.) There’s also a TREMONT sign, presumably lit at night, on top of the building.
Further to the left, I think the BF Keith’s Theatre arched entrance building is partially hidden by another subway kiosk.
A 1943 photo of the Bundy Theatre)+@field(COLLID+fsa)):displayType=1:m856sd=fsa:m856sf), from the Library of Congress online collection.
Described as “Theater on the highway from Los Angeles, California to Santa Monica where many large aircraft plants attract the midnight movie crowd.”
The marquee reads:
OPEN ALL NIGHT TO 5 AM
“I LIVE ON DANGER"
"WINTER CARINVAL"
COLOR CARTOON
A few other resources I’ve used, which may be helpful to people doing similar research in other cities:
Find books that contain old or historical photos of your city. Some of these photos may contain pictures of old theatres, which can help document when a theatre opened, or when it closed, or when it showed a particular movie, or when it changed its name. Here in Boston, I’ve found theatre photos in Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City * (which also has photos of Los Angeles and Jersey City theatres), Walter Muir Whitehill’s Boston: A Topographical History, and David Kruh’s Always Something Doing: Boston’s Infamous Scollay Square. I still need to look through Lost Boston and Boston Then and Now* and other books.
The photo books of Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series are also worth looking at. There’s probably at least one for your neighborhood or your city.
The Library of Congress’s online American Memory collection is another great resource, especially the Detroit Publishing Company collection of 1880-1920 photos and Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey. (But don’t limit yourself to these two.) Search for names of theatres you know or names of streets they are located on.
Another one that needs more research is the Franklin Park Theatre on Blue Hill Avenue, which I believe still stands today as a church. At one time it was a big venue for live Yiddish theatre.