Strand Theatre
12 Chestnut Street,
Quincy,
MA
02169
12 Chestnut Street,
Quincy,
MA
02169
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 22 comments
They wound up having that Plasmatics concert in the Wolly instead, of all places.
Anyway, the Strand was the first place I ever saw a movie; I was all of three years old.
The Quincy Patriot Ledger has an occasional feature titled “Whatever happened to…”. In the Nov. 29 print edition the subject of this feature was the Strand Theatre. It says it opened in 1926 with nearly 1800 seats and was on Chestnut Street. In the late-1970s it was sold to one Tony Delpidio whose proposals for the building were always shot down. There is a photo of half of the marquee which reads: “Fri Sept 19 715 & 915, Live on Stage Heavy Metal Plasmatics”. The article states that this was in 1981, but Fri Sept 19 was in 1980. Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics did not have a very good rep. So the city yanked the theater license and the show was cancelled. Delpidio threw in the towel and sold the theater to the bank across the street. The article says that the final show was the Julie Andrews movie “Victor, Victoria” on June 26, 1982, and that the Strand was demolished “later that year.”
! I remember going there to see the William Friedkin/Al Pacino movie CRUSIN'. There was actually a guard at the front door standing next to an Easel with a Sign on it talking about how nasty the film was and that there would be no refunds if you left because it offended you. The guard FORCED you to read the card or you wouldn’t be let into the theater!
Went to the Strand a few times. It was the first theatre to add cinemascope in 1953. Opened with the “Robe”. The next theatre on the South Shore to put in Cinemascope was the Scituate Playhouse a couple of months after the Strand. Also opened with the Robe. One of the pictures I did see here was The Sound Of Music. It played here right after the Boston first run. Probably in 1967. Also saw Bedknobs and Broomsticks here in 1971.
In a long list of theaters and meeting halls in Massachusetts towns which received their operating license through their local police dept. for the year 1920, there are 3 theaters listed for Quincy: the Quincy Music Hall, the Kincaide (Capitol) and the Alhambra (Art), the latter managed by Fred Murphy. Among the halls is a “Strand Hall”, also managed by Fred Murphy. No addresses are given, but the Strand Hall could not have been located too far away from the Alhambra/Art. Murphy managed the new Strand Theatre on Chestnut St. when it opened in 1926. Was the theater’s name influenced by his earlier associatin with Stand Hall, or was there no connection?
The September 24, 1926, issue of Motion Picture News had this item:
The September 11 issue of the same publication ran this update:The September 25 issue carried a longer article about the openings of the Quincy-Strand and the Mark-Capitol Theatre at Everett, Massachusetts. Here is the portion dealing with the Quincy-Strand:Although the article doesn’t give the opening dates for either theater, this comment by barrygoodkin on our page for the Capitol Theatre in Everett cites a reliable source for the opening of that house on September 6, 1926, so they both opened on the same day.In the Street View photo, the Stand was located in the parking lot on the right side of the street, behind the hedges and fence.
The old building right next to the Strand, on its left, was recently demolished. So now there is one big lot there waiting for “development”.
Parts from the Strand’s Wurlitzer organ have been incorporated into the “Mighty Wurlitzer” now being installed in the Hanover Theatre in Worcester.
Denis- without actually going to look at the building, I’m 99% certain that the Howard Johnson’s was located in the Granite Trust building, but in a wing that stretched back from the tower itself in the front. I went there often at lunch time on Saturdays circa- late 1950s. It was right across Chestnut Street from the Strand.
I used to work in the Granite Trust building, as a short-order cook at the Howard Johnsons restaurant located on the ground floor (his first “real” restaurant, it even had a liquor license). At least I think it was in the bank building, or maybe next door – it was a long time ago. Anyway, we would have a tidal flow of customers based on the schedule of movies at the Strand. Often after work I would go over to the Strand to watch a film, never thinking that a short-order cook brings with him all the semi-delightful fragrances of the greasy kitchen. I hope I didn’t offend any of you…
One Sunday morning sometme in the 1960s, Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston held an ecumenical church service in the Strand. I think it may have been the first time I heard the word “ecumenical”. The Cardinal was a promoter of interfaith activities. The theater was probably chosen becasue it was “neutral ground”, and he may have sponsored similar meetings at other Boston-area movie theaters.
To sedgwick- the “blacklisted” or banned Eugene O'Neill play was “Strange Interlude” and, after being “Banned in Boston” (at the Hollis Street Theatre near the Shubert and Wang) it played in Quincy at the Quincy Theatre (later the Capitol), a short walk from the Strand.
Drezniak was the local new wave/pop band that held two performances there before the owners tried to bring the Plasmatics. The promoter was Jack Hoffman, Abbie Hoffman’s brother. That was the last events held at the Strand. That owner, Tony Delpidio’s (sp?) brother or cousin today owns niteclub The Roxy in the Boston Theatre District. I also know that a Eugene O'Neill play was blacklisted there in the early days.
In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Strand in Quincy is listed as part of the Levenson Circuit of Boston. Headed by Joseph Levenson, the circuit also ran the Alhambra (Art) and Quincy (Capitol) theatres in Quincy, as well as the Coolidge Corner and Brookline theatres in Brookline and the South Station Theatre in Boston. Plus 6 others.
Yes, it’s the lot on the east side of Chestnut Street just a few steps away from where Chestnut Street ends in Quincy Square, and directly across from the east side of the Art Deco landmark office tower. Richard T. LeBreque, writing in the Quincy Patriot Ledger of April 20, 1962, states that the Strand was built in 1925 by a former mayor of Quincy named William A. Bradford. The Strand presented the first “Talkie” movie in Quincy, Lionel Barrymore in “The Lion and the Mouse” (Vitaphone). Unfortunately, he doesn’t give the date.
Actually, the site is still a parking lot. It is located across from the Granite Trust building on the other side of Chestnut Street.
The property is now a brick building across from a small shopping center.
Yes, this cinema seemed to always have double features. It would get the first-run movies after they had been playing in downtown Boston. For example, we saw “My Fair Lady” here in what must have been a general release across the nation after it won the Best Picture (of 1964) Academy Award in the spring of 1965. It had a big screen and the sound was good. I remember seeing “Midnight Cowboy” here in the spring of 1970, again after it won the Best Picture of 1969 Oscar. It was paired with “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.” I never went back to the Strand and I guess it closed soon afterward.
I just stumbled across a Boston Globe article from October, 1981 about a rock show by the band the Plasmatics scheduled for the Strand. The article states that the Quincy City Council voted unanimously 4-0 to disallow the concert, and to pull the Strand’s entertainment license as well. This must have been the final blow for this theater, and it probably came down in 1982-1983. Ron must be correct that there were some live performances it its last days….
I was a regular patron (junior-size) at the Strand from mid-1940s to late-1950s. It stood on the east side of Chestnut St. across from the side of the Granite Trust bldg. It had a brick facade which I have heard described as “Georgian”. There was a 2-sided marquee making a somewhat flat triangle. There were 2 small shops on each side of the entrance. The box-office was on the right. The inner foyer had a refreshment stand. 1600 seats sounds about right. The lounge upstairs under the balcony was called the “mezzanine” – first time I think I had encountered that word. It had a fairly good-sized stage. There was an odd structure at stage-right — many live theatres have a scene-dock on one side of the stage or at rear. The Strand had an oblong brick structure that came all the way out to Maple Street, with a roll-up overhead garage door at its sidewalk end. After lunch on inclement days during school vacation weeks, one had to stand in long lines to get in. The Strand showed sub-run features with a “B” movie as “extra added attraction”. Up in hte mezzanine lounge there was a drink machine- you put your dime in, (4 quarters today), pressed a button, and instead of getting your choice of a can of sodapop, a cardboard cup dropped down, ice chips went into in, and then your choice of pop flowed into it. This theatre enjoyed very good houses on Fri and Sat nights. It was definitely the leading theatre in Quincy. I’m going to guess that it closed circa 1970 or so; there were some live pop music concerts there occasionally afterward.(I think). I recall that it was demolished around 1981. The site eventually became a parking lot.
I think this was probably the most popular theater in Quincy for a time. It was located across from the landmark Granite Trust building at the entrance of downtown Quincy, and most likely was built around the same time (late 1920’s). It was demolished for a parking lot.