State Theatre
341 Central Street,
Saugus,
MA
01906
341 Central Street,
Saugus,
MA
01906
1 person
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The 600-seat Saugus Theatre was the only movie theatre in Saugus, a suburb to the north of Boston. It was opened by 1931, but was closed in 1932 & 1933. By 1934 it had reopened as the State Theatre. It was still open in 1957.
Contributed by
Ron Salters
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
There was a General Cinema in Saugus, probably on Route 1. I don’t know whether it and the State were ever open at the same time.
The MGM Theatre Photograph and Report form for the State in Saugus MA has an exterior photo dated 1941. The theatre had an attractive brick facade, 2 stories high. There was a triangular marquee, with 3 or 4 French doors below. Attractions are “Virginia” and “Jennie”. Above the doors is a large poster card announcing “Cash awards” on Fridays. The Report states that the State is on Central St. in Saugus, that it has been a MGM customer for 10 years; that it’s over 20 years old, in Fair condition and has 539 seats. There were no other movie theatres in Saugus in 1941. The 1927 Film Daily Yearbook does not list the State or any other cinema in Saugus.
My mother & grandmother went to the State, “back in the day”. The theatre owners had “Dish Nite” where they offered patrons dinner plates, etc. as inducements to leave their homes & TV sets and attend a movie. Parking was limited to that found on-street in a busy commercial district (Saugus Center). This may have played a factor in the State’s demise once “everyone” drove a car.
The Congregation Ahavas Shalom purchased the building some time before my earliest recollections (mid-1960’s), and occupy it today.
The General Cinemas were located at the far north-west corner of the Sears, Roebuck & Co. shopping plaza (built circa 1959) on Route 1 southbound, just before the Essex St. overpass. On my first viisits there in the mid-1960’s, the place looked pretty new. It was closed and demolished sometime in the late 1980’s, perhaps in connection with the construction of the Square One mall on the 1959 site’s footprint.
There was a drive-in theatre on Route 1 southbound, where Lynn Fells Parkway once crossed Route 1 at-grade. The theatre opened circa 1940 (according to Massachusetts Highway Dept. maps I have viewed). It closed in the late 1970’s, and the land is now occupied by a large Circuit City/Eastern Bank strip mall.
This link gives a nice slice of life of what going to The State Theater was like:
http://www.saugus.net/Events/Miscellaneous/CenturyBook/OldStateTheater/
1953 photo added courtesy of Bev Milward.
This is marked demolished, but the building still exists, although the facade is gone leaving it nearly unrecognizable. It is currently a whitewashed front of a metal company.
Congregation Ahavas Shalom did not take over the location, but is located in the adjacent building, where it opened in 1925 (the window on the left of the photo above is theirs).
The General Cinemas behind the New England Shopping Center did indeed close in the mid to late 80s in preparation for the new mall construction (has had most of the small stores), but the construction was long delayed and it sat there for years.