Ideal Theatre
530 Dudley Street,
Roxbury,
MA
02119
530 Dudley Street,
Roxbury,
MA
02119
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The Ideal Theatre was a small “nabe” in the Dudley area of Roxbury, to the south of downtown Boston. It was at one time part of the E.M. Loew’s Theatres circuit, and also part of Loew’s Inc., operated by Marcus Loew.
Contributed by
Ron Salters
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
The Ideal Theater in Roxbury was known affectionately as the “Shack”. Nobody called it the Ideal. I spent many a Saturday and Sunday watching a double feature with as many as 20 cartoons and a newsreel with a pause for a collection for MD or polio. When I was about 7 or 8, it cost 7 cents. Then they put in Cinemascope and it cost 12 cents (around 1954). It was 35 cents for adults. I think it closed around 1961 and had many fires after that. They tore it down in the 1970s.
The Ideal had a facade very similar to that of the Niagara Temple cinema on Blue Hill Avenue. (Similar, but not identical). One wonders if they were both designed by the same architect.
The street number on Dudley St. was “530”.
can someone send a pix in
E.M. Loew was Elias M. Loew 1898-1984 based out of Boston, at one time owned 70 hardtops and 17 Drive-Ins,a chain of Motels and hotels,and a racetrack.He was not related to Marqus Loew of Loews Theatres fame.
In a 1918 Boston street directory, the Ideal Th. is listed at 530 Dudley St., near Albion St.
But in a 1921 Boston Business Directory, the Ideal is listed simply as “Loew’s Theatre” at 530 Dudley. It had been taken over by the Marcus Loew company of NY. At the time, he ran the Orpheum and the Globe on Washington Street downtown, and the Columbia in the South End. The Ideal was run by both Loew circuits, – Marcus Loew of New York, and later, E.M. Loew of Boston.
This is right on the edge of Dorchester. It’s an empty lot with one small store sitting on it now.
Yes, it was a distance away from Dudley Square; in the intro above I should have written that it was “to the east” of the Dudley area.
I think that the Street View photo above is set incorrectly. From what MarkB says it should be focused on the empty lot down the street to the right, just beyond the Ideal Sub Shop ???