Essex Theatre
21 Plains Road,
Essex,
CT
06426
21 Plains Road,
Essex,
CT
06426
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Essex Junction Theatre
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This former theater was open from 1973-1989. It then became the Iron Chef Restaurant and Banquet Facility/Black Orchid Theatre which hosted stage shows (from the East Haddam Stage Company) as well as many rock shows. This was closed in late-2007.
Contributed by
Dave Bonan
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
There is no website for this place, but in the New Haven Advocate’s Annual Manual, they list lots of cinemas and say about this place: It’s actually the banquet room of the restaurant and former cinema, but local rockers have been known to gig here for legendarily unhinged themed parties."
I photographed this building today. It must not have originally been built as a theatre because it doesn’t look like one at all. Also, it looks like the current restaurant the Iron Chef has closed down as the building is in disrepair.
Thanks for the heads up. I was going to check it out in the early Spring.
There was an article in yesterday’s Hartford Courant about how this restaurant is now closed and the possibility of a new one. It mentioned that this building was in fact the Essex Junction Theater, which was a restaurant/movie theater from 1973 to 1989. It also mention how the building had been built in 1960 as a bowling alley. I knew this couldn’t have originally been a theater! My guess is that as a theater it did not have a sloped floor, but flat floors with tables for dining.
I passed it back in January while cycling from Hartford to Old Saybrook. It didn’t look like a theater to me but that part of town is really serene and inviting.
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Was there the other day, yes it’s closed down and the windows have been tinted so you cannot see inside.