Plaza Theatre
451 Main Street,
Stamford,
CT
6902
451 Main Street,
Stamford,
CT
6902
1 person
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Brandt Theaters
Architects: Thomas White Lamb
Previous Names: Family Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Plaza Theatre was opened on May 29, 1936 with Francis Lederer in “One Rainy Afternoon”. The seating layout inside the Plaza Theatre was on a stadium plan, with all seating on a single level, and a raised stepped section at the rear. This theatre appears in the 1947 movie “Boomerang”, which was filmed in Stamford! The best shots of the Plaza Theatre appear in the beginning of the movie.
The Plaza Theatre spent it’s last few years as an adult movie house.
Contributed by
Roger Smith
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
The Plaza was also known as the Family Theatre at one point.
I remember this being the “Darkest” of all the Stamford Movie Theaters' back in the 60’s. Impossible to adjust your eyes to find a seat when you first walked in. Remember seeing “The Time Machine” here in 1962. Also saw either “A Hard Days Night' or "Help” there.
One debuted at the Plaza and one at the Palace. Near the end the paint was peeling badly from the ceiling. The old girl had to go for the Town Center Mall. That was progress?
This theater was first listed in the Stamford City Directory in 1906 and was called The Stamford Family Theatre.
Closed in 1976. Great. City Directory lists it in 1968 but not 1978, microfilm would have confirmed the gap but I had no time to check.
The 1937 Stamford City Directory mentions it as the Plaza at 451 Main Street.
Just watched “Boomerang” and there were some nice shots of the night-time marquee, showing “Smoky” in Technicolor.
I’d like to hear more about its final days as an adult theater. 1138 sets! That’s some porno palace.
Two small interior photos of the Plaza Theatre illustrate this brief article in Boxoffice of October 17, 1936.
Another view of the Plaza’s auditorium illustrates an ad for Heywood-Wakefield theater seats on this page of the same issue of Boxoffice.
My grandfather, Archibald McNeil Erskine was an ornamental plasterer. His last job was during the depression when he worked on the ornamental plastering on the ceiling (or maybe it was up by the ceiling)in the Plaza theatre before it opened.
The Plaza Theatre opened on May 29th, 1936. Grand opening ad posted.