West End Pussycat Cinema
75 Causeway Street,
Boston,
MA
02114
75 Causeway Street,
Boston,
MA
02114
2 people
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This became the West End Pussycat Cinema on April 30th, 1976. Grand opening ad posted.
Some video of the exterior of it before it closed down: https://twitter.com/WGBHStockSales/status/1157398334497337345
The Lancaster and Bowdoin Square were our neighborhood theaters in Boston’s West End. I never heard the Lancaster referred to as anything but the Lanci. The Lanci arrived in 1917, a year after my father got off the boat from Albania. He often mentioned that I wouldn’t believe the SRO crowds on Sundays. My sister has spoken of the neighborhood talent shows that were held there in the late 40’s and early 50’s. As a small boy, I recall seeing “Five Fingers” there, as well as “Red Mountain” and “He ran all the way.” It closed in the early 1950’s and re-opened in ‘53 with a cinema scope screen. The re-opening was a big day for the neighborhood. It was a Sunday and the place was jammed. The movie was “How to Marry a Millionaire,” and unaccompanied children had to sit in the balcony (I know because I was asked by a uniformed usher). My family became regulars again. In 1956, urban renewal forced us out of the area. With “The Best Things in Life are Free,” I bid farewell to the Lanci and the woman in the ticket booth.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewestendmuseum/12023255213/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewestendmuseum/12023803046/lightbox/
That didn’t happen until 2004, by which time this theatre was long gone ;–(
The area was stilled referred to as the “West End” after the widespread demolition and the construction of Charles River Park by the people who used to live there (patrons of the Lancaster) and others familiar with the area. Needless to say, plans to bulldoze the area created a firestorm back circa-1959 among the residents, who had no say in the matter. Caused a lot of lingering bitterness. For someone like E.M.Loew who had ties to the older Boston, it would have been natural to call the theater the “West End”. He also at the time of opening was under the impression that the elevated trolley structure in front of the new facade of the theater was to be shortly demolished, but that didn’t happen for a long while.
Perhaps there were trademark issues?
True, but the name ‘West End’ was erased from the city’s geography. The new shining development wanted nothing to do with the name West End, preferring ‘Charles River Park’.
But remember it was replaced in the 60’s by a modern futuristic (at the time) new development, a shining “new” Boston rising from the old. I am sure in anticipation of the new upscale West End, the dumpy neighborhood Lancaster was “modernized” and reprogrammed to fit this new vision of the city.
Why did they choose to rename the theatre ‘West End’ in 1963, years after the West End neighborhood was totally destroyed?
Linkrot repair: A brief item about the opening of E.M. Loew’s West End Cinema appeared in Boxoffice of November 11, 1963 (lower right). The architect for the remodeling of the old Lancaster Theatre into the West End Cinema was William Riseman.
Also posted the Lancaster opening ad from February 18th, 1917.
This opened as West End on November 7th, 1963. Ad posted here.
If anyone has any stories about going to/ working at this threatre in its adult days, I would love to hear them. I am chronicling the histories of adult theatres in the US. Please contact me at Thanks!
According to The Theatres of Boston, by Donald C. King, the Lancaster opened Feb., 1917.
Yes, it was an E.M. Loew’s theater and it was a full-size house. Later it presented art-house product for awhile. And it was not the same as the “North Station 1-2” or “1-2-3” storefront cinemas (on XXX product). And it was later the West End Pussycat cinema. dickneeds111 mentions above the Art 1&2 cinema across from the Majestic/Saxon on Tremont St. That’s one Boston cinema which I don’t believe is listed here in Cinema Treasures. It was mostly a Gay cinema and occupied former bank space in the Hotel Touraine building.
The E.M. Loews West end theatre and the North Station 1-2-3 or however many there were are and never the same. The West End theatre ended its life a a Pussycat Porn House. Who owned the Art 1&2 across from the Saxon on Tremont St. I remember these being Gay houses.
Even into its X-rated days, it was “E.M. Loew’s West End Cinema” — until it was one day renamed “West End Pussycat”.
It was a first-run art house for a considerable period in the 1960s. I remember seeing films here like “Family Diary,” “The Grand Olympics” “Woman in the Dunes.”
The old West End theatre was still operating across from the Old Garden down Causeway St a couple of blocks in the late 50’s to early 60’s. At one time I believe it might have been an E>M> Lowes operation. It had a BIG mARQUEE WHICH WAS LIKE MOST OF THAT CHAINS THEATRES. iT WAS A GOOD SIZE AND NOT A BAND BOX OR STORE FRONT. iT WAS A 2ND RUN neighborhood theatre.
I first noticed the theatre in the late 70’s when it was a Pussycat cinema. It was easy to spot from the tacky marquee down Causeway St. from the old Boston Garden. I enjoyed porn as well as hockey, so eventually I checked them out. Along with the old North Station Cinema, it created a sort of mini Combat Zone in the North End.
I know that the lobby entrance was on Causeway St. as of the 1941 MGM Report, so it probably was always there. There were side exits on Lancaster St., and maybe the office entrance was located there. During the 1963 renovations, the facade was removed and a new one constructed with lots of glass. But it was in the same location as the old facade.
Perhaps the lobby entrance was moved during the 1963 renovations? (see my earlier comment that mentions 1963)
In the street directory section of the 1918 Boston Register and Business Directory, Issue 83, this theater, as the Lancaster, was listed at 31 Lancaster Street, rather than on Causeway Street where the lobby entrance was located.
Why was the architect’s name of this theatre changed to Funk & Wilcox? I don’t see anything in any of the comments saying that the Lancaster was designed by them.