A photo of the interior of the North Shore Towers Cinema auditorium appears on page two of today’s (11.26.04) NY Post, accompanying an article discussing an agreement by the towers' residents to pay the city $140,000 to settle a $1 million bill on a previosuly obscure tax the city failed to collect for 17 years.
I can’t foresee the Embassy 2-3-4 reopening as a movie theatre, not with the E-Walk and Empire on 42nd; it’s just not realistic (unless it’s being reconverted – and will be agressively marketed to the public as such – into a single-screen house) to think it could compete with the two theatres on the Deuce and, besides, AMC and Loews will most likely not allow product to double-run in a venue which is run by a competitor and so close by. My guess is the Embassy space will become a performing arts venue of some sort (cabaret, maybe?), retail space, or perhaps a restaurant.
The ‘Flick’ people also owned a theatre that was part of the Sherwood Plaza strip mall on Route 9 in Natick. That particular venue closed in the summer of ‘89 with 'Field of Dreams’ as one of its final attractions – I recall a special mentioning of the Natick Flick’s closing within its listing in its Boston Globe Movie Clock listing at the time – and has since been converted to retail.
As much as I want to catch the exhibit (and I probably will this weekend or the first weekend in December), I can’t escape the irony that Loews pulled out of so many of the movie palaces they’re paying so much tribute to during their anniversary year, a fair number of them falling into rot or eventually being demolished. (I know, I know – there’s a fair handful of classic Loews venues which have been – or are being – restored, but still, the irony strikes me large… )
The Cheri was converted from a triplex to a quad in 1989 and formally became such in November of that year (notably enough, the same week the Berlin Wall fell). Business (and the quality of its bookings) fell off as soon as the Fenway opened in June of 2000, subsisting mostly from that point on Paramount releases, other random major-studio offerings, a handful of genre flicks, and scattered move-overs from other Boston moviehouses.
The day the Loews Boston Common opened in late June of 2001, the Cheri became a discount house with a $5 admission policy. The ticket price was soon slashed to $3 but, by then, the Cheri’s fate was sealed and what had been the most popular place to catch a flick in the city closed its doors for good the following October, with ‘Hardball’, ‘Hearts in Atlantis’, ‘Memento’, and ‘The Score’ being its final offerings. (Just to list a handful of films I caught there over the years: ‘Back to School’, ‘The Breakfast Club’, ‘The Quick and the Dead’, ‘GoldenEye’, ‘Copycat’, ‘Titanic’, ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’, ‘Shrek’, and far, far, too many more to list.)
Now that Proposition L has been rejected by San Francisco voters, are there any updates to report on the Alexandria or any other city theatres which had been facing (and now again may be facing)demolition or conversion for other uses?
The Loews Natick opened in 1969, was closed and demolished between January and February of this year, and replaced by a La-Z-Boy showroom and a Circuit City.
The Circle Cinemas continues to book most, if not all, major Paramount releases (nice little bit of corporate synergy, that), focusing largely also on Universal and Warner Bros. product (the AMC Chestnut Hill being mostly a venue for Fox and Disney flicks), and is one of the most popular moviehouses in the Boston area.
I imagine the main reason why the El Capitan is such a draw are the stage productions which accompany most, if not all, the Disney flicks shown there. If a renovated Mayfair/DeMille/Embassy 1-2-3 were to become a studio o/o venue, it would most likely be run by a someone other than Disney – a studio whose product is 99% straight action, drama, comedy, etc., and doesn’t lend itself to any sort of theatrical accompaniment. I suspect the property’s ultimate fate will be conversion into retail space but maybe I’ll be proven wrong…
I remember the Kendall Square Cinema co-hosted the Boston Film Festival for two, maybe three, years in the mid-‘90s, Gerald. Perhaps with the closing of the Copley Place that will resume or maybe the Boston Common (which has served as festival co-host since 2001) will become the festival’s lone home. (I long thought the BFF should emulate the NY Film Festival by screening a handful of prestige films at one or two prime venues – i.e., the Wang Center and, now that it’s been restored, the Opera House – but that’s another topic for another day… )
Just to clarify something from my previous post – the Nickelodeon and Cheri both closed in 2001, the former in February and the latter in October of that year.
At least not as functioning movie theatres, Robert. Most of the old movie palaces have either been demolished, are laying in rot (the Gayety on Washington Street, to name one), or, in some fortunate cases, restored and serving – or awaiting restoration to serve – as theatrical or performing arts venues (the Wang Center, the Opera House, and the Paramount, just to name a few).
Growing up in Boston in the ‘80s and '90s, most of the theatres I went to with regularity (the Beacon Hill, the Charles, the Cheri, the Cinema 57, the Nickelodeon, the Paris, and the Pi Alley) closed their doors. Meanwhile, living in Manhattan, most of my favorite smaller places in which to catch a flick (the Art Greenwich, the Murray Hill, the Regency, the Waverly – or, at least its operation as the Waverly) have done the same, essentially to make room for the newer, stadium-seating venues… guess it’s just the evolution, as it is, of film exhibition in general…
With the Copley Place Cinemas' imminent closing, hopefully Loews or another chain (Landmark, perhaps?) will attempt to fill the soon-to-be-existent art-house void within the city of Boston…
Do any original architectural elements remain in any of the seven auditoriums and what is their layout?
‘The Incredibles’ and ‘The Polar Express’ were both recently presented digitally at the Pacific.
Stating the obvious, but make that ‘previously’, not ‘previosuly’…
A photo of the interior of the North Shore Towers Cinema auditorium appears on page two of today’s (11.26.04) NY Post, accompanying an article discussing an agreement by the towers' residents to pay the city $140,000 to settle a $1 million bill on a previosuly obscure tax the city failed to collect for 17 years.
I can’t foresee the Embassy 2-3-4 reopening as a movie theatre, not with the E-Walk and Empire on 42nd; it’s just not realistic (unless it’s being reconverted – and will be agressively marketed to the public as such – into a single-screen house) to think it could compete with the two theatres on the Deuce and, besides, AMC and Loews will most likely not allow product to double-run in a venue which is run by a competitor and so close by. My guess is the Embassy space will become a performing arts venue of some sort (cabaret, maybe?), retail space, or perhaps a restaurant.
Not a surprise to me, either. Funny how LA and Pasadena went from being under-screened to over-screened in so little time…
One word: HOORAY!!!
The Westgate Cinema Centre shut its doors this past October 31st and is scheduled to be torn down and replaced by a sporting goods store.
The ‘Flick’ people also owned a theatre that was part of the Sherwood Plaza strip mall on Route 9 in Natick. That particular venue closed in the summer of ‘89 with 'Field of Dreams’ as one of its final attractions – I recall a special mentioning of the Natick Flick’s closing within its listing in its Boston Globe Movie Clock listing at the time – and has since been converted to retail.
Part of a Pizzeria Uno location currently occupies the former Cinema 733 space.
Let’s give all this talk about ‘subtitled films at the Jackson Triplex’ A REST!!! Chill, people, chill… and let’s move on…
As much as I want to catch the exhibit (and I probably will this weekend or the first weekend in December), I can’t escape the irony that Loews pulled out of so many of the movie palaces they’re paying so much tribute to during their anniversary year, a fair number of them falling into rot or eventually being demolished. (I know, I know – there’s a fair handful of classic Loews venues which have been – or are being – restored, but still, the irony strikes me large… )
If memory serves, the Waltham Cinema I & II closed for business sometime around 1988 or ‘89.
The Cheri was converted from a triplex to a quad in 1989 and formally became such in November of that year (notably enough, the same week the Berlin Wall fell). Business (and the quality of its bookings) fell off as soon as the Fenway opened in June of 2000, subsisting mostly from that point on Paramount releases, other random major-studio offerings, a handful of genre flicks, and scattered move-overs from other Boston moviehouses.
The day the Loews Boston Common opened in late June of 2001, the Cheri became a discount house with a $5 admission policy. The ticket price was soon slashed to $3 but, by then, the Cheri’s fate was sealed and what had been the most popular place to catch a flick in the city closed its doors for good the following October, with ‘Hardball’, ‘Hearts in Atlantis’, ‘Memento’, and ‘The Score’ being its final offerings. (Just to list a handful of films I caught there over the years: ‘Back to School’, ‘The Breakfast Club’, ‘The Quick and the Dead’, ‘GoldenEye’, ‘Copycat’, ‘Titanic’, ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’, ‘Shrek’, and far, far, too many more to list.)
The Newport Center Cinemas still bears the name of and is one of the few remaining Cineplex Odeon venues in the tri-state area.
Now that Proposition L has been rejected by San Francisco voters, are there any updates to report on the Alexandria or any other city theatres which had been facing (and now again may be facing)demolition or conversion for other uses?
The Loews Natick opened in 1969, was closed and demolished between January and February of this year, and replaced by a La-Z-Boy showroom and a Circuit City.
The Circle Cinemas continues to book most, if not all, major Paramount releases (nice little bit of corporate synergy, that), focusing largely also on Universal and Warner Bros. product (the AMC Chestnut Hill being mostly a venue for Fox and Disney flicks), and is one of the most popular moviehouses in the Boston area.
I imagine the main reason why the El Capitan is such a draw are the stage productions which accompany most, if not all, the Disney flicks shown there. If a renovated Mayfair/DeMille/Embassy 1-2-3 were to become a studio o/o venue, it would most likely be run by a someone other than Disney – a studio whose product is 99% straight action, drama, comedy, etc., and doesn’t lend itself to any sort of theatrical accompaniment. I suspect the property’s ultimate fate will be conversion into retail space but maybe I’ll be proven wrong…
I remember the Kendall Square Cinema co-hosted the Boston Film Festival for two, maybe three, years in the mid-‘90s, Gerald. Perhaps with the closing of the Copley Place that will resume or maybe the Boston Common (which has served as festival co-host since 2001) will become the festival’s lone home. (I long thought the BFF should emulate the NY Film Festival by screening a handful of prestige films at one or two prime venues – i.e., the Wang Center and, now that it’s been restored, the Opera House – but that’s another topic for another day… )
Was the Shea’s circuit of theatres situated solely in upstate N.Y. or were there Shea’s located elsewhere as well?
Just to clarify something from my previous post – the Nickelodeon and Cheri both closed in 2001, the former in February and the latter in October of that year.
At least not as functioning movie theatres, Robert. Most of the old movie palaces have either been demolished, are laying in rot (the Gayety on Washington Street, to name one), or, in some fortunate cases, restored and serving – or awaiting restoration to serve – as theatrical or performing arts venues (the Wang Center, the Opera House, and the Paramount, just to name a few).
Growing up in Boston in the ‘80s and '90s, most of the theatres I went to with regularity (the Beacon Hill, the Charles, the Cheri, the Cinema 57, the Nickelodeon, the Paris, and the Pi Alley) closed their doors. Meanwhile, living in Manhattan, most of my favorite smaller places in which to catch a flick (the Art Greenwich, the Murray Hill, the Regency, the Waverly – or, at least its operation as the Waverly) have done the same, essentially to make room for the newer, stadium-seating venues… guess it’s just the evolution, as it is, of film exhibition in general…
With the Copley Place Cinemas' imminent closing, hopefully Loews or another chain (Landmark, perhaps?) will attempt to fill the soon-to-be-existent art-house void within the city of Boston…
I don’t, unfortunately; I Googled them and found only their street address and phone number.