Fresh Pond Cinema

If anyone knows, I'd like to find out when this opened, when it closed as a General Cinema, and whether it was originally a single-screen or a twin. I know that it was still open in September 1982 when the Boston Globe included it in an article about discount second-run movie houses. Did General Cinema always operate it as a second-run house?

When Entertainment reopened it with ten screens, the Globe praised it as "a model of slick mainstream moviegoing. The complex features chairs with raised backs and cupholders; three concession stands; a three-tiered atrium lobby with a glass elevator and a waterfall; and a glass wall behind which one can observe the workings of a projection system. Also, customers can order tickets by telephone." It quoted Entertainment's Bill Hanney as saying, "You've got to give people a nice place to go if you're going to pull them out of their living rooms."

Another Globe article published around the same time said, "to movie buffs nothing is as important as good-sized screens and the proper projection of unblemished prints in soundproofed rooms. Fresh Pond, a state-of-the-art operation under enthusiastic management, is making moviegoing the pleasure it ought to be. May it long continue to do so."

An earlier article, published the previous year before it opened, said that its largest screens would have 70mm projectors and six-track Dolby sound.

It's my impression that Loews has not kept this place up to the standards envisioned by Entertainment Cinemas. On the Copley Place page here at CinemaTreasures, there's a lot of speculation about whether the Fresh Pond will soon close.

Fresh Pond was a tough theatre to manage, as was the strip mall. This was because of the low-income high rises behind. There was a constant problem with vandalism, and petty crime, and thus the reason the area isn't very pleasant. Originally, the front had the two story picture windows, seen in many General Cinema and Showcase theatres built in the 1960's. These windows had to be blocked up with concrete block. It was a "buck house" playing film subrun along with Stoneham, Saugus, and Waltham.

When it was a General Cinema in the 1970s, I recall newspaper ads referring to it as "Cinema Cambridge" rather than "Fresh Pond". This may have been to avoid confusion with the nearby Fresh Pond Drive-In (which deserves its own listing here).

When the Fresh Pond was a twin, what was the layout - of the auditoriums and the theatre itself? Was the exterior vandalized or maintained in decent condition between the time General Cinemas closed it and Entertainment Cinemas leased the property?

I recall it being entirely boarded up, in white, during the years when it was closed.

I believe that Fresh Pond was originally one auditorium upstairs and another down.

I also seem to recall it had some kind of fire there before it reopened.

One of the odd things about Fresh Pond is that the concession stand is handled by Boston Concessions Group (which owns many theaters in New England and manages concessions at more still, including most of the Entertainment Cinemas). This was a contract held over from the Entertainment days and it (understandably) rankled Loews - they don't make as much off of the stand as they could if they ran it themselves (though they do technically run it with their own staff, etc).

Does Entertainment Cinemas still exist at all? Their Quincy cinema became a Showcase for awhile, and is now a Flagship Cinema showing third-run films for $2.50. The Stoughton cinema pub no longer carries the Entertainment name, and I think their other former South Shore properties are now run by Patriot Cinemas.

What theatres in this area does Boston Concessions Group own?

Entertainment Cinemas, according to their web site (http://www.entertainmentcinemas.com/), currently owns theatres in Edgartown and Leominster, Ma.; Concord and Lebanon, NH; South Kingstown, RI; and Bloomfield and Seymour, Ct.

Boston Concessions Group operates or manages many theaters in the Northeast. Some others I know of are the Opera House in Newport, RI and the Holiday Cinema in Newport. They have theaters throughout Maine and New Hampshire, CT, and control many other concessions in resorts, event centers, etc.

They tend to finance theaters and as a condition of financing, they operate the concessions. When the theaters can't pay their bills, BCG takes over the theaters. This is a common business structure in many other regions.

I don't know the details of their deals with Entertainment Cinemas, but Bill Hanney is still running that company, and BCG has concession rights to a lot of (if not all) their theaters, and possibly more control than that.

They are pretty huge, but most people have never heard of them, not least as theater operators.

Is Boston Concessions Group previously known as Theatre Merchandising?

I looked through some Boston Globe microfilm from September 1966, and saw that this theatre (then a General Cinema) had a single screen back then. I don't know when it was twinned.

When I was growing up in Rindge Towers back in the late 70s, we could afford to see movies on our allowance. At that time it was Fresh Pond Cinemas, twin screens, second run movies and $1.50 at all times. That was when Harvard Square was the last stop on the Red Line and you had to catch the 83 Rindge Ave bus (which did not run on Sundays). That part of North Cambridge was pretty isolated. The bridge did not look nearly as stable as it is now. The popular path then, was to enter through Rindge Towers, go through the parking lot, through a hole in the fence, and cross about two sets of commuter rail and Amtrak train tracks. Yes it was extremely dangerous, since there is a lot of high speed traffic, but it was safer than going across that bridge. Sorry to ramble, but I loved that theater.

You'll be pleased to know that the Alewife bridge was reconstructed a few years ago and now has sidewalks on both sides. Also, the #83 bus now runs every day of the week. Much larger and stronger fences now line the railroad tracks, so I don't think people cut across them anymore.

I"m trying to find out exactly when the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World" played at Fresh Pond Cinema. Sometime aroudn 1969 or 1970. Can anyone help?

does anyone have any idea how much a theatre like this would sell for? i recently heard that it was up for sale and im doing a class project that could benefit from this information. any rough guesses would be helpful.

The shopping center owns the land, and someone buying the Cinema would only own the business and furnishings, with a lease that gives the shopping center a percentage of the profits. (kind of like buying a condo) If it's for sale, you'd want to know what the terms of the lease are, with the shopping center, to determine whether it's going to be a profitable plan. The shopping center may have other plans for the property and be looking to end the lease, and sell the location to another type of business, thus maybe the lease is coming up for renewal and the operator wants out. Since the concessions are owned by someone else, it's one more detriment to the viability of the place as a theatre.
As for cost, the Assessor's Office in the city of Cambridge could help start some research.

This theatre has no showtimes after 7:45 pm for Thursday, January 26. Since that's supposed to be the night for changing all the Loews theatres over to AMC, I wonder what's afoot.

I have it on pretty good authority that this theatre is closing after those Thursday evening shows.

Whether it's because AMC doesn't want the property, or because they couldn't reach a new lease agreement in time, I'm not sure. Also unclear is whether it might eventually reopen under different ownership. Stay tuned...

Ron,
I believe this was a single when first opened.
I think when it was twinned General Cinema used
it to experiment with their early automation systems
as a test house.

I think General Cinemas first built from the ground up
twin was inside Burlington Mall (which was later quaded)

At the time I was a projectionist at their only
Theatre in Western Mass. at Eastfield Mall in Springfield.

You must have known Henry Cummings!

Actually, I think Peabody may have been their first twin.

I first knew Henry Cummings where he was a long
time manager at the Bing Theatre in Springfield.

What I meant on Burlington was it was built with
one projectionist/automation from the initial beginning.

You are right about Peabody being their first twin built all at once with 2 separate booths. I suspect there were 2 projectionists on
at once on manual operation for many years.

The same thing was probably true in Framingham
when they added the second house years later.

That's correct. The two Framingham booths were seperated, and they did manual changeovers. They also used carbon arcs. I don't remember exactly when they automated, probably early seventies. They still used two projectionists, as the Cinema II booth was seperated from Cinema I by going down a hall past the popcorn room, up some steps past the balcony Men's room, then through a door and up some more steps. Not to mention that both projectionists, Walter King and either Herb Kenney or Vin Kane seemed about 70 years old.
I think Henry Cummings briefly ran Worcester Center and Waltham.

From The Alewife, a North Cambridge newspaper blog:

Loews letters lowered; 'King Kong' the last picture show

"The letters spelling out L-O-E-W-S at the movie theater at Fresh Pond Mall were removed today before employees reported for work at 3 p.m."

If you follow the link above, you will in fact see a photo of the façade with those letters removed.

So it's closed today -- but may not stay closed for long.

From today's Boston Herald:

Loews leaves Cambridge site to new operator

The Loews Fresh Pond Cinema closed its doors last night, but it may not stay dark for long, as a South Easton-based theater operator plans to take over the site.

Bill Hanney, principal with Entertainment Cinemas in South Easton, says his company has a deal to operate the cinema and plans to show first-run movies, perhaps starting in a week.

If I were the one taking over this place, I'd want much more than a week to fix it up and rebrand it. It does not have a good reputation right now.

I posted about this theatre's closing to a few local LiveJournal communities. You may find the resulting comments interesting:

LiveJournal: Cambridge, Mass.
LiveJournal: Davis Square
LiveJournal: Boston

If you phone the theatre today at (617) 661-2900 , you will hear a recording announcing that the theatre is "temporarily closed due to a change of ownership." The recording says it will soon reopen as the "all new Entertainment Cinemas Fresh Pond, with new lobbies, all digital sound, a cafe seating area, and the return of our two-story waterfall." It does not give a date for the reopening.

I went to the theater as a kid (most likely early 70's) and I clearly remember it being a wonderfully large single screen cinema with a large curved screen and a balcony.

It was very strange when they changed it to a twin, it was split right down the middle by a new wall, and the screens in both theaters still pointed to the middle, there were no changes in the seating layout either, all the seats still pointed to the center of the old layout, not the centers of the new screens

Today's Cambridge Chronicle says that the theatre will reopen tomorrow as an Entertainment Cinema.

The lineup will remain first-run movies, but the new operator vows patrons a better experience than under Loews.

"It’s just in rough shape," said Bill Hanney, owner of Entertainment Cinemas. "It just needs an updating."

Hanney plans to refurbish the lobbies, install all-digital sound and restore the defunct two-story indoor waterfall.

"It’s been drab. The outside needs a facelift," said Hanney, who did the original overhaul of the 1950 building back in 1989.
...
Having an operator with headquarters in Massachusetts will mean better customer service, Hanney said.

"We’re a local company and we’re more hands-on," he said.

The Fresh Pond cinema is slated to reopen tomorrow. The renovations will be done while keeping most of the screens open, Hanney said. He said the resulting look will be similar to his company’s recently renovated South Dennis theater.

The big sign next to Route 16 still has the old Loews Cineplex "spotlights" logo, but the word LOEWS has been painted over, so it now just says THEATRES on top.

The sign looks pretty ratty, as does the exterior of the building itself, which also now just says THEATRES on it.

Bill Hanney's promised improvements can't come too soon.

A banner has been placed over the sign, where the "Loews" used to be now it somewhat unintelligibly says "Entertainment Cinemas." Other than that everything looks the same. The Loews spotlights are still up there.

North Cambridge's newspaper The Alewife has a long article about this theatre, its history, and Bill Hanney's plans to return it to its former glory:

Fresh Pond Mall Cinema redux; Prior owner, waterfall return

Something I didn't know: "General Cinemas would test new seats, snacks and interior decorations at the location before making decisions for the rest of the chain."

And something that surprises me: "The other problem was the building’s footprint. Hemmed in by railroad tracks and the rest of the Mall, it was impossible to expand without losing parking spaces."

That parking lot is rarely more than about 1/5 full. They could easily have expanded the theatre outward instead of upward, and made the walking environment more pleasant at the same time.

It was already closed down when Cambridge Seven Architects used it as a prototype to display their new design elements to the executives. It was a one-time deal, not an ongoing program. And not used as a prototype while opened. (grey paint replaced white, grey formica and fabric covered wall panels over old white formica and alpro, and black ceilings, with hanging fixtures, to make the theatre darker. Carpets went from red to blue, and concessions got back-lit back bar graphics. After the executives looked at the makeover, the Cambridge Seven went ahead and did over the theatre in Columbia Maryland, Chestnut Hill, Arlington Texas, Parmatown Mall, and probably a few others, to one degree or another. They also begain to use Cambridge Seven Design when building new theatres. I believe this was around 1986.

The Entertainment Cinemas logo has now permanently replaced Lowes on the top of the parking lot sign. However, on the front on the cinema itself all they've done is take off the "LOEWS" ... it still says "THEATRES" in the Loews font.

I like this theatre it's small and never crowded.

I went there too many times in the mid-1990s, and it was easily the worst place to see a movie. The clientele was young and rowdy, the theaters + lobby were dingy, and at least one screen was criminally small.

Without a doubt my favorite memory of this theater - from its single screen days I think - was the ladies room. To this day I've never seen its match. Each stall had its own vanity with a sink. Sweet! A super bathroom and a huge screen - you can't beat that!

I remember that general area before it became a strip mall, when the Fresh Pond Drive-In was there, and afterwards, when the Drive-in Theatre closed and the present Fresh Pond Cinema went up. Movies I've seen there more recently (back in the 1990's and 1980's) were Titantic, Tomorrow Never Dies, Wizard of Oz, and An Officer and a Gentleman.

One thing I've recently noticed, however, when I've driven past Fresh Pond Cinema is the fact that the theatre hasn't seemed as crowded, even on a Saturday evening, as it used to be. Wonder what gives.

does bill hanney still own it? returning the waterfall?