Strand Theatre

The old building right next to the Strand, on its left, was recently demolished. So now there is one big lot there waiting for “development”.

Denis- without actually going to look at the building, I’m 99% certain that the Howard Johnson’s was located in the Granite Trust building, but in a wing that stretched back from the tower itself in the front. I went there often at lunch time on Saturdays circa- late 1950s. It was right across Chestnut Street from the Strand.

One Sunday morning sometme in the 1960s, Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston held an ecumenical church service in the Strand. I think it may have been the first time I heard the word “ecumenical”. The Cardinal was a promoter of interfaith activities. The theater was probably chosen becasue it was “neutral ground”, and he may have sponsored similar meetings at other Boston-area movie theaters.

Drezniak was the local new wave/pop band that held two performances there before the owners tried to bring the Plasmatics. The promoter was Jack Hoffman, Abbie Hoffman’s brother. That was the last events held at the Strand. That owner, Tony Delpidio’s (sp?) brother or cousin today owns niteclub The Roxy in the Boston Theatre District. I also know that a Eugene O'Neill play was blacklisted there in the early days.

In the 1942-43 Motion Picture Almanac, the Strand in Quincy is listed as part of the Levenson Circuit of Boston. Headed by Joseph Levenson, the circuit also ran the Alhambra (Art) and Quincy (Capitol) theatres in Quincy, as well as the Coolidge Corner and Brookline theatres in Brookline and the South Station Theatre in Boston. Plus 6 others.

Actually, the site is still a parking lot. It is located across from the Granite Trust building on the other side of Chestnut Street.

Yes, this cinema seemed to always have double features. It would get the first-run movies after they had been playing in downtown Boston. For example, we saw “My Fair Lady” here in what must have been a general release across the nation after it won the Best Picture (of 1964) Academy Award in the spring of 1965. It had a big screen and the sound was good. I remember seeing “Midnight Cowboy” here in the spring of 1970, again after it won the Best Picture of 1969 Oscar. It was paired with “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.” I never went back to the Strand and I guess it closed soon afterward.

I was a regular patron (junior-size) at the Strand from mid-1940s to late-1950s. It stood on the east side of Chestnut St. across from the side of the Granite Trust bldg. It had a brick facade which I have heard described as “Georgian”. There was a 2-sided marquee making a somewhat flat triangle. There were 2 small shops on each side of the entrance. The box-office was on the right. The inner foyer had a refreshment stand. 1600 seats sounds about right. The lounge upstairs under the balcony was called the “mezzanine” – first time I think I had encountered that word. It had a fairly good-sized stage. There was an odd structure at stage-right — many live theatres have a scene-dock on one side of the stage or at rear. The Strand had an oblong brick structure that came all the way out to Maple Street, with a roll-up overhead garage door at its sidewalk end. After lunch on inclement days during school vacation weeks, one had to stand in long lines to get in. The Strand showed sub-run features with a “B” movie as “extra added attraction”. Up in hte mezzanine lounge there was a drink machine- you put your dime in, (4 quarters today), pressed a button, and instead of getting your choice of a can of sodapop, a cardboard cup dropped down, ice chips went into in, and then your choice of pop flowed into it. This theatre enjoyed very good houses on Fri and Sat nights. It was definitely the leading theatre in Quincy. I’m going to guess that it closed circa 1970 or so; there were some live pop music concerts there occasionally afterward.(I think). I recall that it was demolished around 1981. The site eventually became a parking lot.