Amherst Cinema Arts Center
28 Amity Street,
Amherst,
MA
01002
28 Amity Street,
Amherst,
MA
01002
3 people
favorited this theater
Built in 1926, the Amherst Cinema was created out of an old stable in downtown Amherst, Massachusetts.
For seven decades, the Amherst Cinema delighted audiences with first and then later second-run fare. Competition from the AMC Mountain Farms 4 and the now demolished AMC Hampshire 6 made life difficult over the years. By 2000, Amherst Cinema, along with the nearby Rivoli, closed its doors. Ironically, the theater outlived nearby Hampshire Mall 6, which was demolished months earlier.
The theater, which was owned by Western Massachusetts Theater’s owner Richard Goldstein, was acquired by local residents who had hoped to turn it into a cultural and performing arts center. (The theater was one of many that were once part of the Western Massachusetts Theater circuit that included the Rivoli, Hippodrome (formerly Paramount), Calvin, and more.)
The project was stopped and started numerous times.
When the theater closed in 2001, the town of Amherst, which is home to Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts, lost its only movie house.
In November 2006, the renovated theater was reopened as the three-screen Amherst Cinema Arts Center, featuring both mainstream and independent film.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
This theatre reopened on November 22, 2006. It now has 3 screens. Article here.
In the 1980s, the Amherst Cinema showed 2nd run films and occasionally oldie double features. Once they had a science fiction movie festival there which became an assignment for one of my UMass classes.
The auditorium was long and narrow with plaster columns running down the sides with ornate corinthian tops and light coves with alternating blue and green lights. I always remember the glowing clock to the left of the screen saying “amherst savings bank” long after the bank was bought out. It was renovated in the early 1980s with new curtains hung on the walls between the pillers. The ceiling had been molded ornate tin like many of the older stores downtown, but in early 1970s a modern dropped ceiling was installed.
In the renovation the main building was gutted and converted into stores and the new cinema center is in the backmost part of the old building extending into a new extension. Haven’t been into the new cinemas yet but the lobby looks well done. I imagine they did a good job with the auditoriums as well. they are different sizes, I believe the largest holds around 400. The retail portion is fully occupied now. I miss the old cinema but, being so long and narrow, there was no practical way to convert it to modern uses.
For many years there were two other venues in Amherst showing movies. the Town Hall Auditorium showed movies until 1955 when town offices were built in that space. The ceiling remained intact as attic space and when the 2nd floor rooms were removed in a 1980’s renovation, they were revealed again and restored. Unfortunately they built a new 2nd and third floor in the building and once again, the old ceiling is attic space. The proscenium is sadly gone. This space must have seated close to 1,000.
The other venue was an auditorium built as part of the Jones Library in 1926. That seated about 300 and showed films for many years. In 1968 when the library was renovated, a 2nd floor sliced the auditorium horizontally, with book stacks going into the stagehouse area. The ceilings curved close down over patrons in the new room, curving to the floor on the sides. I believe it was called the Burnett Room.
In the late 80s or rearly 90s the library was renovated again and the floor removed and stage area walled off, and the room restored as the main adult meeting room. The curved deiling still remains but it’s all modern white walls in the room now.
The architects for the renovation, Khun-Riddle Architects, describe the project thusly:
So this does confirm that the three current auditoriums are in an entirely new wing of the building, while the old theatre has been converted to other uses.Here is a 1979 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/crvuvk
The Kuhn-Riddle page has a nice photo of the main auditorium. Sleek modern decor, black walls with horitontal silver lines and stylish square white lights across the walls. Bright blue stadium-style seating. Large screen, with great sound and projection. Seats about 175 (the other cinemas are around 80 and 45 seats.) Even the smallest one is stadium seating.) The other two screens have the same style decor. Film fare is first run, primarily of the art and foreign film genres.
I was a concessionaire at Amherst Cinema in the late 70’s. I made and sold the popcorn. Also the candy and soda. We would run weeklong reviews of old film legends. The Reagan week was playing while the guv was visiting his son at Amherst.
There was indeed a near riot when we went from hard core to soft core porn. Lots of requests for extra butter on the popcorn back then.
If the evening was slow, I would trade a big bag of popcorn for a Whole Wheat Pizza, delivered. We both got a good deal.
I miss the old cinema. The Drake, too. Nothing but a bunch of yuppies now. And The Drake is now The Perry.
I was a concessionaire at Amherst Cinema in the late 70’s. I made and sold the popcorn. Also the candy and soda. We would run weeklong reviews of old film legends. The Reagan week was playing while the guv was visiting his son at Amherst.
There was indeed a near riot when we went from hard core to soft core porn. Lots of requests for extra butter on the popcorn back then.
If the evening was slow, I would trade a big bag of popcorn for a Whole Wheat Pizza, delivered. We both got a good deal.
I miss the old cinema. The Drake, too. Nothing but a bunch of yuppies now. And The Drake is now The Perry.
In response to Joe Vogel’s question, the backmost part of the original theater (the front part of the auditorium, proscenium and stage area) was widened to the left and right bu quite a bit. Into that area they built the new cinemas. The remainder of the Amherst Cinema was gutted and converted into stores & restaurants.
The new Amherst Cinema is great. They show decent movies, the staff is polite, and the space is clean. I like that the theater is in downtown Amherst, not out in the malls. The hand dryers work really well.
Harold Pomeroy