Coolidge Theatre
650 Mount Auburn Street,
East Watertown,
MA
02472
650 Mount Auburn Street,
East Watertown,
MA
02472
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A typical neighborhood theatre. I worked as an usher here in the summer of 1965.
Contributed by
robert arria
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
I’m not sure if it’s the same Coolidge Theater, but this website mentions the entrance to a Coolidge Theater being located at Arlington Street and Templeton Parkway. That info is located at the very end of the article.
Listed in Film Daily Yearbooks as being located at 650 Mount Auburn Street, Watertown, MA. Seating capacity is given as 1,050 in the 1950 edition.
I think I found a photo of this Coolidge Theater. It’s the third photo down on this page. It gives the location as Mount Auburn Street. Click the photo to expand it.
There is currently a 7-11 on this site – the theater is long gone.
Also, should be added that this was an E.M. Loew house.
The 1927 Film Daily Yearbook lists only a Strand Theatre in Watertown, with 600 seats. I don’t have a MGM Report for the Coolidge, although one may have been completed. However, there is a Report (May 1941) for the Watertown Square Theatre which happens to list the Coolidge Theatre as the only competing theatre in the area.
The Paramount in Newton Corner would have been much closer competition for any theatre in Watertown Square.
The Coolidge Theater was located at the corner of Templeton Parkway and Mount Auburn Street (not Arlington St as is reported on some web sites). I grew up at 24 Templeton Pkwy and only had to walk past 3 houses to the movies. I spent most Saturday mornings at the Coolidge Theater watching serial movies of Lone Ranger, Captain Marvel, Buck Rogers and Zorro, wishing they draw my lucky ticket to win a Schwinn bicycle. They never did, but it was fun anyway. My cousin was an usher in the 1950s. Unsure when it was torn down but may have been in the 70s, then there was a fast food restaurant and 7-11 on the site.
I grew up on Templeton Pkwy as well in the mid 50’s – 70’s, and I think the theater was torn down by 1970-71 at the latest. A Jack in the Box replaced the theater and all the small stores along the street. I have a wonderful photo of the marquee taken by my uncle, Harry G. Jones. Judging by the films advertised, it is from 1945. I also have many vivid memories of Saturday afternoons there, and I distinctly recall seeing the Beatle’s A Hard Day’s Night there in 1964 at the cost of $1.
I just tried to upload the photo here and it seems the feature is not available at present. When it is, I will post it.