Coolidge Corner Theatre
290 Harvard Street,
Brookline,
MA
02446
290 Harvard Street,
Brookline,
MA
02446
24 people
favorited this theater
Converted in 1933 as an Art Deco style movie house from a 1906-built Universalist church in the Boston suburb of Brookline, the Coolidge Corner Theatre has been showing movies for over seventy years.
New management shifted the Coolidge Corner’s schedule from first run films in 1977 as the theater became a showcase for art house and foreign films.
In an effort to increase profits, the balcony was closed off and converted into a second screen. Despite the renovation, the theater could no longer turn an adequate profit and was put up for sale and nearly demolished.
In 1989, the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation bought the theater and now houses a steady stream of art house, second run films and classic movies. A 45-seat video screening room was added in 2000. One more small video screening room has since been added bringing the total screen count to four.
The Coolidge Corner Theatre is the only currently operating Art Deco style theater in the Boston area.
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Recent comments (view all 61 comments)
I went there as a really little kid in the late 60s-early 70s. Who Remembers:The Weechi-Wachi springs ad(“Get your souvenir orange today”), those weird Eastern European and Mexican children’s films, “The Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters”, “Eyes of Hell”(“The Mask”)with scenes in 3-D, that Herb Alpert style music they always played before the movie…………
A membership for me would not be practical due to the fact I would have to travel 2 hours each way to get to the cinema. I was able to go there for the American Hustle preview screening last month. I was sort of disappointed that not only the director appearance was in the screen as opposed to in person, the performance was recorded the preceding evening a far cry from my dream of the event the prior evening which featured an in person appearance by Jennifer Lawrence. The evening was still enjoyable and worth the trip. I was quite impressed in how the curtain opened just at the start.
I was also disappointed that the Sundance screening would be of a documentary as opposed to a Comedy or drama film. Had it not been the Bulger film I would have gotten tickets.
Watching Sicario, which was a terrific, tense, and gripping thriller, yesterday in the main theater downstairs, I was pleasantly reminded of how much I love this landmark independent art house gem. I’ve seen many films, most of them good, the past fifteen or sixteen years I’ve been coming here and will without a doubt keep coming back. For fun, the first movie I saw was either “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” or “Taxi Driver” in 1999.
I recently renewed my membership. Seeing The Hateful Eight in its brief Ultra Panavision 70MM RSE New Year’s Day was a wonderfully old fashioned, I mean that as a compliment, experience, especially with a packed house. At the risk of sounding corny, it felt special. From what I heard, the “experiment” wasn’t a success so it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing more of them in the future. Joyously telling the audience what to expect prior to show time with infectious enthusiasm, the projectionist did a fantastic job framing and masking the picture on the screen. He also stated we were in for a treat and I don’t think anyone was disappointed.
I grew up going to see double features at the Coolidge and then landed my first job there in high school under the ownership of Justin Freed. He had hated to twin the place, but did a great job preserving the original screen and converting the balcony into a nice 290 seat theater. After the Foundation took over, they sold the original street front lobby space to retail and moved the theatre entrance to the side. I have many good stories about the Coolidge.
Along with the Capitol Theatre in Arlington, the Somerville Theatre, the Lexington Venue, and the IMAX screens at the Aquarium and Jordan’s Furniture, this is one of the very few theatres that continue to advertise in the Boston Globe Movie Directory.
So very sorry to hear of David Kleiler’s passing. Boston’s reputation as a haven for movie fans owes much to his efforts with the Coolidge.
Link to obit of film professor who saved this theater! https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2019/04/23/david-kleiler-independent-film-impresario-who-saved-coolidge-corner-theatre-dies/zYx9xUw7GcO7NfQn0TsfVN/story.html
1936 photo added courtesy Anne Continelli, via the Dirty Old Boston facebook page.
Brookline Historical Society link with a photo of the Coolidge Corner Universalist Church circa 1906.
http://www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org/archives/slideShowStreets.asp?move=next&ID=HarvardSt-063&fbclid=IwAR3M2dNcto_fpMTVcrt45HP_QBDJvXXpDTX-cpeBVl7OKYUwiG3R5fl9mXs