Pilgrim Theatre
658 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02201
658 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02201
7 people
favorited this theater
Opened as Gordon’s Olympia Theatre on May 6, 1912 with photoplays and vaudeville. It later became a second-run movie theatre and in its last few years of operation showed sexploitation films. It was near the E.M. Loew’s Center Theatre and the Stuart Theatre on the same side of Washington Street.
It was demolished in 1996
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 101 comments)
I remember going to the Pilgrim in the 1970’s to see Chesty Morgan perform live. So crowded that me and a friend (in our late 20’s at the time) had to go up to the balcony! Had to use the mens room way down in the basement on the way out. Biggest mens room I’d ever seen but man, it was GROSS and dirty and dimly lit. It stank so bad of urine that you practically had to hold your nose. The whole theater smelled a bit musty too. Only time in there but remember it well.
I use to go to the Pilgrim from 1982 as a teen till it closed. Have a lot of fun memories in there. Really liked people watching me with couples
That 1980 photo posted on April 7, 2009 brought back some memories!
The Pilgrim is prominently featured in “The Tingler” segment of the great documentary about William Castle called “Spine Tingler”
I Remamber going to see The Tingler at the Pilgrim. It was thwe only theatre in downturn willing to wire sonme seats for shock. What fun. The Pilgrim was also home to a lot of the first B&W 50’s two bit Alan Freed Rock movies. She was a grand OLD PALACE in the 40’s & 50’s. Its a shame that it was torn down instead of saved and refurbished.
Historic Boston Inc. found inside the historic Hayden Building several of the last film reels from when the Pilgrim, but the gem posted in their blog they posted is this scan of the original edifice of the theatre: View link
Sharp look compared with the later theatres that were built farther up the street that were intended to stand out more…
Link to the Historic Boston, Inc. blog post: View link
This theatre is currently mapped on the wrong Washington Street (Brighton, instead of downtown Boston), miles from where it belongs.
The zip code needs to change to 02201.
The January 15, 1913, issue of The American Architect had a brief article titled “Escalators for Theaters” which was illustrated by a photo of the escalator in Gordon’s Olympia Theatre. Google Books scan here.