AMC Chestnut Hill 5
27 Boylston Street,
Chestnut Hill,
MA
02167
27 Boylston Street,
Chestnut Hill,
MA
02167
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 64 comments found
I love this theatre, I try to go in once a week. It’s got character, love the popcorn and there isn’t any rif raf like the other larger theatres.
The developer of the Chestnut Hill Shopping Center is talking about closing this theatre and building a new one in the recently-vacated Macy’s space: Chestnut Hill Shopping Center looks to add restaurants, new retail
Hi – sorry to post after all this time, just found this and I must say… wow. I work at Chestnut Hill 5, in fact just wrapping up my projection training next week. These pictures are amazing – the place is barely recognizable today. Far from the days when it was cutting edge, we are one of the smaller cinemas in this market and the budget reflects the neglect the company pays us. As for the concession per capita average, you can’t even buy a small drink for $4, and that’s an interesting definition of “small” (sizes are actually “large”, “larger”, “small bathtub”). We still have most of the same Christie projectors – except for our one digital cinema. We have received 3 more digital screens and are awaiting installation, but best estimates put installation around May. We have such a small daily count the company doesn’t care about the dark lobby, aging equipment or second-hand films – today we got less than 100 people. But despite the extra work it takes to keep the old cinema in guest-worthy condition, I couldn’t think of a place I’d like to work more. My co-workers are great, I absolutely love the popcorn and most of all,the experience is one of a kind.
Thanks.
Hey, it’s been a long time since anyone posted anything here! I think I should turn the replies notification back on.
Yes, the photos look like they came from an Annual Report.
KEN MC, It is a GCC theatre in you pictures,I can see the GCC logo.One i knew Quite well.
O.K.
That candy stand is Chestnut Hill, not sure about the sign. I seem to remember that it had the “CINEMA” in red neon letters above the attraction board. When I saw it the theatre was still relatively new and only had 2 screens. Maybe they changed the signage after it was reconfigured into a 5-plex. “dwodeyla” will know, as he worked there at one time. We will await his opinion.
This may the theater when it was run by GCC:
http://tinyurl.com/2e8g94b
http://tinyurl.com/dhymhc
Renewing link.
Re: angling the seats with the split, the stadium style, with each row of seats backed up to the riser of the step behind, might have been the problem. We can agree on Joe Saunders though.
The AMC Chestnut Hill Cinema doesn’t really stand a chance of becoming an arthouse, although it would be nice.
dwodeyla: When they the auditoriums they never re-arced the seats, do you know why, aside from the fact that Joe Saunders was a tightwad? Did they think nobody would notice? Everyone from Boston to Los Angeles noticed.
The most prominent time was at your cinema for an interview, when I was trying to leave Hoyts and you had an open manager position (probably 96). We also met once or twice at TONE meetings.
I’m still reading about the theatres, but not affiliated with the Chestnut Hill Cinema anymore. I managed it from 1986 until 1999. Refresh my memory, where did we meet?
dwodeyla,
Are you still affiliated with this site? Curious as we have met several times in the mid 90’s. I was with Hoyts Cinemas at the time until shortly before their bankruptcy, when I went to National Amusements.
It’s from 1985, just prior to the new design by Cambridge 7.
There’s no way this photo is from the 1970s- the Diet Pepsi logo on the fountain drink machines is definitely from the 1980s.
I would like to point out what has not yet been mentioned. The long-time Manager, who I have never met, was one of the most effective Managers in the company. The plush nature of Chestnut Hill was not simply rooted in its location, or the presence of the Home Office. Much of it had to do with this Manager’s various creative and effective ways of generating increasing income. One of the most famous of these was that he held numerous national VIP accounts. For those who might not remember, these were the discounted tickets sold in bulk as a benefit to employees of various corporations and universities. It was the Managers themselves that would convince Personnel Directors to buy them.
Amen!
They give them more time now, so that they can get upstairs to the booth to lace up the next show. Back in “the good old days”, we had projectionists.
Ah, what a trip down memory lane. I was assistant manager at Chestnut Hill for around six months in the mid-eightys before moving onto Framingham and eventually becoming manager of Peabody and Burlington Mall. It seems like an entirely different pace these days when I go to the Lowes Theatre on the Boston Common or the AMC Fenway 13. When Mr. Wodeyla and I were managers we were expected to have the 1:00, 3:15, 5:20, 7:30 and 9:30 (maybe 9:45) schedule which left you about 5 minutes to clean the theatre and then get the crowd in to find seats. Now it seems like there is a bit more time to prep the house the way it should be.
It has a pumping system which is removing underground oil which was found to have been leaking from the Harcourt Office heating oil tank. Evidently, there’s a danger that the oil, which leaked into the ground, would find it’s way to the Hammond Pond at the end the parking lot. So corporate was required to pay for the cleanup. This all began around 1998.
In the parking lot on the lobby-side of the theatre, what is that little wooden shack sitting there in front of the lobby?
I’m told that the Century JJ in cinema 1 came from the “old” Framingham cinema and was removed from there when it closed (before the current Framingham 16 was built). It’s one of the first JJs made, which would date it to the early 1960s. It replaced a Norelco AA-II at some point in the 1990s (I don’t know why).