Pontiac Theatre

11-13 Broadway,
Saranac Lake, NY 12983

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Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 9, 2011 at 11:23 pm

Gregg: The Colonial was a different theater, not yet listed at Cinema Treasures (I’ll submit it tonight.) It was located at 55 Broadway, and opened in 1912. About 1929 it was converted into a grocery store, and the building was demolished in 1974.

gd14lawn
gd14lawn on January 2, 2011 at 5:29 pm

An article in the February 20, 1920 Plattsburgh Sentinel mentions that the Pontiac Company of Saranac Lake is negotiating for the purchase of the Colonial Theatre in Saranac Lake. I don’t know if this is the same theatre or not.

MissAmanda
MissAmanda on June 24, 2010 at 10:26 am

Around 1970 or so the Pontiac set aside every Wednesday night as “buck night” — all seats $1.00. They attracted a large crowd from nearby Paul Smiths College, a culinary school that managed the dining room of the Hotel Saranac, next door to the Pontiac Theater.

Trivia fact: The village of Paul Smiths was the last place in the United States to have old crank-style telephones where you turned the crank to get the operator on the line and gave her the number you wanted to call. That was also as late as 1970, I believe.

lostmemory
lostmemory on November 14, 2008 at 11:25 am

The Pontiac Theater had 797 seats in 1955.

SWFLguy
SWFLguy on September 24, 2007 at 7:54 pm

I think this is the place where I snuck in to see Spartacus. It was the summer 1962 and I was
working at the Syracuse Boy scout Camp at Sabattis. Went there with a couple of guys on my work crew when we had a day off. We walked in—no one was at the ticket booth and watched the movie.

lostmemory
lostmemory on September 6, 2007 at 10:20 am

A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 1812 style 190 was installed in the Pontiac Theater on 12/13/1927.

lostmemory
lostmemory on July 9, 2007 at 6:40 pm

This is a vintage photo of the Pontiac Theater.

richardg
richardg on October 20, 2004 at 9:03 pm

The Pontiac did have a balcony and judging from the photos which I viewed in the Saranac Lake Free Library’s, Adirondack Room, I estimate seating at somewhere betwwen 800 and l000. The renovation which took place during the early years of the Schine ownership, in my opinion, vastly improved the interior appearance of the theatre. I have a nice interior photo of the Pontiac from 1941. If I ever get my website going, I’ll put add a link.