Capitol Theater

Well, if I may add a bit more, perhaps this will spur some additional memories from others. There was a balcony here, but in the 1960s and 70s, it was closed to the public. That didn’t seem to matter much, because people (like me) would always sneak up there with the hopes that the projectionist wouldn’t kick us out! There were persistent rumors that the balcony had been closed because of structural problems, but that rumor was never substantiated by anyone I met. My paternal grandmother, who lived to the ripe age of 101, used to tell me that the Capitol used to be called the “Life Theater” when she was a kid in the early 1920s. I never bothered to look that up. Some fellow with the last name of “Ricci” owned the Capitol, and also later owned the Meriden Theater on Broad Street in Meriden, CT. In fact, Ricci put his name on the Capitol’s neon marquee: “Ricci’s Capitol.”