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Oldest Operating Art House/Rep House in the US?
posted by
Ross Melnick
on
September 8, 2005 at 7:25 am
“A question— would anyone happen to know what the oldest still-in-operation art house/ rep theater in the US is…? I have a feeling it might be my local favorite, Cambridge MA’s Brattle Theater, and wonder if anyone could confirm or correct this notion.
Thanks,
Paul.
Contact:
Paul Monticone
"
Comments (7)
Oldest as in oldest building or oldest as in oldest in continuing operation?
As a movie theatre, the Brattle goes back only to 1953. (The building is much older, but was used for live shows before that date.) So I bet there’s an older one out there somewhere.
The Avon Cinema in Providence opened as an art house in 1938 with Abel Gance’s The Life and Loves of Beethoven and has been operating ever since. Perhaps there are other older ones. I don’t know. But this one certainly deserves consideration. It is a single-screener and and currently a first-run art house.
The oldest still-in-operation art house in New York City, I would guess, is the Paris Theatre, which opened in 1948 with Symphonie Pastorale.
The Clay Theatre in San Francisco opened in 1913, became the “Clay International” in 1935 and is still in operation as a single screen theatre specializing in foreign films. It’s featured in my book,
Theatres of San Francisco, presently available from Arcadia.
The Elks Theatre, located in Middletown, Pennsylvania was opened in 1911.
Max, but when did it become an art or repertory house? This thread isn’t about the oldest neighborhood theatres, but specifically about those theatres that have been art/repertory movie theatres for the longest time.