Castle Cinema
1039 Chalkstone Avenue,
Providence,
RI
02908
1039 Chalkstone Avenue,
Providence,
RI
02908
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Castle Cinema goes on the block again
Providence Journal, Wednesday, April 19, 2006
“ The Chalkstone Avenue neighborhood cinema is scheduled to be sold at a public auction at 10 a.m. on Friday … The scheduled foreclosure sale comes less than four months after Anthony Gemma and his partners in Chalkstone Realty LLC sold the property to New Concept Entertainment Inc. on Jan. 6 in hopes that the new owners would reopen the three-screen theater. ”
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I used to work at the Castle while In was in college from 2003 to 2004. I dont know about the above post- the Gemmas have been nothing but nice to me. I know everyone who worked there was sad to see it close. The job was one of the best Ive ever had. I miss it more than anything!
Shout out to the Castle Crew – Buddy, Lauren, Kelly, Eric, Steve, Rachel, Nate, the kitchen boys, and of course my girl Joni! Fat blunts up in the projection booth tonight! Party at 145 Pembroke afterwards! Anyone who used to work there- this is Chris, and shoot me an email at
Whee!
Well, let me make a few comments about the Castle Cinema. The Castle was bought in 2000 by the Gemma family, owners of Gem Plumbing. The youngest brother was put through school and became a lawyer, specializing in real estate law. he and another graduate started Gemma and Levine. Recently, they realized that personal injury work makes A LOT of money. The plumbing side fronted the personal injury advertising. Seen any “Justice for All” ads? That’s them.
Anyway, back to the Castle. The plumbing company was making a BUNCH of money and basically needed a hole to hide it. They bought the Castle under the guise of revitalization. By the way, the town counselman for the area worked for the plumbing company at the time! Whee!!
These guys know plumbing. They know to chase an ambulance. Anthony Gemma’s (The owner) personal motto: “Mirror and Match” to be a success. Copy a successful business. He tried to copy other cinema pubs while knowing nothing about the industry.
Seeing this project fail feels soooooo good. The Castle was a beautiful theater and they bastardized it. They tried to make it too much too fast. Could it be a good cinema pub? Yes. But you need to put a heart and soul into it, not just money.
The Castle was operated by Lockwood & Gordon , Boston during the fifties.
The Castle and the Art Cinema on Broad Street shared a programming of the film of the La Scala production of Puccini’s La Bohème on November 3 & 4, 1965. An unusual bit of day-dating shared by the two theatres.
Here is a 1995 photo of the Castle Theatre. (Courtesy of Fred Deusch.)
You mean as a single auditorium? Easier said than done. In the best of all possible worlds, maybe. Then what will it be used for, given the neighborhood it is in? Who’s going to come? Where will people park? I have a fantasy that mile-away Providence College would buy and restore this theatre, as Emerson in Boston bought and restored the Majestic. Alas, that’s unlikely.
The best that could happen is that it re-open as it was before it closed last year. There was a recent piece in the Providence paper that said that a party was planning on doing just that. We’ll see if it happens.
If the Castle were located on the east side of Providence or in the South Main Street/Wickenden Street area, it could successfully become the more-than-one-screen art house that Providence sorely needs. But it’s not.
Film Daily Yearbooks list the Castle Theatre as being in Mt. Pleasant, RI. the address given is 1039 Chalkstone Street and it has a seating capacity of 989.
Providence, bring this 1925 art deco theatre back to its original glory!
I believe the Castle opened in 1925. The style is art deco.
Early editions of the Providence Journal Almanac place the original seating capacity of the Castle as a single-screener at 781.
So sorry to hear that the Castle has closed. I saw “Chicago” there about a year-and-a-half ago, after having seen it a couple of times already in a first-run theater. Guess I was in my “Chicago” phase. Anyway, I am sorry to hear that after all the enthusiasm, work and money that went into the renovation and inclusion of the cafe, it has had to close.
A 2002 photo of the Castle:
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The wife and I frequented this theater about 5-8 times a year. I loved the fact that you could order food while watching the movie and have it delivered to you while you sat down.
It was very, very dark in the theater but the smallish screen added a sense of intimacy with the film. The lat move that I remember seeing there was Sum of All Fears.
The lack of centralized parking killed this theater, not the cozy feeling and limited seating.
The Castle has just recently closed, possibly for good.
I used to love this theatre before its conversion, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, into a cinema-cafe'. I do not find watching a movie here now a good experience: sub-standard projection and sound, awkward mobile seating on a flat floor, insufficiently darkened auditoriums (I guess seeing what you eat is more important than seeing the movie!) The former manager-projectionist Ralph was a true professional, and watching movies at the Castle in those days used to be an enjoyable experience. I’m happy the theatre is open and functioning, but I wish the place were better.
Great Lincoln towncar seats – it’s a comfortable dining and movie experience :)