AMC Loews Harvard Square 5
10 Church Street,
Cambridge,
MA
02138
10 Church Street,
Cambridge,
MA
02138
21 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 105 comments
Hi Ron.
I remember you well.
Yes, I was involved with somerville Books and Records, and later, in 1993, took over the management of The Bookcellar Cafe, which i ran until 1996, at which pont I rweturned to Seattle, after 15 memorable years in Boston. I trust you are still writing and everything is going well for you. If you want to check out some of my writing, go to seattlepi.com and type my name into the search engine. Nice to hear from you.
Bill
Hi, Bill! I think I remember you from the Somerville Theatre. I may even have interviewed you for a newspaper article that I wrote about the theatre. Were you also involved with the Somerville Books & Records store on Highland Avenue in Davis Square?
I worked there from 1984-1986, starting as an usher and leaving as a manager. I quit and came back several times, but finally could not take the corporate makeovers, and went to the Orson Welles cinema, where i worked until the day it burned down. I did come back to the Harvard square briefly in the late 80’s, after working at the somerville theatre for awhile. thebn, after a disatrous stint at the Capitol in Arlington, i quit theatre management altogether. Now I am back in my hometown of Seattle WA where I write movie and music reviews for the Seattel Post Intelligencer. Ian Cohen was a good friend who was a projectionist at the Harvard Square, and I thought he might have posted under a pseudonym. I am glad to hear that the staff of the theatre continues to have fun there, and i will always remember the great people I knew while working there : Mark Sommer, Bill and Ruth Templeman, Paul Neff, Beverly Oster, Joel Cohn, Ken Hastings, Maria Pantazopolous, Vicky Vanasco, Susan Cassidy, Wendy Forbes, Anna Presler, Krista Gullickson, Alisha, Caralee, and all the rest.
Bill,
I worked there from 1996-2000, starting as an usher and leaving as a manager. Lots of great times with the staff there, including our wonderfully demented doorman Harvey and many others who became good friends. Not exactly the ‘glory days’ of the theater’s history, but fun nonetheless.
ian,
during what years did you work at the theatre, and what was your job?
I am who I say I am and Haskell Wexler is not my uncle!!! These have to be the most random postings ever!
Back to the theater:
When I worked at Harvard Sq. I went on the roof quite a bit and at one point touched up the old “University Theatre” sign with some paint because vandals had sprayed graffiti on it and I was afraid that eventually the whole thing might get painted over a dull red, which was Loews' usual solution to graffiti. So I risked my neck and touched up the old sign to help keep it there.
if it’s not ian cohen, then haskell wexler is not his uncle.
To my knowledge, Ian Judge is exactly who he says he is and has never had another name.
(What movie about his uncle?)
Is Ian Judge actually Ian Cohen?
If so, have you seen the movie about your uncle?
If you stand across Church Street from the Breast Cancer mural and Soho Jewelry, and look up at the top of the blank brick wall, you’ll see a faded painted advertisement. It reads:
UNIVERSITY
THEATRE
CONTINUOUS 1:30-11 PM
Fred Taylor also owned the Cinema 733 (next to Paul’s Mall) in the 1970s, and the Janus for a couple years in the 1980s.
During the late seventies and early eighties, the Harvard Sq. was owned by Tony Mauriello (sp) and Fred Taylor (who currently runs Scullers Jazz Club and also used to run Paul’s Mall among other clubs).
I have worked with Fred a few times and he is truly the nicest guy in showbusiness… he and Tony were the ones who multiplexed the theater to keep it going, then they sold it.
I looked through some early 1975 microfilm of the Boston Phoenix today, and noticed that the Harvard Square was listed in the Sonny & Eddy’s Theatres ad, along with the Central Square 1&2, Allston 1&2, Exeter Street, and Academy Twin Cinemas (of Newton). The Galeria (later Janus) hadn’t yet opened; I think that came later in the year.
I liked the Coolidge’s old-school marquee better than it’s flashy new one. Plus, the architecture of the building facade means that all decorative stuff like signage should accent the front, not the blank side where the current Coolidge’s entrance is, though understandably they want to draw attention to where the door is.
It is too bad they don’t have the money to reclaim their lobby.
It’s an unfortunate local trend: move the theatre entrance onto a small side street or alley, then convert the old entrance and lobby into retail or restaurant use. You see it not just at the Harvard Square, but also at the Brattle, the Coolidge, and the Orpheum in downtown Boston. At least the Coolidge still has a marquee on the main street.
Sorry – I forgot I asked that question previously; thanks for your response, Ian.
What presently occupies the former lobby space?
The Harvard Square is now one of only two former USACinemas in Massachusetts that Loews still operates. The other is the Assembly Square 12-plex in neighboring Somerville.
The original entrance on Mass Ave was basically a storefront with a marquee; currently it is the C'est Bon convenience store. Previously it was the Mass Army Navy store and initially after the entrance moved, it was a a pizzeria.
The retail space occupies the former lobby and they also make use of the old space in the basement beneath the old lobby, which was storage and restrooms.
Cinemas 4 & 5 were indeed built on the stage. The dressing rooms still exist beneath the stage; the Rocky Horror cast still uses them.
Above the drop-ceiling of #5 is the original grid, with old pieces of the rigging still sitting there.
When I worked there I spent much of my free time exploring the various spaces there – the old organ lofts (now empty) the catwalks (there are some huge ventillation rooms in there)and the original projection booth (machinery removed but still some old lighting equipment up there). I have also seen the original blueprints (available at the Mass State Archives at Columbia Point) so i have a good idea of what it USED to look like.
The Harvard Square Theatre became a fiveplex, either in late ‘85 or sometime in '86, creating two additional auditoriums out of seemingly former backstage and/or dressing room areas. (Out of curiosity, where exactly was the former Massachusetts Avenue entrance? I’ve tried to place its location, but to no avail.)
USACinemas (which was formerly called Sack Theatres) bought the Harvard Square and the Janus Cinema in November 1986.
Loews bought USACinemas in March 1988.
The Harvard Square Theatre, originally a single screen, reopened as a triplex on December 17, 1982. At the same time, the entrance moved from Massachusetts Avenue to Church Street.
Initially, they featured first runs on two screens but continued running double-feature repertory programming on the third. The printed double-feature schedules, and the programming on them, were similar to that of the old Cinema 733 in Boston. Later, the double features moved a couple blocks away to the Janus Cinema.
For a while, in fact up to the eighties, before it became a chain member, they used to run esoteric double features, the reaon for coupling them was sort of a game. They played ‘days of wine and roses’ with another film about addiction, ran ‘The Green carnation’ with Robert Morley’s film ‘Oscar Wilde’, and ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ with some other 3-hour film. They gave out free green carnations with the former.
Bruce Springsteen’s 1974 concert here led rock critic Jon Landau to pen this memorable line: “"I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen”.
After Alan Friedberg’s USACinema chain (formerly Sack Theatres) bought both the Nickelodeon in Boston and the Harvard Square in Cambridge, he had visions of creating a sub-chain of Nickelodeon art houses throughout the region. They actually put a Nickelodeon sign on the Harvard Square’s marquee for a few years, but the plan never got beyond that point.