Any news on if someone will step up and pick this theater up? I’ve only been there once, but it’s a damn nice place, it would be a shame if someone lets it be redeveloped into something else again…
Anyone hear of a closing date for this place yet? The original article said “by the end of the year” but I continue to get weekly updates from there….darn it, i’m really gonna miss this place…
CinemaSalem has announced it’s closure – Owner Paul Van Ness sent the following out in an email this morning:
On June 2, 2006, CinemaSalem opened its doors for the first time for a special free screening of The Wizard of Oz. After exactly 14 years of showing movies, launching film festivals, promoting cultural conversation, and popping tons of popcorn, CinemaSalem is closing. (Of course, we’ve actually been closed since March 16 when the state’s efforts to restrict the spread of the coronavirus required movie theaters to shutter.)
We have been working hard over the past six months to recruit new operators for the theater, and we succeeded in finding two well-qualified parties with creative business plans and community-oriented visions. But once the pandemic hit, neither believed they could find a way to make the numbers add up to a sustainable business.
Though the closing is sad, the time we’ve spent running CinemaSalem has been sweet as an opportunity to personally get to know hundreds of great people in the North Shore community and become much more aware of the richness of the local arts and culture scene. It’s been a profoundly joyful experience. We want to acknowledge the contributions made by many people and organizations around Salem, especially the Salem Film Fest organization, and Rinus Oosthoek and the Salem Chamber of Commerce.
And we are deeply grateful to the large number of amazing people who worked at CinemaSalem over our colorful history. They were hard-working, entertaining, diverse, intelligent, quirky, hilarious and dedicated. We especially want to express appreciation to our incomparable long-time managers, Kereth, Shanna, and Peter.
Finally, we want to acknowledge the CinemaSalem community, the 829,741 people who bought tickets to movies and live events at our independent downtown movie theater over the past 14 years. You made it such a fun and vibrant place!
Does anyone know if this is still operational? I was checking links on my website today and their official link now goes to a generic page on how to use Instagram…
The replacement for this theatre, the new AMC Assembly Row 12, officially opened today in Somerville according to AMC. They are showing movies listed starting today. Considering that they’re about six months from finishing everything over there, i’m surprised it has already opened – they don’t even officially list an address for the theater yet…
Stopped by the location on Wednesday night. You can still see inside through the front door and they haven’t done anything with it as yet. I wish Alamo would seize the opportunity and grab this location to come to metro Boston…::sigh::
According to my wife, who spent a lot of her time here in her teen and tweens, the last movie to show here was “A View To A Kill”, so that puts the closing date somewhere in the summer of 1985, I believe…
The loss of Harvard Square AMC will leave a huge gap in film going for students when they return in the fall. Instead of having a multiplex showing current films within walking distance, they will now have to take the T or drive to the nearest multiplex theaters, which if I’m not mistaken are Fresh Pond, Somerville Theater, Kendall Square, and AMC Boston Common. It leaves the Brattle Theatre and the Harvard Film Archive as the only theaters within walking distance.
With AMC Assembly Hill on the map but not yet under construction (to my knowledge) and not scheduled to open until the late fall of 2013, that leaves the entire upcoming school year devoid of a major chain multiplex that’s only a few minutes away. And Assembly Hill will be more than a “few minutes” away anyway, and you certainly won’t be able to walk there.
And it leaves the RHPS devotees nowhere to go on Saturday nights…:–)
BOOOO AMC – shame on you for closing Harvard Square! Shame Shame SHAME! It wasn’t the best theater, but we loved it all the same…
Aw…that stinks. Maybe with the West Newton and the Studio Belmont it’s too much of a financial pull on them? Still, it sounds like there’s hope for the Boston Film Festival to be held there again, and that would be cool
Call me an idiot (ok, you’re an idiot), but why must the building be razed for an apartment? Why don’t the apartment people come up with a design that incorporates the current theater on the bottom and build around it? Making an historic theater the centerpiece of such a modern structure would only enhance it’s value, particularly if it’s properly restored and returned to some sort of operation. This has been done time and time again here in Boston, and while it hasn’t always worked (see the big hole in our Downtown Crossing area), sometimes it has. I would think that if the theater is indeed historic, something to preserve it as part of the new structure is very much worth a try.
While I’m over here, I hope someone can help me. I’m trying to pin down EVERY theater I’ve ever visited, and one of those is in Bellevue. My aunt lived here in the mid 70s, and we came to visit her in the spring of 1978. while in town, she and mom took me to see Disney’s “Return From Witch Mountain”. I know the theater we went to wasn’t that far from her house (don’t ask me the address, I can’t remember at all) and it was a twin, with the theater we were seated in being rather large – I remember commenting to my mom that I had only been in one other theater that was even larger, and that was the SouthCenter Cinema in Tukwila a couple years earlier. Could this have been the theater?
Anyone who might be able to help me shed some light on which cinema this might have been, I would be most appreciative and my theater list will be that much closer to being complete!
Ron – you get around as much as I do – I never knew you lived in the Columbus area before you were in Boston. So did I – Small world, eh? :–)
I’m probably on the wrong page again, as I usually am, but I’m working on columns for my website about my years of theater attending, and I need to know about a couple on the east side of Columbus. First up, what multiplex was directly or possibly diagonally across the street from Eastland? I seem to remember it having at least six screens, although I could be wrong – I was in it only once, having travelled up from Lancaster to see “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”. I caught a bear of a cold because it was the middle of December and they had the air conditioning on; it was freezing in that place.
We also went to a couple of theaters in the Reynoldsburg/Whitehall area with my aunt and her family in the early 80s. I’m not even sure if they were the same theater. I remember seeing the films “Stripes”, “Risky Business” and “Neighbors” in this/these theaters. I don’t even know what the road was – I lived in Newark and later Lancaster, and didn’t travel to Columbus very often. But I seem to remember seeing all three movies in a single screen theater, or maybe a twin. For some reason the name “Town and Country” sticks out to me, but it’s been almost 20 years since I left the area, so I’m not at all sure.
So if anyone out there can help me out, I’d appreciate it!
I have actually tracked down the elusive second Revere Drive-in. After some research, I have discovered that the Suffolk Downs Drive-In Theatre was at 1375 Bennington Rd, and is exactly where I thought it once was – it is now Belle Isle Marsh Reservation. It appears to have been opened for a period between 1950-1970, and possibly has an East Boston address rather than a Revere address, which is news to me, although the Suffolk Downs T station is also listed as East Boston, so it’s possible – they both straddle the town lines, I guess. But hey at least I know my mother-in-law was right now!:–)
Any news on if someone will step up and pick this theater up? I’ve only been there once, but it’s a damn nice place, it would be a shame if someone lets it be redeveloped into something else again…
Has anyone heard of anything regarding the ultimate fate of this brand new complex? Any chance another chain will step in and purchase it?
Anyone hear of a closing date for this place yet? The original article said “by the end of the year” but I continue to get weekly updates from there….darn it, i’m really gonna miss this place…
CinemaSalem has announced it’s closure – Owner Paul Van Ness sent the following out in an email this morning:
On June 2, 2006, CinemaSalem opened its doors for the first time for a special free screening of The Wizard of Oz. After exactly 14 years of showing movies, launching film festivals, promoting cultural conversation, and popping tons of popcorn, CinemaSalem is closing. (Of course, we’ve actually been closed since March 16 when the state’s efforts to restrict the spread of the coronavirus required movie theaters to shutter.)
We have been working hard over the past six months to recruit new operators for the theater, and we succeeded in finding two well-qualified parties with creative business plans and community-oriented visions. But once the pandemic hit, neither believed they could find a way to make the numbers add up to a sustainable business.
Though the closing is sad, the time we’ve spent running CinemaSalem has been sweet as an opportunity to personally get to know hundreds of great people in the North Shore community and become much more aware of the richness of the local arts and culture scene. It’s been a profoundly joyful experience. We want to acknowledge the contributions made by many people and organizations around Salem, especially the Salem Film Fest organization, and Rinus Oosthoek and the Salem Chamber of Commerce.
And we are deeply grateful to the large number of amazing people who worked at CinemaSalem over our colorful history. They were hard-working, entertaining, diverse, intelligent, quirky, hilarious and dedicated. We especially want to express appreciation to our incomparable long-time managers, Kereth, Shanna, and Peter.
Finally, we want to acknowledge the CinemaSalem community, the 829,741 people who bought tickets to movies and live events at our independent downtown movie theater over the past 14 years. You made it such a fun and vibrant place!
Thank you.
Paul Van Ness
Does anyone know if this is still operational? I was checking links on my website today and their official link now goes to a generic page on how to use Instagram…
This needs to be marked as Closed – http://flagshipcinemas.com/newbedfordhome.html
Although the picture above is of the entrance, this is from Google Maps – you can actually see the building from the highway..
https://www.google.com/maps/Beacon Theatre.554308,-70.933286,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1st63o9hVNXKyWz6Q4tj_9Rg!2e0!6m1!1e1
And if you move the picture to the right, you can see the marquee listings too.
The replacement for this theatre, the new AMC Assembly Row 12, officially opened today in Somerville according to AMC. They are showing movies listed starting today. Considering that they’re about six months from finishing everything over there, i’m surprised it has already opened – they don’t even officially list an address for the theater yet…
Does anyone have any info on what happened here? Did the theater ever open, and if yes, how long did it last before having to close again?
The website now lists the theater as “Closed”.
Cabot St is now up for sale – here are two articles about the sale and it’s potential impact on the community:
Boston.com http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/beverly/2013/05/beverlys_cabot_street_cinema_u.html
Salem News: http://www.salemnews.com/local/x326082369/Can-Cabot-Street-theater-be-saved
Stopped by the location on Wednesday night. You can still see inside through the front door and they haven’t done anything with it as yet. I wish Alamo would seize the opportunity and grab this location to come to metro Boston…::sigh::
According to my wife, who spent a lot of her time here in her teen and tweens, the last movie to show here was “A View To A Kill”, so that puts the closing date somewhere in the summer of 1985, I believe…
Anyone hear anything about the latest plans for the location yet? Been keeping an eye out but haven’t seen anything yet…
The loss of Harvard Square AMC will leave a huge gap in film going for students when they return in the fall. Instead of having a multiplex showing current films within walking distance, they will now have to take the T or drive to the nearest multiplex theaters, which if I’m not mistaken are Fresh Pond, Somerville Theater, Kendall Square, and AMC Boston Common. It leaves the Brattle Theatre and the Harvard Film Archive as the only theaters within walking distance.
With AMC Assembly Hill on the map but not yet under construction (to my knowledge) and not scheduled to open until the late fall of 2013, that leaves the entire upcoming school year devoid of a major chain multiplex that’s only a few minutes away. And Assembly Hill will be more than a “few minutes” away anyway, and you certainly won’t be able to walk there.
And it leaves the RHPS devotees nowhere to go on Saturday nights…:–)
BOOOO AMC – shame on you for closing Harvard Square! Shame Shame SHAME! It wasn’t the best theater, but we loved it all the same…
Here’s a link to the original Patriot Ledger story http://www.patriotledger.com/entertainment/x842391792/Wollaston-Theatre-sold-to-C-Mart-owner
Aw…that stinks. Maybe with the West Newton and the Studio Belmont it’s too much of a financial pull on them? Still, it sounds like there’s hope for the Boston Film Festival to be held there again, and that would be cool
Call me an idiot (ok, you’re an idiot), but why must the building be razed for an apartment? Why don’t the apartment people come up with a design that incorporates the current theater on the bottom and build around it? Making an historic theater the centerpiece of such a modern structure would only enhance it’s value, particularly if it’s properly restored and returned to some sort of operation. This has been done time and time again here in Boston, and while it hasn’t always worked (see the big hole in our Downtown Crossing area), sometimes it has. I would think that if the theater is indeed historic, something to preserve it as part of the new structure is very much worth a try.
While I’m over here, I hope someone can help me. I’m trying to pin down EVERY theater I’ve ever visited, and one of those is in Bellevue. My aunt lived here in the mid 70s, and we came to visit her in the spring of 1978. while in town, she and mom took me to see Disney’s “Return From Witch Mountain”. I know the theater we went to wasn’t that far from her house (don’t ask me the address, I can’t remember at all) and it was a twin, with the theater we were seated in being rather large – I remember commenting to my mom that I had only been in one other theater that was even larger, and that was the SouthCenter Cinema in Tukwila a couple years earlier. Could this have been the theater?
Anyone who might be able to help me shed some light on which cinema this might have been, I would be most appreciative and my theater list will be that much closer to being complete!
Don’t know if anyone here has been there, but there’s a Tulsa site that pays homage to GCC, complete with jingle and policy trailers:
http://tulsatvmemories.com/gccvill.html
Thought you might want to check it out, seeing as you’re starting a GCC society and all…heh heh heh…
Thanks for all the suggestions – it’s definitely helpful!
Ron – you get around as much as I do – I never knew you lived in the Columbus area before you were in Boston. So did I – Small world, eh? :–)
I’m probably on the wrong page again, as I usually am, but I’m working on columns for my website about my years of theater attending, and I need to know about a couple on the east side of Columbus. First up, what multiplex was directly or possibly diagonally across the street from Eastland? I seem to remember it having at least six screens, although I could be wrong – I was in it only once, having travelled up from Lancaster to see “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”. I caught a bear of a cold because it was the middle of December and they had the air conditioning on; it was freezing in that place.
We also went to a couple of theaters in the Reynoldsburg/Whitehall area with my aunt and her family in the early 80s. I’m not even sure if they were the same theater. I remember seeing the films “Stripes”, “Risky Business” and “Neighbors” in this/these theaters. I don’t even know what the road was – I lived in Newark and later Lancaster, and didn’t travel to Columbus very often. But I seem to remember seeing all three movies in a single screen theater, or maybe a twin. For some reason the name “Town and Country” sticks out to me, but it’s been almost 20 years since I left the area, so I’m not at all sure.
So if anyone out there can help me out, I’d appreciate it!
I have actually tracked down the elusive second Revere Drive-in. After some research, I have discovered that the Suffolk Downs Drive-In Theatre was at 1375 Bennington Rd, and is exactly where I thought it once was – it is now Belle Isle Marsh Reservation. It appears to have been opened for a period between 1950-1970, and possibly has an East Boston address rather than a Revere address, which is news to me, although the Suffolk Downs T station is also listed as East Boston, so it’s possible – they both straddle the town lines, I guess. But hey at least I know my mother-in-law was right now!:–)
There’s a larger, even better photograph over at View link
Fairly recent, since GREENBURG was playing…
There are some recent photos on this website: View link
Does anyone know if they have a website? If they don’t they’re the only theatre in the Metro Boston area that does NOT have one…