Colonial Theater

492 Farmington Avenue,
Hartford, CT 06105

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Colonial Theater skeleton - 2001

The Colonial Theater was once a beautiful, Neo-Classical style treasure in Hartford’s West End. Opened in 1926, by 1941 it was operated by Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp. The Colonial Theater became a venue for Cinerama from September 20, 1961 playing “This Is Cinerama”. It closed in July 1984 after surviving on a diet of Spanish-language, kung fu and blaxploitation films.

After an almost 20 year silence, preservationists fought a tough battle against developers in 2000 – and lost. Most of the theater has now been demolished and only its skeleton remains.

A new restaurant was built behind the facade of the Colonial Theater and opened in July of 2004.

Contributed by Ross Melnick

Recent comments (view all 21 comments)

Cinerama
Cinerama on February 16, 2009 at 1:07 pm

Chuck1231

If your still around, please let us know where we can see pictures of the Colonial when it was a Cinerama theatre. I have pictures before it was a Cinerama and after – http://cineramahistory.com/ctcolonial.htm Please contact me at

Thanks!

Roland

shoeshoe14
shoeshoe14 on March 15, 2009 at 12:35 am

Mentioned here http://www.hogriver.org/issues/v01n03/palaces.htm

Cinerama
Cinerama on December 15, 2009 at 2:42 pm

Hi Chuck,

I would love to see pictures of the Colonial when it was a Cinerama theatre.

Thanks!

Roland

Harvey
Harvey on February 3, 2010 at 5:39 am

Article on The Colonial as a kung-fu house circa 1983 here.

EdmundGlazer
EdmundGlazer on September 30, 2010 at 11:09 pm

If anyone wants more information on the Colonial/Cinerama theatre, email to I worked as a projectionst at the theatre for 15 years. ED Glazer

nritota
nritota on October 17, 2010 at 1:23 am

Ed
When were you there? Was it during the Lockwood & Gordon years or later?

rivest266
rivest266 on February 22, 2017 at 11:51 am

This opened on September 20th, 1961. Grand opening ad in the photo section

Found on Newspapers.com powered by Newspapers.com

Cinerama
Cinerama on March 9, 2017 at 5:09 pm

I will be updating my web site in the future with ads and articles on the Cinerama aka Colonial theatre.

http://incinerama.com/ctcolonial.htm

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on June 26, 2017 at 8:41 pm

Mid `60’s photo as Cinerama added courtesy of Theo Tersteeg.

Cinerama
Cinerama on July 29, 2017 at 11:54 pm

Just updated Cinerama aka Colonial theatre with ads and articles from 1961 to 2000 – http://www.incinerama.com/ctcolonial.htm

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