Art Cinema
255 Franklin Avenue,
Hartford,
CT
06114
255 Franklin Avenue,
Hartford,
CT
06114
6 people
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The Art Cinema is OPEN again. The Art Cinema is excited to welcome everyone back to the nation’s premier classic adult theater!
The Art Cinema will re-open on Saturday 12/19/2020 at noon The new hours will be: Sunday – Thursday: Noon to 9PM (Closed Tuesday until April) Friday and Saturday: Noon to 10PM
Admission will be: Single Men and T-gurls: $20 M/F Couples: $20 Single Women: $10 Monday Madness: M/F Couples free all day Trans Thursday: Trans Girls free all day Diamond Rewards: Pay the full admission 4 times and your 5th admission is free.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are precautions which will need to be followed to ensure we comply with the CDC, Department of Health, and the Governor’s guidelines and regulations. These guidelines will be posted in both English and Spanish at the ticket counter and throughout the theater. You will be required to read and acknowledge them prior to purchasing your ticket; your paid admission acknowledges that you have read the customer guidelines sheet, either online or at the theater, and agree to adhere to the rules. These include but are not limited to:
Face masks required for entry into the Art Cinema and must be properly worn throughout your visit. No exceptions. BYOM – Bring Your Own Mask Upon arrival, your temperature will be taken at the front counter with a touchless thermometer Capacity will be capped at 100 people or fewer at all times Social Distancing protocols will be in effect In the downstairs general seating area of the theater, every 4th seat will be open and available; all others will be blocked off In the designated couples’ areas, including the VIP Couples Balcony, 2 seats together will be available but the next 3 seats will be blocked off As always, single men will not be permitted in any of the designated couples’ seating areas including the VIP Couples Balcony. This rule will be closely monitored and enforced This information can also be found on the Art Cinema official website, www.theartcinema.com The entire Art Cinema team looks forward to safely welcoming you back!
Actually, I stand corrected as their immediate goal on there is $35,000. But the renovations will cost over $1 million total.
I wonder what the odds are that someone could raise a million bucks on GoFundMe? I can’t imagine they’d be very good.
The Art Cinema closed this past January for “upgrades” and has not reopened yet, nor is reopening imminent. There is currently a GoFundMe campaign attempting to raise over $1,000,000 to cover the renovations.
This opened on December 28th, 1951 as Art. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Ah, the good old Art Cinema – shades of my misspent youth. In the early sixties a group of us Trinity students would go there, drunk as lords (well, dissolute preppies, anyway) to savor the, uhh…art. In those days skin flick owners (sorry: Art Purveyors) had to dissemble what the Supreme Court called redeeming social value. Couldn’t just run “Sex Kitten in Lust”; had to be something Aristotle would have condoned. Consequently, there was usually a double feature: 1. the one we came to see, and 2. some murky Bergman or Fellini flick we’d have to snore through until it came on. Actually, it wasn' t so bad. I was introduced to some quite good British cinema, and I recall seeing Elvira Madigan there; humming Mozart for days, I was.
Sometimes they’d try to avoid the obligatory “socially uplifting” picture by inserting the RSV in the porn. I recall one of the titles, “A Thousand Ways to Love,” throughout which the only dialogue was Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How do I love thee?; let me count the ways.” A sheer ripoff. I could count only seventeen.
The new website for The Art Cinema is now online at www.theartcinema.com . Complete with new photos of The Art, plus upcoming events at the theater.
https://vimeo.com/78397616 I made a short documentary on the theater. shows the inside and the history of the theater.
No, there isn’t security. It is a small theatre run only by the owner. People go to this type of business precisely to have encounters with strangers.
Why or how my friend did not know about the type of films shown here is not the point. My question is about security measures taken. There are sexual predators who go to this theater and people who plan to go there should be aware of that. So I will ask again: isn’t there security here??
How could she possibly unaware that this was an XXX theatre? The movie listings are in the daily newspaper, there are posters all over the lobby showing what is playing, signs about no minors allowed, and it has been showing adult movies for roughly fifty years. There is practically no way NOT to know what this theatre is.
Beware, my friend was sexually assaulted by some male patrons in this theater and no one stopped it. She was unaware that this was a XXX theater and when the movie started she was pinned to her seat and assaulted. Isn’t there security here??
This place is just FANTASTIC.
www.theartcinema.com
New here, and looking to go to art cinema. How is it?? Do many women attend? And do you have any suggestions or helpful hints to help me navigate? Thanks very much …t gunn
Whose website? The Art Cinema does not have one AFAIK.
Their website (which is work safe) features some nice interior shots of the theater. The digital projector is located right off of the upper/center balcony.
This web page about the Lyric Theatre says that its architect, Edward T. Wiley, also designed the Art Cinema.
Since this was in the same family as the Colonial does anyone know if it was a Lockwood & Gordon house?
One of the venues for this year’s Hartford International Film Festival. I’ll provide a few notes on the theater after my film Artery screens there, this Saturday at 12:15PM (not to put in a shameless plug or anything).
what are there hours of opereation?
On my way back from Cinestudio last night I decided to do a bit of exploring and stumbled upon this theater. Needless to say, I was surprised when I entered the lobby to inquire about the program. Still, a very cool find in an interesting neighborhood.
A few months ago The Hartford Advocate wrote an article on this theatre citing that its missleading from the outside- it looks like it could be an art house cinema. Then again instead of being R.A.W. (Real Art Ways- Hartford’s alternative movie theatre), I’m sure it’s just raw in a gross way.
When this was a legitimate art house in June of 1966, I made my way here from Providence to see Luchino Visconti’s very moody and doomed-to-be-unseen film SANDRA (a.k.a. OF A THOUSAND DELIGHTS, VAGHE STELLE DELL'ORSA) with the incomparable Claudia Cardinale and the comparable Jean Sorel. This murky yet strangely compelling Italian tale of implied brother-sister incest was oddly paired with the American drug-rehabilitation drama SYNANON.
The Art Theatre’s address is 255 Franklin Ave.