RKO Boston Theatre
614 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
614 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 139 comments
It’s been closed for 40 years, so I don’t think there are any plans to do anything with it. Too bad they didn’t add a theatre in the balcony and leave the orchestra alone like was done at the Warner Hollywood Theatre - https://incinerama.com/warner.htm.
That was an amazing set a photographs.
Do you know if there are any plans to reopen, reuse, or do interior demolition of this theatre? It’s so strange that it is still sitting there unused and abandoned in the heart of downtown Boston.
Click on the link to see pictures of the theatre from 2022 (at the bottom of the page), the names of the theatre and when they changed, ads, articles, and pictures of the Boston Theatre. Please do not copy this web site.
would love to see some new pics of interior! imagine what it looks like now!!!
City of Boston records show the building has been owned by the MBTA since at least 1996 and is tax exempt property.
The building contains state offices, but I don’t think the state owns it.
This theater’s numerous roadshow engagements are noted in this new article on Boston’s large format and roadshow history
The theater is still intact with it’s twinned orchestra and only part of the main entrance hallway to the theater’s lobby has been lost when it was converted into a subway station entrance. The state owns the building, which is filled with state offices, so it is safe from development and makes it the last major unused downtown theater available for restoration.
Great article— now THAT’S entertainment…!
If you are able to scan it and it remains legible, you can create a jpeg and post it to the Photos section.
My grandfather Edward “Eddie” Rosenwald was the conductor of this theater during its vaudeville period. I have an article from the Boston Herald in 1937 that I just added to the photos.
A good joke, da_Bunnyman, but it’s not true. “Scent of Mystery”/“Holiday in Spain” played sans stink in Minneapolis and Toronto before playing Boston.
Forgive me for this piece of trivia but I can’t resist the joke. In 1960 the film “Scent Of A Mystery” was released only in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in 70mm with the Smell-O-Vision gimmick. In 1962 the film was reissued in Boston as “Holiday In Spain” so the Boston Cinerama was the first place to show the film after it stopped stinking.
Fifty years ago today, Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” premiered here.
To celebrate the occasion, I’m sharing the link to a new retrospective article on “2001.” This and many other cinemas get a mention in the piece.
April 1968 photo added courtesy of Don McCauley.
Yes, the State II was in a storefront near the State Theatre entrance, and was definitely not carved out of the State itself. There were a number of these small porno cinemas located in storefronts in those days.
Ron Salters 2005 mention of the State II at the bottom of his comment.
rsalters (Ron Salters) rsalters (Ron Salters) on November 15, 2005 at 9:07 am
I went into the Trans Lux for the first time circa 1960, before the change of name to State. There was a black and white movie of girl volley ball players who played the game nude. The house was in good condition. The dressing rooms for the Park Th. were in a seperate building across the alley to the rear of the stage and there was an overhead bridge connecting. I have a very vague memory of seeing this when looking up the alley circa late-1940s. After that, it was gone. The actor James C. Powers played at the Park in 1880 in a show called “Dreams” with Willie Edouin. In his autobiography, published around 1943, Jimmy Powers tells of life at the Park in those days. He and Willie Edouin apparently had a relationship similar to Homer and Bart Simpson. Movies pretty much took over the Park after 1912 or so, until Minsky Burlesque came in during the 1930s. The original Park Th. had 2 balconies, an orchestra circle, and boxes.There was a tunnel from a small hotel to the south which led to the backstage. This hotel was demolished after a gas explosion there in the early 1960s. The State II was located in a storefront on Washington St. and was not carved out of the State itself. The State closed in 1985.
Thanks. I will see what more I can find out before creating a page for it.
Yes. I know almost nothing else about it, other than that it existed and was directly at the northwest corner of Washington and Boylston. I suspect it was a small storefront cinema rather than a cutting-up of the State, but I really don’t know.
So State II is the one with the box sign next to the State, and has no CT page as of yet.
To clarify, State II and Cinema X Twin both existed, but were different theatres, a block apart.
Woops, not sure now. Please clarify where those photos should go. Thanks.
Thanks all. I will re-post the pics that show the Cinema X Twin Theatre signage on it’s page.
That’s a different location (and does have its own separate listing here at CinemaTreasures, as Cinema X Twin Theatre).