Symphony Cinema I & II

252 Huntington Avenue,
Boston, MA 02115

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Additional Info

Previous Names: Symphony II

Nearby Theaters

1969 photo courtesy of the Old School Boston Facebook page.

Opening March 31, 1965, this theatre was carved out of the first floor of a building across from Symphony Hall on Huntington Avenue in Boston.

It was an art house showing a mixture of off-beat, independent American, and foreign-language films. The seating was not raked and it was often difficult to see all of the screen (and subtitles) if you were in a bad spot. The programming was very interesting and adventuresome, however. It disappeared, I believe, by the end of the 1970’s.

Contributed by Gerald A. DeLuca

Recent comments (view all 21 comments)

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on January 7, 2005 at 3:14 pm

Ron;
Thanks for posting those details, it is always good to piece together another slice of the history, especially when it comes from ‘the horses mouth’.

sinclair
sinclair on March 22, 2005 at 9:48 pm

I recall standing in line awaiting to get in to see “I Am Curious, Yellow” like it was the second coming or something. yawn.

elramon
elramon on February 18, 2006 at 10:12 am

I remember seeing The Collector, The Chase and A Funny Thing Happend on the way to the Forum. We always went to Brigham’s afterwards

advocate
advocate on November 10, 2007 at 12:28 am

I recall seeing the classic (and infamous) horror/slice-and-dice film “Last House On The left” there in late 1976…I guess the place was not long for this world by that point, and had fallen on pretty hard times.

dickneeds111
dickneeds111 on March 21, 2012 at 6:14 pm

I remember going to see I Am Curious Yellow. there. I worked by Fenway Park and didn’t want to drive home at 3.30 pm so I hoped the T and went to the movies. I should have gone home because this is the afternoon the police raided the theatre and all the TV staions were out front filming for the 6pm news. The police shut the theatre down but it resumed playing the next day without problems. Never did get to see the last 15 mins or so.

sweetmel
sweetmel on May 20, 2012 at 1:32 am

I remember seeing all the kung fu movies back in the 1970’s when I was kid at the symphony.

rivest266
rivest266 on May 12, 2013 at 9:30 am

This opened on March 31, 1965. Ad and picture uploaded.

dickneeds111
dickneeds111 on June 15, 2014 at 5:45 pm

After all these years I finally got to see I Am Curious Yellow complete a few months ago on of all places Turner Classic Movies. What a waste of time.

Ron Newman
Ron Newman on June 9, 2016 at 4:42 pm

Boston University sold this along with the nearby BU Theatre (which houses the Huntington Theatre Company). The Huntington will remain, but the former Symphony Cinema building will probably be demolished and replaced with newer development.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on February 3, 2018 at 12:14 am

1969 photo added courtesy of the Old School Boston Facebook page. Symphony Cinema marquee on the far right.

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