Old Saybrook Cinema
166 Main Street,
Old Saybrook,
CT
6475
166 Main Street,
Old Saybrook,
CT
6475
2 people
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I grew up in the sixties in the area and there was a outside mural in the rotunda. The theme was that of Native Americans. Unfortunately, sometime in the late 90’s it was removed for some reason and has now disappeared, perhaps destroyed during the various renovations to retail. It was such an integral image of my childhood that I am sad that it has gone.
This theater was built by Charlie Bonoff, father of Leo Bonoff who ran Bonoff’s Theater (now Madison Art Cinemas) in Madison. There is a 1940s photo of the Bonoff family in front of the Saybrook at www.bonoff.net. The same photo makes a brief appearance in The Tent: Life in the Round, a new documentary about the Warwick Musical Theatre in Warwick, RI, started by Charlie’s grandson Burton “Buster” Bonoff.
If anyone needs the few pics I took of this, you can email me at
I was there yesterday at night as I was cycling from Hartford to Old Saybrook. The mural in the front is quite nice, a picture of a ship from the dock with a Norman Rockwell-esque child and dog feel to it. There are 2 retail shops open on the right and 1 large vacant one on the left. If you go around to the back, there’s a Romeo and Juliet balcony with pillars. The side of the former auditorium has 5 or 6 retail establishments that all look alike with 2 ionic pillars for each entrance.
I must say this is the nicest conversion of cinema to retail I’ve seen as it really fits in the with the charm of the area.
The lobby and much of the center of the theatre will be home to a new seafood restaurant. An antique store and an arts store are in the front while a nail salon, and offices are near the back. The rotunda near the lobby will remain and it appears offices will be located on the upper level accessible via stairs near the Main St door and via elevator near the parking lot door.
The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center is opening next year in a former theatre just up the street from this one.
It has a real beautiful mural in the rotunda, I’m glad they’re keeping the outside. But if Katharine Hepburn was still alive, I’d think she’d try to save the thing, probably make it into a playhouse. Oh well, I guess a nice book store, cafe, er Starbucks, or Witch Shop will do just fine there.
Function is retail.
It was operated by Interstate Theater Boston, Mass. during the fifties.
…it’s just closed.
Contrary to what the status above says it isn’t demolished!
The theatre has been gutted for retail space.
The Saybrook Theatre seated 558 people.