Allston Cinemas

This place was a dump-the screens/auditoriums were tiny, it was dirty and the floors were always sticky. I recall in the early 80s it mostly played B movies-the kind that drew the type of audiences that the Chestnut Hill Cinema and the Circle Cinemas didn’t want-ie rowdy teenage boys-and as a teen I recall seeing “Halloween II”, “Friday the 13th 3 in 3D”, “The Howling” and “My Bloody Valentine” there. When Showcase took it over and the prices went up that was it for me-I wasn’t gonna pay a top dollar ticket price at a crappy venue like the Allston…

This opened on March 15th, 1973 as Allston C1nema – C2nema.

I remember that cute little theatre. Too bad it had to go. I lived in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner area on my last year of college, and I was within walking distance of this theatre. I saw a number of movies in that theater, including my all time favorite film, West Side Story. I, too, miss it, especially since it’s one less movie theatre to go to.

Hello again, Bob. You were at the Allston about the same time as I was at Chestnut Hill. I thought of the Allston as a place they gave films an extra few weeks after the Circle. It could have been a great neighborhood spot, I wonder why they didn’t try it.

I saw Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing here during its first run. It played on both screens, an arrangement I don’t recall seeing for any other film here.

PS – And yes, it was a boxy, unpleasant, junked old theatre, but for some reason the Allston’s very crappiness made it endearing. Often I found myself gravitating up the street after working at a grand old theatre like the Coolidge, just to see the worst movies just at a little junky twin. Why? Well, even though it was no movie palace, the Allston was a throwback to a different era, when neighborhood theatres were the norm, not multiplexes (in the suburbs of the midwest, where I grew up, these were mostly twins in strip malls). You just don’t have memorable experiences in a Staples…you have them in public places where people are allowed to interact. Yeah, like movie theatres – even the crappy ones. So, the Allston does still hold a certain little place in my heart.

I lived in Allston from 1991 until 2000, and I went to the Allston fairly regularly. In the early part of the 90’s, they were a fairly respectable late first run house-I caught films like “Hero” there. I say late first run, as I recall the prices were first run, $7.50 or so, a little expensive for a second run move in the early 90’s. But I would usually catch matinees there for movies that I wanted to see, but not so bad I wanted to pay full price. Torwards the end of its life as a Showcase Theater, it definately turned into a dumping ground. Both “Fair Game” and “Barb Wire” both played there during their initial releases. I also remember that films generally only played there a week, come hell or high water. I never managed to make it to any of the Bollywood pics there, but I do remember both that, and the “Allston Underground” series. I believe that some staffers from the Coolidge were programming at the Allston before it closed for good (perhaps Clint?) My most vivid memory was catching an evening of vintage stag films there one late night, around 2003 or so. Despite the fact that the place was an eyesore and as generic as a movie theater could be, I was truly saddened to see it demolished for a Staples. To me, that box was the lesser of two evils. As ugly as that place was, I had fond memories of it.

I worked there as a projectionist in 1981-82. By then, Sonny and Eddie had split, and it was now an “Eddie’s Theatre” I’m pretty sure. Thinking back, I think maybe all of the Sonny and Eddies theatres became Eddies around this time. Back in the early 80’s, the Allston was more of a second-run theatre than an art house. It was often very busy on weekends and a fun place to work. Although the screens were small, they appeared larger due to the fact the auditoriums were narrow shoe boxes.

After further research, I have to amend the above statement. At one point, the Harvard Square Theatre (then a single screen) was part of Sonny & Eddy’s. It is still open today as a five-screen Loews multiplex.

To my knowledge, no other former Sonny & Eddy’s theatre is still open.

The architect for the Pi Alley, as well as almost if not all of the Sack Cinemas, and Sonny and Eddy’s Cinemas, and many independently owned cinemas, was Burt W. Federman. His office was in Park Square and he designed or “twinned” literally thousands of cinemas in the New England area. By the 1980’s, he designed many of the Showcase cinemas located in New England and the central atlantic states. He passed away in 1987. He had also developed a soundproofing system for cinemas which had been first used in a mutiplex he had designed in the Bronx.

The Staples store that replaced the Allston Cinema is having its grand opening tomorrow.

While the Allston Cinema had interesting programming in the 1970s, it was a sad-looking building that won’t be missed. Allston used to have several much more impressive-looking theatres: http://www.bahistory.org/Theaters.html

I should add that Bombay Cinema showed movies at the Regent Theatre in Arlington for a few years before they moved into the Allston.

Bombay Cinema today runs movies at least some days of the week on one screen of the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square and the Capitol Theatre in Arlington.

I have heard that Showcase bought this theater so that the nearby Circle Cinemas didn’t have to bid competitively for movies against the Allston. With Showcase controlling both, the quality pics went to the Circle, and the crap to Allston.