Broadway Theatre
81 Broadway,
Somerville,
MA
02145
81 Broadway,
Somerville,
MA
02145
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I’m not sure what has taken so long, but Mudflat Studio finally purchased the Broadway Theatre from the City of Somerville last month. They will turn it into a pottery studio, with related classrooms, offices, and a kiln. You can read more about it here. They expect to begin construction early next year and move in by the end of 2006.
This was my movie going stomping grounds. I saw “The Ghost & Mr Chicken, "The Apple Dumpling Gang”, “Dirty Mary & Crazy Larry”, “Carwash”, “Rocky II”, “Lipstick”,and “Alice in Wonderland”, which caused much controversey as it was an “X” rated film that was downgraded to “R”. The pastor at St Benedict’s church had the movie removed due to it’s adult content. Needless to say, many an adolescent saw the movie before it was removed. Mr. Viano was a very nice guy.
For photographs and additional information about this theatre, go to:
http://www.losttheatres.org/theaters.htm
It’s pretty close to Sullivan Square, but that’s on the Orange Line.
From a Boston Globe article published on March 12, 1982:
The last picture show. Another of the neighborhood movie theaters, once numerous in the Boston area, has reached the final fade-out.
The Broadway in Somerville, which had been a leading movie theater in that city since the days of the silents in the 1920s, has closed.
Arthur Viano of Viano Theaters, which has been active in neighborhood theaters for more than 40 years, said poor business was the main reason for the shutdown.
“You could say it’s a change in moviegoing habits, and, of course, when Sack Theaters opened its six-theater complex at Assembly Square in Somerville a few months ago, that didn’t help,” Viano said.
“The downhill slide really began several years ago, when they pushed Rte. 93 through Somerville and took out so many two- and three-family houses that the neighborhood was diminished.”
Viano Theaters also operates the Somerville Theater and two houses in Arlington, the Capital and Regent.
actually, Assembly Square opened in 1981 with eight screens (though it had originally been announced with six).
The Somerville and the Capitol (correctly spelled) are run today by FEI Theatres, while the Regent is open under different management and is now used primarily for live shows.
I believe the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge used the Broadway for a number of years to store stage sets.
The Broadway was actually built by a man named Hurst who funded construction by selling stock to the public. Each $10 share entitled the holder to one free movie a week for a full year. Hurst went bankrupt soon after opening in November 1915 which is when the Hoffman family, which also owned the Cross Street Orpheum, purchased it. In 1929, the Vianos took it over.
I made one mistake in my history of the Broadway – it was actually built by the Hoffman family – the Viano’s bought it at some point early on and ran it for many years.
WOW! THAT’S AMAZING! I USED TO GO TO THE MOVIES AT THE BROADWAY FOR .11 ADMISSION BACK IN TH EEARLY 40’S WHEN I WAS A KID. WHEN I GREW UP A LITTLE, I USED TO GO TO THE BROADWAY COFFEE SHOP NEXT DOOR TO THE BROADWAY THEATRE. THAT WAS BUSY PLACE ON A SATURDAY 7 SUNDAY WITH ALL OF THE KIDS GETTING THEIR GOODIES THERE BEFORE GOING TO THE MOVIES (always a double feature).
THEN BACK IN THNE SUMMER OF 1946, I USED TO WORK ON THE SODA FOUNTAIN AT “MASON’S DRUG STORE” LOCATED ON BROADWAY AT THE CORNER OF INDIANA AVENUE.
BY THE WAY, WHERE ABOUTS ARE YOU LOCATED IN SOMERVILLE?
I USED TO LIVE ON MYRTLE STREET, EAST SOMERVILLE, WHICH REUNS FROM PERKINS STREET TO WASHINGTON STREET.
O. FLANNERY