Publix Theatre
659-65 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02201
659-65 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02201
12 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 203 comments
Homage to the Gaiety, a poem from today’s issue of the Chinatown newspaper Sampan.
I talked to a construction worker this morning. He said that demolition will continue for at least another month. It’s a slow process because they need to protect adjoining buildings from damage. The Washington Street front will likely be the last wall to go.
He also said that they were making some effort to save the plaster faces, but that they were seriously deteriorated. They made “rubber casts” of the faces and are storing them in a warehouse. It sounds like the developer wants to use either the originals or reproductions as part of the decor in the new residential tower.
Across the street, workers are fixing up 20-22 La Grange Street, next to Centerfolds. Presumably they are preparing it to become the new site of the Glass Slipper, so that the current Glass Slipper building at 15 La Grange can also be demolished.
More than a bit ironic that posted on the front of the building was a sign reading ‘This is not a theater’ when anyone walking around the corner onto LaGrange Street could clearly see that it was a theater which was being demolished.
Robert Redford had planned to build a Sundance Cinema on Lansdowne Street across from Fenway Park, on the site of a parking garage. That plan died in 1999 or 2000 along with the entire Sundance Cinema scheme, a victim of General Cinema’s bankruptcy.
Ah, where’s Robert Redford and his plan, and money…to preserve or build theatres, when you need him…sounds like the Gaiety might have been right up his alley…
Sorry, I really don’t know anything about this.
Ron: thanks for this cool link and also the search engine. Interesting the view of the balcony seats with the wire hat racks underneath—from an age when most men wore hats, even those in the second blacony. Also interesting: the scaffolding that might have been there for repairs and the details of the muses (I think that’s the term) which decorated the interior. Tom
Death of a Theatre. I don’t know who this person is, but he managed to get inside the Gaiety in February, just before demolition, and take these great photos.
(By the way, I found this via Technorati, which searches only blogs and therefore finds a lot of stuff that Google misses.)
Ron: Wow, those postings on the ArchBoston forum are amazing. I hope they aren’t in architectural preservation. tn
An elegy for the Gaiety
Yet more demolition photos. I don’t know anything about the person who posted these. He’s continuing to add more.
And even more photos.
A couple more demo photos from last Saturday. Scroll down to “Posted: Sat May 14, 2005”.
They sure are taking their time. Demolition began four weeks ago, and they still haven’t touched the Washington Street front facade.
A couple more demolition photos, from the web site the Chinatown newspaper Sampan:
photo 1
photo 2
They’ve started eating away at the north wall. I guess they’re saving the Washington Street façade for last.
It looks to me like there are still seats in the upper balcony.
From yesterday’s Boston Phoenix:
Showing next Thursday: The Gaietyâ€\s demise
Next Thursday, as part of an Asians in Action fundraiser, Overshadowed: Bostonâ€\s Chinatown gets its public premiere. The three-part documentary was made by a 10-person Emerson College journalism class. The first section of the half-hour film discusses high-rise developments in Chinatown, like the Kensington; the middle tells of the Gaietyâ€\s demise; and the final segment profiles Da Zsong Lei, an aging Chinatown resident facing a 25 percent rent increase that could price him out of his apartment.
…
The filmmakers were able to shoot footage of the half-wrecked theater, whose missing wall provides a view of the internal performance space that activists thought was worth preserving. “People were just stopping in the street, looking and taking pictures, asking ‘what is that building?â€\” says Kim.
…
Overshadowed: Bostonâ€\s Chinatown will be shown at an Asians in Action fundraiser, which will include Asian art, food, music, and a charity poker tournament, on May 12, at Tonic, 1316 Comm Ave, in Allston. A $20 suggested donation will go toward a community center in Chinatown. E-mail Anh Nguyen at for more information.
Demolition continues, slowly. Here are some photos taken late Friday afternoon, April 29, including some of the surrounding neighborhood. (Scroll down to “Posted: Sun May 01, 2005”)
No work was going on over the weekend.
Another demolition photo, from the Boston Phoenix.
Mike: Well said.
Tho I’ve never been in the Gaiety, I feel like I’ve lost an old friend…to see the wrecking ball tear down the walls is very sad.. I can’t understand how Mennino can be for the preservation of the Paramount, the Majestic, and the Opera house, and thumb his nose at all the protesting of the tearing down this great old theater..and after seeing pictures of the inside…I, like lots of other people, had hopes of trying to save the Gaiety…why couldn’t this tower/apartments be built OVER the theater?? I feel that was the perfect plan..and I must thank Ron Newman…your knowledge of Boston and it’s theaters histories are truly amazing…thanks for all your time spent, for a good cause…and ALL the people in Friends of the Gaiety…for your efforts…we DID try and do the right thing…now to get Kenningson to build a replacement theater..Lee Eiseman, thank you for all the updates sent to my email…I guess the fight isn’t truly over yet…tho this has been a sad week…
Evidently the city feels the only way to purge Washington Street of its “Combat Zone” image is to tear down older buildings and replace them with sterile high rises. Well, they’re getting their wish. Unfortunately a lot of urban history is getting tossed into the dumpster in the process. I read the .PDF files of the responses to the Landmarks Commission. They were well written. They make the Landmarks Commission look like a bunch of fools. Interesting how the city allowed the Gaiety building to fall into disrepair. Where was Code Enforcement?
The Publix is the fifth downtown theatre building to be demolished in the past 30 years. I hope it is also the last. The others:
Gary (originally Plymouth) – demolished circa 1978 to make way for the State Transportation Building
Astor (originally Tremont) – demolished circa 1983 after being first converted to a “juice bar” and then abandoned. The site remained empty for a decade and a half, but eventually one of the Ritz-Carlton Towers, including the new Loews Boston Common multiplex, was built here.
State (originally Park, then Hub, then Trans-Lux) – demolished in 1991, soon after a proposal to redevelop the site, “Commonwealth Center”, financially collapsed. This site also became part of the Ritz Towers complex.
Pilgrim (originally Olympia) – demolished in 1996 by the property owner after strong encouragement from the city, which wanted to eliminate what it considered to be a undesirable X-rated use. It became a parking lot for most of the following decade. A residential tower called “Park Essex” is now rising on its site.
I’ve submitted a news item to Cinema Treasures, but I suspect it won’t run until Monday.
The Gaiety is history.
Demolition is now far enough along that it’s sadly time to change the Status to “Closed/Demolished”.
Some demolition photos taken today, from the La Grange Street side.
After reading that report, you will also want to read the Gaiety Theatre Friends' responses to the Landmarks Commission
View link
View link
I don’t know how long the gaietyboston.com web site is going to stay around, now that the theatre is lost. So get these reports while you can.
On this site you can find the PDF file of the Boston Landmarks Commission report that recommended against landmark status for the Publix/Gaiety. There are lots of photos, some in color.View link