Cable Car Cinema & Cafe
204 S. Main Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
204 S. Main Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
8 people
favorited this theater
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The Acoustic Java Café and Microcinema is permanently closed.
Reopening soon as Acoustic Cafe and Microcinema – https://www.golocalprov.com/business/new-tenant-going-in-cable-car-cinema-location-in-providence?fbclid=IwAR2nQbvQRj80MOo1T7mFpIh7qucn4jH-uV_PnNNEw91MRNJ6d6GQ7OOTekg
Their website is still up, and it appears they’ve moved their events to the Columbus Theater.
https://cablecarcinema.com/
Opened with “Homecoming”. Closed with “RBG”.
The Cable Car Cinema has been closed for nine months!
Is the cinema and cafe in a cable car?
My first visit to the Cable Car Cinema was on February 2, 1977, about three months after it had opened. I noted to myself: “A cold Groundhog’s Day. Tonight I saw "Le Secret” at a very cold Cable Car Cinema, the one with the couches, on South Main Street.“ (I remember that French film as being very good.)
After 41 years of operation, the Cable Car Cinema is now set to close for good on May 27, 2018.
Opened on October 30, 1976.
Here’s a nice history of the Cable Car Cinema. Originally the building was a truck garage of a moving company. The name comes from “a classic cable car that was left behind”. The cafe was added around 1989.
Moved from RI to CT ten years ago, so have not seen the Cable Car since then. I did patronize it often through the years, even though I believed those couches just might be unsanitary! Almost invariably, the film was interrupted by some sort of projection difficulty. But it was a fun place, even lunching outside.
Sounds like my kind of place maybe not a “MOVIE PALACE” but cool in another way.Also it has a great name and location.
John,
Thank you. I have been trying for several years to post here everything of relevance I can find about RI area theatres…though I ad a bit about theatres elsewhere.
Gerald, I have spent the better part of the day perusing the fascinating comments that you have submitted regarding the past and current movie houses of (mostly) Rhode Island. While I will probably never visit most of these places – though I did spend a weekend in Woonsocket many years ago and have visited Newport on several occasions – your vivid descriptions – and vintage pictures – of the old movie palaces and the communities they served was most enjoyable. It also revived memories of my own early cinematic experiences when growing up in Greenpoint Brooklyn.
This is one of the reasons why this is such a wonderful site.
Keep up the good work!
Plans for the creation of this cinema in 1976, as reported in Boxoffice magazine, March 8, 1976:
View link
That no-splice caveat is for archival film prints and certain distributors, such as Rialto. This is a good move.
Let’s hope they get correct screen masking, aperture plates, lenses to show 35mmm films in the various aspect ratios correctly and un-cropped CinemamScope.
The previous reference to The Revival House is relevant as the owner/operators of this closed theater are now the new owner/operators of the Cable Car. It is currently undergoing major renovations during the summer of 2010 and it is rumored they might be adding a second film projector to show the old films again. (The film distributors no longer want film houses to splice the films and thus one projector is a major handicap to show old films.) It is slated to reopen August 16th or 17th.
The previous reference to The Revival House is relevant as the owner/operators of this closed theater are now the new owner/operators of the Cable Car. It is currently undergoing major renovations during the summer of 2010 and it is rumored they might be adding a second film projector to show the old films again. (The film distributors no longer want film houses to splice the films and thus one projector is a major handicap to show old films.) It is slated to reopen August 16th or 17th.
The Cable Car Cinema, now under new management, has recently had its auditorium refurbished. I peeked in at the spiffy new black couches and new theatre seats. Rather nice. Now if they would spend some additional money on a screen that can accomodate CinemaScope’s 1:2.35 format for movies made in that ratio, and some adjustable masking, it would be a real advancement. Anamorphic wide screen films continue to be substantially cropped at the right and left edges in this cinema. For their opening post-remodeling presentation the theatre ran It’s a Wonderful Life. The format was DVD projection!!!!! I was informed they couldn’t get a 35mm print. Just as well, since the top and bottom of this 1:1.33 ratio film would have been cropped in the hopelessly untutored and destructive projection that reigns here. I hope the DVD wasn’t colorized.
“….is this a flat floor auditorium?”
Almost. Very slight incline.
Thanks for the fast responce……is this a flat floor auditorium?/
Yes, go to http://www.flickr.com , enter “Cable Car Cinema” in search, and you will find a few. It’s not much to look at inside.
ANY INTERIOR PICS??
Here is a vintage photo of the Cable Car Cinema building when it was M. Burns Motor Transportation in 1962:
View link
The do get some first-run films, generally of the off-beat type. Currently playing is a first run of Stay Until Tomorrow, made by local filmmaker Laura Colella. I plan to see it tonight. They showed the documentary Why We Fight as a Providence first-run. The French Film Festival, run here by Brown University, is a nice annual event. They are hosting part of the Latino Film Festival starring Friday. In the café they always have walls covered with posters of films that are presumably coming attractions. Some of them in fact never come. Entertainment Weekly last year named this one of the top ten theatres in the nation. But it does have a haphazard aura…part of its slovenly charm.