Mohawk Theatre
111 Main Street,
North Adams,
MA
01247
111 Main Street,
North Adams,
MA
01247
6 people
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Showing 23 comments
Don’t know how that happened! Tried again and there it is. I hope at some point it can be restored. Perhaps MassMOCA could restore it as an auxiliary event space.
It wasn’t. You’re just looking in the wrong spot.
From 2022 Google street and aerial views it looks like the theatre was demolished and replaced by a Holiday Inn.
The actual opening date is November 5, 1938 with a double feature: Deanna Durbin in “That Certain Age” and Joe Penner in “Mr. Doodle Kicks Off”, along with the latest reel of March Of Time.
Worked as a substitute projectionist there through the 1970s. The theater had two Super-Simplex projectors and Brenkert carbon-arc lamps. It was fully set up for synchronized projectors with Polaroid’s 3D system, though I never saw that system in actual use there. It was the main roost of Jim Coddaire, then Business Agent of the local projectionists' union, and something of a curmudgeon.
The theater is largely gutted, except for the lobby and the plaster surrounding the stage. The current owner has plans to restore what he can and return the building to use.
I work for Elwood Cinemas in NY and so daily do a bit of research on old theatre pictures to share with our patrons and found this great one of the Mohawk Theatre but the date said 1933. After a little research I found this great article on Carole & Company Blog where the research into the discrepancy was done for me. Thought folks might be interested in this! The picture is embedded in the blog post.
http://caroleandco.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/of-orchids-and-mohawks/
Keep rollin that film! Alex
My friend came up with an idea that I’d like to pursue. If there’s plans for the future of the theater, then it may not work out but the idea is to open an alternative movie theater, where we show non-standard films, either indie movies or older films at a low price on Fridays and Saturdays.
If I could at least break even, I’d do it just to put the theater to use and give the people in community something to do every week without breaking the bank.
A brief item about E. M. Loew’s Mohawk Theatre in North Adams appeared in the lower right corner of this page of the April 29, 1939, issue of Boxoffice. There is a photo showing one side wall of the auditorium as seen from the top of the balcony.
The item notes Mowll & Rand as architects, but attributes the decoration of the theater to William Riseman and someone named Alec Lercari (who I can’t find mentioned anywhere on the Itnernet, so perhaps it is a typo.)
Went by this recently on a bicycle trip. There was an event for late July on the marquee. Apparently it’s in use. The doors have no handles on the outside, though. I will post a marquee picture and the mural on the back of the stagehouse.
From the 1960s a photo postcard that captured a view of the Mowhawk Theatre in North Adams.
This theatre is listed on C.T. as a former Loews,but it was run at one time by E.M. LOEWS a different company as listed above.
Here is a blog about the theater:
http://tinyurl.com/kklsma
I worked in N. Adams in the 80’s and went to the Mohawk alot a great little town theatre. Across the street a few blocks down I seem to remember a Sheraton Hotel that had a little cinema in the basement part of the hotel? is this a senior moment or was there a cinema there? I purchased a few nice b/w 8x10 photos on e-bay of the Mohawk.
The latest issue of Theatre Historical Society’s MARQUEE MAGAZINE features a photo and short bio of this theater in a travel feature spotlighting the Berkshires.
Go to www.historictheatres.org to join THS or order back issues.
Recent developments posted on the Mohawk Theatre’s web site (link above) from spring 2007:
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts committeed $500,000 of state funding to the North Adams Office of Community Development towards restoration of the Mohawk – the funding to go towards architectural design and engineering work, with the city providing matching funds. The OCD put out a request for proposals and received a big response with 7 quality proposals, the firm of Finegold Alexander and Associates being chosen for the project. An open house was held on March 16, and the project was to begin sometime after May, taking 1 year to complete. Accordiny to a previous study the building was considered basically sound.
The Mohawk Theatre is an icon in the City of North Adams. I had the great opportunity of working there as a teenager. I sat many evenings in that tiny ticket booth, and on “dollar nite” the lines were as far around the corner as you can see. Sometimes if you were lucky, “Tony”, the long time manager would let us sneak up to the balcony with friends. The theatre always smelled like popcorn and oddly, my grandmothers' closets!! It was a sad day when the theatre closed. Years later I was fortunate to be involved with the Theatre’s Marquee Restoration a few years back, and when the lights were finally lit again, it was a jewel. But, the theatre is not complete yet, the city is in the stages of restoring the theatre check out www.mohawkttheater.com
The Mohawk, opened on November 5, 1938 and was designed by Mowll and Rand of Boston, Mass. It had an Art Deco interior and a 25-foot wide proscenium but no significant stage area or fly loft for dramatic theater. It is the last large screen in North Berkshire County.
www.mohawktheater.com
The Mohawk Theatre on Main St. in North Adams was included in the MGM Theatre Photograph and Report project. There is an exterior photo dated April 1941. The exact same marquee was on the building in 1941 that is there in the photos posted above by Chuck1231, complete with the E.M. Loew logos. The Report states that the Mohawk is not a MGM customer; that it was over 10 years old in 1941; that it is in Fair condition, and has 850 seats on the main floor and 450 in the balcony, total: 1300 seats. The competing theatres in North Adams are listed as: Paramount and Richmond. (I have a seperate MGM Report for the Paramount, but not for the Richmond Theatre). The 1940 population at North Adams was shown as 12,600 on the Mohawk’s Report, and 22,200 on the Paramount’s Report, so take your pick.
I think he (Francis Rogers) meant the Paramout was demolished then.
With slightly over 1300 seats between the main floor and the balcony, it was a beautiful theater to grow up in. It was designed for movies since there was no stage or dressing rooms behind the screen like its neighbor, The Paramount, just down the street.(both theaters were run by the same company as were several in Pittsfield) The lights along the side walls had bronze “feather” as decoration in honor of its name sake, the Mohawk Indains who once roamed the Berkshire county hills. Unfortunately many were broken and lost over the years and most liely will not be replaced during the renovations due to cost. It was the second theater where I had the opportunity to visit the projection booth and continue my education in the film business.
Francis Rogers
retired projectionist
There was also a Paramount theater in North Adams. It was generally used more than it sister theater, the Mohawk, just up the street, although I’m not sure why. It had 1467 seats and was designed as a full stage theater. There was an orchestra pit for about a 25 member orchestra, dressing rooms on each side of a full stage (3 dressing rooms up and 3 down on each side), foot light pockets, complete stage rigging and a huge lighting control board full of orignial knife switches. It was the only film theater I ever saw that had motorized red velvet curtins over the screen along with a white “traveler” between the two. The booth had an operational carbon arc follow spot that was used for holiday parties (and other function) given by the North Adams police department members for all the kids in town. Prizes, raffles, and tons of cartoons were all on the program. It was the first theater that I was lucky enough to gain entry into the projection booth so I could begin learning what would become a life long passion. This happened when I was 14 years old, and it happened without the approval of the mangement. I remember once making a fast exit out an emergency door in the booth. It lead to a staircase built into the balcony. One small, dirty light bulb lit my way down in the massive, empty interior of the balcony to a hidden door built into the main staircase’s landing. I made it!
The theater was demolisted in the 70’s (possible 80’s). The lobby can still be seen if one looks carefully for it now houses a restaurant.
Francis Rogers
retired projectionist