Pilgrim Theatre
658 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
658 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02116
8 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 110 comments
I was there in the late 80s and early 90s … only the main theater was open back then, no balconies or boxes so I never saw those except from a distance. Wooden escalator was never operating either. And yes, that downstairs restroom was right out of a horror movie. Huge spacious anteroom that was always under water, and then a tiny bathroom with two stalls.
The theatre, burlesque performance house, had Chesty Morgan amongst others. The former deceased Congressman Wilbur Mills performed here, too. Frankly, it was the beginning of the ‘end of his career’. I brought my ‘ole buddy here, whom was blind, around 1986-87 and gave him a blow by blow of the ongoing action, upon screen and aisles. Place was 'well tacky and well aged.’
An article I will always regret not saving (might’ve been in the Real Paper or The Phoenix) involved someone venturing into the Pilgrim at it’s worst X-rated phase. A very Dante into Hell type adventure for the uninitiated (though the author seemed to know what they were getting in to.).
Summer 1956 photo added courtesy of the Dirty Old Boston Facebook page. Pilgrim blade sign in the background.
1974 photo added credit Spencer Grant.
The Olympia (Pilgrim) and Gayety have been demolished and replaced by residential buildings. The RKO Boston (at right, behind the Olympia) is sitting vacant. The Paramount (in far background, at the bend of Washington Street) was rebuilt and reopened by Emerson College.
Are all the theatres in the picture gone?
alberwi is correct: the opening day ad is for the Scollay Square Olympia, not this theater. Back when they were in operation, they were known as the “Washington Street Olympia” and the “Scollay Square Olympia”; later the “Pilgrim” and the “Scollay Square”. Although similar in size and both run by Nathan Gordon, they were not identical twins. The Scollay Square Theatre closed long before the Pilgrim.
rivest266: That ad is for the Olympia Theatre in Scollay Square, not the Olympia on Washington Street that later became known as the Pilgrim.
Grand opening ad from November 16th, 1913 has been uploaded here.
The January 15, 1913, issue of The American Architect had a brief article titled “Escalators for Theaters” which was illustrated by a photo of the escalator in Gordon’s Olympia Theatre. Google Books scan here.
The zip code needs to change to 02201.
This theatre is currently mapped on the wrong Washington Street (Brighton, instead of downtown Boston), miles from where it belongs.
Link to the Historic Boston, Inc. blog post: View link
Historic Boston Inc. found inside the historic Hayden Building several of the last film reels from when the Pilgrim, but the gem posted in their blog they posted is this scan of the original edifice of the theatre: View link
Sharp look compared with the later theatres that were built farther up the street that were intended to stand out more…
I Remamber going to see The Tingler at the Pilgrim. It was thwe only theatre in downturn willing to wire sonme seats for shock. What fun. The Pilgrim was also home to a lot of the first B&W 50’s two bit Alan Freed Rock movies. She was a grand OLD PALACE in the 40’s & 50’s. Its a shame that it was torn down instead of saved and refurbished.
That 1980 photo posted on April 7, 2009 brought back some memories!
I use to go to the Pilgrim from 1982 as a teen till it closed. Have a lot of fun memories in there. Really liked people watching me with couples
I remember going to the Pilgrim in the 1970’s to see Chesty Morgan perform live. So crowded that me and a friend (in our late 20’s at the time) had to go up to the balcony! Had to use the mens room way down in the basement on the way out. Biggest mens room I’d ever seen but man, it was GROSS and dirty and dimly lit. It stank so bad of urine that you practically had to hold your nose. The whole theater smelled a bit musty too. Only time in there but remember it well.
George F. Will, the noted opinion piece writer at the Washington Post, has a piece “COLA’s Just Keep on Coming” in today’s Boston Herald. He writes that the automatic cost-of-living increase for Social Security recepients was originated by Rep. Wilbur Mills, Democrat of Arkansas, as a means to buy elderly votes when he was seeking the Democrat’s 1972 party nomination for President. Three years later, writes Will, Mills “had his fling with a stripper named Fanne Foxe, aka ‘The Argentine Firecracker’. (Mills joined her on stage at Boston’s exquisitely named Pilgrim Theatre, which specialized in what Time Magazine primly called ‘ecdysiast exhibitions’.)”
Does anyone remember the wallpaper in the lobby? For some odd reason I remember it vividly – at least as vividly as the lighting allowed.
It was a lurid green/silver Art Deco design, obviously a relic of modernization long, long ago.
And yes, I also remember that famous wooden escalator that never worked.
I can’t say I miss the place too much; it literally stank. You could smell the lobby as you approached, like a vast rotten mouth exhaling halitosis at you.
And what about that horror toilet in the cellar…?
Here is a 1981 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cltmtz
Here is a 1980 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/c2lh7e
The Pilgrim didn’t become a Chinese restaurant. The nearby Center did, and remains one today.
i used to go the the pilgrim in the 80ies, i was in my late teens and twenties then, what great memories i have, i miss the big screen xxx theaters. i also remember the art cinema in tremont , and the pussycat theater in the west end , and didnt the place become a chinese restaurant for a short time ,