The Avon Cinema (260

Thayer Street Thayer Street in Providence, Rhode Island is a popular destination for students of the area's nearby schools of Brown University, Moses Brown School, Hope High School, Wheeler School, RISD, Providence College, Johnson & Wales University, and ...

, Providence, Rhode Island) is an independent movie theater near

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

on the

East Side of Providence The East Side is a collection of neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city of Providence, Rhode Island. It officially comprises the neighborhoods of Blackstone, Hope (commonly known as Summit), Mount Hope, College Hill, Wayland, and Fox Po ...

. The Avon's Art Deco styling dates from its opening in February 1938.Avon Cinema
/ref> The theater primarily screens independent,

art house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

, and foreign films. The theatre has been owned by the same family since 1938. It seats 486 and has one screen.

History

260 Thayer Street began as the Toy Theater in 1915. The theater soon closed and possibly served as an amateur theatre or gymnasium with parking garage for a few years. The Dulgarian family purchased the theatre in 1938, advertising it as devoted to "the showing of unusual pictures." The new cinema debuted on February 15, 1938 with the French film

Beethoven's Great Love ''Beethoven's Great Love'' (French: ''Un grand amour de Beethoven'' is a 1936 French historical musical drama film directed by Abel Gance and starring Harry Baur, Annie Ducaux and Jany Holt. It portrays the career of the composer Ludwig van Be ...

(titled "The Life and Loves of Beethoven" in the U.S.). Tickets cost 50 cents for evening shows, 40 cents for matinees, and 25 cents before 2pm. According t
Cinema Treasures
the movie '' Marty'' premiered here, among others. They had what was also described as a "first-run 'class' policy" continuing through the 1960s. In the 1970s the Avon became a repertory house and was known as the Avon Repertory Cinema. In 1983, they returned to showing "first run foreign and domestic films of distinction." During the Blizzard of 1978, the Avon retained power despite a widespread outage. The owners kept the heat on, and allowed patrons to stay the night. In 2018, the cinema celebrated 80 years of continuous operation in the hands of a single family. The owners say they try to "keep the experience as close to how our grandparents saw movies as possible."

Renovations

In 1937, Louis Gordon Theatres Inc. leased the property from the Dulgarian Brothers with the intention of turning it back into a theater. Since then, any renovations have been minor and the property remains in the hands of the Dulgarians. A heavy maroon curtain to cover the screen was added in the 1970s, and in the 1980s a false ceiling was removed from the lobby to uncover the original arched ceiling. The theatre held a grand re-opening party in 1988 to celebrate the renovation. A digital projector was installed in 2014, as distributors moved away from distributing films on 35mm reels.

References

External links

{{stack, {{commonscat, Avon Cinema
Avon Cinema

American Theatre Architecture Archive
Cinemas and movie theaters in Rhode Island Theatres in Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Providence, Rhode Island Art Deco architecture in Rhode Island