That time we opened a cinema on North Street

The project was dead about a hundred and one times. I remember rationalizing to my boss when we sat in his chair dejected after the umpteeth death when we lost the expected historic tax credits needed to put the deal together, “I mean, hey, we did get the Colonial going, Barrington Stage is here, condos on North Street – who could have imagined? You still have a lot to show.”
He nodded, but my words were no solace, and to him, it was likely bullsh*t. There would be no quit in Jimmy Ruberto until the deal was done.

So, it was that much sweeter to stand on a stage to kick of a Harry Potter-themed quidditch demonstration, spear-headed by the cultural czarina herself Megan Whilden, as we brought the movies back to North Street.

For the record, I am old enough to say my first film I experienced in a theater was Return of the Jedi. The sound cut out right in the middle of Princess Leia’s explanation to Han that she loves Luke, but like a brother not a lover. It prompted one of Pittsfield’s finest to shout out “huh, what did you say, lady?!” then a burst of laughter from the audience.

After the movies left downtown, we had the Pittsfield Cinema on West Housie. When that shuttered, we had to go to the mall. Pittsfield had no place to see the movies (except the Little Cinema at the museum with the artsy, independent films).
The Beacon hasn’t survived without a few bruises, but the relatively new operator Phoenix is an outfit that knows its stuff.
The first movie I saw in a theater was Return of the Jedi in 1983 in downtown Pittsfield. Late last year, I brought my oldest son Arden to his first Star Wars film in the theater The Rise of Skywalker, also in downtown Pittsfield.
We’ve all come a long way back home.

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