Ode to the Capitol Theatre

When I moved to Arlington, MA, in early 2001, my wife and I chose the neighborhood based on our sense of it being a vibrant residential area close to the city of Boston. For me, personally, there was another draw: Arlington's Capitol Theatre was a short walk from my new condo in a converted two-family home. Over the next seven years, the Capitol Theater would be my secret get-away spot on a night when my wife and I had a fight or during a sweltering summer evening when I just had to escape the heat. I would use the theatre as therapy on those occasions and I came to love the place.

Since moving to the other side of Arlington, I no longer have the old theatre located conveniently across the street from my home. But, tonight I brought my son to the theatre to see SUGAR, a wonderful art house film about a Dominican ballplayer's struggle to make it pro in America. It was a spectacular independent film that broke your heart even as it entertained you. And it's the kind of film that makes its way sooner or later to the screens of the Capitol.

It's hard to explain what makes the Capitol so special. Part of it is the history that breathes in every crevice of the building. Opened in November of 1925, the Capitol Theatre's evolution parallels that of the entertainment industry of the last century. Like the Somerville Theatre just down the rode in Davis Square and owned and operated by the same family - the Locatelli family - the Capitol hosted all kinds of vaudeville shows and other live entertainment. Enormous pipe organs played on both sides of the cavernous main auditorium. It was the crown jewel of the neighborhood theatres and entertained area residents with prize nights and other attractions during the bleak days of the Depression.

In time the classic theatre had to be 'multi-plexed', but it was done in a way that completely honored the original look and feel of the single-screen theatre. It debuted in 1989 and Theatre 1, still houses the main stage and the grates where the pipe organs were located.

There are times when I miss my old neighborhood, and, in particular, I miss being able to run out and see movies like SUGAR across the street!