Avon Cinema

The Avon Cinema (260 Thayer Street, Providence, Rhode Island) is an independent movie theater near Brown University on the East Side of Providence. The Avon's Art Deco styling dates from its opening in February 1938. The theater primarily screens independent, art house, and foreign films.

History

260 Thayer Street began as the Toy Theater in 1915. The theater soon closed and became a parking garage until the Avon took over. According to 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."

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.