The old building looked stranded, left alone and neglected at the bottom of a street teeming with ice cream shops, a burger joint, restaurants, and stores hawking T-shirts and other stuff that tourists buy but do not need.
There was nothing fancy about its façade and architecture; in fact, it was rather simple, with yellow and white paint that still held most of its color and a big sign bearing its name in red letters. It was an old movie theater called the “Island,” a scruffy cousin to the newly renovated Strand Theater a stone’s throw away in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. That one was featuring the movie “Now You See Me” at 6 o’clock.
Situated on a corner, the Island had not yet seen its cleanup day like the Strand and the Capawock in Vineyard Haven. My friends and I kept passing the theater on the way to our hotel while vacationing in Oak Bluffs. It was an old building so it fascinated me, and I wanted to know its story and why it seemed to have been forgotten.
The Island theater opened in 1915 as the Eagle and was owned by a dry goods merchant. It is said to be the island’s first modern movie theater. The Strand opened the same year and the Capawock in 1913.
These were not the first movie houses; in fact, silent movies were said to have been shown in various venues for more than a decade. Movies were shown at the Tivoli Dance Hall in 1907, and at the Seabreeze Theater, which had been a skating rink. There was also Dreamland theater and dance hall, the Oakland Hall (later became Noepe Hall before being converted into a church), Pastime Theater and the Strand, which had been the Odd Fellows Hall with a bowling alley.
All fell victim to changing times. Left in place were the Strand, which closed in 2011, the Island in 2012, and the Capawock in 2013.
The Martha’s Vineyard Theater Foundation was formed around early 2015 to revive the island’s theaters, and began by renting the buildings and renovating the Strand and Capawock. They were both opened last summer, and renovation of the Island is expected to come later.
Inside a case on a wall in front of the Island theater was a poster seeking donations and in-kind support to renovate the Strand and Capawock. There was no date on the poster, but at the time $700,000 had been raised and $300,000 more was needed. The theaters were to be used for not only movies, but also live performances, lectures and meetings.
The foundation was still raising money when the two theaters were re-opened. At an invitation-review, singer Carly Simon – who lives in Vineyard Haven and supports the theater project – along with her children performed before the film “Pitch Perfect 2” was shown at the opening of the Capawock.
The poster did not mention the Island theater, whose roof and walls are apparently in a major state of disrepair. Last year, the Oak Bluffs building inspector declared the building unsafe for pedestrians, worried that its roof and walls could collapse on poor souls walking along the sidewalk.
He told the owners to start making repairs or the town would do it for them, or demolish the building and require them to pay for the work. Repairs were begun soon after, and work on the roof was being done in January, according to the local Vineyard Gazette newspaper.
Here are photos of the newly renovated Strand and Capawock, along with construction photos by local photographer Max Skjöldebrand. The Island is said to be up to 70 percent larger than the Strand, which has 250 seats.
