Groundsite Image Gallery
Arcade at 828 Mass. St.
Artist: Hughes, Langston
Height: 0.000"
Width: 0.000"
Arcade at 828 Massachusetts St., former site of the Patee movie theater.
In Langston Hughes’s book The Big Sea, he recalls attending movies at the Patee movie house for five cents, until Mrs. Vivian Patee put up a sign refusing entrance to African Americans.
The theater burned down in 1955. Soon after, Penney’s built the large building at 830 Mass., now the Antique Mall, and Ernst Hardware pictured above at 826 Mass., the other wall of the arcade. At present it is a walkway to a city parking lot.
The mural “Celebration of Cultures” was a group project created in 1995. Community members assisted Lawrence artist David Loewenstein, the designer. In 1996 Loewenstein also created a mural project for Cordley School, in honor of Hughes.