Going back to the past with the movies….

Grandma Gertrude Kinnaman checks in with Donna & Dean before his presentation at the Palace Theatre last weekend. Dean visited with a small crowd about the history of the theater he grew up in...

Anybody who has lived on the island knows the Kinnamans, but did you know their role in making the town’s only movie theater what it is today?

Saturday, Dean Kinnaman gave a presentation at the movie house he grew up in. The building was constructed in 1915, and Town Historic Preservation Coordinator Sandy Strehlou reviewed the place’s history for the years that pre-dated the early 1970s, when Dean’s dad Ray bought the business. It was a family business in the truest sense, with his mom, him and sibs Donna, Diane & David all running the different parts of the shows – concessions, projector, cleanup, ticket-taking.

I loved Dean’s laidback talk, and the way he set the audience at ease with his easy-going review of his family’s involvement at the movies…which continues! Although the family no longer owns the business, his daughter Kyra will be working there this summer.

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