MENU OF STORIES
(latest at the top)

Whale Watching, 8/31/05
Marshfield Fair, 8/24/05
North River, 8/17/05
World's End, Hingham, 8/10/05
Plymouth Waterfront, 8/3/05
Blue Hill, 7/27/05
Loring Hall Cinema, Hingham, 7/20/05
Band Concerts, 7/13/05
Summer Concerts, 7/13/05
Adams House, Quincy, 7/6/05
Nantasket Beach, Hull, 6/29/05

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While you are in Hingham ...

Go horseback riding, biking or hiking at World's End Park, 250 Martin Lane. The 251-acre park, owned by the Trustees of Reservations, offers 4.5 miles of tree-lined carriage and hiking trails that offer breathtaking views of Weir River, Hingham Harbor and the Boston skyline. The park is open from 8 a.m. to sunset all year.

Take a stroll along Hingham Harbor at Hewitts Cove Marina off Route 3A and admire an array of yachts while breathing the salt air.

Catch a glimpse of a 17th-century home with all the trimmings at the Old Ordinary, a former tavern that is now a museum owned by the Hingham Historical Society. The museum, at 21 Lincoln St., is open from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday through Sept. 3.

David Orante, 18, waits for customers at the concession counter in Loring Hall Cinema. This is his second summer working at the theater.

VINTAGE SHOWCASE

Walk into Loring Hall Cinema in Hingham and you can almost hear Ralph Waldo Emerson delivering an address to hundreds of people in the rows of plush seats before him.

With electric candles casting a shadowy glow on the interior and a balcony overlooking a vast stage concealed by velvet curtains, the hall evokes its storied past as a lecture hall constructed in 1852.

But the salty aroma of freshly popped corn and the red bow ties accenting the uniforms of concession workers are reminiscent of a 1930s-era film house, which is what the building became.

Loring Hall is named after Col. Benjamin Loring, who contributed money for its construction.

 

Once a lecture hall in which Ralph Waldo Emerson recited poetry, Hingham’s Loring Hall became a movie house in 1936. Today, non- mainstream films are Loring Hall’s normal offerings.

The spacious main hall, adorned with shimmering crystal chandeliers, thick red carpeting, antique lamps and mirrors, was the setting for concerts, balls and functions.

It also became a place for the voicing of ideas by 19th-century intellectuals including Emerson and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

In 1936, 84 years after it was built, the hall was transformed into a movie house. But just as it never lost its gilded fixtures from yesteryear, the hall also remained a bastion of intellectual thought.

The 325-seat cinema resists showing mainstream movies, instead catering to a more educated, older audience. It has carved a niche for itself as a place that presents offbeat films.

Located in the heart of historic Hingham Square amid upscale restaurants, gourmet coffee houses and ice cream parlors, Loring Hall Cinema is a great spot for kicking off a day or night in Hingham.

- Julie Post
The Patriot Ledger