The Lynn Auditorium

Primarily known for classic rock concerts featuring headliners like Kansas and Foreigner, the surprisingly grand Lynn Auditorium also hosts comics, including Bill Cosby and Howie Mandel, as well as community dance recitals and family movies.
Built in 1948 inside Lynn City Hall the 2,100-seat auditorium fell into disrepair in the late 1980s. In 2002, James Marsh, the community development director and general manager of Lynn Auditorium, realized the potential for the immense space and started showing family movies there. He saw it as a way to bring the community together while giving kids something to do.

“The kids came down in droves for free movies and popcorn. They loved it,” he recalls. Under Marsh’s leadership and guidance, the auditorium underwent an extreme makeover, which included replacing everything from the seat cushions, the carpet, the curtains and rigging to the house lights and the sound system. The refurbished auditorium celebrated its grand reopening in October 2006. Marsh envisions bigger and better things for the auditorium. “I see it going further and Mayor Kennedy sees it going further, too. She’s one of our biggest supporters and patrons. Ideally, she would like to see it air conditioned.”

The lack of air conditioning keeps the auditorium closed in the summer months, but it is packed from October through early June.
Marsh hopes that people who come to Lynn to see a great show in this world-class auditorium will stay for the city’s other amenities. As he points out, “We’re right on the water; Lynn Woods is bigger than Central Park; we’ve got the Rock Hill Observatory; there’s a brand new sporting facility at Manning Field; and we have one of the best golf courses in Massachusetts.”