The Rialto. The Bellevue. The National. The Orpheum. Keith’s. The Savoy. The Opera House. The Paramount. The Metropolitan.

If you grew up in Boston, and depending upon your age, then these names probably mean something to you.

They are just some of the ‘lavish palaces’ where folks use to line up to go to the movies.

There’s a new paperback book out about these movie palaces of Boston, about these theaters designed by great architects, and about a vanishing way of life. For some reason, it’s striking a chord with folks in the Boston area.

The name of the book is Boston’s Downtown Movie Palaces published by Arcadia in its “Images of America” series ($21.99, or $14.95 from Amazon), and the book is being considered for ‘Best Book About Boston.’ It’s been featured in the Boston Globe (Click Here), the Patriot Ledger (Click Here), on various Boston area TV programs, and the two authors will soon appear at the Boston Public Library “Author’s Night.”

And my cousin Ron Goodman is one of the two authors. Actually, he’s the photographer (Arthur Singer is the writer).

We always knew Ron would eventually do something worthwhile, tho we never thought it would take him 70+ years to do so.

Actually, he’s kind of a Renaissance guy, if that’s the right term. He acts in community theater, he has taught college for many years, he knows more about classical music than anyone I know, and almost as much about computers, he’s authored a number of books, he’s won awards for his photography, he can snow shoe, he rides his bike all over Boston, he is a docent for a Beacon Hill synagogue, is a good husband, brother, father, uncle, grandfather, dog owner, has been written up in the Boston papers and given awards for his reading to the blind, and those are just the things I happen to know about him.

All that aside, if you want to know what it use to be like to go to the movies in Boston (and probably other cities too), or if you want to recapture some of the movie days of old, check out his new book. Or at least the Boston Globe article.