Wenham Street Cinema: Jamaica Plain Garage Home To Community Movie Nights & Concerts

BOSTON (CBS) -- It may look like your average garage, but in this Jamaica Plain neighborhood, it's known as the Wenham Street Cinema.

It was started by owner Matt Shuman for a simple reason.

"I'm a person that really loves being in community with people and knowing my neighbors, and to me, the Wenham Street Cinema was just an effort to build relationships with my neighborhood and bring people together," said Shuman.

So he starting holding movies, concerts, and events there. They are always free, and always an open invite to everyone.

"They bring food often or drinks to share and they chat, they connect, they kind of make friends," said Shuman.

"I've been here probably 10 years longer than he has, and since he's been here, I've met almost every person that lives on this street. We were always friendly before, but now we actually know each other's names," said neighbor Michael Criley.

Shuman starting hosting events in his garage in 2015, but he says during the pandemic, things evolved as more people started looking for outdoor spaces to gather.

"Chris is the owner of Light of Day Records on South Street, and he reached out to me because he had shows booked for his store because he was really concerned that it was going to be too tight for COVID," said Shuman.

Light of Day Records is located at 36 South Street in Jamaica Plain, not far from the garage.

"Wenham Street is the perfect place. It's got space. It's open. We can put a sound system in there. Bands can kind of enjoy themselves. Lo and behold, we're four shows in and doing great," said Chris Antonowich.

The fourth and final show of the summer concert series is being held at 23 Wenham Street Cinema on Saturday, September 25 from 4 p.m.-7 p.m.

"I want to keep doing events, keep doing concerts, as long as my neighbors are okay with it. I really want this to be a regular ongoing place for people to gather- from Jamaica Plain, from outside JP, but a thing that the community feels excited about and comes out to support," said Shuman.

Find out more about Wenham Street Cinema on their Instagram page.