{shortcode-8d2a647eccd003cf1c23a35bb255cae0c8ee6e92}
Though ongoing renovations have spread Eliot House residents across Harvard Square, students are still bonding through a longtime house tradition – weekly movie nights.
For decades, residents flocked to the Golden Arm Theater in the basement of Eliot House, a lounge where they could watch their favorite films or host social gatherings. Now, the theater has taken up a new location in the second floor of Fairfax Hall, where roughly 20 students congregate every Thursday to watch movies and share snacks.
A group of seniors runs the theater’s operations, publicizing the movie of the week each Sunday over the Eliot House mailing list and on Instagram. For many movies, sign-ups often fill up within 10 minutes after the form is publicized, according to Alexandre L. Benoit ’26, a leader of the group.
Benoit said the screenings — which are free for students — have helped unite Eliot House students during the renovations, especially as popular gathering spots like the Eliot Grille remain unavailable.
“The really only recurring community event at Eliot House now has been the Golden Arm,” he said.
The screening room in Fairfax Hall has the same capacity as the Golden Arm Theater — 18 students can attend at once — but it is surrounded by other amenities on the floor, including a kitchen and a pool room.
Eliot House funding allows the seniors to provide candy bars and popcorn to attendees, and Xander Patton ’26 said he regularly makes mocktails for attendees to sip on when they arrive at 9:30 p.m. After 30 minutes of mingling, attendees find their seats — which are marked with custom name tags made by Renee S. Perpignan ’26 — and the film begins.
Though the movies are put on by the Eliot seniors, several students from other Houses frequently attend them.
“I’d say it’s about 50-50 — half Eliot students, half from other houses or freshmen,” Benoit said.
The group of Eliot seniors also maintain a “Golden Arm Theater” website, where students can purchase movie posters for $10 each.
This website “is now the one stop shop for if students want to reserve the space, if students want to book their seats for a weekly screening, if students want to get merch,” Benoit said.
The leaders — consisting of Patton, Benoit, Perpignan, and Joseph Bejjani ’26 — decided to revive the House’s tradition of showcasing movies in October 2024. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Eliot House administrators upgraded the basement space to include enhanced seating and amenities.
“We’re not actually sure when the original Golden Arm started,” Patton said. “But when we took it over, it was in a state of disarray.”
Eliot House renovations began in June and are set to conclude by the end of 2027. According to Benoit, the original theater in the House will still be preserved. But for now, the seniors in charge of the theater are focused on ensuring the screenings remain engrained in the House’s culture well past their graduation.
“We have momentum with us,” Benoit said. “We’re hoping to create a tradition that we feel was lost at some point in the past.”
