In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - The Shocking End of the Sitzmark II/Cinema Lounge

Is it possible for a location to be cursed? Many times truth is stranger than fiction.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, despite being still relatively low-key and laid back in the 2020s, has had its share of events in history that seem like they were ripped straight from popular television crime shows.

Fifty years ago a shocking crime rocked the Mid-Cape area. Those who were there will never forget. This is the story of the short life, and abrupt end of the Cinema Lounge, also known as Sitzmark II in West Harwich.

An article from Cape Codder newspaper about the fire.

The story of the Sitzmark II starts with owner Robert Fusco.

Fusco was born in Leominster, Massachusetts on April 20, 1942, and became a successful business owner at a young age. This began with his purchase of the Fairmont Cafe in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in 1967. At its peak, Fusco’s business enterprise included fifteen properties in Central Massachusetts as well as Cape Cod and Florida.

The Sitzmark restaurant and club first came to be in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Being a relatively short drive from Mount Wachusett it seemed appropriate to name the establishment Sitzmark as the word is defined as the impression a skier makes when falling into the snow backward.

As his business empire grew Fusco set his sights on Cape Cod. In late 1971 he found a perfect location for a second Sitzmark location on Route 28 on the Dennis Port/West Harwich line. Fusco leased 2.75 acres of land owned by Lillian Dowd.

A mortgage of $135,000($1 million in 2024) was taken out to develop a new eating and drinking establishment Fusco appropriately named Sitzmark II.

The story of Sitzmark II cannot be told without diving a little deeper into the property upon which it stood. This is where the story truly gets strange.

Located at approximately 10 Route 28 in West Harwich the property saw a string of failed businesses before and after. Curse might be a strong word but the multitude of failures are difficult to ignore.

Lillian Dowd had been running a laundry service on the property beginning in 1949. Known as Cape Self Service Laundry it was a fairly straightforward business venture. She lived in a home next door, across from what is today the Noble House restaurant. Her neighbor on the property was a nightclub known as Cape Towne House. This establishment had been open since the early 1950s and was located inside a renovated barn.

In an eerie bit of foreshadowing a fire in April 1956 destroyed the barn. The owners were undeterred and rebuilt thanks partially to Dowd leasing them another chunk of her property. Throughout the 1960s the Cape Towne House was a success.

The success was fleeting and Cape Towne House ultimately failed after losing its liquor license in 1968. Dowd, sensing an opportunity, opened a dance hall for teenagers in the former nightclub. She christened it The Embers.

The Embers catered to teens at first. However, Dowd purchased her own liquor license so as to appeal to the older crowd as well. The work proved exhausting and Dowd gave up the liquor license in August 1969 choosing to stick with the teenage dances.

In the end, The Embers did not last long. Thus Dowd was willing to sell the land, and her laundry business when Robert Fusco came calling in late 1971.

Sitzmark II began operating in the summer of 1972. It was a club offering live music, dancing, and cocktails. However, it also offered a breakfast and lunch menu in an area called The Third Door.

An advertisement for Sitzmark II from 1972(Barnstable Patriot)

Despite being a restaurant as well, the nightlife got Fusco’s new establishment into trouble. The law stated any noise from the building needed to remain confined to the property. In its first season, Sitzmark II was routinely cited for noise complaints from neighbors as well as overcrowding.

Rock bands, orchestra, dinner theater, and more entertained patrons at Sitzmark II. Eventually, the loud music drew the ire of Harwich selectmen who shut it down in 1973.

Fusco had no choice but to acquiesce to the town. He changed the name of the establishment to Cinema Lounge entering 1974 while also eliminating the loud music from the schedule. However, a new act brought in would permanently change the direction of the business.

For the 1974 summer Fusco hired a drag show called ‘All That Glitters Is Not Girls’ run by Karl Huston. The show was a massive hit drawing in thousands of customers with many more having to be turned away. That success again put Cinema Lounge in the cross-hairs of Harwich selectmen and the nearby West Harwich Baptist Church whose prejudice deemed the shows risque.

The thinly veiled homophobia was hardly disguised by the politicians. The show was classified by them as burlesque/strip which they said was not a part of the entertainment license for Fusco’s club. A local politician was quoted in the Cape Cod Standard-Times referring to the members of the drag show with a homophobic slur.

Even a seemingly positive article about the show in a local newspaper in June 1974 was rife with ignorant verbiage. It stated that ‘The idea of eight men parading around dressed, and often undressed, as women is stomach-turning to most normal heterosexuals.’

The majority of the clientele at the All That Glitters shows were elderly people. Karl Huston stated that these people seemed to enjoy the show with nobody complaining.

The summer of 1974 was a battle between Fusco and Harwich. In August the Cinema Lounge had its liquor license suspended. It then had its entertainment license revoked due to the All That Glitters show being purportedly wrongly classified as a ‘dance band.’ Fusco estimated the club lost in the range of $20,000($126,700 in 2024) in two days when the club was shut down on August 9^th.

Bad press and closings took their toll on the business. Courts had already begun foreclosure proceedings against Cinema Lounge. Fusco was shocked by the level of fervor against his establishment. He stated at the time that Harwich was the only town in which he owned a business that he was subject to such harassment.

Huston and Fusco hired attorneys to sue the Town of Harwich for closing the show down. On August 21^st Harwich selectmen reinstated the liquor license and issued a revised entertainment license to Cinema Lounge. A tentative reopening was slated for August 23^rd. However, Fusco stated that even with the licenses reinstated the club’s time was drawing to a close. He had no idea how prophetic those words were.

Twenty-four hours later the Cinema Lounge was history.

The Cinema Lounge was destroyed.(Bing AI)

At roughly 11pm on August 22, 1974, a pair of nearly simultaneous explosions rocked the Cinema Lounge building. The explosions created a hole in the ground upon which the building crumbled and burned. It was virtually destroyed with the ensuing fire finishing the job. As the club was closed there was luckily nobody inside and nobody nearby was injured.

Calls flooded in from neighbors upon hearing the loud explosions. This was not a common occurrence on Cape Cod in the 1970s. The fire was so intense that there was not much the Harwich Fire Department could do upon arrival. Even as neighboring fire departments arrived it was difficult to get the blaze under control.

Immediately the circumstances surrounding the fire made it appear suspicious. Investigators noted there were no combustible materials stored in the building. The explosions and overall ferocity of the fire made arson the main theory.

Shortly after the fire Fusco and everyone associated with the Cinema Lounge were cleared of any involvement. Arson investigators suspected the fire was set by a professional. Someone entered the premises unbeknownst to the owners and placed the explosives that destroyed the building. It was referred to as ‘revenge arson.’ But who wanted revenge?

Who was behind the 'revenge arson' of the Cinema Lounge?(Bing AI)

Although a suspect was never officially named authorities stated that they knew exactly who it was. He was purported to be an underworld journeyman criminal. This suspect was connected to other horrific crimes like more arson and even murder. However, he would never be brought to justice. Only a short while after being suspected in the Cinema Lounge fire the man was himself murdered.

The question does still remain though. If it was ‘revenge arson’ who wanted revenge on Cinema Lounge and Robert Fusco?

In the aftermath of the destruction of the Cinema Lounge Fusco sold the land and moved on. This included a stint managing the Compass Lounge in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts.

The property remained vacant for years. At one point in 1984 chatter got loud about Burger King buying the property but it was shouted down by locals.

In a final surreal irony in March 1987 Lillian Dowd’s home on the eastern edge of the property was gutted by fire. Dowd had a cooking accident but still, it was yet another fire on that property. Cursed is a strong word but it is at least a series of interesting circumstances.

Where Sitzmark II/Cinema Lounge once stood in West Harwich.

Today the property on the Dennis/Harwich line is nondescript. It is home to the Harwich Antiques Center as well as a strip mall with a Domino’s Pizza. Virtually nothing remains of that short time when Robert Fusco ran the Sitzmark II and then Cinema Lounge.

The story when read sounds like something out of a movie. Multiple fires, battles with the town, and a final explosive fire set by an underworld criminal. No, it was not Hollywood, it was Cape Cod in the 1970s.