Toronto’s streets are littered with remains of old cinemas
Former theatres dot the city: some are in disrepair, others are converted and thrive as new businesses
A nondescript, weather-worn building stands at the corner of Dundas and Spadina Sts. — appearances aside, it has a colourful history likely unknown to thousands of people who pass through the bustling intersection every day.
Beneath its current retail iteration is a storied past as a multi-faceted entertainment hub. In 1921, it was a Yiddish theatre, then a movie house. Fast-forward to after the Second World War, when live burlesque performances by women with stage names such as “Cup Cakes Cassidy” or “Bazoom Girl” were featured at the Victory Theatre.
This isn’t an isolated example: fanned out across Toronto are former cinemas. Some still stand; others have been demolished. But each shared the same purpose of uniting communities, said Doug Taylor, who literally wrote the book about movie-house history in Toronto.
“People lived where they could walk to church or the movie theatre,” he said. “It was the social centre. You met your neighbours there. You met other kids from school.”
When Taylor, 80, was growing up in 1940s Toronto, he said there were about 180 theatres. He’s chronicled about 120 between his two books and blog, including the ones that have been wiped out.
His work is a culmination of sleuthing through city and provincial archives.
“They proliferated right across the city,” he said, adding that the major theatres were located along Yonge St. “The big divide,” as he called the strip.
If you look hard enough, the facades of these relics are still detectible. Some don’t require a trained eye, however, as the odd marquee continues to jut out over sidewalks.
Some former theatres have been converted into variety or grocery stores, or, closer to prior usages, event venues.
The Opera House, a 28-year-old family-run business showcasing music concerts and other events, has many original interior features that date back to 1905 when vaudeville was performed at La Plaza Theatre, said general manager Athena Ellinas-Towers. Later, in the 1930s, she continued, it was turned into a cinema.
The proscenium arch, windows that flank the stage and stained-glass windows beneath the balcony are all original, she said.
The orchestra pit is still in front of the stage and an upper level room, facing Queen St. E., contains two hulking cast-iron film projectors.
“We’ve tried any way possible to preserve the beauty of the building,” she said.
Architecture signals cultural shifts, Taylor said. Theatres constructed in the 1930s were typically austere because of the depression, for example, whereas the ones that cropped up in 1950s suburbia were squat, “ranch-style bungalows.”
On the corner of Roncesvalles and Galley Aves. is an old picture house that’s been turned into a variety store. Although in rough shape, a marquee still hangs overhead. And on Queen St., in Parkdale, another former movie theatre stands, the most recent business venture having vacated the premises.
Although the Capitol Event Theatre, in Lytton Park, has been renovated to host private functions such as weddings and corporate parties, the facade incorporates the classic theatre esthetic, hearkening back to 1918 when the Capitol Theatre opened its doors. It was retrofitted in the 1930s for films.
During recent renovations at Lula Lounge, a world music venue on Dundas St. W., layers of the building’s silver screen days were unearthed. The Brock Theatre opened its doors in 1936.
“It was like an archeological site,” general manger Vas Cranis said. “Tile upon tile, some nice stucco. You can’t get these bones.”
Taylor has written about all of these spaces. Part of the impetus behind his work was the threat of these buildings being forgotten about or underappreciated.
“So much of the information has been lost and I didn’t want my memories to be lost, as well,” he said. “Each generation has things that they relate to, that create great memories. Slowly over the years, most of those things disappear. They stimulate a lot of memories. It’s nostalgic.”