The lost movie theatres of Toronto

You should do a feature on theatres that are still standing, although possibly repurposed.

I miss the University, the Eglinton and not mentioned, the Capitol up on Yonge & Castlefield.

Imagine if the Odeon was still around but with a much bigger screen and keeping those curtains? It would have brought so class to see a movie, unlike those cookie cutter box theatres... It's a shame the Art Deco style gets quashed in this town.

You forgot to mention Mies' Movie House in the TD Centre http://www.canadianarchitect.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000205396

Fairlawn at Yonge & Lawrence, survived into early 1980s
http://wholemap.com/historic/toronto.php?neighborhood=Bedford%20Park

Two more:
1. Runnymede Theatre (now Chapters) at Runnymede & Bloor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runnymede_Theatre)
2. Humber Odeon (now condo?) at Jane & Bloor

Awesome seeing some of these pictures! I'm too young to remember many of them but I really dig seeing old pictures like this before theaters went the Silvercity-bigbox route.

I agree with "have a cigar" above about doing a feature on current theaters - there's something very cool about many of the old independent spots around town. I still see a movie at the Regent or Mt. Pleasant whenever I can.

The Cineplex shot is in the early to mid 80's by the time the 90's came around it was a filthy dive, as they added more screens, chopped up the bigger rooms into smaller ones to add more.

The Bluebell was at Dundas and Parliament in the 40's.
The Eclipse I believe was on Parliament too but not sure where.

Richard at Muddy York Tours recently did a great review of the past theatres in Toronto:

http://torontothenandnow.blogspot.com/2011/02/17-cinemas-scandals-then-and-now-part.html

http://torontothenandnow.blogspot.com/2011/02/18-cinemas-scandals-then-and-now-part.html

For a comprehensive pictoral history of Toronto’s old movie theatres by neighborhood, check out John Seward’s The “Nabes”: Toronto’s Wonderful Neighborhood Movie Houses (2001). In addition to covering movie houses standing, demolished and re-purposed, this study includes comments on the experience of movie-going when every neighborhood had a theatre from Norman Jewison and other Toronto notables. Now out of print, we can be thankful that the Toronto Public Library system has seventeen copies in its holdings.

"The Nabes" used to be a big seller at The World's Biggest Bookstore (multimedia section)... maybe they still have some in stock?

The Humber cinema (formerly of Odeon fame) at Bloor & Jane is currently undergoing renovation BACK into a movie theatre. Don't know yet if it will really open as such.

What was the cinema that used to be on Roncesvalles at Galley Ave? (About eight blocks south of the Revue). It's been a convenience store for at least twenty years, but it was always my favourite store because the floors are slanted down away from the entrance and it has a huge back wall that clearly used to be a screen. I have no idea how long since it was a cinema.

Glad we still have some great rep cinemas going strong!

I grew up in Toronto's west end during the 50's & 60's. That was a time when most kids I knew could be found at the Saturday afternoon matinee at the neighbourhood movie theater. They were plentiful in those days and you usually
had 2 or 3 within walking distance. Here are the ones I attended regularly over the years and therefore the ones I remember most fondly.

The Odeon

This was an independent on Queen W. about a block west of Lansdowne on the south side. Saw all of the "Beach" movies there, as well as "A Hard Day's Night".

The Parkdale

South side of Queen W. just east of Roncesvalles. Magnificent interior for a neighbourhood theater. Saw "Shaggy Dog" and "Absent Minded Professor (Flubber)" here with my entire family...including grandparents. How corny is that?!

The Kum-C

On Queen W. between Dunn & Dufferin on the north side. A real dump in the early 60's. I seem to remember them showing a lot of Elvis double-bills.

The Pix

On the south-east corner of Dundas & Ossington. A bit of
a hole-in-the-wall.

The Gem

On the south side of Dundas W. about 2 or 3 blocks west of Dufferin. What a classic! Used to show 6 sci-fi or 6 westerns or 6 pirate movies on Saturday. Admission for kids was a nickel and they gave you a free comic-book on the way
in. Still can't figure out how they could do that.

The Lansdowne

On Lansdowne just north of Bloor on the east side. Saw "Old Yeller" there among many others. Also obscurely famous for being the location where CHCH TV in Hamilton televised the Ken Sobel Amateur Hour on Sunday afternoons.

The Academy

On north side of Bloor W. at the corner of St. Clarens Ave. Saw millions of movies here. There was a bowling alley above.

The Adelphi

On the west side of Dovercourt Rd. just north of Hallam. Saw "Bambi", "Dumbo" and "Peter Pan" here as a young child. Has been a mosque for many years now.

The College

On the north-west corner of College & Dovercourt.

The Midtown & Alhambra

These 2 were right across the street from each other near Bloor & Bathurst. My friends & I would walk here from Bloor-Dovercourt on Saturdays when I was about 10. We considered this as going "downtown".

There are several others of course, but these are the ones I attended most. Common to many of these neighbourhood theaters
in those days was the live events they would put on stage between movies. This could be a demonstration of some
product or a draw for a bicycle or some guy doing amazing yo-yo tricks. It's a shame that today's kids don't have these facilities available to them...or the memories that go along with them.

Here's the link for an excellent compendium of Toronto theaters both old & current. Lots of surprises here.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17593666/Toronto-movie-theatres

Paul is right to ask how they made money. Orpheum at Queen and Bathurst gave kids (early '50's) the Sat. matinee 2 features, 1 serial, 1 cartoon and a candy on the way out (the way to clear the seats quickly), all for 5 cents. Chateau across from Dukes Cycle also was a nickel as was the Pickford at Spadina & Queen, if my memory serves me. Saw my first 3D with the cardboard glasses at the Chateau and what a thrill for us kids. As teens we moved on to Friday night movies at the Downtown or occasionally the Savoy (Yonge & Gerrard). First run Blockbusters were usually seen at the University (Sound of Music/Ben Hur), Odeon Carlton, Imperial, Shea's and Tivoli. It was a way of life and great places to make out with your current squeeze.

accessabilty had a big part in the closing of the eglintiom, famous players (which is ironically owned by cineplex now) was too cheap to bring it up to code, i only saw one movie there, one of the mission impossable movie with my school, its too bad its not a movie theatre anymore, it was a beatifull theatre, unlike the generic megaplexs that killed it (and other theatres like it)

Interesting thing about the Broadway in that photo above is that *it*, in the mid-60s, was already billing itself as an adult cinema...

There was the GRANT THEATRE on Oakwood Ave at Vaughan Rd. They had Cowboy movies on Saturday mornings. Also we had the COLONY THEATRE on Eglinton Ave. At Dufferin St.

Small (and minor) correction to your caption accompanying the photo of the Odeon at Yonge & Carleton Derek; The New Centurions was released in 1972.

The photo of the Uptown was taken in 1970 (to be precise), per the films on the marquee.

I am currently writing a piece to coincide with the UK Blu-ray release of Apocalypse Now on Monday (June 13th) for UK blog heyuguys. Does anyone have or know where I might find a picture of the University theatre exterior when Apocalypse Now was playing there in its initial 3 city run?

anyone recall the Kent theatre?
it was on the north side of Bloor near Dovercourt.

Gary was the Empire across from
St. Paul's? Did you go there to school?

I believe that was The Bristol (now a convenience store, I believe...).

Sorry, Yonge at St. Clair.

My favorite was the short lived Toronto-Dominion Centre theatre in what is now the Path. The theatre was in the International style as was the rest of Mies van der Rohe's vision, long lost now.

Miss the Uptown, so, so much.

What happened to that theatre in the lobby of the Bay at Yonge and Bloor? The Plaza? Has that just been sealed up forever?

My mother would let us go to the Uptown and the Hollywood, but not the Coronet at Yonge and Gerrard. I never knew why, and it always had a cachet because of that...
Had a memorable first date at the Rio in the early 80s...saw Motel Hell and a cat ran around the seats. Also, what about Cinecity at Yonge and Charles, where I saw And Now for Something Completely Different and smelled hash for the first time?

Hi Sarah,

My father and grandfather were projectionists in Toronto theatres (The park, The Casino,The Ace) as far back as the 1930's.
Who was your grandfather who managed the College?
Do you have any photos, know any other people who might have relatives who were in "the business"?

Laurence ljsiegel@sympatico.ca

Odeon Hyland
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&;txtSearch=Odeon&catpageindex=5&ProductID=36833

Hollywood, Fairlawn and others...
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&;txtSearch=toronto&catpagesize=25&ProductID=36823

http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0012592.jpg
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0012593.jpg
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0012594.jpg

http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/on-line-exhibits/theatres/theatres/hollywood-toronto.aspx

http://movie-theatre.org/canada/on/ON%20Toronto.pdf

The University wasn't really re-purposed, the auditorium and north end of the lobby was demolished, only the front facade remained which eventually had to be dismantled, repaired, cleaned and then reassembled. The Pottery Barn in behind is all new construction.

I'm 47, grew up in Scarbough and lived at cinemas from when I was about 13. My favorate theatres of my time: The University, Eglinton (I worked there in the early 80's... Raiders of the Lost Ark for 6 months straight 4 times a day!), The Fairlawn (much nicer before they split it up into two cinemas around 1975 + it had the best [loudest!] Sensurround sound system), The Cinema, The Yonge (late 70's it was renamed The Elgin) which played great double bills in the 70's & early 80's before it's life as a movie theatre ended, The Uptown & The Roxy on the Danforth which showed amazingly weird films (+Rocky Horror on weekends of course) & it had a giant screen and the loudest sound system in the city. Other favorate cinemas, The Biltmore, The Rio (but it was dirty and very sketchy there but 3 or 4 movies made it well worth it!), The Coronet (when it went independent/grindhouse in around 1977-78 when Odeon dropped it and they stopped showing adult films), The Imperial Six (I was never in there before they split it up), The New Yorker (later The Showcase, today it's the Panasonic on Yonge south of Bloor), The International (they played great films when I was discovering foreign/independent film), The Hyland (cinema #1), The Plaza (cinema #1), The Towne & The York (cinema #1). I also went to my local theatres in Scarbough when I was young, the Elaine, The Bijou, Cedarbrae & The Fox. Later in life I saw a lot of the theatres in the west end but I didn't frequent them except The Bloor (post porn-house) and Kingsway which also had great programming.
Today, the best older cinemas left are The Bloor (great renovation they just did in there!), The Regent has a nice big screen and dynamite sound and The Royal on College West has a good size screen and amazing sound.
I avoid the gigaplexes whenever I can, but living downtown for the last 27 years I have come to like the Varsity as it's calm, the audiences are well behaved plus it's a 5 minute walk from home! The AMC Yonge-Dundas have good cinemas too and I like seeing movies at the IMAX cinema at Scotiabank cinemas, it has a great screen and in my opinion, the best cinema sound system in Toronto (it used to be Uptown 1).
Finally, two long gone cinemas that I still have memories of: seeing 2001 at the Glendale when I was really young and bored! (very vague memory) and seeing The Poseidon Adventure at the Odeon Carlton which I remember well.

Wonderful collection. Thank you for your time and dedication. It took me through a very pleasant trip down Memory Lane - my husband and I spend evey Saturday prowling the movie theatres of Toronto - I loved seeing the University; Nortown; Carlton (with the rising organ) and all the old theatres on Yonge Street (the 70's were very good for movies).
I wish to add to your collection a couple of names: the PALACE at Pape and Danforth; the ALLENBY at Greenwood and Danforth - and a hidden childhood gem the BONITA at Jones and Gerrard - 10 cents to get in in the 1960's.
I just love your stuff, all the best.

The Vaughan Theatre, on St Clair Ave just west of Vaughan Rd, spent many a happy Saturday afternoon in the Vaughan. In the 1950`s - 60`s.

http://earlhaig50s.com/images/Willow%20Theatre,%20Willowdale.jpg

If you want to do more research look through the Toronto Directory on line. Look under Theatres. You will see names and addresses of theatres from the early days. I mean 1912 to 1922. I found one, The Maple Leaf Theatre. 94-96 Queen and in Mount Dennis, 1006 Weston Rd. No one remembered it. And the building still stands.

I'm surprised there are no photos of the Willow. That photo of the Eaton Centre Cinemas is definitely not the 90's - late 70's or early 80's at best. Definitely not even late 80's.

Bill, how about the Radio City near the TTC loop or the Christie on St Clair or the St Clair near dufferin or the Oakwood just north of St Clair and the small one on Spadina in Forest Hill village. Durango Kid was our favorite.

i don't think it's the Willow. It had artist's palettes as its motif.

it is so great to see photos of theatres that are long gone, and at 75 I remember most of them vividly

Clair Sedore
world-theatres.com