Roxy Theatre
1215 Danforth Avenue,
Toronto,
ON
M4M 1J7
1215 Danforth Avenue,
Toronto,
ON
M4M 1J7
2 people
favorited this theater
The Allenby Theatre opened in 1940. It was demolished in Autumn 2009.
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Toronto Heritage Properties Inventory 1213 DANFORTH AVE
Allenby Theatre; 1935, Kaplan and Sprachman, LATER KNOWN AS the Roxy Theatre -adopted by City Council on Jan. 28 & Feb. 1, 1985; DESIGNATION BY-LAW ENACTED BY CITY COUNCIL on Feb. 6, 2007.
Here is a recent photo.
1982 photo of the Roxy Theatre
View link
Here is another 1982 photo.
This is a 2009 photo.
Ah, the Roxy….I had a lot of history with this one. John Wayne and other western double bills with my dad in the late ‘60s and early '70s; cult film double/triple bills on Sunday afternoons (my favorite of these being 'The Kids Are Alright,’ (cranked WAAAAy up) ‘Rock 'n’ Roll High School,‘ and 'The Magic Christian’) in the late ‘70s and early '80s. I also remember a double bill of 'Raging Bull’ and ‘Taxi Driver’ that had me so pumped with venom I was ready to murder the first passerby when I emerged at midnight…and on and on.
There is no way sitting in a bland box with stadium seating and great sound and picture can compare to the experience of reps….cinemas have lost their soul.
Sadly, the status needs to be changed to ‘CLOSED/DEMOLISHED;’ it was bulldozed in the autumn of ‘09.
There is a picture of the Roxy’s lobby from the 1940s on this blog page (scroll down to see it): View link
Swung by the Roxy site late last week and the conversion of it into an esso station is almost complete. They did a great job with the facing which was the part of the building that had been designated as a historical site and putting the marquee up with the original name of Allenby on it. Would have been even better though if they endorsed it as completely heritage and reopened as a rep house but cest la vie……
Here’s a great shot of the Allenby’s lobby from from 1936, showing Boris Karloff in “The Walking Dead.”
The 6 photos of the Roxy were taken in 1977 not long after the theatre was renovated. Contrary to recent press coverage, we didn’t only show the Rocky Horror Picture Show. For 5 days each week (Sunday to Thursday) we screened a mixture of classics, cult films, rock movies and standard 2nd run Hollywood fare. A note of interest: one of our Rocky Horror anniversary screenings generated more press and TV news coverage than 20th Century-Fox’s opening weekend of the Empire Strikes Back. They were not amused. Don’t know why… they owned both movies.