The Regent is right in my neighborhood. I used to walk by this place, countless times, not knowing this used to be a theater. For many years it was a Jehovah’s Witness meeting hall. The main entrance was in the center, but the storefronts on either side were completely covered over. In the entrance way, the name REGENT was spelled out in red mosaic/tile (on white). When Locke Street was redone and repaved, the elevation of the sidewalk was altered and the tiled area was covered with concrete to even the surface with the sidewalk.
The Jehovah’s Witness group had levelled the floor with a wooden structure, with the raked floor still underneath. A drop ceiling was also installed.
After the JW left, the building was used by an antique business. When the building was sold, the owners uncovered the two store fronts (as seen in the Google street view). During the alteration, some of the original theater display windows and the tiled entrance were uncovered. The Regent tiled entrance my still existed under the current surfacing.
I remember we would go to see the James Bond doubles here. The theater was amazing and the marquee was the biggest and best in the city (the Tivoli, second), with neon and chaser lights.
During the demolition, the workers let me look around the building. I went downtown after school. I was in there two times, at least. Once, I got signs, ‘foodstuff’ licences and a large blueprint of the seating plan. You had to enter the building on King William Street, through the exit door, to the left of the stage. Someone had removed a section of decorative plaster (2 ft, square), and it was cracked and it was just leaning against the wall near the exit. I asked if I could have it—they said yes—and I’ve still got it. Right place, right time. It’s a plaster-relief; a decorative boarder at the top and bottom, two half-human/half-animal figures sitting back-to-back, with a pedistal between them. You can see the renovation paint job on portions of the piece. I remember carrying it out, and there was a phone booth at King William and Catharine. I called my Dad to pick me up in the car. We cut an old piece of carpet, and it layed on it, under my bed for a couple years until I built a frame for it in wood shop. I don’t know if it’s from the auditorium, or lobby or what.
This reminds me of the movie called “Rosie!” (Universal, c. 1967—never on video). Rosalind Russell plays Rosie. She has money and her kids/heirs can’t wait to get their hands on it. Sandra Dee is her grand-daughter (I think—I saw it 30+ years ago). She’s the only one that “gets” her. Anyway, Rosie decides to buy this old theater—for $2.5 million. She explains to Dee that they were going to tear it down. She couldn’t let that happen, because this was where her late husband proposed to her. And she says: “They were going to tear it down and turn it into a parking lot. Progress. WHAT THE HELL IS SO PROGRESSIVE ABOUT A PARKING LOT?!” Scene.
The auditorium was built on the north side of the alleyway, on the King William Street land. Both the auditorium and entrance building were demolished. The building on King Street is an entirely new structure, and now houses the Sushi Star restaurant. The auditorium is a parking lot. That’s right…they paved paradise, put up a parking lot…everybody sing!
If you go to the Century listing, turn the Google street view across the street, and you will see the parking lot where the Palace auditorium once stood. The main theater entrance was on King Street. Like the Capitol, the building basically housed the ramped hallway entrance, which rose from street level, up to and over the alleyway and into the main theater building. An archive photo shows the entrance facade and marquee. Another is a shot from the lobby and down the entrance hallway. The box office is in the middle, with daylight through the doors on either side.
This theater is one of the city’s biggest and saddest losses. It was once considered to be the civic auditorium/theater, but they opted to build Hamilton Place instead. Idiots. HP is an architectural eyesore.
You can see in the archive photos just how amazing this place was. If you’ve seen the Pantages/Canon in Toronto, the Pantages/Palace was very close in size and design. And “Palace” was a very fitting and descriptive name.
I have a recollection of going to see “The Poseidon Adventure” here. After the show, walking to the bus stop, we walked up the alleyway behind King Street from Mary Street, and they were still demolishing the Palace Theatre…
The building still looks the same as is does in the Google street view. Same use as well.
I remember when the Odeon One & Two first opened. There was an open house and they showed previews. The Odeon One auditorium was on the ground level, straight ahead from the main entrance. Odeon Two, was “upstairs” on the second level. But no stairs. There were two ramps to walk up. From the entrance, you immediately went left and up the ramp (left/east) to the landing, then changed direction up the next ramp (right/west) to the second level and the Odeon Two auditorium.
One opening movie was “Live and Let Die”, I think. It was easy to sneak into the other show…go to the bathroom first, then into the other one. They didn’t check tickets (unless it was busy or sold out) or stagger the start times. Double feature!
When I a kid, I remember my brother and I saw “Munster, Go Home” and “Out of Sight” on a double. Kids everywhere and a lot of them sitting in the aisles.
This theatre originally showed B-movies. When Odeon took over management, they showed lesser Universal films, usually on double bills. After, they showed second-run doubles of movies that had just played at the big houses (good stuff). Later, there were first-run movies like “Conan the Barbarian” and the two features
in ‘Sensuround’, “Earthquake” and “Rollercoaster”.
It was not a very good theater. The auditorium was not very deep (look at the side of the building on Google)
and the projection room was very high. Because of the high angle, the image was distorted (the sides of the picture were angled and masked). An actor or object at either edge of the picture, were on an angle, but straightened out as they got closer to the center of the screen. I think I’ve read elsewhere, that this is called ‘keystoning’. The screen was high on the wall, so if you sat on the floor, in the rear rows, you saw the bottom edge of the balcony at the top of the screen.
See a vintage photo of the Hyland as part of John Sebert’s “Glamorous Ghosts” at: www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid.
The building still looks the same as the Google street view above. The same business is still there. There is a window display, in the building to the right, offering vintage 1940’s theater seats from the Roxy/Hyland (for $100.).
The street-level facade is the original Roxy design. The terrazzo in the entrance has the letter “R” for Roxy. The vent below the display windows has a metal grill that has an “R” (for you-know-what), as well.
The tiles on the facade are off-white, with a burgandy ‘veining’. This same tiling was on the State/Towne and the Playhouse. It has been removed from the latter two theaters, within the last year or so. I believe the Towne had grey ‘veining’ (is this a woid?) instead of burgandy.
See an exterior photo of the Empire, as part of John Sebert’s “Glamorous Ghosts” at: www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid. This was the first time I had seen a shot of this place. Comparing the photo and the street view, you can see the upper windows are gone and the railing (or decoration?) has been added to the roof edge.
I went to a yard sale in this neighborhood, and I got talking to a guy selling there, and I mentioned the Empire and he told me that the projection equipment was still in the building. It’s possible that it was too cumbersome to remove or was kept as a ‘novelty’. I don’t know if this is true, I’ve never checked…
Originally, the Jackson Square Cinemas was only two theaters (1 & 2). They are still great places to see a movie…large auditoriums and great screens. The added theaters are a lot smaller, like a typical multplex.
I saw a lot of movies there, during the late 1970’s and 1980’s. And two-for-one movies: it was easy to sneak into the other movie. Just go to the bathroom and walk right in to the other show. They didn’t stagger the start times (but if the movie ran over two hours, then forget it). Kirk Douglas appeared here, to promote
“Scalawag” on the opening Friday (never saw Kirk in the can).
For a picture of the Delta Theatre, as a theatre, see
John Sebert’s “Glamorous Ghosts” at: www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid.
I attended a number of movies there when it was the 99-cent Delta. You could smoke in theaters in those days. The air would be thick with smoke (and I don’t mean regular tobacco). The Delta was a beautiful theater, and must have been amazing in its ‘hey day’. It was elegant and ornate and had a domed ceiling. I remember clouds and angels…and two marquees!
First of all, mortonbg’s 2009 comment is incorrect. Pizza Pizza is in the building at the extreme eastern end of the delta (formerly a drug store). The Delta
Theatre building is separate from the Pizza Pizza store—the former bank building separates the two. The Delta lobby is a store, with entrances on either side. It is currently for lease. You can see on the Google street view where the former theater entrance was and where Pizza Pizza still is. Phoenix no longer has a connection with the apartments and the sign has been removed.
If you look to the ground, at the converted store doorway, you can see part of the original tiled floor of the theater entrance. The same can be seen on the opposite side of the delta (the theater had two entrances and the converted store front has the same).
For a great 1940’s photo of the Century exterior, see John Sebert’s “Glamorous Ghosts” at: www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid. I’d hadn’t seen this photo before. During the demolition, I got one of the wall anchors that the chain, that supported the horizontal canopy, was attached to.
I saw “Mary Poppins” at the Century. First-run in l964. I remember there being a balcony, then and the line-up to get in went around the block. “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” was a long, long time ago…
It was a great theater to see a movie: big auditorium, big screen. “The Sound of Music” played for over a year (didn’t see it then). Later I saw “Yentl”, “The Exorcist”, “Rocky”, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”(pre-cult) and “Gone With the Wind” (for the first time, one of ’M-G-M’s Fabulous Four').
It was pathetic to see them tear this place down. I took a lot of pictures and video every day. And I got a lot of bricks and concrete pieces.
I remember…ah, the good old days. I remember when the twin cinemas opened here—the first twin theaters in the city. They were call the Centre Twin Cinemas, and the auditoriums were named EAST and WEST (they faced south). They were run by NGC (National General Cinemas?).
They were both great theaters, and pretty big. I remember skipping school to see “The Godfather” at a Wednesday matinee…too busy at night. And “Blazing Saddles” ran for over a year! Kids, them was the days when a movie didn’t open on two thousand screens across North America. Then “Jaws” came out the next year and changed all that! Right? I saw “Star Wars” there, too.
The parking lot seen in the Google street view, is where the Capitol auditorium once stood. It was huge! And about four-stories high.
I went to the Capitol, during the demolition, after school. The workers let me look around the building once (I guess we were less litigious, in those days). I got poster frames, coming soon signs, reels, a boiler licence and a mimeographed seating plan, among other things.
This was a beautiful place. It had a domed ceiling and I remember a mural over the procenium. I used to love going there and looking around. In its last year, I saw a double feature of “King Kong” (with added censored scenes) and “Mighty Joe Young”. I went by myself on a Saturday afternoon. There were, maybe, a total of ten people in an auditorium that held over two thousand patrons.
The Capitol was run as an independant, in the last couple of years. I remember they had successful runs of “Point Blank”, with Lee Marvin and “The Stewardesses” in 3D…
You can see the original facade of the Capitol entrance building on the Google street view. It still looks like this as of April 2012, minus the “for sale” sign. It was purchased over a year ago, but nothing has happened to it since.
This building was just the entrance to the main theater, which was built on the King William Street side of the alleyway. The interior of the entrance building was basically a “ramped” walkway, that graduated from the street level box office, over the alleyway and connected to the lobby of the auditorium building. This was typical of a lot of theaters: the Hamilton Pantages/ Palace, the Toronto Pantages and the Tivoli in Hamilton (the latter entrance way was not “ramped”). They built the small entrance buildings on the expensive main steet land and built the larger auditoriums on the cheaper property on the next block. You can see the rear of the building on the Google street view (the word “GRAPES” is visible on the back wall for Grapes and Things, a former
tenant).
The second archive photo is of the lobby, looking towards and down the entrance (that’s sunlight down there!).
The name of the business occupying the Avon is Twins Floor and Wall Decor. A note on the door states “by appointment”. I visited here in January 2010, and then the owner said he wanted $500,000 for the place. He’s still there.
For more on this and other Hamilton theaters, see “Glamorous Ghosts”, an article by John Sebert in Hamilton Magazine. www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid. There are some great photos I had never seen before.
The Avon still looks the same inside as it does in the lovesickphoto 2007 pictures. The interior is probably most of the original Avalon design. Some Avalon exterior detail still exists. The vertical line (relief) on the left side is the same (minus the air vent above the display window), as is the exposed upper brick work. Immediately under the marquee, the pink-colored tile dates back to 1941, with the “A” for Avalon. The terrazzo, from the sidewalk to the entrance doors is still there. A portion of it (to the left) was
covered or removed with the addition of the windows. If you look at the 1966 and 1982 photos, most of the exterior is the Avalon original (except for the Avon marquee).
The Avalon was renamed the Avon prior to l966 (see 1966 archive photo, and the film showing is “The Trouble With Angels”). The theatre may have been taken over by Famous Players or 20th Century in 1969.
It was more of a neighborhood theatre originally, but later was a first-run house. “…Virginia Woolf?”, “Love Story”, “A Clockwork Orange”, “A Star Is Born”…just a few that played there.
There is not much information about the Strand. It was a major first-run movie theater for a number of years. I remember seeing “Born Free” (‘66) here, and I recall it being an older theater and having a large marquee.
I recall it being renovated in the late 1960’s, with new signs on the facade. I remember “Rosemary’s Baby” ('68) playing there and “On A Clear Day…” ('70). I seem to remember it closed in the early 1970’s.
The 2004 comment by mrcinema is incorrect. The York on York Street was closed and/or demolished by the late l960’s.
The Mountain Theatre on Concession Street was renamed the York in the early 1980’s. It was named the York when it closed c.1985.
It was vacant, for a time, then used as retail (used sports equipment) before a started conversion to medical offices was abandoned. Later it was called The Movie Palace…
The theater opened in l940, as the York. So the “China Cinema in 1945” is incorrect. If a Chinatown area existed on York Street, I do not recall this. I think the York closed in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s (a victim of television, I’m assuming). I will have to do some research on this theater. There is not a lot written about it. I have only seen one picture of this place. I don’t know how long the building existed after it closed as a theater.
This theater was not called York Cinema. Just York. The York Theatre.
“The 448-seat theater closed in 1985.” This is incorrect. The theater opened in l940, and had 400 seats. The site of the York (the north side, near Hess) is now the playing/football field of Sir John A. MacDonald School. The school opened in 1970.
The Google street view is wrong. It shows York Road in Dundas. York Street was renamed York Boulevard.
The Regent is right in my neighborhood. I used to walk by this place, countless times, not knowing this used to be a theater. For many years it was a Jehovah’s Witness meeting hall. The main entrance was in the center, but the storefronts on either side were completely covered over. In the entrance way, the name REGENT was spelled out in red mosaic/tile (on white). When Locke Street was redone and repaved, the elevation of the sidewalk was altered and the tiled area was covered with concrete to even the surface with the sidewalk.
The Jehovah’s Witness group had levelled the floor with a wooden structure, with the raked floor still underneath. A drop ceiling was also installed. After the JW left, the building was used by an antique business. When the building was sold, the owners uncovered the two store fronts (as seen in the Google street view). During the alteration, some of the original theater display windows and the tiled entrance were uncovered. The Regent tiled entrance my still existed under the current surfacing.
I remember we would go to see the James Bond doubles here. The theater was amazing and the marquee was the biggest and best in the city (the Tivoli, second), with neon and chaser lights.
During the demolition, the workers let me look around the building. I went downtown after school. I was in there two times, at least. Once, I got signs, ‘foodstuff’ licences and a large blueprint of the seating plan. You had to enter the building on King William Street, through the exit door, to the left of the stage. Someone had removed a section of decorative plaster (2 ft, square), and it was cracked and it was just leaning against the wall near the exit. I asked if I could have it—they said yes—and I’ve still got it. Right place, right time. It’s a plaster-relief; a decorative boarder at the top and bottom, two half-human/half-animal figures sitting back-to-back, with a pedistal between them. You can see the renovation paint job on portions of the piece. I remember carrying it out, and there was a phone booth at King William and Catharine. I called my Dad to pick me up in the car. We cut an old piece of carpet, and it layed on it, under my bed for a couple years until I built a frame for it in wood shop. I don’t know if it’s from the auditorium, or lobby or what.
This reminds me of the movie called “Rosie!” (Universal, c. 1967—never on video). Rosalind Russell plays Rosie. She has money and her kids/heirs can’t wait to get their hands on it. Sandra Dee is her grand-daughter (I think—I saw it 30+ years ago). She’s the only one that “gets” her. Anyway, Rosie decides to buy this old theater—for $2.5 million. She explains to Dee that they were going to tear it down. She couldn’t let that happen, because this was where her late husband proposed to her. And she says: “They were going to tear it down and turn it into a parking lot. Progress. WHAT THE HELL IS SO PROGRESSIVE ABOUT A PARKING LOT?!” Scene.
The auditorium was built on the north side of the alleyway, on the King William Street land. Both the auditorium and entrance building were demolished. The building on King Street is an entirely new structure, and now houses the Sushi Star restaurant. The auditorium is a parking lot. That’s right…they paved paradise, put up a parking lot…everybody sing!
If you go to the Century listing, turn the Google street view across the street, and you will see the parking lot where the Palace auditorium once stood. The main theater entrance was on King Street. Like the Capitol, the building basically housed the ramped hallway entrance, which rose from street level, up to and over the alleyway and into the main theater building. An archive photo shows the entrance facade and marquee. Another is a shot from the lobby and down the entrance hallway. The box office is in the middle, with daylight through the doors on either side.
This theater is one of the city’s biggest and saddest losses. It was once considered to be the civic auditorium/theater, but they opted to build Hamilton Place instead. Idiots. HP is an architectural eyesore. You can see in the archive photos just how amazing this place was. If you’ve seen the Pantages/Canon in Toronto, the Pantages/Palace was very close in size and design. And “Palace” was a very fitting and descriptive name.
I have a recollection of going to see “The Poseidon Adventure” here. After the show, walking to the bus stop, we walked up the alleyway behind King Street from Mary Street, and they were still demolishing the Palace Theatre…
The building still looks the same as is does in the Google street view. Same use as well. I remember when the Odeon One & Two first opened. There was an open house and they showed previews. The Odeon One auditorium was on the ground level, straight ahead from the main entrance. Odeon Two, was “upstairs” on the second level. But no stairs. There were two ramps to walk up. From the entrance, you immediately went left and up the ramp (left/east) to the landing, then changed direction up the next ramp (right/west) to the second level and the Odeon Two auditorium.
One opening movie was “Live and Let Die”, I think. It was easy to sneak into the other show…go to the bathroom first, then into the other one. They didn’t check tickets (unless it was busy or sold out) or stagger the start times. Double feature!
When I a kid, I remember my brother and I saw “Munster, Go Home” and “Out of Sight” on a double. Kids everywhere and a lot of them sitting in the aisles. This theatre originally showed B-movies. When Odeon took over management, they showed lesser Universal films, usually on double bills. After, they showed second-run doubles of movies that had just played at the big houses (good stuff). Later, there were first-run movies like “Conan the Barbarian” and the two features in ‘Sensuround’, “Earthquake” and “Rollercoaster”. It was not a very good theater. The auditorium was not very deep (look at the side of the building on Google) and the projection room was very high. Because of the high angle, the image was distorted (the sides of the picture were angled and masked). An actor or object at either edge of the picture, were on an angle, but straightened out as they got closer to the center of the screen. I think I’ve read elsewhere, that this is called ‘keystoning’. The screen was high on the wall, so if you sat on the floor, in the rear rows, you saw the bottom edge of the balcony at the top of the screen.
See a vintage photo of the Hyland as part of John Sebert’s “Glamorous Ghosts” at: www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid.
The building still looks the same as the Google street view above. The same business is still there. There is a window display, in the building to the right, offering vintage 1940’s theater seats from the Roxy/Hyland (for $100.). The street-level facade is the original Roxy design. The terrazzo in the entrance has the letter “R” for Roxy. The vent below the display windows has a metal grill that has an “R” (for you-know-what), as well. The tiles on the facade are off-white, with a burgandy ‘veining’. This same tiling was on the State/Towne and the Playhouse. It has been removed from the latter two theaters, within the last year or so. I believe the Towne had grey ‘veining’ (is this a woid?) instead of burgandy.
See an exterior photo of the Empire, as part of John Sebert’s “Glamorous Ghosts” at: www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid. This was the first time I had seen a shot of this place. Comparing the photo and the street view, you can see the upper windows are gone and the railing (or decoration?) has been added to the roof edge.
I went to a yard sale in this neighborhood, and I got talking to a guy selling there, and I mentioned the Empire and he told me that the projection equipment was still in the building. It’s possible that it was too cumbersome to remove or was kept as a ‘novelty’. I don’t know if this is true, I’ve never checked…
Originally, the Jackson Square Cinemas was only two theaters (1 & 2). They are still great places to see a movie…large auditoriums and great screens. The added theaters are a lot smaller, like a typical multplex. I saw a lot of movies there, during the late 1970’s and 1980’s. And two-for-one movies: it was easy to sneak into the other movie. Just go to the bathroom and walk right in to the other show. They didn’t stagger the start times (but if the movie ran over two hours, then forget it). Kirk Douglas appeared here, to promote “Scalawag” on the opening Friday (never saw Kirk in the can).
For a picture of the Delta Theatre, as a theatre, see John Sebert’s “Glamorous Ghosts” at: www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid. I attended a number of movies there when it was the 99-cent Delta. You could smoke in theaters in those days. The air would be thick with smoke (and I don’t mean regular tobacco). The Delta was a beautiful theater, and must have been amazing in its ‘hey day’. It was elegant and ornate and had a domed ceiling. I remember clouds and angels…and two marquees!
First of all, mortonbg’s 2009 comment is incorrect. Pizza Pizza is in the building at the extreme eastern end of the delta (formerly a drug store). The Delta Theatre building is separate from the Pizza Pizza store—the former bank building separates the two. The Delta lobby is a store, with entrances on either side. It is currently for lease. You can see on the Google street view where the former theater entrance was and where Pizza Pizza still is. Phoenix no longer has a connection with the apartments and the sign has been removed.
If you look to the ground, at the converted store doorway, you can see part of the original tiled floor of the theater entrance. The same can be seen on the opposite side of the delta (the theater had two entrances and the converted store front has the same).
For a great 1940’s photo of the Century exterior, see John Sebert’s “Glamorous Ghosts” at: www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid. I’d hadn’t seen this photo before. During the demolition, I got one of the wall anchors that the chain, that supported the horizontal canopy, was attached to. I saw “Mary Poppins” at the Century. First-run in l964. I remember there being a balcony, then and the line-up to get in went around the block. “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” was a long, long time ago…
It was a great theater to see a movie: big auditorium, big screen. “The Sound of Music” played for over a year (didn’t see it then). Later I saw “Yentl”, “The Exorcist”, “Rocky”, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”(pre-cult) and “Gone With the Wind” (for the first time, one of ’M-G-M’s Fabulous Four'). It was pathetic to see them tear this place down. I took a lot of pictures and video every day. And I got a lot of bricks and concrete pieces.
I remember…ah, the good old days. I remember when the twin cinemas opened here—the first twin theaters in the city. They were call the Centre Twin Cinemas, and the auditoriums were named EAST and WEST (they faced south). They were run by NGC (National General Cinemas?). They were both great theaters, and pretty big. I remember skipping school to see “The Godfather” at a Wednesday matinee…too busy at night. And “Blazing Saddles” ran for over a year! Kids, them was the days when a movie didn’t open on two thousand screens across North America. Then “Jaws” came out the next year and changed all that! Right? I saw “Star Wars” there, too.
The parking lot seen in the Google street view, is where the Capitol auditorium once stood. It was huge! And about four-stories high. I went to the Capitol, during the demolition, after school. The workers let me look around the building once (I guess we were less litigious, in those days). I got poster frames, coming soon signs, reels, a boiler licence and a mimeographed seating plan, among other things. This was a beautiful place. It had a domed ceiling and I remember a mural over the procenium. I used to love going there and looking around. In its last year, I saw a double feature of “King Kong” (with added censored scenes) and “Mighty Joe Young”. I went by myself on a Saturday afternoon. There were, maybe, a total of ten people in an auditorium that held over two thousand patrons.
The Capitol was run as an independant, in the last couple of years. I remember they had successful runs of “Point Blank”, with Lee Marvin and “The Stewardesses” in 3D…
You can see the original facade of the Capitol entrance building on the Google street view. It still looks like this as of April 2012, minus the “for sale” sign. It was purchased over a year ago, but nothing has happened to it since. This building was just the entrance to the main theater, which was built on the King William Street side of the alleyway. The interior of the entrance building was basically a “ramped” walkway, that graduated from the street level box office, over the alleyway and connected to the lobby of the auditorium building. This was typical of a lot of theaters: the Hamilton Pantages/ Palace, the Toronto Pantages and the Tivoli in Hamilton (the latter entrance way was not “ramped”). They built the small entrance buildings on the expensive main steet land and built the larger auditoriums on the cheaper property on the next block. You can see the rear of the building on the Google street view (the word “GRAPES” is visible on the back wall for Grapes and Things, a former tenant).
The second archive photo is of the lobby, looking towards and down the entrance (that’s sunlight down there!).
The name of the business occupying the Avon is Twins Floor and Wall Decor. A note on the door states “by appointment”. I visited here in January 2010, and then the owner said he wanted $500,000 for the place. He’s still there.
For more on this and other Hamilton theaters, see “Glamorous Ghosts”, an article by John Sebert in Hamilton Magazine. www.hamiltonmagazine.com/sitepages/?aid. There are some great photos I had never seen before.
The Avon still looks the same inside as it does in the lovesickphoto 2007 pictures. The interior is probably most of the original Avalon design. Some Avalon exterior detail still exists. The vertical line (relief) on the left side is the same (minus the air vent above the display window), as is the exposed upper brick work. Immediately under the marquee, the pink-colored tile dates back to 1941, with the “A” for Avalon. The terrazzo, from the sidewalk to the entrance doors is still there. A portion of it (to the left) was covered or removed with the addition of the windows. If you look at the 1966 and 1982 photos, most of the exterior is the Avalon original (except for the Avon marquee).
The Avalon was renamed the Avon prior to l966 (see 1966 archive photo, and the film showing is “The Trouble With Angels”). The theatre may have been taken over by Famous Players or 20th Century in 1969.
It was more of a neighborhood theatre originally, but later was a first-run house. “…Virginia Woolf?”, “Love Story”, “A Clockwork Orange”, “A Star Is Born”…just a few that played there.
There is not much information about the Strand. It was a major first-run movie theater for a number of years. I remember seeing “Born Free” (‘66) here, and I recall it being an older theater and having a large marquee.
I recall it being renovated in the late 1960’s, with new signs on the facade. I remember “Rosemary’s Baby” ('68) playing there and “On A Clear Day…” ('70). I seem to remember it closed in the early 1970’s.
The 2004 comment by mrcinema is incorrect. The York on York Street was closed and/or demolished by the late l960’s. The Mountain Theatre on Concession Street was renamed the York in the early 1980’s. It was named the York when it closed c.1985. It was vacant, for a time, then used as retail (used sports equipment) before a started conversion to medical offices was abandoned. Later it was called The Movie Palace…
The theater opened in l940, as the York. So the “China Cinema in 1945” is incorrect. If a Chinatown area existed on York Street, I do not recall this. I think the York closed in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s (a victim of television, I’m assuming). I will have to do some research on this theater. There is not a lot written about it. I have only seen one picture of this place. I don’t know how long the building existed after it closed as a theater.
This theater was not called York Cinema. Just York. The York Theatre. “The 448-seat theater closed in 1985.” This is incorrect. The theater opened in l940, and had 400 seats. The site of the York (the north side, near Hess) is now the playing/football field of Sir John A. MacDonald School. The school opened in 1970. The Google street view is wrong. It shows York Road in Dundas. York Street was renamed York Boulevard.