Plaza Cinema 405 High Street, Northcote, VIC

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Plaza Cinema 405 High Street, Northcote, VIC

Photo:NATIONAL FILM AND SOUND ARCHIVE OF AUSTRALIA

The design of The Plaza Theatre was modelled on the streamline Art Deco style of the Depression era. It was hailed as a sign of improving economic times when it opened in 1934 at number 403 High Street in the heart of Northcote’s shopping strip. The building utilised the old Northcote Market site remodelling it into a modern functional cinema. It was the height of the Hollywood movie craze with talkies revitalising an industry that like every other, was hit hard by the Great Depression. Many of the large lavish theatres were still under construction when the U.S. stock market crashed in 1929 and they subsequently went broke even before opening but people needed entertainment to distract them from economic hard times and the more modest suburban cinemas survived - Contributed by Greg Lynch -