Roxy Theatre
1215 Danforth Avenue,
Toronto,
ON
M4M 1J7
1215 Danforth Avenue,
Toronto,
ON
M4M 1J7
2 people
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Full chronological history in below link.
https://tayloronhistory.com/2014/01/30/torontos-old-movie-theatresthe-allenby-roxy-apollo-on-the-danforth/
The Roxy’s auditorium was definitely demolished, only the lobby area and the restored exterior remain.
As far as I understand it, the Allenby/Roxy Theatre has been retooled as an Tim Horton’s and an extension of ESSO as of 2014.
The “Demolished” section should be removed.
How sad that it’s a Tim Horton’s now.
During the time that I ran this theatre (mid 70’s to mid 80’s) the Roxy had approximately 680 seats. We had to reduce the seating capacity somewhat when we renovated the auditorium to make room for a much larger screen.
in the early 80’s i went there every friday night to watch Led Zeppelin’s “The song remains the same” i think saturday night was pink floyd the wall, sunday was, rocky horror picture show, monday was “black and Blue (sabbath and b.o.c. thursday was Spinal tap. my days may be mixed up but let me tell you… i took the don mills bus from york mills… to pape station then got on subway to greenwood station. before i could exit the station i had already encountered 3-5 lsd dealers. i was 15 at the time and boy oh boy that place was a rockers paradise. they even let everyone smoke in there. I will never forget the roxy. im 43 now and i still havent found anything that even remotely compares to the fun i had there. all hail the ROXY
Here’s a great shot of the Allenby’s lobby from from 1936, showing Boris Karloff in “The Walking Dead.”
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……
There is a picture of the Roxy’s lobby from the 1940s on this blog page (scroll down to see it): View link
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.
I used to go here when it was the Roxy. I saw the Rocky Horror, The Warriors and The Song Remains the Same way too many times here. The midnight showings were awesome. Too bad this place is on the endangered list. Never went when it was called the Hollywood. It’s nice to see that the place wasn’t totally wrecked when it shut down. Here are some interior shots that someone has taken.
View link
Here is another photo of the Roxy:
http://tinyurl.com/242aqm
Opened as the Allenby Theatre and is listed under that name in the 1943 edition of Film Daily Yearbook with a seating capacity of 770/
The Roxy is now closed (2006) and the building for rent or sale. For many years it only screened the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Recent photos of the Roxy and other Toronto area cinemas can be seen at this link:
http://globecontact.com/photoessay/cinemas.htm
It is amazing how many theatres are named ROXY in imitation of the once famous name of the New York City panjandrum of the movie palace: Samual Lionel Rothapfel = “Roxy”. His namesake was the famous ROXY THEATRE in NYC, which outlasted him by only 25 years when it was demolished in 1960. The whole story is in that landmark book “The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace” by the late Ben M. Hall in 1961. Various editions of it are sometimes available from www.Amazon.com, but only the first edition contains the color plates.