Biltmore Theatre
319 Yonge Street,
Toronto,
ON
M5B 1R4
319 Yonge Street,
Toronto,
ON
M5B 1R4
1 person
favorited this theater
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The space that was the Biltmore is now part of the Dundas Square massive shopping complex, which includes the Cineplex of Yonge/Dundas, a Winners store, Dollarama, Jack Astors amongst others. Some stores are on street level as well, so the Lids seems to line up where the Biltmore entrance was
Originally operated by the Okun Bros. Biltmore Theatres chain, the Biltmore was one of two houses the Okuns operated on Yonge Street, the other being the Savoy. Multiple sources indicate that both theaters were designed by a Toronto architect named S. Devore. I’ve been unable to track down any more information on Devore, not even his first name, but it’s possible that he designed other houses for the chain around the same time.
Doug Taylor’s book Toronto’s Local Movie Theatres of Yesteryear says that the Biltmore ended its days as a grind house, finally closing in 1986.
1970’s photo added credit City Of Toronto Archives.
April 15th, 1948 grand opening ad in photo section.
Here’s an updated link to the photo posted by ken mc on September 29, 2004: View link
The latest article at 32 Elvis Movies takes a look back at some of the cinemas that lined the south end of Yonge St. in the 1970s.
Here it is in a postcard probably from the early 1970s
View link
“The Hurricane” is from 1937 and “Sundown” is from 1941, so maybe the date of the picture isn’t 1950?
Here’s a photo from 1977 (under the marquee) with another one of the same location in 2007:
http://electro.aminus3.com/image/2007-08-01.html
Here is another 1950 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ezln3
Here is a 1950 photo. Do you think a film with “Pagan primitive jungle action” would get by the PC police today?
http://tinyurl.com/jo99z