Odeon Danforth
635 Danforth Avenue,
Toronto,
ON
M4K
635 Danforth Avenue,
Toronto,
ON
M4K
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing 18 comments
April 16th, 1948 grand opening ad in photo section.
Just to set the record straight. Gary Topp did run the Roxy at Greenwood & Danforth in the early 70', but I took it over in the mid 70’s and renovated the auditorium: much larger screen, replaced the seats, installed an optical Dolby Stereo sound system. The place I inherited was, to put it charitably, a dump.
The Pape was on Pape at 336. I think you are thinking of the Palace.
The ‘Rex Danforth’ was also a live music venue for a brief time; I saw Devo there in about 1980/81. The mighty Clash also played there I believe.
What of the Pape across the street from it (kitty corner)? I grew up in the neighbourhood and frequented the Pape and the Donlands cinemas, as well as the beloved (and recently demolished) Roxy at Greenwood and Danforth (which was a second run house before becoming a rep under the stewardship of Gary Topp in the later ‘70s).
The listing for this should be changed back to single screen then.
That picture is of the Odeon HYLAND at Yonge & St Clair. The Odeon DANFORTH was never twinned. It was sold by Odeon before any twinning could be done.
Based on the picture posted by Chuck1231, it is evident that the theater was twinned prior to its closure. Screens should be 2.
Here are direct links to the 1946 pictures of the Odeon Danforth:
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0012598.jpg
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0012597.jpg
Yes, that’s the one LM. After the Odeon chain dropped it, it was a Greek cinema called the Rex Danforth…at 635 Danforth Ave at Pape. It’s in the heart of Toronto’s Greektown, so showed Greek movies for years. It’s still there although has been a gym for many years.
Yes the old Parkdale was indeed a Famous Players theatre, still there however has been an antique store for years and years. Went there several times as a child. Both the FP Parkdale and the old Odeon were both in a neighbourhood known as Parkdale in Toronto’s west end. Despite the fact that I love thre Rivest list, there are several errors in there regarding Toronto area theatres that I have written to him about but were never corrected. Not sure he’s updating his info anymore.
In addition, both the Rivest list and the Ontario archives show a Parkdale Theatre that was operated by Famous Players at 1605 Queen Street West, whereas both the Lakeshore and the Odeon are listed at 1473 Queen Street West. Perhaps a search of old city directories of those Film Daily Yearbooks could resolve the matter, but I don’t have access to those.
The information was found on Mike Rivest’s list for the Lakeshore Theatre and the matching of addresses.
That’s news to me. I always remember it as the Odeon in Parkdale until it closed. Now there WAS a Biltmore on Lakeshore in New Toronto that changed it’s name to the Odeon Lakeshore when the Odeon chain acquired it and the Biltmore Weston (changed to the Odeon Weston) and the downtown Savoy (changed to the Odeon Coronet) in late 1963. Maybe that’s where you got the Odeon Lakeshore name. I visited the Odeon Lakeshore several times having grown up in nearby Port Credit.
After some additional reserach, it turns out that the Queen Street Odeon eventually changed its name to the Lakeshore Theater in 1965 and remained as such until 1980 when it closed. One wonders if it was pressured to do so by the Odeon chain? Because of that fact, the entry for for the Queen Street Odeon would have to appear as the Lakeshore here on Cinema Treasures as it was its most recent name; the name Odeon will be listed as an aka.
Yes, the Odeon on Queen St had no connection to the Odeon Theatre chain…probably just named that. Always thought that was confusing to have a theatre the same name as a chain. Like I said above, the 5 original Odeons were all built in the late 40s. The only buildings still standing from those (but not as theatres anymore) is the Humber in the west end and the Danforth in the east end.
The Odeon Theater shown in the 1919 picture was on Queen Street West whereas the Odeon Danforth was on Danforth. I doubt very much that the 1919 Odeon was ever operated by the Odeon (Canada) Corporation which did not even exist until the early 1940s, I believe. The name is is probably just a coincidence. The 1919 Odeon should have a separate entry.
All three Odeons listed were built in the 1940s. This is an Odeon in 1919, so I don’t know where to put it, unless it’s listed under another name:
http://tinyurl.com/f7wts
The Odeon Danforth was one of the 5 original Odeons built in Toronto in 1947/48. It was in the east end of Toronto and often showed the same films as the Humber in the west and the Fairlawn in the north. During the late 60s it became a roadshow/reserved seat theatre showing “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Oliver!” (in a move over from the Odeon Carlton". Unlike the Hyland, Humber and Fairlawn it was never twinned and Odeon closed it in the 70s. Since it is in Greektown it was know for awhile as the Rex Danforth showing Greek movies. A few years ago during the annual Taste of the Danforth, the fitness centre was having an open house so I went in to see if it looked like the theatre I remember and it did. The big staircase up to the balcony is still there and the main floor auditorium looks just like it did except with gym equipment. It would be a nice place to work out and remember all the movies that played there.