Do you have a ghost movie theatre?
Does your headspace harbour a favorite Toronto screen that was bulldozed, condo'd or buried in the name of Cineplex decades ago?
Nobody under 40 has any idea what we're talking about.
Once there were Toronto flick showplaces. Grand. Dark. Cool.
Mine was the Odeon Carlton, a few steps east of Yonge St, on the path to what was once Maple Leaf Gardens.
If you worked a crappy night shift at Canada's largest and most self-important newspaper, you would report to this curved marquee movie palace at 2 p.m, and watch three curtains open to reveal the afternoon's cool flick.
The Odeon had a scalloped Radio City-style beauty across the full proscenium, thru which you could see endless folds of a second drape that changed colour.
And behind that one was a hidden third curtain that only opened when God Save the Queen opened the day's screenings.
Everybody would stand.
Afterwards, run to a Young St. lounge, to admire the celery plate that allowed you to have a beer during the "afternoon close". Dinner before the shift.
"My God, you ate those veggies?" a friend gasps.
"They weren't for eating, dummy. Do you know how many times those prop plates were recycled out to the bar?"
Disgusting.
All this is to point you to
Derek Flack's
Lost Movie Theatres of Toronto at
There lurk two dozen archival images of theatres that no longer exist. Oh leveled Lowe's. Oh doomed Bayview.
Once there were fantastic movie palaces, my babies.
And ushers! And dinosaurs.
P.S. Does anybody else remember the shoe store X-ray machines, where you could look into the top of the box to see your toe bones wiggle?
X-rays, dude!
No shielding!
No lead aprons!
Kids.
X-rays zap tiny feet!
Watch as long as you want.
X-rays are fun!
Like sea monkeys.
More vanished Toronto movie screens at
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