whyilovetoronto:

Why I Love Toronto Reason #219

Bloor Cinema

As of 9pm last night I finished my undergraduate degree, so I decided I would take a walk by myself all around downtown with the biggest smile on my face. So I started at St. George Station and walked around eventually ending at Bathurst. Now as I walked to Bathurst Station I passed the Bloor Cinema and I remembered that a few earlier there was a huge line to get into the cinema. Now Bloor Cinema was just recently reopened and when it did I walked by and took a peek inside and it looks absolutely beautiful!

The cinema opened in 1913 as Madison Picture Palace and after that the area became a booming theatre location with Allen’s Bloor Theatre (which is now Lee’s Palace) and Alhambra theatre opening in 1919.  Now the original building was absolutely stunning! Of course it had the old school theatre sign on it, but it had windows, unlike the current theatre.  It wasn’t until 1940 when Kaplan and Sparchman rebuilt the theatre. Nothing, but the two side walls (oh wow) were kept. It reopened in 1941 as the Midtown. In the 40’s and 50’s it was known as the place to see a double horror bill!

Then of course it got bought by Famous Players and renamed the Capri in 1967. Then in 1973 it became the Eden theatre which was an XXX film house showing what was said to be “heavily-censored adult films.” The Eden lasted all of 6 years before it became the Bloor Theatre. Then it was closed a year later and was bought again. Now in the 1980 years the Bloor Theatre began selling memberships. It was in this period that we also had the classic red Bloor sign and the theatre board (no longer there, today its just a blank façade). In 2004 during the premiere of The Corporation the ceiling collapsed.

 In 2010 it was purchased once again by the Bordonaro family who eventually found a buyer in the Blue Ice Group and the Hot Docs group and sold them the property in 2011. Today the theatre in its latest incarnation (which opened earlier in 2012) will show first run Canadian and international documentaries.

The one thing that disappoints me is that there will be no more Rocky Horror Picture Show Live casts thereL It was such a tradition to see people at Halloween line up outside for hours waiting to see the cult classic – in costume no less. The theatre is considered a part of Toronto Heritage, with the organisation saying it is one of the oldest theatres in Toronto. However, today the theatre has a new life to it. Now I have yet to visit the new location because it opened at the mostly inconvenient time for a university student on March 14^th, but I’ve taken a few peeks inside. I’ll post pictures from BlogTO for you to see of the new theatre, but it is stunning. I feel like it resembles a beautiful old Hollywood theatre.

So for once hosting porn to rocky horror to documentaries this theatre (like every theatre on this list) has gone through some ups and downs but still manages to play a big part in this city’s history…

That Is Why I Love Toronto.

http://bloorcinema.com/history/

http://www.heritagetoronto.org/news/story/2010/11/03/bloor-cinema