Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Eric Veillette: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1955

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

In this 1955th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Eric Veillette, a journalist and television correspondent currently writing a book about going to the movies in Toronto.A version of this podcast without programmatic ads is available to all Toronto Mike'd Patrons at patreon.com/torontomike.Toronto Mike'd, an award-winning podcast, is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Ridley Funeral Home, Nick Ainis, and RecycleMyElectronics.ca.If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My name is Eric Vayette. I'm a journalist and producer here in Toronto. I write specifically about movie going, movie theaters, and sort of the joy of going to the movies and the places that we watch these movies, their preservation, their survival, all the challenges that they've faced over the decades. And I'm currently writing a book about all of this called In the Dark, a history of movie going in Toronto, which will be released by ECW Press next fall. It's the fall of 2027. I also run a substack called the Downtown Theater, which is also an Instagram account where I post old ads from the Toronto Star and the Telegram, the Globe and Mail. The Downtown Theater itself is sort of a series of essays

that looks at the sort of ongoing history of movie going in Toronto. And I'm really excited to be here making my first appearance on the Toronto Mike podcast. Welcome to episode 1,955 of Toronto Mic'd, An award-winning podcast, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Order online at Great Lakes Beer.com for free, local, home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta!

Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. Visit palma Pasta.com for more. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. Catch a game at Christy Pitts this summer. No ticket required. Fusion Corp's own Nick Aieny's. He's the host of Building Toronto Skyline. And Mike and Nick, two podcasts that you ought to listen to.

Recyclemyelectronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. And today, Yes, making his Toronto mic debut. It's Eric Viet. Nice to meet you, Eric.

Oh, you can talk now. All right. Nice to meet you, Mike. Michael, nice to meet you, Eric. Oh, we lost him. How can that happen? He's in the room with me, everybody. I got to say, you've got a nice setup here, and I'm happy to leave,

this is the first podcast I've done where I've actually left the house, so it's kind of nice not to be surrounded by my stuff. Right. To be surrounded by your stuff. and I see you've got some, you've got Nash the Slash on the wall, and you've got the last Pogo DVD, and you've got a byway bag.

So, you know, I feel like I'm in good company right now. Well, I'm glad you're painting a little picture because this is the part that you don't see on the live stream, or on YouTube. So only the guests see that. But yeah, this is just all organically collected. The buyway bag, I believe, is a gift from Cam Gordon. And the, what else?

The Nash, the slash, the producer and director, they've been over. Colin Brunton is involved. And of course, Rob Proust did the music. So there's a connection there. And also speaking of Colin Brunton, he's the man behind the last Pogo.

So all these things kind of come authentically. And an absolutely important document of Toronto. You know, it's funny with the Nash the Slash documentary. When Colin got involved, I was running the review theater back then. And they really wanted to recreate sort of Nash on stage with Archie en Dallou.

so Colin reaches out and says, hey, could we shoot in the cinema one day? We'll just fill it up with a fog machine and, you know, we'll just recreate all of that. And I'm like, yeah, with, you know, with Brunton, if he asked me a favor, it's, it's, it's, you got to do it. It's a guaranteed, yes. So we set it all up and we had, we had just set up an alarm system at the review. So I was, I was like, this is going to be the first big test. We're going to be setting off the smoke system in here. So I was trying to figure out how to rejig the system.

Oh, that's funny. trip and call the fire department. But so, and I had a 16 millimeter print of our chien-on-de-lou, which, so we ran it on, on screen while the fog is in there. And I guess they were in post, we're going to, you know, do what they needed to do. Right. But the joke was on us, because if you've seen our chen-on-de-lou, the big payoff, obviously, is the scene with the eyeball.

That particular print, someone had spliced out that, that shot. So we kind of missed the big money shot of the entire day. I'm sure they were. I haven't actually had a chance to see the documentary yet, which is embarrassing for me to admit. But that's, that's, that was such a fun insane day. And then of course, by the time we were done, we were almost an hour away from opening for regular screening. So it was, right. People came in for the seven o'clock show and there was still a bit of a foggy element in the cinema that day. I was going to say, have I seen it? No, I can't even say it. Say the name again. Archie en D'Aulieu, the Louis-Bunel movie, so from 29 or 30. Okay. Just this strange, very surreal thing that involves an eyeball being sliced open in one particular scene.

And when Nash used to do the live performance, which I got to see at the Bloor ones, there was always a bit of a trigger warning beforehand, because it is quite a traumatic thing if you're not ready for it. Well, I love the Nash, the slashed convo off the top. In the review, that's on Ronsies, right? It certainly is. So I just, this past week, I bought two tickets to see Hayden Desser at the review. He's doing like a series of like Wednesday night concerts. I saw that.

Yeah. I'm always excited when, I mean, I left the review in 2020 and I'm now just, uh, consider myself a civilian. I love just going to see movies there. I still present the occasional thing. But, you know, five years running that place. And then, you know, moving on to other things. Uh, the review is still very much in my orbit.

But one of the things. I've, I always loved doing was whenever we had a chance to get musicians in there. So I was really, really happy when I saw the, the notice that Hayden's going to be doing a bit of a residency. Well, he can walk there from, I know where he lives because our boys played together at the High Park Football Club. So he can walk to the, to the review on Roncies. By the way, there's also a hat here. Things are as bad as they seem. That was a gift from Hayden himself.

So much love to Hayden. Okay. So quick question. I just need to do a little mop. up before we get into it. And by the way, hearing you do your French accent, I realize, well, that's a great accent that I realize, if your name is Eric Vallette, of course you're going to have a great French accent.

Are you fluent in French? French is my first language. Right. Yeah. I learned how to read English by watching Hollywood movies and watching. I was just this, I was this weird kid who at five years old was obsessed with Charlie Chaplin. So I'd watch VHS as Charlie Chaplin and pause on the subtitles, on the intertiles and just phonetically try to learn the language.

But where did you grow up that French is your first language? I grew up in Timmons, so in Northern Ontario, but was it back then? It was like a 12-hour train ride all the way up north. Apparently the Northlander train is coming back into service, which is kind of exciting. So Timmons at the time was very much a very, very bilingual city. So I grew up in French, went to school in French my entire life, but, you know, Anglo-Cousins, Anglo friends. You just kind of, you know, my English is sounds like English. My French sounds like French. And it's this weird thing about Frank Ontarians, especially that can kind of get away with like this,

kind of living in the dualities of the accents. Good for you. So this is Wednesday, August 19, 26. Excuse me. Yesterday was a busy day here because I did back to backs. Eric, are you a cyclist by any chance? Not as much as I should be. I used to cycle everywhere. I was thinking about just getting here was such a nightmare with the TTC. I was like, you know, if I was still riding a bike regularly, I could have just left Ronci and just made my way over here. That would have been an easy. You'd get the Roncy's bridge drops you off on the Martin Goodman Trail and then you just come a little bit west and here you are. But okay, so yesterday we did back to backs here. Our local counselor here, Amber Morley dropped by for an hour chat and then Michael Longfield, who's with cycle Toronto. We did a half an hour. catch up because there's been a lot of news this, I guess it came out Friday, but there was an appeal by Doug Ford's Progressive Conservative Party and Ford won this appeal. So basically in a nutshell, it says if Ford wants to rip up those 19 kilometers of bike lanes tomorrow, he's within his rights to do so. That's it in a nutshell. I could have saved you half an hour, I suppose. But it was interesting to do it back to back. So because I did the long field,

like a quick half an hour just to catch up at the end. I didn't drop any Toronto facts about the calendar year at 1954. So what I've been doing, Eric, is this is episode 195. So I would drop you a fun fact about on this day in Toronto history. But what I have loaded up are a couple of really big ones from the previous year, 1954, which I didn't get to with Michael Longfield. So I'm going to do it now. You can't stop me, Eric.

Don't even try. Let's do it. Okay, these are big ones, okay, especially because this is a lake, Shore legend right here. But it was in 1954. It was September 9th, to be precise. Marilyn Bell became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario. Marilyn Bell, a lakeshore legend, still with us. That happened in 1954. And that was a wonderful ticker tape parade down Young Street afterwards, which I think it was the NFB that caught. I guess I'm guessing every news organization caught it. But I've come across the archival footage

a number of times. Yeah, it was a big deal and it's amazing. Maryland is still with us. And that same calendar year, 1954, in Toronto, that is the year of Hurricane Hazel. 81 people in this province were killed by Hurricane Hazel, which affected Toronto and struck on October 15th, 1954. There you go.

I can add one to the list if you want. 1954 was the year where the restricted rating in movie theaters was introduced all across Ontario movie theaters, which I might be wrong on this, but I think the age was 16. So nobody under the age of 16 was admitted to any of them movies in 1954. And that's kind of switched up over the years. But there's my contribution. Well, when you say that, it triggers this. The following program contains adult themes, nudity and coarse language.

Viewer and parental discretion is advised. So that one would get an R rating. I want to watch that movie. What do you think that was? Was it Porkies? Was it Revenge of the Nerds? What was that? Night Eyes 2. Okay, I love it.

Let's do more Mark Daly talk here. Okay, so I have a note from the official Toronto historian of this podcast, Jeremy Hopkins. Here's what Jeremy writes. Please tell Eric, hello for me. I've really enjoyed his past programming at the Review Cinema and his great articles over the years. I'm also looking forward to reading, his upcoming book In the Dark.

So why don't we begin with an update on In the Dark? So you tease it coming out in 2027. Like, I can't wait that long. Are you like actively writing this? Will you write it tonight? Where are you with this book?

You know, this has been an ongoing project for a couple of years now when, just to give the sort of the long history. And thank you, Jeremy, by the way, for those lovely words. I spent like sort of, you know, 2008 till about 2014-15, documenting a lot of our movie-going history.

And then I got a chance to start programming at the review. And that was a dream job. I look back so fondly on those five years. The one thing that went away throughout those years was that all of that research, obviously I'm running a movie theater. I don't have time to keep doing the research. So it kind of goes away for a few years. And then I guess three years ago,

it just started up again with the Instagram account, with the downtown theater where I would just find an ad for, you know, whatever. I posted one for Friday the 13th, Part 6 recently and just kind of like do a little bit, teasing a little bit of a story about its release and all that stuff. And then I really got back into freelance journalism a couple of years ago. Because after I left the review, I went to the CBC on the French side, at Reza, Canada for a little while, and then found myself back in after leaving in the freelance world, which is such a different beast than it was when I was very actively

freelancing from say 2008 to 2015. Right. And started writing specifically about movie going all over again. And of course, this is kind of coming out of COVID. And, you know, there was all this fear. How are movie theater is going to survive? How is the industry going to? You know, what kind of changes are going to come to the industry?

So I've been documenting a lot of that. And so much, I mean, there's always bad news in the movie going industry. But overall, it's been incredibly positive in terms of like small towns of 5,000 people where there is no movie theater, all of a sudden the community is getting together. The city is buying the old movie theater and they're running it as a community and run not-for-profit. All of those things are really, really uplifting and kind of models for. And of course, here in Toronto, things are insane right now. I mean, I still live across the street from the review and I'll walk out on a Monday night and there's a lineup around Howard Park.

And I'm like, this is beautiful. This is incredible. The park, sorry, the paradise is the same thing. And, you know, whatever theater I get out to, you know, things, things are really, really booming. So part of this book, I think, came out of this desire of mind to look at the history of movie going in the city, but also merged with the experience I had running a movie theater because an incredible opportunity, but it was a lot of work. It was a lot of really, really late nights.

You're fighting again, you know, you're a single screen. independent theater fighting against a big Goliath like Cineplex. You know, you're, you're dealing with staff. I had managed people before in sort of sales organizations and sales situations, but never managing a staff. And I mean, I was the head programmer and kind of doing a lot of things. There were people who were generally taking care of the staff. But it was a very, it was a growing experience. It was a life-changing experience. So with that experience writing this book. We can talk about the movie theaters and we can look at their architecture and we can be sad that some of them are gone. But none of these places really mean

anything if it's not for the people that run them and the stories that came out of them and the stories that continue to come out of them. And that's really what I'm interested in. And that is very much what the book is about. Who were the pioneers of independent cinema in Toronto? When did that all start? These rep cinemas that we have today, they survived for a reason. What are those reasons? So I've been, I've spent the last two years kind of focused on that. And this is also, I've been a journalist for nearly 20 years and I'm, you know, I'm used to writing a story on a Monday, filing it on a Wednesday and then it runs on Saturday, right?

It's a very, it's kind of a quick fix kind of thing. This has been a very interesting experience for me and just the time that it takes to get from point A to point B. and, you know, the manuscript is almost done. It will be with ECW, the incredible ECW press that bought into this vision pretty much from the first day. That'll be with them end of September. And we're already talking about sort of the production of what this book is going to look like. And all of it is really, really, really exciting. This is my first book, so much of it is new.

The challenge has been, there are so many stories. how do you fit this all into one book? And it's been, you know, what, and I'm sure most book writers, authors will agree is that you usually start out with one particular vision in mind. And then you discover stuff two months in. And you're like, oh, no, this all of a sudden is going to take over this particular story that you thought was important, but this one is more important. So it's really been so extraordinary and it's taken me down. And anybody who researches this kind of stuff, you might be looking for a particular thing and you might find it, but you're going to find something else that's even more interesting, the more... Well, it never ends. It never ends. You're going to be pulling at these threads.

I know what this is like. This is sort of this project. I'll be pulling at this thread, and I have to go down this alley, and that introduces a new segment, and it can go on forever. Yeah. But the most wonderful thing about this project has been...

So many people that I've interviewed who have either been involved in exhibition, or have merely been people who've gone to the movies. And you and I are about to talk about, you going to the movies. But everybody, it always starts out the same way. Hmm,

I don't know how much of this I'm going to remember. And then an hour and a half goes by. Right. And the interview just can't stop because all these memories are coming about. I had, you know, I did an interview with somebody who ran a movie theater here in Toronto for a year and a half in the mid-80s yesterday.

And it was the same thing. And then all of a sudden, And all of these things kept coming up and the members of, say, the Toronto New Wave, who were, you know, this was their movie theater at the time. And the role that they, you know, Bruce McDonald painting the ceiling, painting the walls at the cinema Lumiere in 1985, all of the, just the amount of people who've played a role in, in this scene that we have today.

Right. I mean, it just, it really, really doesn't stop. So that's, that's been. just such an incredible sort of journey for me. Well, I'm glad you're documenting it. I'm a big fan of this kind of stuff, as you might know, and I'm glad you're here. But before we kind of dive into the theaters,

I'm going to tell you some of my stories, and then we'll talk about some theaters that are no more and maybe some theaters that we happen to save. But I was reading, so you said 20 years of journalism, but you weren't always on the theater beat or whatever. Like, there's a whole booze history, am I right? Yeah, at some point, I still don't know quite how this happened, but I became the drinks columnist at the Toronto Star for a couple of years.

Right. It was, you know, it was during that phase in the early 2010s when, you know, there were cocktail bars popping up all over the city, and it was quite exciting. And I guess, you know, some bartenders were kind of becoming kind of sort of superstar bartenders. And it was a fun thing to document at the time, trying not to use the word mixologist. as often as possible. But yeah, at one point, you know, I was talking to my editor and I said, hey, you know what? I love talking to people and I love writing about the cocktail scene.

So how about I just start doing a weekly column where I go out with somebody? We have a couple drinks at one of these places. I write about what we drank. And then, you know, I share the interview. I love it. It would be a great podcast. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. And, you know, I mean, I got to, it's funny, out of all the people.

And if anybody ever brings it up now, the best, I think the interview that resonated the most was when I interviewed Sam and Jack Markle, the Markle brothers, the iconic sign designers who designed the alma combo and the Sam the Record Man sign. And these two, you know, I have not been in touch with them in so long. These two guys were, it was like interviewing two like Borsh Belt comics in the 50s. The funniest dudes I'd ever met. Just brothers making fun of each other throughout the whole time. And that's the one that really resonated with people. So this was called a drink with. It was called a drink with.

Yeah. And it was fun while it lasted. But like all of these things go, you know, after, I think it was, I think I did it for about two years. And it was, no, it was, it was a blast. And there were, obviously, with my interest in Toronto cinema history, you know, got a chance to interview a lot of people involved in a movie going. people who fought against the censor board, people who ran movie theaters, all and, you know, programmers who were coming out with some things happening in movie theaters.

It was, it was a blast. Not to mention, you got to have a drink with the legend that is Alan's Weig. I certainly did. Actually, I did a bit of a follow-up to that earlier this year with Allen's vinyl documentary, got an incredible Blu-ray release, courtesy of Canadian International Pictures, which is an incredible homegrown Canadian boutique Blu-ray label that is doing so much heavy lifting right now in terms of keeping our movie history alive. And the funny thing about that interview with Alan

was that at the end of it, it was like, all right, great catching up with you, I'm going to head home now. And he's like, yeah, I'm doing the same. It turns out that we practically lived around the same street. I bumped into him last Friday on a walk in Dundas. So we ended up sharing a cab. together and the interview just kept going on in the cab. But no, Alan is, Alan's a national treasure.

No argument here. No argument here. So much love to FOTM, Alan's why, if he's listening at home here. Okay, so when you have these, these beverages, did they have to be like fancy cocktails? Could you enjoy a can, a glass of fresh craft beer? You know what? There was no, there was no limit. No limit.

I mean, there were limits, obviously, but we, you know, we could drink. whatever we were in the mood for. Sometimes I, you know, obviously, because I had this interest in what was going on in the cocktail bars, I wanted to kind of highlight what they were capable of doing and highlight some of the drinks that they were making. But, you know, sometimes there were also people who did not drink for a variety of reasons. And I was always very sensitive about that. Not everybody drinks. You know, there were times where we straight up just talked about sobriety throughout the interview.

And so that was, you know, it could go in all sorts of directions. and honestly sounds like an interesting podcast. Yeah, I don't know if I've, I'd have the time to even pull that off nowadays, but yeah, it was a lot of fun. A lot of fun. I am sending you home with some delicious, fresh craft beer, courtesy of Great Lakes breweries.

So, Eric, that's going home with you, buddy. Amazing. Okay, so enjoy a conversation over a can of fresh GLB. And since I'm sending you home with the delicious craft beer, I feel like we should pair that with some delicious Italian food. I have in my freezer upstairs a large frozen lasagna from Palma pasta. You're treating me here today. You have no idea, my friend.

You're going to eat well. You're going to drink well. A couple more gifts here before we move on to my theater memories. And then I ask you some more theater questions. This is a measuring tape. Eric, you never know when you have to measure something? This is courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home. Pillars.

pillars with a P, not with a K, pillars of this community. Do they use these to measure the caskets? Yes, indeed, you know, we got to know what we're, what to expect in many, many decades, of course. Well, thank you for these incredible gifts. Oh, one more here. So I know you covered the history of theaters, et cetera, but there's a great history of baseball taking place at Christy Pitts in front of a crowd that does not have to purchase a ticket. ticket. Okay, I think this is

one of the best kept secrets in the city, although I'm trying to make it so it's less of a secret here. But there's still a few games left in the 2026 season. Not many, so go to the website and find out where and go to Christy Pitts. There's a game tonight at 7.30, actually, so in six hours

time. But this book is for you, Eric, on the history of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. Thank you so much. And, you know, I will return this gift with a link to a scan I've made of a a 16 millimeter film called Toronto Blue Jays the first year, which you've maybe seen at some point.

Well, I'd love to see it. But it's, yeah, it's just a Labat-produced, sort of look at that first year, and it kind of dives into the history of baseball in Toronto. And it's a little faded and shifted to red as certain film stops happen, but yeah, I'll send you a link to that later on. Love it. Doug Old hit two home runs on opening day.

I would love it. Okay. So I'm going to, yeah, I'll share a little bit here, which is that I grew up not far from like Jane and Dundas, let's say. And when it was time to go to the movies, there were two theaters I would make the trip out to primarily. Okay, two theaters. One more interesting than the other. So I will just say the other was the Humber Odion at Jane and Bluer. No longer there.

But then the one I think is more interesting, and you can speak to both or just this one. But the Runa Mead Theater was a go-to spot. Many a film in the 1980s and into the 90s, I saw at the Runa-A-Meed Theater, which is pretty close to Runaid and Bluer, and then it became a chapters, and it is currently a shopper's drug mart, but they've actually done a remarkable job restoring this thing.

It's great to just go into the shoppers and see what they've done with it. But please, let me hear from you, the expert. What can you tell me particularly? about the run-a-mead, but you can throw in some Humber audio on if you want. Well, what's the joke I always use about the current state of the run-a-mead, and this

is credit to my wife who said this first, is that it is now the most confusing shopping, shoppers drug mart in the city. If you are walking in there and you don't know that this used to be a movie theater, you are like, what is going on here? Yeah, it's a weird layout if you don't know what you're

going to do. Well, you know, what's really fascinating about the run-a-mead is that, you know, I think a lot of people were really, really sad in the late 90s when it was converted into. And of course, this, you know, the issue of Toronto and adaptive reuse is a long and frustrating one. And, you know, before I jump into that, I'll just say that, you know, there was a period of time when researching all of this stuff, you know, we, there were, there was a period of time in Toronto history where Odeon had a movie theater on one side of the

street, Famous had another theater on the other side of the street. And then there was a smaller sort of independent place that managed to not get taken over by either of those chains. So in one, the junction, for instance, on Dundas between Kiel and Pacific, I think there were like four movie theaters, right? So every neighborhood you just had, it was, you know, the world was your story. Right. Obviously the 50s comes along, television arrives, all sorts of things really, really changed sort of the landscape into the 60s and the 70s. There's so many changes that lead to fewer movie theaters. All of those big palaces on Youngstreet that I'm sure you went to the uptown, the lows, the imperial. I'm going to elaborate more of my theater history with some of these places you're talking about.

So, you know, they all got twin down. So multiple screens because it just didn't make any sense to have a place that, you know, a 3,000 seat theater. So that is what happened to the Rennamee. At one point, you know, it gets twinned. I think the Rennamid first opened in 27 or 26. I know it actually played one of the most soft. thought after sort of lost films of the silent era as London after midnight. There's that iconic photo of Lon Cheney kind of dressed as a vampire.

And it's kind of a weird little murder mystery thing. And that actually played at the Renameed. So it would have been open at least by late 27. Well, that would be the 100th anniversary coming up. It is, indeed. So good I am at math, Eric. So what's interesting about the Renameet is that it turns into the chapters and then the shopper's drug mart, late 90s. And I can't remember what year it turned into a chapters.

that was actually not its first kick at the can at becoming something else. Really? Because in the early 70s, I mean, things are really bad in the movie industry. And, you know, famous players is kind of divesting of its real estate as much as it possibly can. There are two theaters in the city that become bingo halls in 1972. And one is the Runa mead. The other is the palace on the Danforth, at Danforth and Pape. So, and they also, you know, at least.

out a bunch of their other theaters to other exhibitors and all that kind of stuff. But then what's really interesting is that we use these spaces as for community purposes. So the movie, the movie theaters become that little sort of community clubhouse for whatever sort of groups form there. 1972, it becomes a bingo hall. And then all of a sudden, the early 80s, maybe 81, 82, famous decides, no, because they always held on to the lease. No, we're going to, we're going to bring these back. We're going to turn them back into movie. years. Guess who was really upset? Bingo players were not happy. So all of a sudden there was a bit of a rush to save the bingo hall. There was a star weekly, a really fascinating star weekly interview that

was interviewing like the bingo callers and like, you know, there was all these people who had been going to the bingo halls for years and being like, well, you know, this bingo caller, he's my favorite. He used to be at the palace. Now he's at the run amide. So I only come to the runamid now. So it's just this sort of little incredible little side history. Yeah, you know, I had no idea about this to it finally start going in the 80s. I'll send you some photos of the place as a bingo hall. And then what they did was, I mean, at this point, you know, it was the early 80s. So they were introducing 70 millimeter screens all over the place.

And both the Rennameen and the palace ended up opening with 70 millimeter screen. The palace had three screens. And it was, I think, Rocky 3, Blade Runner, and I think maybe the thing were like the three top movie, the three movies that opened. Wow. the sort of new palace. I'm not sure about the Renameet. I could look that up.

But yeah, I want to hear about, because this is one that I missed because I think it shut down just before. I moved here in 2000. Okay. Tell me the, and of course.

So did you move here from Timmons? No, I spent a couple of years in Ottawa, finished school, and then came here with the intention of going to the U. U.S. opera school,

and that didn't really work out. So you can sing? I can sing. I won't be doing any of that today. Oh, I was going to make a request. But yeah, that's kind of what brought me here,

but also it was like, moving here. and just getting that festival membership. You remember festival cinemas? And just like on whatever neighborhood I'm in, I can go see some sort of movie. So I settled at Danforth and Broadview because the music hall was very briefly part of festival at that point.

So I remember getting my keys for my apartment and wandering over and watching a movie at the music hall. So you're a east of young guy then? I started off on the east end and worked my way west. So the thing that was really unique about the Renameed was that, it was considered an atmospheric theater. And what that was was the style of theater that popped up in the 20s that tried to not look like a movie theater, but try to imitate the style of something else. Or like an opera house or something.

They had those clamshell balcony things. What they were trying to do was give the impression of a night sky. So I don't know if you remember the twinkling lights on the ceiling. Geez. No, I'm not sure I do remember that. So it had a blue ceiling initially. I don't know. maybe by the time it reopened in the 80s, that was gone.

But there were these twinkling lights. And in the projection booth, there was a sign for the projectionist. And it said, projectionist, turn out the stars before leaving. It's actually the title of a much older book about Canadian movie theaters. But I always absolutely love that. So it was part of this rush of sort of pre-art deco houses where there's one in Sherbrook that looks like a Spanish village or something. And then, of course, we've got the Winter Garden Theater.

here, which is kind of pre sort of atmospheric theaters, but it really does look like a palatial garden out there. So, but I want to hear, like, tell me about going. So, okay, so I went to school at Jane and Blur. And so all my buds lived in that area. And, you know, it's funny, I just did an episode about Swansea with, uh, people have heard the Swansea episode. Growing up in Swansea in the 70s. But this area near, uh, my buddies would all live there. So we, we would go to a lot of movies. So it was always, it was always, like, is it playing at the Humber or Runamide? Because no movie would be playing at both, right? Like, so it's like, okay, where is this? We're going to see lethal weapon. We're going to see Beetlejuice. We're going to see Polter guys. These are movies I remember

seeing there. Okay, well, they're at the Runameter. You know, a Teen Wolf, that was at the Humber, for example, and you'd waltz over and, and you'd take it in. And the run of me theater was definitely, like, I don't think, I don't think young Mike appreciated, like, the architecture and the beauty of these theaters because there's no comparison like the humberodeon was like bland and it was just you know but you had a comfortable seat you had a nice bag of popcorn and you had a big screen and you didn't care about all the decorations around it but looking back the run-of-meet theater was something special because it was actually like it's got a beautiful front I think they did their they had to restore that I don't think it looked as pretty when I was going

there as it does today but they had this beautiful facade it was It really looked like an old charming Toronto theater. It had a whole different vibe. But can I sprinkle in a few other things? So I was thinking, okay, okay, Eric, Vela Veyet is coming over. I got to be ready here. I have a vivid memory of period,

going to the movies where I'd be driven by my mom, and we would go to the Westwood Theater, okay? Do you remember, do you know, of the Westwood Theater? Now, that was over at the fork, right? Yeah, it was tough to get to. Like, you had to, you couldn't miss your, yeah, They've cleaned it up, actually, so it's almost like, not six points, but it was like, yeah, around there, I guess. So it was in a Tobico, and I can't remember major intersection nearby, but I'd say Dundas and Kipling.

Yeah. Okay. And once you got in there, you were fine. But I have vivid memory, for example, of seeing the, remember the Disney movie Robin Hood. So I saw Robin Hood, and I still remember the music, Robin Hood and Little John walking through the forest, do a lot, ooh, la laud of golly, what a date. Now, you and your opera voice, you can do that now. I don't think I can, that was Brian Bedford's voice, wasn't it?

I don't remember. A legendary Stratford actor. Was it? Yeah. I thought it was like an American singer star who was doing that. I might be completely wrong. You're going to get some comments from Disney fans. How dare you?

How dare you not know that was the voice? Probably some legendary country singer. I'll look it up in a minute. But anyway, so I have vivid memories of periodically driving to Westwood Theater when I wasn't, you know, walking or biking to the theater. And I saw, And I have a memory of seeing Indiana Jones.

I've got to ask my brothers if they have this memory, but seeing Indiana Jones and the last crusade, which is the one with River Phoenix. I guess that's the third one. Summer of 1989, greatest blockbuster summer of all time. Okay, well, we got to pick of that. So I was born in 74. I think that was a big summer for me in movies.

I think I saw them all. But I remember going to the Hollywood theater. Young in St. Clair. Young in St. Clair. And I remember, for some reason, it felt like I was so used to the West End, and you'd go to this atobical place, the Westwood, and then the Jane, the Humboldion, which was in the borough of York,

and then you'd go to actual borough of Toronto, which was the Runnymede theater. Like, this is where I was hanging. And then all of a sudden, at this big theater at St. Clair and Young, and it felt to me, like, I don't know, I was at one of those Hollywood openings for a big theater. That was quite an experience for me.

What happened to the Hollywood theater? You know what? That turned into a shopper's drug mart at one point, isn't it? Shoppers is taken over all of our great theaters. I can't. I can't remember if it was the Highland or the Hollywood that became that one. I wrote about the Highland was where Jaws premiered in that came out. I wrote a thing about that, the entire sort of process of the lineups and how, you know,

like people were waiting for hours to try and get into that. But yeah, no, those were two really, really special places. But you were just talking about the Westwood. There's a couple little interesting tidbits about that. Okay. There's so many, any theater that was associated with Nat Taylor of 20th century theaters, who, you know, the co-creator of Cineplex and like major, major innovator. He actually, it was one of the first theaters that had sort of neon lighting in the floors to guide your way.

Right. Prior to that, you know, there'd be. It was Brian Bedford. It was. He was Robin Hood. So that song I'm singing was actually the rooster who was played by Alan. Adale. I'm not actually, yeah. But anyway, oh,

no, Roger. So the country music legend I was thinking of is Roger Miller. So his voice is singing a lot of the songs I know here. But it was Alan Adale who was singing the song I was singing Udolali, which is the one that's stuck in my head forever. But you are correct that Robin Hood was voiced

by Brian Bedford. So we're all right. We're all correct. That was a 1973 movie, though. So this is back in the days when they would periodically re-release movies. Well, Disney always did that, I guess, until the, until Disney Plus showed up, I don't know. But okay, back to, back to your thought, because there's one more theater I'm going to pepper you on, but you were in, were you in mid thought there? I didn't mean to interrupt there. I think with the Westwood, yeah, it was the, so,

yeah, the neon kind of lighting, the strip lighting that we take for granted in movie theaters now, that actually was, the Westwood was one of the first. There was all, it was also one of the first places to have kind of like a curved screen, like a floating screen that became really common. So Taylor was just always constantly innovating and trying new things both, you know, advertisingly and, and, and from an operation standpoint. But, long gone, of course. Yeah. All these, almost all these. Actually, so far, the big ones we've focused on, all four the ones I've mentioned, I have these wonderful memories from all gone. But there's another one that's gone. So I moved, I always lived in the West End until I was 21 years old,

and I moved to 30 Charles Street West, okay, right on Young Street. And my go-to theater, well, there's a bunch near there we could talk about, but the one I would go to most often, and I saw so many great movies there, from saving Private Ryan to Slingblade, you name it. I had a lot of great memories going to movies at the Uptown Theater. The Uptown was such a jewel, and I'm glad that that's one I did get to experience quite a few times when I got here and before I even moved here. I mean, it was one of the big Youngstreet palaces in the teens and the 20s,

when they were just building these huge sort of cathedrals to movie going. It was a Lowe's Theater. Now, the Lowe's Young Street, which is now the Elgin and Winter Garden, they have this double-decker theater, and it's one of the only sort of surviving examples of that. And what's really fascinating about that place is that when sound came in in 1928, when they started converting the big theaters to sound, and it obviously took a, you know,

it was like when theaters went digital a few years ago, or a couple decades ago at this point, You know, not everybody converted immediately. So the Uptown was actually one of the first ones to convert to sound in 1929. But because the Uptown was also run by Lowe's, Lowe's had the big Young Street Theater and then they had the Winter Garden above it. And I'm sure you know this story, Mike, but they actually shut down the winter garden in the late 20s.

And it was sealed up until the 80s. I do know this. Yeah. Big restoration renovation. So it was kind of a ghost theater for decades and decades. And occasionally there would be stories of people who got in there just to take a look. and they'd pulled the seats out. Some black and white photos that are actually quite haunting.

And then, you know, cats and all those big Broadway musicals came around in the 80s, and that's what that was all restored for. And I believe there's also a ghost haunting. There are a number of stories. There's the man. The Lavender Lady is one of them. Apparently, there have been staff over the years who just all of a sudden get this waffling scent of lavender. So she hangs out there.

That's right. There's a man in a brown derby hat, apparently. These are all, you know, every. Every theater has its stories. But they pretty much locked that place up with sound, I think, because they also had the uptown, up the street. And yeah, what a jewel that was, because you also had the two backstage theaters, the smaller houses in the back. Bermudo? On Balmuto.

Yeah, I would go there too when I was living down there. Yeah. It was called, yeah, the backstage. The cooler films I felt would be back there, like, I don't know, something like smoke or something or some Tarantino. I just felt like cooler movies went back there. Yeah. It was kind of, by the end, anyway, I think it was competing with the Cumberland over on Bloor, which was Alliance's house. There were a bunch. I remember within walking distance when it was at 30 Charles Street, within walking distance, there was several theaters, I remember. There was the one on bluer. I think the facade remains, but there was. The university. Right. Like, there was a, just felt like there was a bunch. And I'm not sure how many, there are open today.

None of them. The facade of the university remained. I think that was a pottery barn for decades. in decades. So can I go back to the Uptown? I'm sorry to the Uptown, but why, just tell me straight up, why did the Uptown Theater have to die? I think what, I'm jogging my memory here, but there was actually a building collapse. I do remember the building collapse.

I think somebody may have died in that. I think, yeah, there was a school next door, and unfortunately a student died. And I think it was slated for redevelopment. I'm not 100% sure. I remember this news, of course. But that was one of the, you know, and at the end of the day,

the theaters, the chains, you know, once they didn't see any a particular place of any sort of financial value, they would just drop these places, which is how kind of, you know, the surviving places like the Paradise and the Review and the, you know, what we all call the Bloor, the Hot Docs Theater, those survived because at one point the chains wanted to build bigger theaters, they wanted to expand out into the suburbs. And those were kind of abandoned and leased out to, you know,

other exhibitors who made use of them. and that's how we still have them today. But those palaces, I mean, you know, obviously the Pantages, Imperial, that is still the, you know, one of the Mervish theaters now. And then the Elgin and Winter Garden. Of course, there's the, what was known as the New Yorker for decades, which was then became the festival, then the showcase theater. That still exists as another Mervish venue. And it's, I want to shout out to the Garys since we talked about Colin Brunton. The Garys did their work there.

And I mean, the, I went to see the woman in black last December at the New Yorker. And with the way that they've, it's kind of got a bit of a black box theater kind of thing going on to it. It's really hard to imagine that, you know, the Ramones jumped on stage there in 1976, right? So, yeah, just so much. And it's just, I think the beauty of all of these places is that, A, they were cheap. You could afford to rent these places, unlike Toronto. today and you could come in with your crazy ideas and make these things happen. And we are a better city today because of people like Gary Topp who, you know,

took on the Roxy at Danforth and Greenwood and brought in Reef for Madness and really changed the course of midnight movies, not just in Toronto, but North America wide. No, absolutely. Much love to Gary Topp, of course. So pointedly, like, do you want to shout out. So obviously I've talked about some theaters. I have a personal connection to. But as you see, as we know, Toronto is a very large city.

And so much of it I just didn't get to. Like when I look back, I mean, there's a Scarborough. I would hear about it. You know, bare naked ladies would, oh, they're from Scarborough. Oh, Maestro Fresh West is from Scarborough. Mike Myers is from Scarborough. Where is this magical place? You know what I mean?

Like there's a North York. Like I knew where York was. I lived in York, not in York region, but the borough of you. York for a very long time. But there's so, you know, East York, like I'm only now getting familiar with East York. What's going on East of Young? Like, oh my goodness. So what are the best theaters, what are the best Toronto theaters that we lost? And then maybe if you could tell me some of the best that you already touched on a bunch, but some of the best theaters we managed to save and preserve. Well, you know, the book has been really interesting for me because I've, I've, I've been

interviewing so many people who either, you know, moved here at some point or grew up here. in Toronto. And I love chatting with with people who grew up here or kind of grew up in whatever in Oakville or whatever and really have those childhood experiences of coming in here. And it's interesting because I had a chat with, you know, the incredible biographer and musician Paul Myers recently. FOTM Paul. Yeah. And we, you know, and again, it was one of those conversations where it started off where Paul saying like, I don't know how much I'm going to remember, but then again, an hour and a half goes on. And, you know, we all know his brother, Mike, and we all know how much the films that he and his brothers saw as kids, how much it inspired, you know, Austin

Powers, everything in every movie that he made. And, you know, part of it was when talking to Paul, it was like, okay, we know that, you know, guys saw these movies and you were inspired by them, but where did you see them, you know? And we got to talking about drive-ins at one point. And that's what things really, really, and this is where I see, just look at you right now. Yeah, because I forgot to mention my E.T. story. There you go. Okay. So I want to hear. hear the E.T story. I think I told it super recently, but one of my first memories

of being in a drive in theater was during its first run, because I think it was in theaters for 100 years. It's probably still in theaters, but ET was, it was four, I don't know exactly where it was because I couldn't drive back then, but it was off the 400, like just north of the same, but this is back, nowadays, as you know, it's

homes for, yeah, yeah, but this is back when it was like farmland or whatever, like when you got near Canada's Wonderland, there was nothing around it. It was like just farmland or whatever. But this was off the 400 there. You probably will tell me the name of this place.

It was probably the 400. Probably the 400. I think that's what it was. But I remember this experience. It was like magic because this movie was, it grabbed me so, it just grabbed me this ET. There was a kid named Mike. There was a mom named Mary.

Like this is all stuff I could relate to. And this kid was like my age. And it was, and then I've talked in the past on this show, but the, the trauma I felt in that car. when he flatlines, okay? When E.T. flatlines, I am bawling. Okay, I can't believe they killed E.T. Well, we all, you know, if you haven't seen it yet,

I won't spoil what happens next, but I cheered up very, very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Stephen Spielberg. But yeah, that's one of my favorite driving experiences seen that movie for the first time. It blew my mind, Eric. There's something about, I'll just make one comment about the movie.

I cannot watch that movie very often. The last time I watched it was when it first came out on Blu-ray. And you know that scene where the mom comes into the bathroom, Elliot and E.T. are on the floor. E.T.'s all white. And he just looks at her and he says, we're sick. And the last time I watched it, I just broke down. I picked up my phone.

I called my parents and I'm like bawling my eyes. It's too much. It hits all the notes. Yeah. What a masterpiece. So a couple set-up questions here. Yeah, anything, man. And this is driving.

I can talk about E.T. for the next hour. Drive-ins are a big thing for me, and anytime I can talk about them, I'll go on about them forever. What kind of car did you guys have? You know what? It was probably a stationway again. Yeah. See, that's the best drive-in vehicle.

There was a period of time where growing up in Timmons, we lived kind of in the outskirts of town. It wasn't really, like, far, but it was like on the rural route that connected close to the drive-in. So we actually ended up going to the drive-in more than we would, like sort of the hard-top theater. Right. And my parents bought a new, well, it was an old car in like 1990 or something like that. It was a 1982 Buicklasaber. And you know what that really plush? They're like boats, right?

Yeah. Well, they're just enormous things and like just really, really dense plush. Right. Upholstery in the back. And my brother and I sat in the back seat. And we just looked at each other and we said, oh, the drive-in. And we just could not wait to get. And then a few years later, my dad bought a Ford Explorer, like when those SUVs first started

coming out. And again, it was the same thing as like, oh, no, we can back the truck into the lot now and watch from the back window. Like, this is going to be, you know, and Jurassic Park was that movie. That was a big, well, it's always Spielberg, right? If it's Jaws or if it's E.T. or if it's Jurassic Park, or I mentioned saving Private Ryan in passing, it's that Stephen Spielberg, this guy can make a film. The, the beauty of these places is, is that sort of urban camping experience of it. And there are still so many drive-ins. around the GTA, like the Premier operators.

They're one of the oldest families in Canadian history, in Canadian exhibition. The music hall, Lee's Palace, the Parkdale Hall, all these places are theaters that the Allen family opened

in the teens of the early 20th century. They got ruined by famous players. They bounced back at Premier. And all they've kept are the drive-ins. And so there's the five drive-in in Oakville, which I'm sure you're

familiar with. That's the only one I can think of. There's the Mustang, the Starlight. I think they've got five or six. They actually still had a hard top theater in Yellowknife until recently. They've lost the lease on that. So it's just drive-ins now. And it's just, it's still such a wonderful experience. And I remember my first time going to the five. I don't remember what was playing. But growing up in Timmons, mosquitoes in the summer are the absolute worst. And of course, this is, you know, pre-kind of air conditioning is common in cars kind of thing. So we would, we would drive to the lot. And if you wanted to get out to go to the bathroom or go get more popcorn or something, I mean, that exit from the car had to be quick because if not, you had these giant

mosquitoes coming in. And I remember the first time a friend said, hey, we're going to go to the five. Do you want to come out? We're just, we bring a bunch of lawn chairs and we sit outside. And I was like, are you insane? We're going to get eaten alive. It's Oakville. It's different. It's not like Timmins. And no, it's just you bring an FM radio or an AM radio, whatever band it is. and you just sit there and everybody's just kind of doing their own thing. And it's such a, I mean, I'd say, you know, if you haven't been to a drive-in and you want to check it out, don't go there because you really want to, go to the five. Don't go there for presentation.

Like if you really, really, really want to see a movie, probably not the best place to see it. But what an experience. And I'm so happy that the Brian Allen, who runs the premier chain, sort of like a fifth generation exhibitor, is still just so passionate about this. At a time when, I mean, these plots of lands that they're sitting on, they're worth a pretty penny. Well, I always feel that's what's killing our theaters. Is this property value? Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, we've, you know, we've seen it in the last few years. We've seen landlord disputes in movie theaters across the city, across the country. Right. You know, the Bloor Cinema last year. One of the interesting things right now is that historically, movie theaters have not actually owned the theaters that they've operated in. they've generally been leases. But that's really changed. And owning your theater is actually,

I mean, Brian Allen said it himself when I interviewed him last year for CBC Arts for a story on small town theaters. If you're paying a lease, you're kind of cooked. So owning outright is, you know, is a wise investment. But also, I mean, it's an expensive proposition. Not everybody can do that. You know, so the bluer hot dog cinema last year, you know, it was a big deal when they bought the building.

in 2010, 2011, and they, I mean, they ended up selling it off last year because they needed that cash. So, I mean, it's just a challenging industry all over. But we can get back to sort of the question. Well, you just said something about, you know, listening to the radio. I remember, like, my first drive-in experience was, like, this audio thing you put in the car door window, and then the audio came through that. And then I remember my first time I was at a drive-in, and I remember where it was, like, turn your radio frequency to this.

640 a. To whatever it was. I hope it was the FM. I would have sounded better. I don't know. But like, I remember that change. Is that still how,

is that still how it works? Yeah. I mean, as far as the, the premier theaters go, it's still just an FM band. It's been a long time. I think they've got one or two of them.

You know, one of, just to stay on drive-ins for, yeah, for, you know, because generally, for me anyways,

it was always a double bill, right? So the first movie was, was a more kid-friendly, PG movie. And then the second movie movie was a little saucier, you know,

100 percent. Maybe a 14A kind of thing. And the rule with my family, because I was always just like, I wanted to watch both movies. But my parents weren't really, you know, Brian De Palma's raising cane. I'm probably what, 10 or 11? It's like, no. So the way it worked with my parents was that we'd watch the first movie. And then we would watch the second movie until something bad happens.

And in raising cane, it's pretty much right off the bat. And my dad's name was Serge. My mom's name is Lucy. and my mom would just nudge. My dad should be like, oh, Silesge, and then all of a sudden you'd hear the ignition at the car start. And then we'd slowly drive out of the lot,

but by the time you're back on the road, you can still hear the soundtrack of the movie, right? And I'm just like, oh, I can't wait to finally see this again and waiting until it hits first choice, the super channel or, you know, watching it on TV later on, however. But, yeah, those memories just absolutely stay. I know, you just unlocked a memory of me seeing John Candy, in summer rental at a drive-in.

Like, so just even this chat, which is what you're using, you know, oh, I don't know what I can remember. And then 90 minutes later, you're like, I got to go. I got to get out of here. But, okay, are, like, what are the best theaters in Toronto that we manage to save? Like, maybe these theaters were in jeopardy of being shut down or demolished, but somehow we managed to save these theaters. Well, you know, there was a period of time where I kind of got into this earlier,

but we we had so many movie theaters. And, you know, just where I would have looked at it in a very sort of stupidly capitalistic way, free market way, well, they can't all be movie theaters. You know, they got to, something's got to give. But at this point now in 2026, we've kind of lost all the movie theaters. Like there are so few of them left where I'm like, no, no, no, no. Like, enough of that. Like, we need to save these places. Right.

And it needs to be various levels of government coming in to actually help subsidize these places. because the film industry in Canada is such that they have helped development of film. They have helped production. They have helped the marketing of film. But in terms of its exhibition, it's always been a challenge. And I understand that there's commercial, you know, a movie theater showing whatever latest Avengers Doomsday, whatever, should they be getting me? Like, it's a whole conversation about that. But these places are more than just movie theaters.

Like, I mean, when you, especially with all of this work that I do for CBC arts, looking at, movie going across the country. Like when one little town loses its movie theater, it's losing more than a theater. It's losing its union hall. It's losing its real like community gathering space. And I think that's really, really sad to see.

And here in Toronto, I mean, we're down to in terms of sort of the brick and mortar movie theaters. We've got, you know, we've got the review on Ronsi. We've got... That's not even first run movies.

No, I mean, we're, I'm only, I'm talking independent. Oh, okay, okay. Because there's a Kingsway, not far from here, but you can, yeah, they're not first run.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm not quite sure what's going on. I'd rather not talk about that place, to be honest with you. So you've got, yeah, you've got the Kingsway that's managed to survive all these years. The review, the Bloor Hot Docs, the Paradise. And then there's the Fox in the East End, of course, which is, you know, such a jewel and has this gorgeous lobby. And they just did a big renovation a couple years ago. And it's one of the few movie theaters, period, east of Young at this point. I mean, you've got Market Square, which is now run by Imagine.

and then you've got the Fox, with the closing of the beach cinemas, the Cineplex have been running since they took it over from Alliance. You know, the Fox is really one of the few places out there. So there's, in terms of those, and obviously you've got lightbox at King of John, you know, this sort of multiplex, art house multiplex. So there's not a lot. Do you still have the Carleton? So the Carleton's still there.

And you know, God bless them. I saw so many movies at the Carleton. They're still one of the only places in town where you can like pay $5 on a Tuesday and go see a double bill of, I did a thing for the star earlier this year where we picked, I think we picked five theaters. And we included the Carlton,

even though it is technically like a multiplex, run by a company that does own theaters all over the place. It is still an absolute dear to those who love that place. Well, it had the cool, like the art house smaller, crumb, for example, like I saw there. Well, it was the sort of, I mean, if you look at the ads in the page, in 1989 for the Cineplex breakdown, it's calling itself North America's premier art house.

So if you had, if you had a Canadian film, independent film, documentary of some sort, your film was opening at the Carlton. And it was beautiful too, is that like, you know, some of Ron Mann's movies, John Grayson's Zero Patience, ran for like 15 weeks at the Carlton. And sure, it gets bounced from room to smaller room to smaller room. But, you know, up until something like, you know, Nirvana the Man, the movie, the show the movie, and a couple other Canadian films this year, you haven't seen that kind of holdover in Canadian cinema in quite a while. So it's been, it's been really exciting. But back back to your.

Yeah. Yeah. In terms of the, I mean, I have a lot of feelings about Cineplex and what it has done to movie going. And in that, I generally mean it, it was really, really stopped caring about presentation a long time ago. and they don't, you know, they're getting the movies. They have 75% of the overall box office monopoly in this country. So the desire or incentive for them to innovate as they once did doesn't really exist. And I find generally the experiences at Cineplex are not the best.

And it's not about really the people who are there. I just think overall it's just, I mean, the fact that a movie ends and the lights don't dim up, they just kind of turn them on like it's the ugly lights at 3 a.m. at the Velvet Underground on Queen Street. And it's like, all right, ugly lights are on. Get out everybody. You know, like it's just such an inhospitable environment. Whereas if you're going to Hot Docs, like I did a thing at Hot Docs in June where they revived their curious minds lecture series. And I got to kind of like what I'm doing here with you today.

I got to talk about movie theater history and movie going history for two hours every Saturday, which was just such a joy. And, like, so many people, and it was fun at certain points because I'd be talking about, like, say, the Roxy. And I'm looking out at the audience and I'm like, how many of you are actually at the Roxy in 1972 and a bunch of hands went up? Or, you know, how many of you have been yelled at by Garth Rubinsky? And someone, you know, the former VP of Legal puts his hand up at Siniplex Odeon, you know? So it was a really, really fun couple of months. But seeing a movie at the Bloor at Hot Docs again, because one of, with this series, they asked me, can you pick one?

movie that would be like sort of a tag along film to this series. And the first thing I thought of was the adjuster by Adam McGoyen because Arsenae plays a censor in that movie and that particular lecture series was about the history of censorship. So I asked Adam, hey, can we show this? Adam came out a really great Q&A with me. He actually stayed to watch he's one of the few filmmakers I know who actually will stay to watch his films and he hadn't seen it in the big screen in forever. But my God, the joy

of sitting in that back balcony at the blur, which I used to do multiple times a week and just kind of immersing myself in a movie, it's just such a wonderful thing. I absolutely adore that place. We need to, you know, we need to do everything we possibly can to keep these places open.

I'm shocked hearing you talk how few of these, you know, brick and mortar, whatever they call the actual, you know, those types of theaters, how few remain in the 416? Like, that's surprising to me. I mean, it's, you got one in Skirau, bro?

How about North York? I don't think any of them have survived. I think they've all... I mean, you can take a walk along Queen Street or take a walk along... What's the... In the Kingston Road? And look up on the second floor

and you can probably tell what used to be a movie theater. There was one... You're in New Toronto now. That's the name of this neighborhood. And on Lakeshore, I think it sells appliances now, but why's a movie theater?

I think that's the former Odion Lake Shore. Which is tough for me to believe. But now, just mentioned... We got to talk for a moment about where people are seeing movies today. Okay, so the average listener of this program in Toronto who wanted to see, let's say, The Odyssey, okay? You can go to Queensway and Islington, which is my local, basically. There was actually mild uproar because it was going to close. So the Queensway Cinema, which is at Islington and Queensway, very close to Humble and Fred headquarters,

it was going to close for condo development, but it just so happens the condo market is, frozen right now. So now there's a new lease for life for this. And by the way, I remember when the Queensway Islington Cineplex opened because that was at near Sherway Gardens. So the, it was at Sherway. Now it's like, I don't know, stores

across the street from, what's that street? Queensway. Queensway near Sherway. We had the Sherway cinema and they shut down Sherway to open up the Queensway cinema, which is, like I said, Islington and Queensway. But if you're not going to Islington and Queensway, you're either driving to Mississauga, where there's a bunch of these megaplexes, or you're going to Scotia Bank Theater, which is like, was that Queen and John?

That's Queen and John, yeah, with the most unpredictable escalators in Toronto. Definitely never works. But that's where you're going. No, no, that's, and, you know, I mean, especially with, you know, there's all that, whenever Christopher Nolan has a new movie coming out, and everybody starts talking about IMAX. Well, I'm going to ask you about IMAX. Yeah.

So, IMAX, by way, is a Toronto invention, right? Graham Ferguson represent. Okay. So I, the Odyssey, Mr. Nolan says, see it an IMAX. So I'm like, okay, I know my favorite IMAX theater ever is not open because they're messing with Ontario Place. And this is at the Sinosphere. So that's closed. You know, I remember taking my brother Steve to see Pulp Fiction at the Synosphere at Ontario Place.

Like, okay. So that's gone. But the other IMAX theater I would go to frequently was at the Ontario Science Center. Another 40 and happening where that's closed. Okay, so I'm like, where can I go? What I learned is I can go to the Scotia Bank Theater or whatever at Queen and John. They have an IMAX screen. There's one near square one in Mississauga.

You could drive out there. And maybe one north of the city. So there's the one up at the Colossus and Vaughn, which is the only, yeah, which is the only one that actually can run IMax on film. That's interesting. Obviously, yeah, with Sincer. That's it. Yeah. No,

that's really good. Yeah. This is Toronto. Home of IMAX. I think there are nine across Canada that are still. Maybe we're happy we got three. Yeah. I mean,

we're, you know, we are still rather spoiled here in Toronto regardless, but I don't, I don't think we should settle for what we have, you know? I mean, I think,

I mean, Barry hurts, who's being here a couple of times. Barry is great. He wrote about Sinisfier just a couple of weeks ago. And I mean, it's, I think it's a crime that that place is,

is shut down. I mean, trying to explain, the last thing I saw there was, just before it closed, they did the James Cameron Titanic. And I just, I love that movie. So any chance I have to see that movie on the big screen, I will just go sit and immerse myself. And especially at Sinosphere, where it really was full immersion. I mean, this was the first major purpose-built IMAX theater in the world. It looked like, there's a reason why that building keeps showing up in sci-fi shows and superhero shows all over, because it's just such an incredible sort of test. to that that that that that that that the that period of 60s um that that that needs to be an operation i mean that there there needs to be we've had um committees like say when the university theater was was threatening to shut down in the early 80s there were huge committees

formed to save the university theater which you know ultimately failed it became a pottery barn but you know we need the same kind of drive and the same kind of energy put into restoring the the synosphere. The same way we saw, I mean, we, you know, we almost lost the review a couple years ago

over a landlord dispute or release negotiation. And I think what came so clear to me at that moment was the way that the community, it's like, don't, don't mess with film nerds, man. Like, we will,

we will chain ourselves to the front doors of a place and see that they, they screen another day. But the cynosphere is one of those. I think, It's, you know, for years, Cineplex, I think, was doing the booking in there. And it was just always kind of like some interesting rep stuff that was happening.

Of course, you probably remember the 70mm festivals that they had in the 80s and the 90s. City would run these ads for them all the time. Right. No, it's, I mean, it's, it's, it is a part of this, this city, this Ontario, this, this province's movie going heritage. Ontario Science Center is another one where, I mean, I'm sure you saw some really fascinating documentaries and stuff there. Like north of Superior? Yeah. I mean, that's where, you know, Dave Callahan, who retired,

is recently retired after a long career. His father had actually run the projector over at the Ontario Science Center in the early 70s. At a time as well where, like, progressive conservative governments that were in power for a long time, we're actually still building really, really progressive things. They created TVO, they, you know, all of these things, right? So instead of destroying these things, they should be given a new lease on the I feel like on the heels of the Amber Morley

and Michael Longfield episodes yeah you're just brawling me up with this progressive conservative chatter here in 2026 here but the end and because not not quite a movie theater in the way we're discussing but it is worth noting that the wrecking ball did strike the planetarian this year so it hadn't been open in a while

yeah that was another I think that was another sort of the Bill Davis government creation. The other thing, too, in terms of moviegoing is that, you know, sometimes I'll go on X or Blue Sky or something. And you could definitely tell that there are moviegoers who, their experience is Cineplex. And I mean, if you live in the suburbs, you live outside of the city, that is, that is all you've got. And then there are some who are 100% devoted to their local indie cinema. They will walk around with, you know, a movie, a review tote or whatever and really kind of show their dedication to it. But then there's a, you know, a movie, a review tote or whatever, really kind of show their dedication to it.

But then there's also, there's a long history of microcinemas in this city. I mean, if we look back to, you know, film arrives in Toronto in 1896. The first screenings are in like, you know, a storefront on Young Street. The C&E has the Lumiere Cinematograph for the first time in September. These places have always kind of these, cinema started out in storefronts and like ramshackle. Let's just build a movie theater type places. So you've got these cinemas like Cinecycle. all of these sort of, you know,

eyesore cinema on Bloor Street near Dovercourt has a little back room where they have a screening collective. And I was in there earlier this summer. It's very hot in there. Daniel needs to install AC. I was running some three stooges shorts on a 16 millimeter projector that barely made it through the night because it was so hot.

But this is like we talk about community. And it's at times where all of a sudden you don't, have enough screens. And in terms of Toronto, we don't have enough screens. If you were to add them all up, there's just too much demand. There are too many really creative people out here who want to do stuff. And what is happening in times like this is that people are finding alternative venues. United Unlimited is one of these screening places that just popped up. They don't advertise their address on Instagram, but they've been doing a whole bunch of really experimental 8mm, 16 millimeter screenings. And there's another joint on Spadina that just opened up recently. So when

you are faced with these economically trying times, people still want to be creative. People still really want to show movies and show their work. And they'll find a space to do it. And right now, I am quite happy with what I'm seeing on that front. I urge the listenership to follow you on substack. Your substack is called the Downtown Theater. The Downtown Theater. And Instagram is a good place to follow you as well, Eric. What is it just at?

It's at the Downtown Theater on Instagram. And that's mostly ads from, you know, the 50s all the way into the 90s. And yeah, I mean, again, that is a thing that we just don't really have anymore in terms of advertising, movie going. It's all, you know, social media posts and stuff. We don't have a place. We don't have a Now magazine anymore that we can open on Thursday. No, no. And I feel I need to, because he's listening right now,

but just let the listenership also just remind them anyways that with regards to music, particularly, track changes by Cam Gordon. He's much like yourself. He's cut from the same cloth. He's trying to give context and keep alive because the internet, chunks of the internet are disappearing. Like, if you print something, it may last forever, but if you're relying on that link, I'm thinking of the old Now magazine or whatever. The, there is, I'm speaking for myself anyway, there's so much stuff as a professional journalist that I wrote from 2008 into the early 2010s.

It just simply doesn't exist. It might be on the way back machine. I've never looked. But maybe not. You know, I mean, we had this, we had this thing called open file at one point. And, you know, there was so much great local journalism that was published through that. And none of that exists anymore. I mean, I don't know if the Torontoist archives exist in any way, shape, or form.

I'll bet you they don't. And I know the now Toronto archives are gone. No, that got scrubbed as well, you know? So it's the consequence of the digital era, migration, all of these things where, I mean, I rely so much on the newspaper, like so much of the work that I do is all rooted in newspaper research from the 50s into more recently. Right. So you're at the reference library. So you've got, yeah, and thankfully so much of that stuff has been digitized as well. so I can do so much of this work from home.

But, you know, I worry. And even sometimes, it's like I want to look at, okay, what was screening at this particular place in early 2010? I have no way of tracking that down anymore. You're looking for old ads, I guess, in the papers. There's no documentation of it, and it's not good. Well, so thank you for doing what you do. I do look forward in 2027.

I look forward to reading your upcoming book in the dark. But on our way out here, before I play us out, I've loved this very much. but you mentioned in passing. I shared my little memory of seeing Indiana Jones in the last crusade at the Hollywood Theater at Young in Egglington. Whoa, St. Clair and Young, right?

St. Clair and Young. So, and then you mentioned, oh, yeah, the summer of 89. So just for fun, we're going to run down the top 10 box office movies from the summer from 1989. You ready to dive into the... Okay, so, in fact, I'll put a little music under this.

But at number 10, oh, a Tom Hanks movie, not one of his classic movies, but Turner and Hooch. Saw that one. Yeah, I'm sure I saw that one too. Number nine, still one of my favorite movies. Field of Dreams. That one I didn't see until video, but boy, was that everywhere.

McDonald's sold that video for $5.99 or something like that. And there was a promotion on like some post-serial or something like that where you could send off some box talks. Great movie, by the way. I still quote that movie a lot. Okay. Oh, number eight. I saw this one.

First time I remember seeing Keanu Reeves. Parenthood. Yeah, that would have been probably, I mean, Bill and Ted's came out before that. Are you sure? Oh, are you sure? Bill and Ted's came out earlier that year. Okay, it's a time. But yeah, parenthood was a really awkward movie to be taken to by your parents because

there's a couple scenes in that one where it's like, oh, it's kind of weird sitting next to my dad while this is happening. Well, imagine sitting next to your dad when Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm. And that would be number seven when Harry met Sally. What a movie. What a movie. That's a good run for me. Rob Reiner, the late grade. Okay, number six, another one of my personal favorites. The late great

Robin Williams, first time I remember seeing Ethan Hawk, dead poet society. That's funny. I don't associate that with, I think that was a late, late year, like maybe a late fall release, because that's not one I often associate in 1989. Oh, the release date, actually, I have it here, June 2nd. Huh, interesting. From Walt Disney Studios. Okay, number five, very successful sequel to a To go, they call it a comedy. I never felt Ghostbusters was a comedy. I know it was funny, but it was kind of scary to me, although I was very young.

Ghostbusters 2. Opening night at the Cinema 6 and Timmins. What a, what a wild night. Yeah. Love hearing this. Okay. Number four. Oh, I love this too.

Rick Moranis. Honey, I shrunk the kids. You know, that was also back in the day when a Touchstone movie or Disney movie would be preceded by like a cartoon. Yes. There was a Roger Rabbit car, or Baby Herman cartoon. 100%.

Beforehand. and it was on the VHS tape as well. They need to bring that back. I agree 100% with everything you said there. Number three, this was a big one, too. Sequel Time, Lethal Weapon 2. I think Mel Gibson is hanging around Toronto. Yeah, I've heard he's hanging out,

looking very awkward in selfies at Berger joints. It's funny how all of a sudden there's reports, like, oh, I just saw Mel Gibson at my local church, or I just, Mel Gibson just walked by me. Like, he's just walking amongst us right now, for better or worse. Okay. Number two is the movie I saw at the Hollywood that triggered this whole chat.

But number two at the box office with $188 million in 1989 was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It's really insane that that is the movie out of all of those. That's number two. That's really something. I mean, it was a big sequel to a big franchise and Sean Connery. It was, yeah. The dog's name was Indiana. There's like a Marks Brothers joke in there.

Oh, it's so great. And River Phoenix. I'm going to take a wild guess as to what the number one movie. You couldn't get this wrong. What do you say? The Adam West and Bert Ward's adaptation of the Batman TV show. Okay, I did a one-man show at the Elma Comba. I got to talk quick because I got to get an extra in here.

But I did a one-man show. And I had a whole segment of my one-man show talking about the immense hype for Batman in 1989. And I still am not sure if it's a great movie. I just know I loved everything about it. I never got over the hype. The hype wasn't believable. I close my eyes and I'm still. summer of 1989.

I've got like a Batman hat on. That's Prince's fault, I think. Bat dance here. Oh, I would wait on much music. At 11.24 a.m. every day, they would have bat dance playing as part of the countdown. Well, Eric, this was amazing.

I'm going to talk super fast here, but you're now an FOTM. I'll take a photo with you by Toronto Tree. And that brings us to the end of our 1,955th show. Go to TorontoMike.com for all your Toronto mic needs. And much love to all who made this possible. Great Lakes Brewery, Palmipasta,

Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, Nick Aini's Recycle My Electronics.comay and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all tomorrow with Chris Potter.