Capitol Theatre
2492 Yonge Street,
Toronto,
ON
M4P 2H7
2492 Yonge Street,
Toronto,
ON
M4P 2H7
6 people
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14 story/145 unit condo project being built on top of the Capitol Theatre.
https://dailyhive.com/toronto/toronto-capitol-movie-theatre-condo-development?fbclid=IwAR3AcCK3eOpUBWDFAlPdlooSxUBlRzlsiO9kDuvmSZUdoIB8ZVMZo7SP4Us#.YF0uyKi0H18.facebook
Current website for the theatre is www.thecapitoleventtheatre.com
As a sometimes visitor of Toronto, is there some “local” about the shape of the marquee – I’m thinking the Capitol, Bloor and the other one on Bloor now retail.
This theatre was built by McClelland who came from Kingston Jamaica as mentioned above. This was a Famous Players partnership theatre where Famous Players and McClelland would jointly operate the theatre and after paying expenses would split the profits in equal shares, and in the early years it did quite well. Mr. McClelland had to agree to follow all Famous Players instructions on matters pertaining to the theatre operation. When Famous Players attempted to vacate the building years later, Famous Players sent its General Sound employees to remove the projection equipment and Mr. McClelland or one of his helpers notified Famous Players that they could NOT remove the equipment. The lease that Mr. McClelland had probably had a requirement that any equipment installed would become his after termination of the lease!!
This is a picture of the Capitol Theatre from 1921, according to the information on the photo. Comparing it to the photo above, it would seem that over the years, the entrance to the theater was considerably altered, becoming part of a newer three-story building. It would appear that it is the same theater as the address appears to match and as the comment by richardg indicates, the main part of theatre was built back from Yonge Street.
This was run by 20th Century theatres and, I believe, booked by Famous Players before Festival took it over. Nice big single. I don’t remember the booth equipment but I seem to remember it having an ORC platter and a Vic-8, but I could be confusing that for the booth at the Regent.
One anecdote that I do remember is “The Gods Must Be Crazy” ran there for well over a year, and I recall running it there on New Year’s Eve. To ONE customer. Who stayed RIGHT through the credits.
Here is a 1933 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/f2wdh
Website for this theatre (now a rental hall):
http://www.eventtheatres.com/capitol/
The Capitol theatre was built by Mr. McCelland who came to Canada from Kingston, Jamaica to make his fortune. Judging from the building he either achieved his goal or had very good credit. The theatre was built in 1923 and was set back about 30 feet from Yonge Street. The balance of the theatre complex as shown in this photo was built over a year later. The Capitol was an independant theatre for a number of years which made its survival as a single screen movie palace even more difficult. During the 90’s it was managed by a small second run theatre chain called Festival Cinemas. During their first year or two I believe they simply supplied staff because the Capitol was never advertised with their other theatres and it also remained a first run house. During the late 90’s the terms of the management agreement must have changed because the Capitol became a second-run house and was now advertised in The Festival’s bi-monthly movie guide. I saw one movie at the Capitol before it closed to become an “event space”. Newer wide seats had been installed and it was by far the nicest theatre in the Festival fold. Unfortunately, Festival could not make a go of it and did not renew their lease. Memory tells me the theatre sat empty for about a year before it was leased or sold to the “event space” people. Even with the installation of the wide seating, I’d estimate the balcony and main floor seating capacity at about a total of 1300.
Hi Folks,
I was at the Capitol last Saturday and was really impressed with this as a music showplace, would you mind e-mailing me the cost to rent and what is included, eg: bar, pa system, the total cost and total seating capacity.
Thanks for a great night with the Blue Note Reunion. Diane