Roxy Theatre, Movie theater in Saskatoon, Canada.
The Roxy Theatre is a cinema in the Riversdale neighbourhood of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, built at the onset of the Great Depression. Its interior is decorated as a Spanish Villa, with small balconies, windows and towers on the walls suggesting a village, and a dark blue ceiling set with twinkling lights as a night sky. It was built for sound pictures and was Saskatoon's first air-conditioned building.
Built by Rothstein Theatres of Winnipeg at the onset of the Great Depression, the Roxy opened as a cinema for sound pictures and was Saskatoon's first air-conditioned building. Leased to Odeon in the 1960s and early 1970s, it was renamed the Coronet, then became the Towne Cinema under Rokemay Theatres, which owned it from 1974 to 2005. A second screen opened on May 30, 1980, in a separate building; the Towne closed in 1995 and sat vacant until Rainbow Cinemas bought it. Rainbow and Magic Lantern restored it and reopened it under its original name in 2005.
The name comes from New York's Roxy, the largest cinema ever built in North America, named after impresario "Roxy" Rothafel; the word came to mean top showmanship, and builder Rothstein Theatres of Winnipeg used it at many locations. Today the Roxy shows first-run art and alternative films and hosts concerts, lectures and community events.
The Roxy sits in Riversdale, not downtown, at 320 20th Street West in Saskatoon. It reopened in 2005 under Rainbow and Magic Lantern Cinemas and shows first-run art and alternative films, so check the current programme before travelling. The building also hosts concerts, lectures and community events, and a second screen added in 1980 operates in a separate building.
The Roxy is one of the last remaining atmospheric movie palaces in Canada: its ceiling is painted dark blue with twinkling lights set into the plaster to suggest a night sky. It was Saskatoon's first air-conditioned building, fitted for sound pictures.
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