Metro Theatre, Art Deco movie theater on Bloor Street, Toronto, Canada
Metro Theatre is an Art Deco movie house located on Bloor Street in Toronto. The building contains two screening rooms with a combined seating capacity of about 600 and displays the typical design features found in cinemas from the 1930s.
Architects Kaplan and Sprachman designed this cinema in 1938 when Toronto was experiencing rapid expansion of movie houses. The building opened in 1939 and went through several major changes in its programming before closing in 2013.
The theatre's name and programming shifted with the neighbourhood: opened in 1939 showing second-run films and B movies, it turned to adult films in 1976, and in the 1990s screened kung-fu films and hosted counter-culture performances. The entrance held signed photos of pornographic stars, among them Ron Jeremy.
The building no longer operates as a cinema since closing in 2013 and has been converted to other commercial uses. Visitors can view the Art Deco exterior and architectural details from the street and get a sense of how movie theaters looked during that era.
Metro Theatre appears prominently in G. B. Jones's 2008 film The Lollipop Generation and briefly in the music video for "So Strung Out" by C-Block. Its entrance held signed photos of pornographic stars, among them Ron Jeremy. After closing, the auditorium became an indoor rock climbing gym, with a smaller retail storefront facing Bloor Street.
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