Trendsetting downtown cinema closes its doors

Obituary: Carlton Cinemas 1981-2009

As the lights dimmed this weekend on the Carlton Cinemas, the city mourns the loss of another quirky cultural landmark on the block between Yonge and Church. Having swallowed the fruit-market-fate of Maple Leaf Gardens earlier this week, Torontonians now have to say goodbye to the Carlton, too.

Last month, the cinema lost its long battle with rising rent and local development before finally succumbing to the fate of an expired lease.

Sunday, the Carlton closed its doors for good.

The theatre was a fixture in the neighbourhood, standing almost unchanged for nearly three decades. The last of three generations of theatres bearing the Carlton name in downtown Toronto, it first opened its doors in 1981, eight years after its predecessor closed.

The new Carlton had big shoes to fill. Torontonians adored the previous iteration, which opened as the Odeon in 1948 but changed its name to the Odeon Carlton in 1956. It played star-studded movies in grand Art Deco style, picking up where the original Carlton, at 509 Parliament St., left off.

And while the last Carlton never boasted elaborate sign-age or a 2,300-seat auditorium, it was an understated innovator in its time.

One of the first in Garth Drabinsky and Nat Taylor’s Cineplex chain, the Carlton brought multiplexes out of the Eaton Centre and into the street-level consciousness of the city.

Its nine screens showed the latest hits from Hollywood, but the theatre also distinguished itself by screening films from around the world — ones that weren’t shown anywhere else in the city.

Those second-run and art-house movies would become the Carlton’s specialty, making the theatre a favourite for film festivals and local cinephiles.

"My husband and I came here a lot during university," says Anne-Marie Guchardi, who came to see one last movie this week. "It was a fixture. I think all university students with an interest in film came pretty regularly."

The Carlton served the interests of a particular crowd, but it was one that came less and less frequently as time passed.

For years, only the most staunch devotees could condone its small cinemas, smaller screens and rock-hard plastic seats.

"Business has been declining slowly," says Georgia Sourtzis, Cineplex Entertainment’s manager of communications. "It just didn’t make sense to remodel."

So last year, the Carlton idly watched as a new multiplex, the AMC Yonge & Dundas 24, opened just a few blocks away.

For most people, the aging Carlton couldn’t compete with newer theatres’ digital projectors, varied screening times and plush stadium seating.

Still, for those who found charm in the old theatre’s butter-stained velvet and pop-covered aisles, the cinemas at 20 Carlton St. were home.

"I’ve loved having this movie theatre here," says David Sarai, who lives in the condominium building next door. "I’m constantly popping down to see movies, and I’m really going to miss it. I’ll miss the smell of the popcorn in the elevators and the lobby."

Among others, the Carlton leaves behind the Cumberland 4, the Royal and Bloor Cinema, where movie-lovers might hope to catch the little films that made the Carlton great. Visitation took place during the final weekend with special farewell screenings of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.