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Westwood Theatre

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A detail of the Westwood Theatre, in 2012, a year before final demolition. Note: The sign was damaged when the vacant building was used as a set for the 2004 film Resident Evil: Apocalypse.[1]

The Westwood Theatre was built in 1951 in Etobicoke, Ontario's Six Points intersection where Kipling Avenue intersects both Bloor and Dundas streets.[2][3]

When built, the Westwood property was 13.8 acres (5.6 hectares), mainly consisting of a large parking lot.[2] By the time Etobicoke was amalgamated with Toronto, the land the theatre and its parking lot occupied was too valuable to be used as a theatre.[2] The theatre shut its doors in 1998, and lay vacant until 2013. As an independent city before amalgamation, Etobicoke's city hall, and other civic buildings occupied a campus on The West Mall that was only conveniently reached by car, a site which has continued post-amalgamation as a civic and community centre. However, its new civic centre is proposed to be moved to this former Westwood site, within walking distance of the Kipling and Islington subway stations. The site was later demolished and is now used for the Six Points interchange reconfiguration.

According to local cinema historian Doug Taylor, author of Toronto Theaters and the Golden Age of the Silver Screen, the theatre's design was "utilitarian", even though it had been designed by architectural firm Kaplan and Sprachman, which had specialized in designing many of Canada's art deco cinemas.[4][5]

As originally built, the Westwood had a single auditorium, seating 1,000 patrons. A second auditorium was added in the 1970s.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Stephen M. (2010-05-16). "Toronto Then and Now: Westwood Theatres". The Intrepid. Retrieved 2017-05-24. More recently, the site was used to film scenes for the unbearably shitty Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004). In the film, the roof of the theatre is destroyed by a zombie wielding a rocket launcher, and according to numerous accounts, the "D" in the Westwood sign was damaged during filming.
  2. ^ a b c "Westwood Theatre: Site introduction". Build Toronto. Retrieved 2017-05-24. Situated alongside one of Etobicoke's busiest streets, the Westwood Theatre site historically housed a popular movie theatre. After 45 years in operation, the Westwood Theatre closed its doors in 1998 and was demolisted in 2013.
  3. ^ Derek Flack. "Abandoned Toronto movie theatre to become new civic centre". Blog TO. Retrieved 2017-05-24. Since the Westwood Theatre closed in 1998, the site has lay in various states of ruin. The building lasted until 2013, but since then the sprawling lot near Etobicoke's Six Points intersection has been something of an urban wasteland. Now, it's set to come back to life.
  4. ^ Doug Taylor (2014). Toronto Theaters and the Golden Age of the Silver Screen. The History Press. ISBN 9781626194502.
  5. ^ a b Doug Taylor. "Toronto's old movie theatres—the Westwood Theatre". Retrieved 2017-05-24.
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