1966...2010
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(Click to enlarge)
A group consisting of Beth Newport, 54, Julie Smith, 51, Monica Milek, 39, and David Derbyshire, 61, suggested cleaning up Barton Street, improving parking in the neighbourhood and acquiring more trendy cafés and bars along Barton Street.
Newport, who has lived in the area for 33 years, hopes a movie theatre can return to the neighbourhood if money is invested in helping what she calls a “great area.” She remembers the days of going to see a movie at the old Towne and Avon theatres.
“How many times have we’ve said, ‘Let’s go and see a movie?” she said to her group. “And we have to go to Ancaster. There’s nothing here for us.”
That's from a Spec article on the stadium precinct public meeting last night, 'Ivor Wynne community has its say on stadium project'. As someone interested in residents being able to contribute to how their own community gets re-imagined, I found the piece heartening. As someone with a lifelong passion for cinemas, I sighed.
A couple of years ago, I wrote a pair of articles for Raise the Hammer. The first, 'To Prevent the Next Century Collapse, Understand the Bigger Picture', focused on the loss of one of Hamilton's remaining cinema treasures. The second, 'The Fall of The Century: The Cinema History Factor' dealt with the background reasons for the situation that Ms Newport bemoans.
Although the writer lays it all out nicely (!!!), here's the Top Six list of 'Why?!?':
I'd love to see a single-screener come back to the Gibson-Stipley-Crown Point West area. But it's not going to happen. At least not in the form that most people would assume, if at all.
Don't get me wrong, I actually have an approach that would be a killer one for resurrecting The Avon, and would fit in brilliantly with how Ottawa Street is reinventing itself.
I'm a biased cinema aficionado. I regard movie theatres as 'cathedrals of film'. But you're never going to see another single-screener built in this area, and most likely, the ones that are extant...the Avons, the Townes, the Playhouses, the Tivolis...may still be standing, but they're gone forever as 'nabes'.
Still, one can dream.
P.S. Anyone who's sincerely interested in going into The Avon and wants a surefire approach, Feel free to get in touch.
M Adrian Brassington
A couple of years ago, I wrote a pair of articles for Raise the Hammer. The first, 'To Prevent the Next Century Collapse, Understand the Bigger Picture', focused on the loss of one of Hamilton's remaining cinema treasures. The second, 'The Fall of The Century: The Cinema History Factor' dealt with the background reasons for the situation that Ms Newport bemoans.
Although the writer lays it all out nicely (!!!), here's the Top Six list of 'Why?!?':
- The breakup of the production and distribution monopolies.
- Television.
- The blockbuster release.
- The VCR.
- Multiple-screen cinemas. The 'multiplex'.
- The DVD.
I'd love to see a single-screener come back to the Gibson-Stipley-Crown Point West area. But it's not going to happen. At least not in the form that most people would assume, if at all.
Don't get me wrong, I actually have an approach that would be a killer one for resurrecting The Avon, and would fit in brilliantly with how Ottawa Street is reinventing itself.
I'm a biased cinema aficionado. I regard movie theatres as 'cathedrals of film'. But you're never going to see another single-screener built in this area, and most likely, the ones that are extant...the Avons, the Townes, the Playhouses, the Tivolis...may still be standing, but they're gone forever as 'nabes'.
Still, one can dream.
P.S. Anyone who's sincerely interested in going into The Avon and wants a surefire approach, Feel free to get in touch.
M Adrian Brassington
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I'm always interested in feedback, differing opinions, even contrarian blasts...as long as they're delivered with decorum...with panache and flair always helping.