h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ahhhh The Towne!

The Towne, now The By Towne, is still going strong. It used to be located right around the corner from my house in "The Burg" (the was once The Linden theatre, then the Towne). It eventually moved to its current location on Rideau Street, where the Nelson Theatre used to be) http://www.bytowne.ca/index.shtmlhttp://www.bytowne.ca/history.shtml

There were a couple of other theatres which had memberships. The Phoenix Theatre (now Barrymore's, a bar and nightclub) and The Mayfair. http://www.mayfair-movie.com/index.htm (for a history of the Mayfair: http://www.mayfair-movie.com/index_files/page0009.htm

Ah! It was the Mayfair. Pierre Trudeau once bought me a coffee there, during the interval to Gandhi. I briefly dated a girl who worked at the concession.

The Phoenix was once the Rialto, which used to show sword and sandal epics when it wasn't showing "raincoat" movies. It was commonly known as "The Rat Hole". After a fire gutted it, it reopened as a rep theatre called the Phoenix. However, it only lasted a few years before being bought out and becoming Barrymore's which is, as I mentioned, a bar and nightclub. Major bands play there, now.

It has long been in a fairly rough neighbourhood.

Sadly, most of the really nice theatres were torn down to make way for office buildings. The Capital, for instance, was torn down back in the late 60s, despite the calls from the fledgling preservationist groups.

There was also the Regal a few blocks away that went to make way for an office tower and a multiplex put in its place. The multiplex is gone, too, now. I had a friend who used to work at the Regal and I sa Romeo and Juliet there (13 and 1/2 times!).

Those other ones were before my time, I think. But I think the venue where I saw Aztec Camera might have been a former cinema. It was on one of the streets that runs perpendicular to Bank, maybe two blocks short of the expressway. At the time I was living on Main St, just next to St Paul's seminary. One of my housemates was an extremely camp Bronx seminarian. That was a nice neighbourhood. I recall it had a very well known neighbourhood butchers, plus there was a really great wholefood store right on Main St. And the Cuban embassy was right down the street - resembling a concrete gun emplacement. For some bizarre reason (rent!) I moved further out, to a soulless hi-rise on Baseline and Clyde.

Main Street.

The Whole food store is these, though the butcher's is gone. Barrymore's is on Bank about 4 blocks from the Queensway, so it was likely there you saw Aztec Camera. I can't think of anywhere else in the vicinity that would have fit the bill.

The Cuban Embassy IS a bit of a bunker, isn't it. Of course, so is the American Embassy, plunked in the middle of the downtown core like an aircraft carrier.....

I now live not too far from Baseline and Clyde.... Mom used to teach at Laurentian. Laurtenitan has closed, now.

Ha! Yes. it was the Barrymore! I was thinking about that gig the other day! I remember I was manoeuvered into taking another housemate, an extremely dumb trainee dental nurse, on a date. And I remeber Laurentian. They played rugby there, yes?

Memory's an amazing thing. All this stuff buried in there, waiting for that right 'madeleine moment.' Someone else on this site is having tea with my old Latin teacher this weekend - one of the few in my school who wasn't a child-abuser - and it's amazing what I can remember about him.

And yet...I have no memory of where I left my cellphone.

And I've just remembered...the dental nurse was only 17 and spent the whole evening sulking because she couldn't drink. And on the way home she started abusing all the 'commies' driving Lada, and I pointed out that Canada was a major trading partner with the USSR (wheat). Aztec Camera's encore was their version of Van Halen's Jump.

Strange that I later married someone who was at school with their singer/ songwriter/ guitarist, Roddy Frame.

(Sorry, JEllen - I've hijacked another thread)

'Raincoat Movies' - There was a lovely old grand theatre over in Hull where I saw my first porno.

So it's true, then - that sort of thing sends one to Hull?

When I was about 14, my brother took me to a movie... to "Hercules" at the Rat Hole... I left abruptly when a man sidled over to me and put his hand on my knee. Apparently, my brother didn't notice I had left until the intermission.

Yes, I recall there being at least one theatre in Hull which showed dirty movies.

I recently discovered that my Mom taught my friend in the band I go to see all the time in Grade 9 Geography. When I took her to Montreal to see Tom Russell, my friend (who was there with the rest of his band-mates) immediately recognised her (he also lives in the streeet backing onto the one I lived on for about 30 years). Small world.

It's an even smaller world. As Psychocandy knows, my wife was also at school with the two brothers after whose band's seminal first album she is named.

'It's a small world - but I wouldn't want to have to paint it.' Chic Murray.

Hey folks! JEllen, I find these bunnies really entertaining, thanks for providing the link! I've watched each little movie several times, I like the 'Highlander', 'Alien' and 'The Exorcist' ones the most!