22 - Wednesday, October 23, 1991 - North Shore News SPOTLIGHT". Independents day blues Major chains consolidating control with multiplex venues Evelyn Jacob SPOTLIGHT FEATURE URNING SIXTEEN. As far as birthday wishes went, | had only one: to sink into the crimson veivet seats of the Hollywood Theatre and watch, with my best friend Susan, the raven-haired Tony Curtis mutilate inno- cent Bostonian women in The Boston Strangler. Being the obliging sort that he was, my father made my dream come true by signing us under- aged teenagers in. can still remember the spine-tingling ex- perience watching from the balcony, which, | still maintain, of- fers the best viewing seats in the house. The Hollywood Theatre still plays to my neighborhood: $2.25 for a double bil! on Monday nights; $3.25 on all other nights for second-run flicks. It’s an in- dependently-owned, family-run theatre, and it’s among the very last of a dying breed in Vancouver. in fact, Ray Mainland, owner- operator of the independent Ridge Theatre, predicts that in the next 10 years, there will be only two independents left in the city. This has many implications, the main one being that we will be left with only two giant film distributors and no community- based operators. The entertain- ment conglomerates who own Famous Players and Cineplex Odeon theatre chains have for years dictated what hits the screen — mainly big-budget American movies with guns ‘n’ violence mentality or TV-inspired comedies. The past five y-~ars have not only seen the withering of indepen- dents but the closure of the big two chains’ neighborhood houses as they consolidate their opera- tions in the downtown core and multiply their screens. “CROSS BORDER | USA SHOPPING” "CROSS BORDER USA St tied tr SEE ('S MONTHLY FOR THE BEST NEW WHOLESALE MERCHANDISE 36” satellite dish package. Reg. $1899. Your cost $690. Leather jock- 1 ets, jewelry, TV's, etc. all in the “Cross { Border USA Merchandising News”. SUBSCRIBE NOW!! Also details on how to import your own products through customs with ease. Forget long line-ups at border crossings. SUBSCRIBE NOW?! 42 monthly issues $42.00. North Shore movie buffs now have 15 screens to choose from, but how much “choice” do they really have? Independents now history on North Shore Mainland’s worst fears have al- ready been realized on the North Shore. There are no independent cinemas operating here, but it wasn’t always that way. On May 1, 1926, focal businessman Howard Fletcher opened West Vancouver's first moving picture house, the 800- seat Hollyburn Theatre on the 1700-block Marine Drive (Now Home Hardware). Residents paid less than 50 cents to watch Canadian Mary Pickford in The Dark Angel, the cinema’s first picture show. The Splendid Road with John Barrymore, and Rin Tin Tin were among the theatre's early films. “Most of it was comedy — not the serious stuff,’’ remembers West Vancouver archivist Rupert Harrison. ‘During the Second World War Fletcher ran special live concerts on Sundays to raise money for the war effort.” 'SATINS IN HALLOWEEN ward wEStI TIN OANNT S FANCY, Everything to finish LININGS According to Harrison, Fletcher, who sold Hollyburn Theatre in 1946, cut short plans to build an additional theatre on Marine Drive in North Vancouver because of television’s surge in popularity. The Lonsdale Theatre in North Vancouver was the first cinema to show talking pictures on the North Shore. Opening first as a live theatre on Dec. 11, 1911 on the 1500-block Lonsdale, it began screening talking pictures in 1929. Two other cinemas were operating near the Lonsdale Theatre around the same time: the Gem Theatre on West 1st Street and the Empire Theatre, which stood across the street from the Gem at 107 West Ist Street. Ac- cording to North Shore Archives, the Empire was demolished in the "30s. In 1945 the Nova Theatre, in the 1400-block Lonsdale, closed to make way for a new Odeon theatre, which eventually became the Totem Theatre. North Vancouver City clerk Bruce Hawkshaw fondly recalls the Cedar V Theatre, built in 1952 at 1206 Lynn Valley Road. The See Chairs page 23 a COSTUME MAKERS DELIGHT i 100's of meters e SIMPLICITY | HALLOWEEN Costume patterns MAKE GREAT Sample issue $10.00. (includes GST) a . Send to: . a He Bemewe Trade Leads Publications “ 300 - 3545 - 32 Ave. N.E. #475 Calgary, Alta. T4Y 6M0 Fax (403) 246-5787 - asm APH aNO” wanNE DRO Saeett 19 5+