Yesterday, some couples from our sisterhood group had a personal, backstage tour of the Ridge Theatre by the owner, Leonard Schein. The Ridge Theatre property is located at 16th & Arbutus in Vancouver and is slated for demolition to permit the construction of high rise residential towers, with retail at ground level. Cressey, the developer, has applied to the City for a demolition permit for the entire block.
The Theatre was built in art deco style in about 1950, and has a very identifiable neon sign “Ridge”:
Leonard has leased this space since 1978, and since then has also become involved with the Park and Fifth Avenue Cinemas. When he leased the Ridge Theatre, he had stained glass windows built and installed facing Arbutus Street, showing an outline of an old movie projector:
Unfortunately the neon sign and the stained glass window are considered the landlord’s property, but there is hope they will become museum pieces, or retained in some way to showcase this part of Vancouver’s history.
Leonard also gave us a tour of the lobby, the theatre, the movie screen and the projection room. He explained the projection and audio systems, the distribution process for movies, ratings and bookings. The tour was fascinating and we learned so much about this process.
There are very few single screen theatres in Metro Vancouver, and the Ridge Theatre certainly has a very interesting history.
(All pictures are thanks to Shawn Gold).
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