Canada's longest-running movie theatre has been restored to its former glory

Maybe it's the towering red velvet curtains that adorn the stage. Or the blue peacock-themed murals on the venue's walls that date back to the 1920s. But every time 89-year-old Stewart Alsgard steps inside the iconic Patricia Theatre in Powell River, B.C., eight decade's worth of nostalgia overwhelms him.

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In 1941, he experienced his first movie, The Wizard of Oz, at the Patricia. The price of admission then was 15 cents, and the films were just transitioning from black and white to colour. The war may have been going on, but the charming theatre on the corner of Ash and Marine avenues offered an escape from the chaos and hopelessness of the outside world. Even for a six-year-old Alsgard.

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Nor has its foothold in the community changed much. The original Patricia Theatre opened just down the street in 1913, making it the longest-running movie theatre in Canada. The current location is now just four years shy of a century old. It is the only cinema in the sleepy but growing city of about 14,000 people on British Columbia's Sunshine Coast. Unless you are willing to embark on a long journey via ferry or float plane to Vancouver or Victoria to enjoy a blockbuster from a reclining leather seat, you will have to settle for the Patricia's simple, time-honoured charms.

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Part of modernizing the Patricia also goes beyond the physical renovations. The community and the qathet Film Society have been working to repair strained relationships with the local Indigenous community. (CBC's On the Island spoke to the Patricia Theatre's Laura Wilson about this topic back in March.)

From the Second World War up until the early 1970s, Indigenous peoples from the Tla'amin Nation were treated like second-class citizens in Powell River, Alsgard says. At the Patricia, Indigenous children and adults were segregated, forced to wait in the alley behind the theatre while non-Indigenous residents filled the seats. Then, once everyone else had been admitted, Indigenous movie-goers were only permitted to watch from the cramped balcony.

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https://www.cbc.ca/arts/canada-s-longest-running-movie-theatre-has-been-restored-to-its-former-glory-1.7306849

Interesting read, imo, with some great photos.