Roxy Theatre

1215 Danforth Avenue,
Toronto, ON M4M 1J7

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Additional Info

Architects: Harold Solomon Kaplan, Abraham Sprachman

Firms: Kaplan & Sprachman

Functions: Auto Repair Shop

Styles: Streamline Moderne

Previous Names: Allenby Theatre

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News About This Theater

Roxy theatre

The Allenby Theatre opened in 1940. The auditorium was demolished in Fall of 2009, with only the front section of the building remaining.

Contributed by "Green"

Recent comments (view all 15 comments)

JohnnyCool
JohnnyCool on January 10, 2010 at 3:54 pm

Ah, the Roxy….I had a lot of history with this one. John Wayne and other western double bills with my dad in the late ‘60s and early '70s; cult film double/triple bills on Sunday afternoons (my favorite of these being 'The Kids Are Alright,’ (cranked WAAAAy up) ‘Rock 'n’ Roll High School,‘ and 'The Magic Christian’) in the late ‘70s and early '80s. I also remember a double bill of 'Raging Bull’ and ‘Taxi Driver’ that had me so pumped with venom I was ready to murder the first passerby when I emerged at midnight…and on and on.

There is no way sitting in a bland box with stadium seating and great sound and picture can compare to the experience of reps….cinemas have lost their soul.

Sadly, the status needs to be changed to ‘CLOSED/DEMOLISHED;’ it was bulldozed in the autumn of ‘09.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on January 31, 2010 at 5:16 pm

There is a picture of the Roxy’s lobby from the 1940s on this blog page (scroll down to see it): View link

igoudge
igoudge on August 5, 2010 at 9:12 am

Swung by the Roxy site late last week and the conversion of it into an esso station is almost complete. They did a great job with the facing which was the part of the building that had been designated as a historical site and putting the marquee up with the original name of Allenby on it. Would have been even better though if they endorsed it as completely heritage and reopened as a rep house but cest la vie……

SilentToronto
SilentToronto on January 22, 2011 at 11:14 am

Here’s a great shot of the Allenby’s lobby from from 1936, showing Boris Karloff in “The Walking Dead.”

cavey6969
cavey6969 on January 12, 2013 at 2:44 pm

in the early 80’s i went there every friday night to watch Led Zeppelin’s “The song remains the same” i think saturday night was pink floyd the wall, sunday was, rocky horror picture show, monday was “black and Blue (sabbath and b.o.c. thursday was Spinal tap. my days may be mixed up but let me tell you… i took the don mills bus from york mills… to pape station then got on subway to greenwood station. before i could exit the station i had already encountered 3-5 lsd dealers. i was 15 at the time and boy oh boy that place was a rockers paradise. they even let everyone smoke in there. I will never forget the roxy. im 43 now and i still havent found anything that even remotely compares to the fun i had there. all hail the ROXY

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt on April 9, 2013 at 8:54 am

During the time that I ran this theatre (mid 70’s to mid 80’s) the Roxy had approximately 680 seats. We had to reduce the seating capacity somewhat when we renovated the auditorium to make room for a much larger screen.

AJOHMSS
AJOHMSS on June 16, 2013 at 10:29 am

How sad that it’s a Tim Horton’s now.

SilverPlaqueVII
SilverPlaqueVII on May 5, 2014 at 10:16 am

As far as I understand it, the Allenby/Roxy Theatre has been retooled as an Tim Horton’s and an extension of ESSO as of 2014.

The “Demolished” section should be removed.

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt on August 16, 2014 at 8:35 am

The Roxy’s auditorium was definitely demolished, only the lobby area and the restored exterior remain.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on April 22, 2019 at 10:55 pm

Full chronological history in below link.

https://tayloronhistory.com/2014/01/30/torontos-old-movie-theatresthe-allenby-roxy-apollo-on-the-danforth/

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