History
The Park was built in 1940 [1] [2] by the architectural firm Kaplan & Sprachman, [3] who designed over 300 cinemas between the 1920s and 1960s, [4] including the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver [5] [6] and the Uptown in Toronto. [4] The Park opened on August 4, 1941 [3] and was originally run by Odeon Theatres. [7]
In 1984, Odeon Theatres became Cineplex Odeon Corporation, [8] and in 1990, Cineplex Odeon decided not to renew the Park's lease. [9] The theatre was taken over by Leonard Schein's Festival Cinemas, which at various times also has run the Ridge, the Plaza, the Varsity, the Starlight, the Vancouver East and Fifth Avenue Cinemas. [9] [10]
Alliance Atlantis bought Schein's company in 1998, and he remained in management there until 2001, [9] when he decided to retire from the movie-theatre business. The Park was run by a partnership of Alliance and Famous Players [11] for a few years, but they decided not to renew its lease in 2005. [9] Schein, who was by then involving himself in projects such as the Canadian Cancer Society, Friends of Larry Campbell and Doctors Without Borders, [11] [12] had not been planning to get back into the movie business. [11] However, phone calls from the building's landlord and local business owners and residents convinced him to lease the theatre and reopen it. [11] [12]
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Vogue Theatre is an Art Deco / Art Moderne styled building originally built as a movie house, and currently used as an event venue for the performing arts. Situated on Vancouver’s “Theatre Row", the building was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1993.
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Ellis Jacob is a Canadian business executive who serves as the president and chief executive officer of Cineplex Entertainment.
