Want to explore the attic of a former movie theatre built in 1920 with me? Then, just check out this thread... I don't think you'll be disappointed:

Great! Happy you joined! - We're now inside the Parkdale Hall on Queen Street West in Toronto. Let's climb up to touch the ornate plaster ceiling from 1920. Now shimmy up the ladder through a narrow opening, into the darkness of a space that sunlight hasn't touched in 100 years.

We made it up into the south east corner of the attic, it's huge! It feels slightly odd because you can barely tell this place exists from street level. Alex Chan, founder & CEO of The Parkdale Hall, (1st photo) gives some scale to just how large the space actually is.

Heading west from where we started, we realize that the floor up here is actually the top side of the hall's plaster ceiling. As we approach the south west corner of the attic, the ceiling / floor tapers north & disappears! Make sure to cling to the metal truss as we pass by.

Heading north along the west wall of the attic, we bump against a massive relic of the ancient HVAC system... or was it part of a zeppelin? I believe these fans were installed to suck the cigarette smoke out of the movie theatre, pushing it out of a large roof vent.

Standing between the vent fans we look east, there's a wooden walkway that almost spans the entire attic in the middle of the room. If you choose to walk on it, don't trust the top boards, only step on the left & right sides, where they're nailed to the thick running boards.

Swinging around the ironwork trusses like Tarzan, we approach the attic's north west corner. Looking over the edge we see a chunk of concrete suspended in midair; it's the ceiling of the stage that used to sit just behind the movie projection screen which was hung from here.

Looking east from the North West corner of the attic, we can see a new drywall ceiling meeting the old curved plaster ceiling. You can see the other side of this location here to the top right of the photo taken from the hall.

Now heading east along the north wall of the Parkdale Hall, we reach the North East corner of the attic. On the way we find and pickup old items that people left behind ago on the floor.

Now we return to the South East corner of the attic, we spy a piece of plaster ceiling cut out to make way for a vent. Happy that people didn't clean up back then. We've been up here for a while now, should climb back down to the hall.

On the ground once again, we open our bag to take a proper look at what we found up there.

First item: Eddy's Sesqui Matchbox, c.1930s. (front & back side)

Browning belt box, c.1930s and a Chelten Flush Receptacle box, c.1920s.

G.E. Lamps, c.1950s. Fairly certain we also found all of the spent lightbulbs that were once contained in these cardboard boxes.

Box of E.M.T. Couplings by Mellon Electric Limited, c.1960s.

Player's Navy Cut cigarette package, c.1940s. I love the "Does Not Stick To The Lips" text.

The tinfoil of the past was definitely stronger than what they put in the cigarette packs of more recent years.

Strike-Rite Matches, c.1940s. Made in London, Ontario.

Turret Cigarettes cardboard package, c.1920s.

Front side of a Player's Navy Cut cigarette package, c.1920s. Fairly certain this one had been up there since the day the Parkdale Theatre opened, or maybe even during its construction.

'The Leader' matchbox, c.1930s. (front & back side)

Willards Creamy Toffee cardboard box, c.1930s. The only food package that we found that day; seems that most people went up to the attic to have a smoke, not to eat. Willards was once a large confectionary company centred in Toronto which also had its own dairy business.

We've found a cool, unintentional time capsule of discarded things.

Well, that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed sharing in the journey. - Take care!

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