Bye-bye Bytowne
Dec. 7th, 2020 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blogcutterHow have film-going habits changed since the start of the pandemic? Or have they really changed at all? Maybe they've just continued along the same inexorable path from the silver screen to the smartphone-screen?
So many of the arts have gone from being large group experiences to ridiculously individualized ones. I'm thinking of gallery-going and vernissages, concert-going and music festivals, live theatre and, of course, film. Even TV, which started out very household-based, has gone from families all gathering around the "boob tube" at the same time to recording and viewing later or streaming at whatever time is convenient for the individual. I suppose reading has always been a mainly solitary activity, although there's still room for book clubs, in-class discussions and the like.
But back to film. What prompts today's post is the recent news that the Bytowne Cinema on Rideau Street will be closing for good at the end of this month:
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/All-good-things-must-come-to-an-end.html?soid=1102316637554&aid=4DEbLzGBozc&fbclid=IwAR2M5-JRoxuJzjxkzc-5lLA4KEVWPP4PkzrOtdldFBA8y7Q3vCvfwstitRc
The premises themselves were the old Nelson, where I saw a number of first-run movies over the course of my childhood. But when it re-opened as the Bytowne, it was a repertory cinema and a re-incarnation of sorts of the old Towne Cinema on Beechwood Avenue. I would actually have thought that repertory film in general might survive, given that it always involved a number of older classic films as well as somewhat obscure independent and foreign films that you can't just watch anywhere and any time. We do still have the Mayfair - I hope that survives.
I'm also concerned about the wonderful second-hand bookshop next door to the Bytowne. I don't know if it has remained open during the pandemic as I haven't tried to go in. Certainly it's the sort of place where physical distancing would be a challenge! With any luck, maybe it will be bought out and preserved by a few loyal and well-heeled patrons, just as happened with Books on Beechwood?
So many of the arts have gone from being large group experiences to ridiculously individualized ones. I'm thinking of gallery-going and vernissages, concert-going and music festivals, live theatre and, of course, film. Even TV, which started out very household-based, has gone from families all gathering around the "boob tube" at the same time to recording and viewing later or streaming at whatever time is convenient for the individual. I suppose reading has always been a mainly solitary activity, although there's still room for book clubs, in-class discussions and the like.
But back to film. What prompts today's post is the recent news that the Bytowne Cinema on Rideau Street will be closing for good at the end of this month:
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/All-good-things-must-come-to-an-end.html?soid=1102316637554&aid=4DEbLzGBozc&fbclid=IwAR2M5-JRoxuJzjxkzc-5lLA4KEVWPP4PkzrOtdldFBA8y7Q3vCvfwstitRc
The premises themselves were the old Nelson, where I saw a number of first-run movies over the course of my childhood. But when it re-opened as the Bytowne, it was a repertory cinema and a re-incarnation of sorts of the old Towne Cinema on Beechwood Avenue. I would actually have thought that repertory film in general might survive, given that it always involved a number of older classic films as well as somewhat obscure independent and foreign films that you can't just watch anywhere and any time. We do still have the Mayfair - I hope that survives.
I'm also concerned about the wonderful second-hand bookshop next door to the Bytowne. I don't know if it has remained open during the pandemic as I haven't tried to go in. Certainly it's the sort of place where physical distancing would be a challenge! With any luck, maybe it will be bought out and preserved by a few loyal and well-heeled patrons, just as happened with Books on Beechwood?
