The structure was considered well designed with hints of Art Deco, rare to find in London. It was ideal for conversion into apartments which, depending upon the size, rent for approximately $1250 a month.
There are a lot of things one cannot find in old East London but old comic books are not among them. If you are looking for a vintage Superman comic, East London is your destination.
So many storefronts feature boarded up windows and doors in East London that if it were not for the street art the street would be very dull.
Immediately across from the Grand Theatre there is a wonderful, heritage building. Like many of the structures in downtown London, both new and old, it is owned by Farhi Holdings Corporation. The last report I read, said that Farhi Holdings at that time owned hundreds and hundreds of buildings throughout Ontario extending from Windsor on the west to almost the Quebec border on the east.
"We should have left on our masks," said the fellow walking beside me. We had both just left the Grand Theatre where wearing masks was demanded. Now, outside, maskless, we found ourselves choking from the dust stirred up by a nearby sidewalk sweeper. As it passed by, everyone in the area was left coughing and wiping eyes gritty with nasty sidewalk dust.
According to the published history, The Grand Theatre opened in 1901 as the Grand Opera House. The original owner and manager was theatre impresario Ambrose J. Small, who ran the theatre as a touring house for everything from road shows to vaudeville.
Ambrose Small disappeared on December 2, 1919 - never to be seen again. After his disappearance, Small's holdings, including the Grand, were bought by Trans-Canada Theatre Ltd which went bankrupt in 1924. The Grand Theatre was then purchased by Famous Players, the movie house company.
Today, it's days as a movie house are well past.
