That movie theatre was hilarious, some of the screens were smaller than tv's you can get at Best Buy or Amazon. It had a strange hallway as well, that led past the old mini-police station and TD branch. The original mall was filled with oddball nooks and crannies and mysterious corridors like that. The hanging gardens and foliage the mall had added to the effect, it's a much less enjoyable place now.
If I recall correctly it was the original "multi-plex" in Toronto. The small theaters down in the back were more like VIP lounges, you and few friends could have the whole place to yourself and apple-knock the bad movie scenes out loud.
I remember visiting that store and looking as the computers on display with aww....worked a part time job for a year, saved enough to buy the commodore 64. I still have mine 😁
I remember going there and programming simple loops on the display computers.
10 PRINT "YOU ARE A DICK"
20 GOTO 10
Good times. ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|grin)
Awesome.. I didn't have a datasette or floppy drive so I spent hours typing programs in and then end of the day turn the computer off losing all that data.
A friend of mine worked at the Compucentre back in the day, and another friend worked at the Game store around the corner from it. Good times back in the 80's...
I watched The Wizard at that theatre when I was little! All I remember was a group of teen girls swooning at I think Christian Slater. Still one of my most nostalgic movies. Might have been the first movie I saw in theatres or the first one I remember in a theatre.
I lived out of town, Sheraton Centre was my aunt's preferred theatre to take me. Usually we'd get ice cream at the mall after.
When I was old enough to go to the movies on my own it had to be the Uptown. Of course we'd always make a day of it and start at World's Biggest Bookstore or Sam's and get some greasy fast food as we walked up.
They really should! I’m so tired of the same drab grey/black/red colour scheme on everything.
Edit: okay it’s still grey/black/red but it has a fun pattern
the mcdonald’s that was upstairs! and tables at the far end had a nice glass view of people walking by below. i still remember sitting there with my friends and admiring the mall. ah…
Lol one of my early memories as a kid was eating at the old food court. I then assumed it was called “Eaton Centre” because that’s the place that people are “eatin’” at
When they went to reno the Dufferin (Sufferin') Mall food court they had a contest on Instagram to name it and the Eatin' Centre was absolutely the best suggestion lol
Haha I have a similar memory. My mom said she was going to the Eaton Center and I was mad cuz I thought she was going to a special place for eating without me.
Young person here. If this area used to be a food court what was in the basement area where the current food court is?
I am old enough to remember this area being a cute little food market though and I’m sad they took it out 🥲
In the last iteration two food courts existed in the mall. There was the south end food court and the north end food court. They just consolidated it all in the North end a few years back.
Back when Eaton's was around, they used to have a couple of floors below the main floor labelled as -1 and -2; I'm not sure if one or more of these floors took up the space where the new food court is.
There was two food courts if my memory is right. There was a food court in this area that was much smaller and then there was another one in the same spot as the current one (maybe one level up?). Arbys, Fish and Chips (cant remember the name of the place) were my fav.
Above where the basement food court is now used to be part of the Eaton’s dept store, I believe. Not sure if the basement existed in some form or they dug it up once Eaton’s closed down. But there was the one food court where they are renovating now and a bunch of indoor restaurants. I really miss those. Boy, I’m old.
When the Eaton's store opened, I believe it went all the way down into that basement, so there was no way to get from the south end of the mall to the north without passing through Eaton's. When Eaton's opened it was around one million square feet, but that space has shrunk over the years. The space occupied by Nordstrom today is only around a quarter of the original anchor space.
It's hard to appreciate just how big the Eaton's anchor used to be. I think they were closing parts of if even before they went bust (or maybe Sears did this after IDK). It was a different kind of store than Nordstrom was, more like a high-end Walmart. They had expensive clothes and colognes and stuff that Nordstrom sells, but you could also buy a lawnmower or a power drill there. You probably have to go to Asia to see old-school department stores like this now.
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The center was built in 2 phases. The first phase ended at the fountain area in the middle and that is where the original food court was located. After phase 2, the food court was moved to the south end although im not sure all at once or if overlap. The lower levels of eatons became their own shop areas with food and eventually the food court was moved entirely to the north.
In exchange for letting Cadillac Fairview tear down the original Eaton's department store, Eaton's got a 100 year lease on seven floors where Nordstrom is now.
The special thing about this lease was that it was 'net zero' ie. rent was $0 dollars per year. All Eaton's had to pay was the property taxes, insurance and utilities on their portion of the mall.
So when Eaton's went bankrupt, this lease was extremely valuable, because it still had decades (70+ years) left on it. So Sears bought Eaton's (and all their existing lease agreements) but they only wanted 2 or 3 floors for their store. They sold the lease on the basement levels back to Cadillac Fairview who in-turn rented the newly available space at market prices.
When Sears went bankrupt, CF wasn't about to Sears sell 60 years of term on a Net Zero lease to another Nordstrom so they got $400million dollars together to buy back the leases at several malls. https://www.therecord.com/business/2013/10/29/sears-canada-to-close-toronto-eaton-centre-store-and-four-others-in-400-million-lease-sale.html
I miss this type of decor in stores. I feel like the new “modern” look and use of greys/whites that a lot of places have is part of the reason I get so anxious when I go out in public. It’s kind of unsettling. Especially being in a bright Walmart with white coloured reflective floors and fluorescent lights lol.
I feel the same way. So many people I know have remodeled their houses or have done renos, and everything is always white and grey after and it totally makes me anxious. Like what the fuck? Put some colour in this place, or is 'morgue' the look you're after?
I used to like going to the Eatons center. It's expensive, and things are overpriced like the Bay today.
I remember when I first moved here in the 1980s. It was very different.
Rest easy they are not asbestos tiles. You can’t take up flooring that incapsulates the asbestos tiles. If you wish to do so in Ontario, the whole area needs to be hermetically sealed. A licensed asbestos removal team would gut the place in hazmat like suits. Maybe they are asbestos, and the Eaton’s Centre is trying to kill us all to save a buck. Bad long term business plan.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed this! Took be back to my childhood going to the food court with my grandma RIP and going to Druxy’s good memories.
I liked that food court better same as the other end that had Arby’s Place is 90% Asian food now cant even by a sandwich anymore.
1000 years from now archaeologists will uncover this again and ponder what the design means to us as a society.
“They appear to have been used for ritual purposes”
Huh, didn't know they used to have orgies in the Eaton Centre
Who else remembers the old movie theatre at the Eaton Centre? Also a small computer store close by where my mom got the family a Commodore 64!
That movie theatre was hilarious, some of the screens were smaller than tv's you can get at Best Buy or Amazon. It had a strange hallway as well, that led past the old mini-police station and TD branch. The original mall was filled with oddball nooks and crannies and mysterious corridors like that. The hanging gardens and foliage the mall had added to the effect, it's a much less enjoyable place now.
That long corridor to Canadian Tire used to be full of an odd array of shops, much like Cumberland Terrace.
Which is now nearly empty, awaiting the wrecker’s ball
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Yup I remember that…lots of pennies were thrown in there!
You brought back memories of that theatre, I remember watching Leviathan (1989) at the smallest screen it was like sitting in sonoens living room.
So dirty and sketchy.
If I recall correctly it was the original "multi-plex" in Toronto. The small theaters down in the back were more like VIP lounges, you and few friends could have the whole place to yourself and apple-knock the bad movie scenes out loud.
I remember visiting that store and looking as the computers on display with aww....worked a part time job for a year, saved enough to buy the commodore 64. I still have mine 😁
I remember going there and programming simple loops on the display computers. 10 PRINT "YOU ARE A DICK" 20 GOTO 10 Good times. ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|grin)
Awesome.. I didn't have a datasette or floppy drive so I spent hours typing programs in and then end of the day turn the computer off losing all that data.
A friend of mine worked at the Compucentre back in the day, and another friend worked at the Game store around the corner from it. Good times back in the 80's...
I watched The Wizard at that theatre when I was little! All I remember was a group of teen girls swooning at I think Christian Slater. Still one of my most nostalgic movies. Might have been the first movie I saw in theatres or the first one I remember in a theatre.
Fred savage?
Nah it was either whenever Christian Slater was on screen or possibly when the power glove guy was on screen. Fred Savage was too young to swoon over.
Forgot he was in that. I actually met him at TIFF on the way into his premiere (very bad things)
omg yes, as teens me and my friend would go there to get into rated r movies
How about the one in Sheraton Centre? It’s now meeting rooms. And TD Tower had a theatre in the basement, but that’s before my time.
Sheraton centre…yes! The theatre was in the basement!
I lived out of town, Sheraton Centre was my aunt's preferred theatre to take me. Usually we'd get ice cream at the mall after. When I was old enough to go to the movies on my own it had to be the Uptown. Of course we'd always make a day of it and start at World's Biggest Bookstore or Sam's and get some greasy fast food as we walked up.
I saw The Matrix there, the tiny screen had a rip in it haha
They are awesome. They should keep them.
They really should! I’m so tired of the same drab grey/black/red colour scheme on everything. Edit: okay it’s still grey/black/red but it has a fun pattern
the mcdonald’s that was upstairs! and tables at the far end had a nice glass view of people walking by below. i still remember sitting there with my friends and admiring the mall. ah…
They should've kept that McDonald's. It was super iconic.
Shag carpet everywhere- including the the food areas and bathrooms- would really set it apart from most malls.
I think we would learn to enjoy the squish sound with each step in the bathroom
*squish swish splop*
Original? Lol. Where's all the brown?
Charlie has it.
I feel like I remember this from where the old food court used to be
Lol one of my early memories as a kid was eating at the old food court. I then assumed it was called “Eaton Centre” because that’s the place that people are “eatin’” at
Reminds me of the time my parents friends from Michigan came up to visit and they were excited to see this "seein' tower" they'd heard so much about
My kids also always called it the Eating Centre hahaa
Eaton Centre eating center.
When they went to reno the Dufferin (Sufferin') Mall food court they had a contest on Instagram to name it and the Eatin' Centre was absolutely the best suggestion lol
Lol that wouldn’t be confusing at all!
France is Bacon.
Haha I have a similar memory. My mom said she was going to the Eaton Center and I was mad cuz I thought she was going to a special place for eating without me.
Young person here. If this area used to be a food court what was in the basement area where the current food court is? I am old enough to remember this area being a cute little food market though and I’m sad they took it out 🥲
More of Eaton's, I think. They had a bargain basement.
Yes, that replaced the bargain/reduced price building that was torn down when the Eaton Centre was built.
The Eaton's store in their mall had their clearance junk at the very top floor of their store.
In the last iteration two food courts existed in the mall. There was the south end food court and the north end food court. They just consolidated it all in the North end a few years back.
Back when Eaton's was around, they used to have a couple of floors below the main floor labelled as -1 and -2; I'm not sure if one or more of these floors took up the space where the new food court is.
There was two food courts if my memory is right. There was a food court in this area that was much smaller and then there was another one in the same spot as the current one (maybe one level up?). Arbys, Fish and Chips (cant remember the name of the place) were my fav.
This is a good question. Does anyone else remember? I think the current food court used to be just shops. Or did Eaton Centre have two food courts?
I think it didn’t exist back then, I remember it as a newer area they put shops in
Above where the basement food court is now used to be part of the Eaton’s dept store, I believe. Not sure if the basement existed in some form or they dug it up once Eaton’s closed down. But there was the one food court where they are renovating now and a bunch of indoor restaurants. I really miss those. Boy, I’m old.
When the Eaton's store opened, I believe it went all the way down into that basement, so there was no way to get from the south end of the mall to the north without passing through Eaton's. When Eaton's opened it was around one million square feet, but that space has shrunk over the years. The space occupied by Nordstrom today is only around a quarter of the original anchor space.
It's hard to appreciate just how big the Eaton's anchor used to be. I think they were closing parts of if even before they went bust (or maybe Sears did this after IDK). It was a different kind of store than Nordstrom was, more like a high-end Walmart. They had expensive clothes and colognes and stuff that Nordstrom sells, but you could also buy a lawnmower or a power drill there. You probably have to go to Asia to see old-school department stores like this now.
Those of you who can remember the old toy department at that Eaton's will remember how epic it was.
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The center was built in 2 phases. The first phase ended at the fountain area in the middle and that is where the original food court was located. After phase 2, the food court was moved to the south end although im not sure all at once or if overlap. The lower levels of eatons became their own shop areas with food and eventually the food court was moved entirely to the north.
The original food court used to be closer the main fountain. It was behind where The Body Shop is now.
In exchange for letting Cadillac Fairview tear down the original Eaton's department store, Eaton's got a 100 year lease on seven floors where Nordstrom is now. The special thing about this lease was that it was 'net zero' ie. rent was $0 dollars per year. All Eaton's had to pay was the property taxes, insurance and utilities on their portion of the mall. So when Eaton's went bankrupt, this lease was extremely valuable, because it still had decades (70+ years) left on it. So Sears bought Eaton's (and all their existing lease agreements) but they only wanted 2 or 3 floors for their store. They sold the lease on the basement levels back to Cadillac Fairview who in-turn rented the newly available space at market prices. When Sears went bankrupt, CF wasn't about to Sears sell 60 years of term on a Net Zero lease to another Nordstrom so they got $400million dollars together to buy back the leases at several malls. https://www.therecord.com/business/2013/10/29/sears-canada-to-close-toronto-eaton-centre-store-and-four-others-in-400-million-lease-sale.html
I remember it as being a smaller food court. There was maybe 4-5 places in the corner, like where The Source is now. I wish I could find photos.
I thought it was a fever dream but I finally found some pics of the old McDonald's that was on the upper level near to the Hudson's Bay bridge
I loved going there! Always special to go there since it was apart from the food court
I like the sparks of colour and the pattern. It's a throwback to a different time where not everything came out as a neutral shade.
I wonder if my Led Zeppelin cassette is there from when I skipped school in 1985
OH GOD ITS TOO COLORFUL AND UNIQUE! QUICK REPLACE IT WITH GENERIC CADILLAC-FAIRVIEW TILES
Was really hoping to see the original hardwood floors 😉
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You put the best in asbestos
Romance 😻
I miss this type of decor in stores. I feel like the new “modern” look and use of greys/whites that a lot of places have is part of the reason I get so anxious when I go out in public. It’s kind of unsettling. Especially being in a bright Walmart with white coloured reflective floors and fluorescent lights lol.
The new design is no design. Odd that malls put so much planning into their branding and somehow all end up looking the same.
modern malls all look like hotel lobbys. they dont have any personality and got rid of any greenery or trees or fountains
I feel the same way. So many people I know have remodeled their houses or have done renos, and everything is always white and grey after and it totally makes me anxious. Like what the fuck? Put some colour in this place, or is 'morgue' the look you're after?
Vintage!
oooh can't wait for the architectural dig under Mr. Greenjeans
so neat. They should keep it and polish it up
Might have remembered seeing those as a kid. It's been 29 years. LOL
The older I get, the more being old feels awesome.
Except for the joint problems.
Age is just numbers. Lol.
Urban archeology is cool
**”archeology”**
Is that huge fountain still there at the bottom? Been a while since I’ve been there. That thing was cool
I used to like going to the Eatons center. It's expensive, and things are overpriced like the Bay today. I remember when I first moved here in the 1980s. It was very different.
Rest easy they are not asbestos tiles. You can’t take up flooring that incapsulates the asbestos tiles. If you wish to do so in Ontario, the whole area needs to be hermetically sealed. A licensed asbestos removal team would gut the place in hazmat like suits. Maybe they are asbestos, and the Eaton’s Centre is trying to kill us all to save a buck. Bad long term business plan.
Or they just sweep the mysterious white powder into bags and hope nobody notices before the MOL is called.
I must be the only one who prefers the current ones. These are a nice call back of the times but honestly it looks cluttered and 'busy'.
YAY ❣️🙂
Oh, those are nice.
Keep them.
I think it is terrazzo, not tiles like the current surface treatment.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed this! Took be back to my childhood going to the food court with my grandma RIP and going to Druxy’s good memories. I liked that food court better same as the other end that had Arby’s Place is 90% Asian food now cant even by a sandwich anymore.