Vancouver's historic Hollywood Theatre is banking on more than movies to survive the pandemic

At a time whenVancouver venues are struggling, thehistoric Hollywood Theatre in the Kitsilano neighbourhood is banking on more than just movies to survive.

The theatre, located near Broadway andBalaclava Street,has reopened its Depression-era doors with pandemic-friendly changes.

Operator David Hawkes and his business partner Sean Mawhinney, both Vancouver locals, painstakingly restored the theatre's art-deco charmwhile keeping pandemic safety top of mind.

Hawkes said they created platforms to be able to move and remove the theatre'sseats most of them originals from when the theatre opened in the 1930s in order to create a more flexible event space.

"We ... reupholstered all of those chairs," he said. "They unbolt from the floor ... we can take them all away."

Other elements like the building's exterior paint colour,box office and its colourfulneon sign also had to be restored to the finest detail in order for the buildingto achieve the highest heritage status offered by the city.

"The character of it is really, reallyquite remarkable," said Donald Luxton, aconsultant who worked on the building's heritage plan.

"It just feels like ... anupdated version of itself without losing any of its character."

Preserving heritage duringCOVID-19

Hawkes' original plans to start running movies as well asarts and culture events last fall were shattered due to COVID-19.

Right now, the theatre is open for drinks,but will not be operating as a cinema whileB.C.health restrictions are in place.

However, Hawkes doesn't want the building to just be known for showing films.

He'shoping that creating a space to host a wider variety of arts and culture events will help keep this era of the theatre's history alive.

How a heritage theatre is planning to survive the pandemic

4 years ago

Duration 2:04

While COVID-19 has shuttered cinemas in Vancouver, the Hollywood Theatre is banking on more than just movies to survive the pandemic.

"If we were just a theatre, we would have been pigeonholed into one thing and then, economically, it just wouldn't work," he said.

"The idea here is to be flexible if you're a one-trick pony, you're not going to survive."

Hawkes added he hopes the building's classic neon sign will become asymbol of resiliencein a post-pandemic Vancouver.

"We have a history of rolling over ... and paving over our history[in Vancouver]," he said.

"We decided to open because it's a little bit of a ray of good, good hope coming, showing that things are coming to be better over time."