A Theatre Near You: 150 Years of Going to the Show in Ottawa-Gatineau

by Alain Miguelez

370 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Siobhan Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the only thing I love more than local history is incredibly niche local history and this book delivered. It was really cool to see the transformation of Ottawa in terms of theatres - it's wild how many were destroyed by fires and/or explosions. What really surprised me is the sheer number of these theatres that are now just empty lots or boarded up areas of buildings (including ones that were active theatres at the time of writing, like the World Exchange and Rideau Centre theatres). It was also cool to see some of the theatres that have made a comeback since 2004, like the St Laurent theatre and Orleans Town Centre.

I knew about some of the theatres that are still around in other forms today (I do love trying to guess what churches were before they were churches, so I knew about the old Elmdale), but others surprised me, like learning that Westgate Shopping Centre used to have a theatre in what is now a tech company office, or other nondescript buildings around Ottawa.

Anyway, if you're looking for a very specific read on local history, this was really fun and fascinating. My Google Maps history is now full of me streetviewing the different locations trying to guess what was a theatre building at one time.