Patricia Theatre

My Roomies: Princess Patricia and the Ghosts

Once the wags get past toying with the inevitable confusion about my name and the Patricia's name, (my name is Ann, by the way, and the first Patricia was named after that dashing young woman, Princess Patricia, in a contest held in 1913) we generally move on to the questions: "what's it really like: living in a movie theatre; living with all the ghosts we hear about; never getting to leave your job and go home; getting to see the movies every day; etc., etc.". What it's really been like, since my son Brian and I were asked in 2002 by the First Credit Union to adopt the old girl while they were coping with legal stuff, is simply this: it's a hoot! How many other little old ladies do you know who get to live with their cat in lovingly restored 1920's professional offices above the foyer and retail spaces making up the façade of Canada's oldest continuously operating movie theatre company (The Patricia Entertainment Company, founded September, 1913), lodged in Western Canada's oldest continuously operating vaudeville and cinema house?

Not only that, but we've gotten to turn the whole front corner into an enchanted early twentieth century traditional garden, with hundreds of rose bushes, irises, peonies and other perennials started from bits and pieces from friends gardens, to share with our neighbours and the numerous visitors to this National Historic District that is the Powell River Townsite. And…..not only THAT, but we do, indeed get to watch movies on the big screen every day, and be part of people’s weddings in our auditorium, and hold parlour concerts, vaudeville and burlesque shows, community Christmas carol sing alongs, and live theatre with our community, too. Wow............and the ghosts are all really characters, as well: we have the gravelly voiced vaudeville lady who won't let some of our male performers up the stairs to the "ladies'" dressing room; there's the evil, mean and cruel dentist who used to pinch the little kids who squirmed with pain in his office (my living room, now), and who flits around the offices and the balcony in his white dentist tunic; there's the beloved original owner of the theatre, Myron McLeod, who periodically shows up and beams at us with honest to goodness glee, thumbs hooked in vest pockets; and more!

There was never a moment's hesitation on our part when we realized that the Patricia was in trouble: to risk the future of one of the community's most cherished heritage icons by allowing it to lose it's legal, non-conforming status if sitting empty, or to see it sold off for pennies on the dollar to someone who might send it down the same path as so many of Canada's priceless independent movie palaces, to become an auction house, or bistro, or whatever just wasn't going to happen. The theatre has been part of our lives since 1977 when we came to Powell River. The Patricia is a priceless example of the Spanish Revival expression of the Arts and Crafts movement, designed by noted architect Henry Holdsby Simmons (designer of the Stanley Theatre, as well) in 1928 and built with a "spare no expense" exuberance that is rare on this coast. We've had a lot of help from our friends in recreating the original Girvan studios atmospheric murals, and restoring, repairing and rehabilitating the whole neglected and cash starved building, and our gift to those friends and neighbours is to keep the old girl alight with good times. How much fun can you have in a living museum? A whole bunch!