This is what Lee’s Palace looked like when it first opened, nearly 100 years ago. It was the spring of 1919 — the first few months after the end of the First World War. It was a silent movie theatre back then, the Allen’s Bloor Theatre , part of one of Canada’s very earliest cinema chains. The Allen brothers had started with one “theatorium” in Brantford and spread all over the country — they had a whole string of theatres in Toronto, including one on the Danforth which is now the Danforth Music Hall and another in Parkdale which is now home to the Queen West Antique Centre

The Allen’s Theatre chain would eventually be swallowed up by the Famous Players monopoly (who also owned the cinema across the street, which we now call the Bloor). The Lee’s Palace building would carry on as a movie threatre until the 1950s before it was finally shut down. For the next three decades, it would be home to a series of nightclubs and restaurants — including the burlesque show of the Blue Orchid — and at one point, according to the Lee’s website , a bank.

It was in 1985 that it finally became the Lee’s Palace that we know today. The first two acts were Handsome Ned and Blue Rodeo. Since then, it has played host to some of the greatest bands from Toronto and around the world, including the first local appearances by Nirvana, Blur, Oasis and the Smashing Pumpkins.