On the northeast corner of Dundas West and Spadina, a standard-looking Royal Bank branch operates, but look behind it and notice the graffiti-covered fly tower betraying the abandoned theatre within. This was originally the Standard Theatre, which operated from the 1920s onwards hosting Yiddish and Vaudeville productions. In the 1940s, it became the Victory Theatre and, by the 1970s, morphed into the Victory Burlesque where strippers often mixed with the likes of Rush, The New York Dolls, Peter Frampton, the Soft Machine and Iggy and the Stooges. Its last incarnation was as the Golden Harvest Cinema, showing Hong Kong films, until it finally closed in the 1990s.

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