Fade to black

When I began my days in Hades, there were three cinemas remaining in downtown Ottawa: the rather drafty and smelly triplex in the Rideau Centre, the cluster of screens of varying sizes at the World Exchange Centre, and the Bytowne Cinema, the local seat of art films, which was housed in an old-fashion movie house which had blinked on Rideau Street for well over half a century.

After a decade of seemingly endless Ottawa winters, the downtown cinemas disappeared, chilled out by Netflix, I guess.  I've never seen the appeal of Netflix, and I rather like my films on a large screen, hearing the reactions of those around me.  The big-box cinemas were an eighty-to-ninety-minute round-trip by bus, so I purchased the yearly membership to Bytowne, which was a thirty-minute walk from my house, and near two bus-routes, if I didn't feel like the hike.

It offered a wide range of films:  Canadian, foreign-language, animation, classics.  It also featured a rather eccentric clientele at times, but a seat in the large darkened auditorium was a trip back in time.

It was one of my lifelines in a city that never became home to me.  Yesterday, they announced it was closing down.  The second COVID lockdown was the final straw.  A particular pity, since, as far as I can see, cinemas are not a source of spreading, super or otherwise.

Even though I don't have to live in Hades anymore, and have absolutely no reason to return, my heart is breaking.  Surely I wasn't the only person clinging on to the Bytowne for dear life.