General Arts and Culture News

[robdrimmie]

Anybody else old enough to remember when the Princess Theatre first opened - as a porn theatre?

Wasn't there a strip club at some point as well?

There were strippers at the Huether on I think Friday nights for a pretty long time.

[panamaniac]

Anybody else old enough to remember when the Princess Theatre first opened - as a porn theatre?

Just to be clear, did the Princess open as a porn theatre, or did it move into space previously occupied by a porn theatre?

I couldn't swear to it, but my memory is that the original porn place was called the Princess.  Different ownership, obviously.

[tomh009]

Wasn't there a strip club at some point as well?

There were strippers at the Huether on I think Friday nights for a pretty long time.

I think that was when it was still called the Kent. Back in the 80s ...

[tvot]

There were strippers at the Huether on I think Friday nights for a pretty long time.

I think that was when it was still called the Kent. Back in the 80s ...

I have a friend who claimed to have accidentally walked in one night when there were strippers in the late 90s. Was in the section that's now the Jazz Room.

The story I was told involved the Huether keeping the license and doing the bare minimum to hold onto it to prevent anyone else from opening a strip club in Waterloo, so there was Network/Roxanne's and the Huether. Then once the market shifted enough to make property in Waterloo worth more than the possible income from a strip club Huether gave up the license and Roxanne's moved to Kitchener. There have been stories over the years about local councils & city staff using red tape to make it difficult for the clubs to move causing some to shut down, I've always found the politics interesting, despite having no interest in the establishments themselves.

As for whether the porn theatre was called the Princess, this article seems to indicate it was The Majestic:
https://www.therecord.com/living-story/9...ilm-world/

[panamaniac]

I think that was when it was still called the Kent. Back in the 80s ...

I have a friend who claimed to have accidentally walked in one night when there were strippers in the late 90s. Was in the section that's now the Jazz Room.

The story I was told involved the Huether keeping the license and doing the bare minimum to hold onto it to prevent anyone else from opening a strip club in Waterloo, so there was Network/Roxanne's and the Huether. Then once the market shifted enough to make property in Waterloo worth more than the possible income from a strip club Huether gave up the license and Roxanne's moved to Kitchener. There have been stories over the years about local councils & city staff using red tape to make it difficult for the clubs to move causing some to shut down, I've always found the politics interesting, despite having no interest in the establishments themselves.

As for whether the porn theatre was called the Princess, this article seems to indicate it was The Majestic:
https://www.therecord.com/living-story/9...ilm-world/

Good find (trust rych mills!).  I stand corrected.

[KevinL]

Statement from the Heuther. Community backlash is surely the root of all this. https://m.facebook.com/HuetherHotel/phot...=3&theater

[plam]

Statement from the Heuther. Community backlash is surely the root of all this. https://m.facebook.com/HuetherHotel/phot...=3&theater

Hmm, can't read the mobile link, but this one works for me:

https://www.facebook.com/HuetherHotel/ph...=3&theater

[BruceAshe]

Here's The Princess' response to that statement by The Huether. https://twitter.com/princesscinemas/stat...22051?s=20

[jamincan]

I don't know much about the Adlys', but they sure seem to be shitty people to deal with. A lot of negative stuff said about them on the reddit threads I've seen.

[robdrimmie]

Is there any information about why the Huether's property tax jumped by $27,000 in one year? Had they been long overdue for an assessment? What other uptown landlords are going to be hit by this sort of thing? They have a pretty significantly sized plot in a very desirable area but that seems like a very big change.

[jamincan]

Considering how flexible they seem with the truth, do we actually believe what they say?

In any case, I read speculation (maybe on /r/waterloo?) that it had something to do with renovation work related to the brewery.

[tomh009]

I don't know much about the Adlys', but they sure seem to be shitty people to deal with. A lot of negative stuff said about them on the reddit threads I've seen.

Maybe they are. But if they have indeed been providing the space to the Princess at below-market rates, that is worth something.

And, as with the Walper barber shop situation, a lease secures the space for the long term, month-to-month risks the business to a termination. Unfortunately neither one had pursued a lease.

[tomh009]

Considering how flexible they seem with the truth, do we actually believe what they say?

In any case, I read speculation (maybe on /r/waterloo?) that it had something to do with renovation work related to the brewery.

So, do you think the anonymous posters on reddit are more believable?

[Rainrider22]

I don't know much about the Adlys', but they sure seem to be shitty people to deal with. A lot of negative stuff said about them on the reddit threads I've seen.

Maybe they are. But if they have indeed been providing the space to the Princess at below-market rates, that is worth something.

And, as with the Walper barber shop situation, a lease secures the space for the long term, month-to-month risks the business to a termination. Unfortunately neither one had pursued a lease.

To be fair with respect the The Walper, they were not offered a long term lease. However, in the end it will all work out better for them

[robdrimmie]

Considering how flexible they seem with the truth, do we actually believe what they say?

In any case, I read speculation (maybe on /r/waterloo?) that it had something to do with renovation work related to the brewery.

That's fundamentally why I'm asking: To understand their assertion that it's a justifiable move because they have been such generous landlords for so long but terrible taxes are forcing them to spread the capitalist pain from the man around.

Renovating themselves into higher taxes certainly seems plausible. Thanks for sharing that speculation.