Looming demolition of Vancouver’s Imperial Theatre ends dream of Downtown Eastside cultural hub

The looming demolition of the Imperial Theatre in Vancouver will mark not only the loss of a unique venue, but the end of a dream to transform part of the Downtown Eastside into a cultural hub.

Several propane tanks inside a tent on exploded outside the Imperial Sunday, igniting a fire that charred the front entrance and set off sprinklers inside.

The popular nightclub and event space, located at at 319 Main St., was already closed, awaiting demolition for a new project — an 11-storey building that will include 118 units of social housing, retail, office and school space, and a “community use theatre.”

But it will be hard for the new theatre to match The Imperial, one of Vancouver’s unique spaces.

It was built in 1974 as the Golden Harvest, a Chinese-language theatre that specialized in kung fu movies.