This tired old building would be oblivious to most driver’s that pass it by. A curious explorer however, might stop to explore the rundown wooden structure. It’s located along a busy highway in the Sudbury area. You’d never suspect that inside is a treasure trove of forgotten pottery.

In the right portion of the building is the artists studio where artist and owner Barb Lavallee, would craft her work. There’s an electric kiln in the middle section area where the completed work was fired (hardened) and then painted.

The left portion of the building is the showroom where shelves filled with figures and figurines are lined up for sale. Barb has crafted just about every imaginable animal and figure. These include majestic horses, owls, foxes, bears, sheep, Valentine’s Day art, Native art, foxes, Angels, unicorns, chess pieces and teddy bears.

On one wall are displays of unopened jars of paint which I believe may have for selling to artists who crafted their own pottery.

The name of this ceramic shop isn’t known, but Barbara’s husband told me that the business closed around 1991. This makes the figures inside approximately three decades old. By this time they’ve absorbed moisture and are brittle. What particularly amazes me is that these figures have withstood the destruction that people reap upon abandoned buildings.

The property was supposed to be demolished years ago according to Barb’s husband, and there’s rumour that this is the final year for it to be standing. The windows were removed years ago and plastic sheets replaced them. Parts of the ceiling have given way, the electricity has been severed long ago.

The floors were rotting back in 2010 when I first visited this location. Now ten years later, the flooring is in even worse condition but fortunately the building is on ground level. In the last ten years the shed attached to the rear portion of the building has collapsed. This has made entry into the building somewhat difficult and requires stealth. There’s a house just feet away.

I don’t know which home belongs to the Lavallee’s but they live in one of the houses that surround the building.

These photos were taken during my second visit in May of 2020. I hadn’t been back to Sudbury since moving away. It was a sentimental journey to the North.

The Oxford Drive In is located along Highway 2 between London and Woodstock. It began in 1949 when a Mr. Summerhayes from Brantford wanted to find suitable land upon which to build a drive-in theatre.

He purchased land belonging to Mr. German for an amount of $3,000 and began construction of his drive in theatre. The Oxford Drive-In opened in May of 1950. The season began on the May long weekend and traditionally ended on the Labour Day weekend.

Films were shown on a projector camera which consisted of two reels. One reel held the film and the other reel spooled the film as it ran through the projector. Audio was broadcast through speakers. The parking lot was filled with poles in which speakers hung. You’d roll down your window slightly and clipped the speaker over your window.

The Oxford Drive In upgraded their system during the 1980’s to broadcast on the AM radio band. This allowed customers to listen to the movie on their own radios. The AM radio band was poor particularly during wet weather. In 1991 the theatre upgraded to the FM radio band, broadcasting on 88.5Mhz.

The couple from whom the land was purchased, Jean and Fred German, worked the drive-in on the opening night.

Movies were projected upon a wooden frame screen, which was typical of drive in’s everywhere. The screen fell down during a wind storm in the winter of 1975. The screen was replaced. The theatre had undergone ownership changes by this time and current ownership belonged to Mr. Leonard Bernstein from Toronto.

Unlike traditional drive-in’s, an usher would drive your car onto the property for you. Al MacKay was one of the ushers, who along with his parents were employed at the theatre.

In 2014, the 500 pound Christie 2220 projector was stolen from the location it was being stored at, off site. The drive in closed the following year, partly due to the constant thefts.

Update
The property has been restored and is now a functional drive-in again as of 2020. Also it is alarmed, so don’t do anything stupid!

The 24 lane All Star Bowling Alley in Scarborough closed not long ago. It’s located in a building with four business ventures – the bowling alley, Rockpile East band stage, a hotel and Caddy’s strip club. All of these businesses have shut down because a developer plans to build 184 homes on the property.

The electricity was still working during my visit and there’s NO vandalism, for now. The area this abandoned bowling alley is located in is full of graffiti.

It took us a few tries before we could gain entry into this location. Fortunately locked doors and boarded windows have kept the vandals out – for now. As with everything nice, someone will come along and ruin it.

The front doors are boarded up as are the windows which actually helped us. We were able to turn on the dazzling glow in the dark lights at night without attracting attention.

The bowling lane equipment is still there, with the bowling shoes and coloured balls. A vending machine that once contained bowling supplies even had coins in the coin box.

The upstairs level had a small bar area and an area to play pool. The pool table was gone by the time of our visit.

The bowling alley was renovated in 2012. Reviews for the bowling alley were mixed with several customers complaining about their treatment by staffers.