The Princess Theatre is a two-screen art-house cinema located at 10337 Whyte Avenue in Edmonton's historic Old Strathcona neighbourhood.

[18] The Princess was serviced by a freight elevator, which was an unusual feature for a building of its size, and the theatre lighting was indirect and gentle on theatregoers' eyes.

[18] By 1916, the Princess had stopped booking live acts and was focusing exclusively on the more profitable cinema side of the business.

[24] Entwisle managed a chain of Edmonton vaudeville houses and cinemas on Jasper Avenue including the Pantages, Empress and Dreamland Theatres.

[7][22][31] In fact, the first talkie in Edmonton was Mother Knows Best, screened at the Capitol, a major Jasper Avenue competitor to the Princess.

[32] An entire page of the Edmonton Bulletin was devoted to the reopening,[33] including a congratulating ad from a local record store,[33] an ad for the electrical contractors who installed the wiring,[33] and a message congratulating the Princess placed by the managers of three other establishments already wired for sound: the Rialto, Empress and Capitol Theatres.

The first talkie screened at the Princess was Close Harmony starring Buddy Rogers and Nancy Carroll, on August 19, 1929.

By 1966, the exterior doors had been removed entirely to create storefronts (see photo), and the theatre itself had been occupied by Quick Cash Exchange, a pawnshop.

[37] Towne Cinema restored the original function of the interior of the building, rebuilt sections of the exterior, and installed a new marquee at a cost of $270,000.

[37] But at some point in 1972, family friendly programming began being interspersed with (and was eventually replaced by) "blue movies",[7][41][42] such as Swedish Fly Girls.

In 1981, prints of both Caligula and Dracula Sucks were confiscated from multiple Towne locations, and the company was sued by the Government of Alberta under obscenity laws.

The Old Strathcona Foundation, at that time a publicly funded community development initiative, leased the struggling Klondike in 1977[45] and began searching for ways to use the space.

A member of the general public, Frank Grisdale, answered the solicitation, writing a paper outlining how the building could be successfully operated as a repertory theatre under its original name.

The foundation was apparently impressed by his proposal, and Grisdale was installed as the Princess Theatre's director upon completion of renovations in 1978.

During his tenure, Grisdale also introduced live performances, including touring acts such as Sneezy Water's "Hank Williams - The Show He Never Gave".

[21] The theatre was offering Saturday morning cartoons,[41] student pricing, and yearly memberships which all contributed to its steadily increasing attendance.

[7] In 1989, a soundproofed cry room was installed with an independent sound system, allowing patrons with small children to come to films without worry.

[50] Paisley quickly offered to buy the Princess, and reached an agreement with the Old Strathcona Foundation in October 1994 for an unspecified amount.

[52] The Old Strathcona Foundation quickly pivoted, and attempted in early 1995 to transfer control of the cinema to the Princess Theatre Society, "a small board made up of film experts and business people" including Paisley.

[53] Paisley immediately resigned as director and ended his relationship with the theatre two months short of his contract expiring.

[8] Rick Ostapchuk immediately took over double duty as the manager of the recently renovated Garneau Theatre, as well as the Princess.

[63] By 1999, Leonard Schein had become president of Alliance Atlantis, and had decided to build a six-screen art house cinema on Whyte Avenue.

[64] Many Edmontonians supported the plan, including former Princess manager Malcolm Parker, FAVA Executive Director Helen Folkmann, and Mayor Bill Smith.

[64] Unsurprisingly, Ostapchuk was against Alliance Atlantis's plans for Whyte Avenue, believing that it would put both the Garneau and the Princess out of business.

[66] The argument went all the way to Edmonton City Council, which was asked to waive Old Strathcona's four-story height limit for the six-story multiplex.

Council sided against Alliance Atlantis when Councillor Terry Cavanagh changed his vote at the last minute, defeating the motion 6-5.

[67] The Princess Theatre has a history of being a welcoming space to the Edmonton queer community and has supported it through a variety of screenings and events over the years.

During the 1985 Edmonton Pride Festival, the theatre held a screening of the Oscar winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk.