What a great fucking time in a great neighbourhood. Randomly posting this because I had this dream last night where I was drinking at Las Iguanas (I haven't had a drink in 2 decades) and I woke up remembering how fun Las Iguanas and The Tap were. And how you could go back and forth between the two bars via the back doors.
And the Green Room. Such an off the grid place. That wild patio surrounded by patios. Always wondered what it was like to live there.
Insomnia, Kilgour's, JJ Muggs, By The Way Cafe, Futures, that wild Hungarian place with the checked tablecoths and massive schnitzels.
Sigh. I get that I'm old and remembering the halcyon days and shit, but it was better before everything went digital and venture capitalist.
Any other peeps remember stores/things/people from back then? The strip between Spadina and Bathurst on Bloor.
I loved Thursdays when they came out and I could sit down and plan my week or month of music, movies, events etc etc. Or just look for love in Missed Connections š
I timed my Thursday commute around picking up NOW. The listings were the best part. You'd walk into the weekend with plans you didn't even know existed. The internet gave us infinite events calendars and somehow none of them feel like that. The curation was the product.
i believe it was country style that had a map up on the wall by the door that showed "greater hungary" with the pre-wwi borders. sort of amusing and also sort of fascist.
Yeah, you know, the greater Austro-Hungarian/Holy Roman Empire dies hard in memories. People have pride that spans generations.
It's hard to see your nationality diminished, even for good reasons; their empire needed to be disolved. The whole area got chewed up by the Entente after WWI (among other impossible reparations on Germany)... Which kinda led to the rise of fascism and WWII... And maybe to the 90s and the mess of Yugoslavia.
I hope that we are not (but fear that we are) headed in the same global direction. We are stupid if we do that.
Oh man. Rockin Irene. What a fucking legend. That stage at the front that was just a sloppy makeout ramp by the end of the night. $5 pitchers. Rumours of recycled beer. Contender for most disgusting bathroom in Toronto. Lost my favourite coat there. And my self-respect on many occassions.
The Brunny? Oddly I hadn't been there that often despite knowing about how it was more of a U of T pub (like Maddie). We had one night there for u of t frosh week in 98.
Just too many places to list and around at that time. More local places with alot of character.
I lived in a 1 bedroom apartment ($1000 INCLUSIVE) on the third floor of a house on Albany Ave. My fire escape/smoke spot looked right over the top of Bathurst station.
Would start my day with a coffee and spicy patty from Bakery-on-the-Go on the subway platform before heading to work. Those days my job pretty reliably ended at about 5pm so I could comfortably roll into Sonic Boom to browse DVDs (and a healthy stock of Criterions!) before getting 2lbs of delicious take-out foodstuffs from Ghazale and walking it into the Bloor to see whatever was playing that day with a few minutes to spare.
Impromptu meetups with friends at The Vic or The Pauper's for pints in the evening or on weekends. Cycling over to Christie Pits to chill with some tall-cans for the afternoon...
Would work my way back home and fall asleep to the white noise of the streetcars turning around on the rails in the station that for some reason were never properly ground/maintained.
I haven't lived in Toronto for over a decade but did manage to get a hand-painted sign from Honest Ed's before it closed (GIRDLES $10.00) and the memories come back in the best way possible every time I see it.
There are so many other events and people that I remember from that time which bring a smile to my face but I think I'll keep those ones to myself.
One of them had this leather stuffed rhinoceros that was the size of a large dog. I always wanted it! I did buy a futon from one of them in 2000 and it is with a friend's friend's son and still doing great!
Banh mi is Vietnamese. They also had deep
Fried silken tofu as an app that was very good. The Red Room came a bit later and was a similar vibe and menu.
I lived at Harbord and Bathurst from 1998 for a few years. What a great neighborhood.
The first Juice for Life (now Fresh) was just east of Bathurst on the south side of Bloor and was a godsend for a new vegan.
Fuck, right. My brain is scrambled.
Harbord Fish and Chips was amazing. There was a place called Momo's at Harbord and Major that was great lebanese. Rowers bar was there. Fun little street for sure.
I forgot Aidaās on Bloor which later became Lailaās. I think a falafel was $3, $1 for a second. I ate there so many times. Hope youāre doing well, Sam!
I drop my laundry at Ulster Coin Wash then head to Suspect Video. I pick up Schussangst which has just come out. It's an evening in April, and it has rained recently. The streets are empty.
I discovered so many gems at Suspect. The one person would always recommend I watch the Chuck Berry shit videos as a running joke. It was amazing that they had that one. They were like pre-internet demented.
In undergrad my broke Saturday night used to be 5-7 friends, three bottles of wine, enough pizza for 6-8 people, and the two absolutely worst, filthiest, most ridiculous movies we could find at Suspect.
That sounds absolutely blissful. Decades of obligations and responsibilities really make those times being broke but free look realllllyyyyy good. Grass is greener and all that. But it would be nice to have a chore-less weekend just one more time.
I still live down here, 25 years on now, though I started hanging around there in 1990, when I went to U of T. Thereās a few of the same bars and businesses, like Pauperās and The Maddy, but they are pale reflections of themselves. The area has been very dull for 15 years or so, as the landlords move the niche businesses out and replace them with Dollaramas and Tim Hortons.
However, just in the last year, Iāve noticed a little renaissance of interesting restaurants and businesses opening up. Fingers crossed, that trend lasts!
There was an Indian restaurant I liked, Nataraj? I miss it. I think there was also a 24-hour Montreal smoked meat place. that was nice for a late snack.
We would rush there after Rocky Horror because if we got there before last call they would have a table big enough for our group before the people from the bars stumbled in. We were annoying customers, for sure- probably like 15 people, separate cheques, at least 5 of us not ordering anything. Hilariously, though, they would retaliate against us by just ignoring us after they brought the food. It would take forever to get the cheque. We always wondered if they hated us so much why wouldn't they bring the cheque faster?
is that the name of the two bars that were in the houses by Honest Edās? had one of the drunkest nights of my life in there, forgot the name. I miss the old Victory Cafe so bad too. Shame about the neighbourhood
No the tap and iguanas was closer to the Brunny than Palmerston.
I remember the Victory Cafe but not the bars there.
LOVED Suspect Video though.
And the rotisserie chicken place right at bathurst/bloor with a thousand chickens rotating in their grease-stained window.
Georgeās is still there, if thatās what you mean. And Eyesore Cinema is worth checking out if you havenāt already. Bay St Video too, still going strong, maybe even better than ever
The Vic was at the end of the block, and the one right at the corner by Suspect -- I think it started with an I? It's embarrassing that I don't remember this. It was my local for a few years. I reserved the whole second floor for my birthday one year.
Sonic Boom, Queen Video, the explosion of Sushi places, LAN cafes like Toptop (more west of bathurst), Nexus X, Gregg's Ice Cream, Dominion, Kensington Bakery. Pour one out for my youth.
Niche, but I really miss the random Indian imports/hippie patchwork clothing stand that used to set up at the corner of Bloor and Brunswick. I got so much stuff there for so cheap.
Always some wild shit there. People selling all kinds of magical wares. And how many late night calls did you make on the telephones that were on the corner?
It was right across the street from Insomnia, right?
Used to be a REEEEEALLLLY scummy coffee shop before that.
The church by the grocery store? They actually had some really wonderful music events there.
What was that big record store with high ceilings and bright lights? Constant 'click click click' of people flipping through CDs. Am I wrong or was that on Bloor nearby?
Hah! Drop some ancient wisdom!
I'm still trying to remember the name of the used CD store I used to always go to. It was a small storefront, not the giant one that opened up later on.
Dude that ran it had a crazy coke nail. I always remembered that.
I don't think that's it. Sonic Boom was the one that opened up beside the cinema, I think. This was on the south side probably in between Borden and Brunswick-ish.
On the north side, just west of the Shoppers? That was Second Spin! CDs for 9.99 and a loyalty card so your 10th one was free -- the best! There was also a CD Replay on the south side.
This thread is making me misty eyed! For my contribution any Noodle Bowl lovers at bloor and Spadina? Such cheap pan-Asian cuisine. Had my first restaurant pho and fried rice there and was always my favourite since. No longer in business alas!
I miss all of that too my friend. I miss Honest Ed's and I especially miss Suspect Video which was tucked in around the side. Drinks at Midtown, Paupers, Sneaky Dees (upstairs and down), Lee's Palace and Dance Cave, greasy breakfasts at KOS and Dee's...I had no idea I would remember the 90's with such an ache and a fondness in equal measure.
I love this conversation, so many memories after 50 years growing up in the Annex and still live here. In high school (1980s) went to Toby's for burgers at Bloor and Dalton. While at U of T I worked at JJ Muggs when it opened and the first few years. Sneaky Dees when it was on Bloor. Someone mentioned Serra it was nice to have an Italian place in the neighbourhood (stoked since Rafaella opened). The Chinese food counter inside Lee's Palace. OMG so many great places live on only in my memories!
The thing is, a lot of those places were gross. I made the mistake of the being in the green room once late enough for them to turn the lights on, only to see the mice/rats under our tables scurry away in the dark.
The Tap told us it was closing time, only to serve poured pints from under the counter because apparently, you could phone ahead and get them to pour a drink before closing time and that didn't count as serving after hours. That was more annoying than anything.
Was it The Tap or Beer Station where Moe Berg from Pursuit of Happiness would tend bar?
And the Brunny - what a gross place. It would have been gross even if it wasn't filled with frat dudes and a girls-only dance floor and bartenders giving free drinks if you stood on the bar and showed your tits. But it was both a dive AND infested with terrible frat bros - not fun.
I do miss Country Style Hungarian. Southern Accent over on Markham St. Late night eats at Mel's Diner. Knowing where to find little spots along the back wall at the Dance Cave so you could stow your coats without paying for coat check. Shopping at the giant Sonic Boom and The Beguiling and Suspect Video.
I wasn't pissed I was just annoyed and it always stuck with me. You go to a bar you try to order another round they say no it's after last call. Then 20 minutes later somebody walks in and the bartender reaches under the bar pulls out two poured pints and hands it to them.
Yeah, but that was the point of the Green Room. You knew why it was cheap, and the tacit social contract was do not look down.
Although I wouldn't go to the Brunny because of the thirty-something dudes who'd show up there trying to pick up girls in undergrad (which I was at the time). There are limits.
I worked across the street from the Brunny for a year or two at Future Bistro / The Lab. I never went to the Brunswick House but I spent many a night at the Lab!
The Green room was fantastic. Felt like Eastern Europe or something. Always ordered bottled beer because the hygiene was terrible. But the vibe was always vibing.
Oh man! I came to Toronto in 2001 and I just about lived at the green room. The three dollar ham sandwich, the four dollar Vietnamese sandwich, the seven dollar pad Thai. $13 pictures of beer which including tax came to 15 bucks.
I so much food there, and I just really ignored how dirty it was. The whole saga about how they kept getting shut down and one of the times the published violation was that the restaurant license wasnāt visible because there was too much cockroach shit obscuring the license. Ha ha! Eventually there was supposed to be a forced sale of the green room and I heard that some guy bought it for $9000. Iām sure it was a back room deal and the original owners kept control but I spent weeks wishing I had $9000 and I could have bought the green room.
My whole undergrad we had such great times there. I had my 30th birthday party there.
What a place.
I really miss drinking labatt 50 at las iguanas and eating their chili fries. Never had chili fries that good since.
I used to love clothes shopping there! Before it got all trendy and pricey. I used make amazing finds there! Courage My Love was one of my favourites; as well as Black Market! We used to spend an entire Saturday down there...
Secrets from your sister, DOONIES, Bordello on Markham street had this amazing chef/ownerā¦ nobody remembers that spot. But I loved it. My friend gave me my first Tiffany earrings there! Framing place. The sushi spot that had a fire. Bloor cinema before it was hot docs ā¦watching snakes on a plane or ET, or various docs. The gorgeous church. Midoco. Leeās palace and dance cave introduced me to Brit pop, Foals, plants and animals. So so many more. Queen video as their vhs was slowly then not so slowly replaced by dvds.
It was the mid 90s. My friends and I were at The Tap, drinking shitty beer because craft beer didn't exist yet. We were from the suburbs, downtown for university, just old enough to drink, and we thought all this was incredibly cool.
The door opened, and a group of guys walked in. One of them was a white guy with shoulder-length orange dreads. We recognized him immediately from a video on MuchMusic, because he was the lead singer of an alt rock band called Rusty. We think this is incredibly cool, to be drinking at a bar with rockstars.
The Rusty guy sits down with his buddies (perhaps the rest of the band) and they get drinks.
Some other random guy goes over the jukebox and sticks in a bunch of coins.
A few seconds later, the music starts. It's a song by Rusty. Their main MuchMusic video hit, a very Nirvana-esque soft/loud grunge track called Wake Me.
The jukebox is super loud, and so is the song, so nobody can ignore it. But Rusty guy and his crew play it cool and do not acknowlege the situation.
Several minutes later, the song ends. There's a brief silence. Then the next song begins.
It's the same Rusty song again.
There is some grumbling. We laugh. Other people laugh.
Several minutes later, the song ends, there's another silence, and then the same song begins again for the third time.
Rusty and his crew gulp their drinks, smack down some cash on their table, and stomp out of the bar as a group, annoyed looks on their faces.
We stay for another half hour. The Rusty song is still playing on a loop when we leave.
It was definitely off the radar for most people. When I moved into the neighbourhood around 2001, I would blow my friend's minds taking them down the back alleyway into this hidden and weird rickety place that you wouldn't find unless someone took you it was there. This was of course before 'speakeasy' bars were everywhere.
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u/candleflame3 6h ago
Hear me out: The NOW magazine events listings were awesome and a great loss to the city. Stupid internet.