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Satipe (satipe)
5-Doyen
Username: satipe
Post Number: 372
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, July 31, 2010 - 8:15 pm: |    |
I have been remembering where I would see groups like the Chi-Lites, Stylistics, Dramatics, Delfonics, O'Jays, Temptations, RGB, etc. I live in Toronto and 20+ years ago, we had The Network, Club Blue Note, Bermuda Onion and The Ontario Place Forum but these places no longer exist. There is no where to see groups like the aforementioned in a nice dinner club setting without the worry of a fight, gun, etc.
Every Friday, I would go to one of the clubs mentioned and it was fun to watch a 9pm/12midnight/2am set. Those days are gone and I wish one would come back - but I go to bed early now as I am a wee bit older. |
Marv (marv2)
6-Zenith
Username: marv2
Post Number: 4339
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 12:18 am: | |
Satipe, I remember the Ontario Place Forum and the Network I believe (it's been a while). Do you recall a club that was on a boat at the far end of Yonge Street? It was popular during the 80's. I can't recall the name at the moment but I do remember having the best time there. Toronto was definitely one of the better party cities with some of the best people I have ever met! |
Erik T (erik_t)
6-Zenith
Username: erik_t
Post Number: 619
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 1:13 pm: | |
Captain John's big ol' boat is still at the foot of Yonge, nobody who lives here ever knows anyone who went there to eat. It was so dead a few summers ago I'd heard one could climb the cabin and hang out on some upper deck area without anyone knowing you were hanging out. I also noticed it was for sale in an article on weird Toronto properties earlier this year.
People have told me conflicting information about the Bluenote and Network. I have a box of matches from Network, actually- I work in the building these days. I am surprised there were no fights, it sure wasn't the case upstairs. I know a few people who used to hang out there and in the hotel rooms upstairs- it was a hustler/ player/ playette joint. One of the guys who worked there recently for a social services agency told me he used to provide muscle for some of the working girls there. One of the working girls now lives upstairs, she told me she used to make a killing in that place... Network is long gone, the space is still there in a modified form, the people who ran the hotel got out about 6-7 years ago and sold it to one of my employers. It is now social housing, and there is no more booze allowed downstairs (we have a lot of people in various stages of recovery and debauchery alike). There is no evidence of live music happening there, at least none that I've seen, and I've explored a lot of the building. The former owners left piles of useless crap, broken tools and maintenance-related machines and equipment. There are also files from the early 1990's, like tenant information. No pictures, no contracts, and (my usual fantasy in these scenarios)- no boxes of tapes with performances at the club or anything like that. Some of the current residents in their sixties have fond memories of the clubs there, but their stories often conflict, which is understandable. I ask them who they saw, when, and other details which I don't realistically expect too many people to retain. I gather the Blue Note was next door to Network, and the property is long gone, it was a vacant lot for years and now there are plans for a yet another condo tower, to accompany the one going up across the street. There was a crack alley behind the club in its last days. The owner of the building apparently didn't think it was on his property, so people from next door cleaned it up and fenced it off. Of course it had always belonged to the negligent landlord who immediately claimed the strip of land as soon as the property was shut down for the last time.
About 5 years ago, the club space was featured on the t.v. show 'Restaurant Make-Over' (or something close to that), with a view to running a self-supporting cafe, run by residents. That was before my time there, but at present the cafe/ space is not open to the public. I'd like to see that change one day, but, uh, I've gone on too long already. |
Marv (marv2)
6-Zenith
Username: marv2
Post Number: 4344
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 3:59 pm: | |
Erik, wow, thanks for filling in a lot of missing information on some of these places where you use to have so much fun in Toronto. Captain John's seems to have really changed a lot since I partied there in 1988-89, etc. That place use to be packed and some of the finest women in Toronto would be there. |
Satipe (satipe)
5-Doyen
Username: satipe
Post Number: 373
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 5:34 pm: | |
I agree with Erik, Captain Johns is a dump.
Erik, I remember the acts used to stay in the hotel upstairs of the Network. There was an elevator near the front bar that brought them back and forth. At the Network, I saw the Chi-lites (when Eugene was still with them), Eugene Record solo, the Stylistics (when Russell was with them), the Delfonics, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and the Manhattans. Last concert I remember there would have been about 1989 and it was the Chi-lites. Who showed up to watch...the Temptations and O'Jays who had just played the Forum.
In 1990, the Blue Note reopened and I saw the Dramatics, Ray Goodman and Brown, and the Chi-lites.
Do you remember the Bermuda Onion which was on Bloor near the museum? Currently, it is a Chinese buffet but for about two years, it was a small club. Tickets were very expensive but in an intimate setting I saw Jr. Walker, Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Eddie Floyd, William Bell, LaVern Baker, Oscar Peterson, Jerry Butler, the Persuasions and some great local jazz.
Those were the days... |
Marv (marv2)
6-Zenith
Username: marv2
Post Number: 4352
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 5:50 pm: | |
Do they still hold concerts at the Royal York Hotel? They use to as I remember. |
Satipe (satipe)
5-Doyen
Username: satipe
Post Number: 374
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 7:50 pm: | |
Marv, that was the Imperial Room and it is long gone. |
Marv (marv2)
6-Zenith
Username: marv2
Post Number: 4355
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Sunday, August 01, 2010 - 7:53 pm: | |
Bummer! I have been away from Toronto way too long I see. I going to make a point coming back there this year! We had some great times there. |
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