{"id":4978,"date":"2009-06-25T17:00:55","date_gmt":"2009-06-25T21:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=4978"},"modified":"2013-01-21T15:22:49","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T20:22:49","slug":"throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto’s first scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Every Thursday, Spacing will bring you a snapshot of Toronto’s past, looking into what took place that day in the city’s history. Throwback Thursday will address how the city has evolved, with an emphasis on issues that remain relevant for development in Toronto today.<\/em><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

It was thirty-one years ago today that The Riverboat, Canada’s most famous coffee house of the time, closed its doors.\u00a0 Although it shut down in 1978, The Riverboat was in its prime a decade earlier, when Yorkville was the “music mecca of Canada” and the launching point for many international careers in the arts.<\/p>\n

Although the Riverboat is the best remembered Yorkville music venue — providing one of the first stages for a long list of young Canadian musicians like Gordon Lightfoot<\/a>, Joni Mitchell<\/a>, Neil Young<\/a> and Murray McLauchlan<\/a> and the site of a heritage plaque<\/a> unveiling last week — there were over 40 clubs, coffee houses, and galleries in Yorkville featuring live music in the late 1960s.<\/p>\n

At 88 Yorkville Avenue there was the Chez Monique where the Sparrows<\/a> (later known as Steppenwolf<\/a>) regularly played.\u00a0 Ian & Sylvia<\/a> were known to perform at the nearby Village Corner and the little known band that went by the name of The Mynah Birds<\/a> and featured both Neil Young and Rick James<\/a> together actually took their name from the Mynah Bird coffee house at 114 Yorkville Avenue.\u00a0 Not to mention the Penny Farthing, known for its swimming pool and bikini-wearing waitresses, the New Gate of Cleve, the Café El Patio and the Flick, Yorkville was a regular musical hotbed filled to the brim with budding artists.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In many ways, Yorkville in the 60s was the Canadian counterpart to Greenwich Village<\/a> and Haight-Ashbury<\/a>.\u00a0 With Margaret Atwood<\/a> doing readings at the Bohemian Embassy, the Grab Bag convenience store open late into the night selling rolling papers, hookah pipes and munchies and numerous rooming houses populating the district, Yorkville became a tourist destination for people itching to witness or take part in 60s bohemian culture.<\/p>\n

The area’s fame, however, was a mixed blessing for Yorkville.\u00a0 As the influx of spectacle-seeking tourists increased, so too did bumper-to-bumper traffic on the narrow one-way streets.\u00a0 The escalating congestion prompted local citizens to begin what some current City councillors and journalists might have called the city’s first “war on the car.”\u00a0 Although overshadowed by the Spadina Expressway fight<\/a> that happened only a few years later, in the late 60s the young adults and residents of Yorkville began fighting to ban cars on Yorkville Avenue to improve air quality and pedestrian safety.<\/p>\n

A local group of arts promoters and social service providers known as the Diggers took up the cause of making Yorkville Avenue car-free at night, first organizing a ‘love-in’ at Queen’s Park on May 22, 1967 for over 4,200 people, followed by a three day ‘sit-in’ on Yorkville Avenue that led to clashes with the police and 61 arrests.\u00a0 The Diggers followed the ‘sit-ins’ with ‘sleep-ins’ at Nathan Phillips Square in the hopes of pressuring Mayor William Dennison<\/a> to listen to the Yorkville villagers’ demands.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n

Facing huge political opposition, even the support of the Yorkville businesses wasn’t enough to sway an obstinate City Hall, which thought of Yorkville’s hippie culture as a “sore on the city.”\u00a0 Instead, City council decided to step up its police presence, so in the fall of 1967, a paddy wagon was parked at the corner of Hazleton and Yorkville on the weekends and a 10pm curfew was enforced for under-18s by a police foot patrol.\u00a0 The summer of love marked the turning point in Yorkville’s history where it transitioned from an incubator for Canadian music and arts to a ritzy destination catering largely to the rich and famous.<\/p>\n

The following summer, vagabond motorcyclists arrived to sell heavy drugs in the area and began acting as Yorkville’s unofficial police force, known to locals as ‘The Vags.’\u00a0 A supposed hepatitis epidemic<\/a> broke out in Yorkville in August 1968 known as ‘Hippie Hepatitis,’ which gained huge press coverage and led to vaccine stations being set up along the Yorkville sidewalks.\u00a0 This caused a mass exodus of Yorkville villagers to flee to the country and other areas of the city, despite relatively few people actually becoming infected.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Land speculators also facilitated the transformation of Yorkville by letting properties decay so that they could be bought cheaply.\u00a0 The principle developer behind this was Richard Wookey, who had been buying buildings in the neighbourhood since the mid 1960s.\u00a0 It was Wookey that eventually built Hazelton Lanes after buying seventy houses in the neighbourhood.\u00a0 Wookey also arranged the land deal that built the 32-floor Four Seasons Hotel at Avenue and Yorkville.<\/p>\n

Today, Yorkville is the third most expensive retail space in North America, with the stretch of Bloor Street from Avenue Road to Yonge Street recognized as the seventh most expensive shopping street in the world.\u00a0 Along with the 1993 addition of the $3 million Village of Yorkville Park<\/a> that includes a chunk of the Canadian shield, Yorkville is now better known for celebrity spottings at Sassa Fraz, TIFF receptions and conspicuous consumption rather than for a budding indie music scene or experimental arts community.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Although no longer in Yorkville, the last decade in Toronto has seen a similarly vibrant music scene develop in other areas of town.\u00a0 Spacing editor Ed Keenan’s “Making a scene<\/a>” charts the many Toronto musicians and bands now making a name for themselves and their city much like the revered musicians of Yorkville once did four decades ago.<\/p>\n

For a more complete look at the Yorkville music scene of the 60s, see Nick Jennings’ book <\/em>After the Gold Rush, Stuard Henderson’s <\/em>Making the Scene<\/a>, CBC documentary broadcasted in September, 1967 called<\/em> Yorkville: Hippie Haven<\/a> and the National Film Board documentary <\/em>Flowers on a One Way Street<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos and Video from the Toronto Star File Photos, Toronto Archives (Series 374, File 1103, Item 7)<\/em> and JP1958<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every Thursday, Spacing will bring you a snapshot of Toronto’s past, looking into what took place that day in the city’s history. Throwback Thursday will address how the city has evolved, with an emphasis on issues that remain relevant for development in Toronto today. – – – – – – – – – – –Continue reading “Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto’s first scene”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21759,24],"tags":[12583,7486,457,7887,307,756,7320,12580,12581,9106,9107,12582,8963,426,12579,115,3160,7906,12576,1154,316,5642,12578,9102,311,12584,98,19,341,391,12577,397],"class_list":["post-4978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-history","tag-after-the-gold-rush","tag-bohemian-embassy","tag-canada","tag-car-free","tag-cbc","tag-city-council","tag-ed-keenan","tag-flick","tag-four-seasons-hotel","tag-gordon-lightfoot","tag-joni-mitchell","tag-local","tag-margaret-atwood","tag-mayor","tag-murray-mclauchlan","tag-nathan-phillips-square","tag-national-film-board","tag-neil-young","tag-nick-jennings","tag-north-america","tag-queen","tag-retail-space","tag-richard-wookey","tag-rick-james","tag-spacing-editor","tag-the-riverboat","tag-throwback-thursdays","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-star","tag-usd","tag-william-dennison","tag-yorkville"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThrowback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto's first scene - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto's first scene - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every Thursday, Spacing will bring you a snapshot of Toronto’s past, looking into what took place that day in the city’s history. Throwback Thursday will address how the city has evolved, with an emphasis on issues that remain relevant for development in Toronto today. – – – – – – – – – – –Continue reading "Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto’s first scene"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-25T21:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T20:22:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/archives\/images\/riverboat_s0374_fl1103_it0007.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Schabas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Schabas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/\",\"name\":\"Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto's first scene - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/archives\/images\/riverboat_s0374_fl1103_it0007.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-25T21:00:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T20:22:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/archives\/images\/riverboat_s0374_fl1103_it0007.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/archives\/images\/riverboat_s0374_fl1103_it0007.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto’s first scene\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e\",\"name\":\"Jake Schabas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jake Schabas\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/jakeschabas\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto's first scene - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto's first scene - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Every Thursday, Spacing will bring you a snapshot of Toronto’s past, looking into what took place that day in the city’s history. Throwback Thursday will address how the city has evolved, with an emphasis on issues that remain relevant for development in Toronto today. – – – – – – – – – – –Continue reading \"Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto’s first scene\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2009-06-25T21:00:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T20:22:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/archives\/images\/riverboat_s0374_fl1103_it0007.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jake Schabas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jake Schabas","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/","name":"Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto's first scene - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/archives\/images\/riverboat_s0374_fl1103_it0007.jpg","datePublished":"2009-06-25T21:00:55+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T20:22:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/archives\/images\/riverboat_s0374_fl1103_it0007.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.toronto.ca\/archives\/images\/riverboat_s0374_fl1103_it0007.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/25\/throwback-thursday-yorkville-and-the-death-of-torontos-first-scene\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Throwback Thursday: Yorkville and the death of Toronto’s first scene"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e","name":"Jake Schabas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Jake Schabas"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.spacing.ca"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/jakeschabas\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4978"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4993,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4978\/revisions\/4993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}