Eleven amazg photographs that tell the gay history of Toronto

Contents:

• GAY
• 12 OF THE HOTTT GAY BARS TORONTO FOR STEAMY NIGHTS
• THE 5 BEST TORONTO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS TORONTO
• TORONTO GAY DISTRICT: THE VILLAGE
• THE 5 BEST ONTAR GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ONTAR
• TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS DOWNTOWN (TORONTO)GAY CLUBS & BARS DOWNTOWN
• THE 5 BEST THGS TO DO CHURCH-YONGE CORRIDOR, TORONTOSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS CHURCH-YONGE CORRIDOR
• THE 5 BEST TORONTO GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS TORONTO
• TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS CHURCH AND WELLLEY (THE VILLAGE) (TORONTO)GAY CLUBS & BARS CHURCH AND WELLLEY (THE VILLAGE)
• ELEVEN AMAZG PHOTOGRAPHS THAT TELL THE GAY HISTORY OF TORONTO

GAY

One of the largt and longt-lastg gay dance clubs Toronto, this Sherbourne Street super-club went through a number of evolutns as spurred the lol mastreamg of gay culture durg the ’80s and ’90s. History: The story of Boots, one of Toronto’s bt-known and longt-lastg gay dance clubs, begs 1980 at the Waldorf Astoria apartment buildg.

12 OF THE HOTTT GAY BARS TORONTO FOR STEAMY NIGHTS

Photo by Joan Anrson, urty of the Canadian Lbian & Gay Archiv.

Wh the help of two rare DJ mix, we revis the early-‘80s Yonge Street club that provid Toronto’s gay muny wh a safe haven and showsed cuttg-edge dance-mic sounds, before the spectre of AIDS brought the party to a close. By the mid-1960s, both taverns were known to be gay bars.

THE 5 BEST TORONTO GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS TORONTO

At that pot history, gay nightlife Toronto was still very much unrground. It was mon for the heterosexual owners of gay bars to be ntemptuo of their clientele.

TORONTO GAY DISTRICT: THE VILLAGE

Arrts were ma, and the practice ntued throughout the 1970s, even as gay activists anized leafletg mpaigns and lled for boytts of the bar. Durg the mid-to-late-1970s, Yonge Street was the ma artery of Toronto gay social life ( would shift to Church the mid-1980s). Those lookg to dance uld h a number of spots near Yonge and Wellley, like The Manatee, The Qut, Katra’s, Club David’s, The Maygay (later Charly’s), and Corneli, which sat above biker bar The Gasworks.

By 1977, there were even two gay-owned bars the area: The Barn, opened by Janko Naglic at 418 Church, and small cise bar Dus, opened by Roger Wilk, a founr of the York Universy Homophile Associatn, and his partner David Payne an alley jt behd The Parksi. In this edn of her nightlife-history seri, Denise Benson tak back to the after-hours nightclub that helped mobilize Toronto’s gay-rights movement the 1980s. History: In 1980s’ Toronto, street rners and dance clubs still served as sential meetg spots for gays and other margalized muni.

On the outer edg of the Church and Wellley-centred gay village, the rner was close to popular homo hnts cludg Yonge Street’s St. Charl Tavern, Trax, and the Parksi Tavern, wh gay dance club Stag above .

THE 5 BEST ONTAR GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ONTAR

Nearby bathho were plentiful, Queen’s Park was still a major pick-up spot, and easy bar-hoppg meant that gay men had lots of optns even those pre-Grdr days.

“The Yonge and Isabella area was really amazgly gay, ” rells event producer Maxwell Blandford, once a key figure adventurome Toronto clubs and now based Miami. “Many bars, along wh stor like Northbound Leather, were wh a uple of blocks and fed thoands of gay people to that rridor.

In this edn of her nightclub-history seri, Denise Benson reviss the most sexcs-ful, celeb-studd gay hoe club of the ‘90s. Some of the hub’s gay and after-hours history was explored earlier Then & Now piec about fluential 1980s venu Voodoo and Club Z; now, we return durg the ’90s, before the area was transformed by the massive ndo velopment we see today.

TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS DOWNTOWN (TORONTO)GAY CLUBS & BARS DOWNTOWN

In the mid-’70s, while big gay dance club The Manatee drew crowds to 11A St. Joseph, Club David’s brought gay revelers south down the alley, to 16 Phipps, where a gold rendn of Michelangelo’s David prid over the dancefloor.

In the ’80s, David was out and mirrors were as the buildg beme new gay club Le Mystique.

Named after a group of lbians who fought for regnn the ’70s femist movement, Lavenr Menace isn’t the typil Village gay bar.

THE 5 BEST THGS TO DO CHURCH-YONGE CORRIDOR, TORONTOSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS CHURCH-YONGE CORRIDOR

After years of stg abandoned on Church Street, the buildg that once hoed one of Toronto's most inic gay nightclubs uld soon transform to somethg far ls excg: the base of a ndo. Known as the "grandaddy" of Toronto's gay bar scene, The Barn rose to promence the 1980s, beg one of the cy's bt known hubs for the gay muny until the murr, still unsolved, of s owner Janko Naglic  2004.

THE 5 BEST TORONTO GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS TORONTO

That mural was the succsor of The Barn's gay wboy mural, a Molson Canadian classic.

The herage buildg was home to the inic gay nightclub The Barn for s. Fzrovia's proposal acknowledg the Village as "the LGBTQ2S centre of the cy", along wh The Barn's impact on Toronto's gay history. Intensifitn Toronto's gay village has sparked fears around the erasure and mercializatn.

Cute spots around the cy that are queer-owned, queer-n or jt queer are barely any gay bars left Toronto. If you’re lookg for a date spot, a place to hear a DJ / selector play rerds (one of our fav HotGayDaddy who many of y’all might remember om the Eagle sps here) and old movi on the screens, then Farsi is a super queer-iendly spot you might feel at home ’s BistroMandy Goodhandy, the legend, has opened up her very own pub on the Danforth. The recent queer mic showse starrg our boo’s Cerena, Myst Milano, Quarterback and HIU is a very promisg night of GAY thgs to keep g.

TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS CHURCH AND WELLLEY (THE VILLAGE) (TORONTO)GAY CLUBS & BARS CHURCH AND WELLLEY (THE VILLAGE)

Mama’s isn’t queer owned, but they host a great karaoke night, burlque, drag shows and Gaydaze. Like, if we were new kids to the cy, or olr queers gog to this place for the first time, our gay hearts would melt and we would be back over and over aga.

We spoke Veroni (one of the partners) real quick onle and they told “we have ma a pot to specifilly say we are a queer iendly sports bar bee we believe many venu of this nature often do not create a safe space for all ntue, “We also unrstand that wh one of our owners beg a cis whe male, we are not willg to take up a space we don’t belong by llg ourselv a ‘queer/gay sports bar’. Pri isn’t over after June 30 — celebrate your urage and nnect wh the LGBTQ+ muny year-round at the most fabulo gay bars Toronto. Historilly, gay bars Toronto have served as safe spac where queer liv uld exist unapologetilly.

Toronto's gay bars are tertwed wh joy and acceptance, and many of them rema a fundamental part of the cy's queer history.

ELEVEN AMAZG PHOTOGRAPHS THAT TELL THE GAY HISTORY OF TORONTO

While the bars and rtrants are acceptg of everyone, 's important for alli to remember that first and foremost, Toronto's gay bars are jt that — a safe place for the LGBTQ+ muny.

Toronto's gay bars provi safe spac for LGBTQ+ folks and a rip-roarg time for everyone. From live drag performanc and viewg parti to amazg events, the gay bars Toronto are brimmg wh good there are we bars, rtrants and hotels that host special nights and pop-ups, there is nothg que like fdg muny Church-Wellley’s Village. It is here you’ll fd a plethora of gay bars, bookshops, and muny spac that have been the centre of queer history.