Various Times/Locations
Toronto, Canada
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Yonge Street is Flaming
Neighbourhood: Yonge between King and Charles
Meeting Location: King Edward Hotel, 37 King Street East
Start Time: 1:00pm
Gerald Hannon, director, Pink Triangle Press
Jane Farrow, producer, The Sunday Edition, CBC One
A 90 minute stroll through the history of the bars, beverage rooms and clubs frequented by gays and lesbians on the Yonge Street strip from King to Charles Streets. A lively gay demimonde has flourished in Toronto since the 50's complete with drag shows, Queen Bee Beauty Contests, and same-sex slow dancing — doormen would flick the lights to tip off the clientele to the arrival of the morality squad, and the lesbians would quickly switch partners with their gay male friends. In 1964 Macleans magazine noted the increasing popularity of bars that catered to, or tacitly accepted, a queer clientele: "homosexuals have no family, spend a lot of time in bars, drink steadily, tip generously and seldom smash the furniture." As time passed, the bars moved up Yonge. Gays and lesbians transitioned from being simply tolerated in private spaces, to claiming public space in their own clubs like The Music Room and The Manatee, and demonstrations like Gay Pride, International Women's Day and the Dyke March.