The Toronto Entertainment District is an area in downtown Toronto, Canada. It is concentrated around King Street West between University Avenue and Spadina Avenue. It is home to theatres, performing arts centers, the Toronto Blue Jays, and an array of cultural and family attractions. The area was also home to most of the nightclubs in downtown Toronto. They have mostly moved to King St, west of Spadina Av, just beside the Entertainment District.
Garment District
In the first half of the 20th century, the neighborhood’s original name was the Garment District, which was almost entirely industrial. The Canadian National Railway controlled vast land along the Lake Ontario waterfront. Many firms took advantage of the easy access to rail and the harbor to the north. The most important industry was textiles and fashion, and the area had few residents. Much of the site was built after the 1904 fire, which forced many businesses to move west of the Bay Street and Front area. Bed Bug Exterminator Toronto
Among the industry, the area was home to the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Four Toronto business leaders financed their construction and launch—Cawthra Mulock, Robert Alexander Smith, Stephen Haas, and Lol Solman. Opened in 1907, the Beaux-Arts-styled proscenium-stage theatre is the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in North America.
1980: Arrival of nightclubs, Roy Thomson Hall, and SkyDome
In January 1980, the Trinidad-born and Brooklyn-raised As soon brothers (David, Albert, Tony, and Michael), together with Luis Collaco and Bromely Vassell, opened The Twilight Zone, Toronto’s first large dance nightclub, at 185 Richmond Street West between Simcoe and Duncan Streets. Modeled after New York City’s famous Paradise Garage club, the Twilight Zone quickly became popular with the Toronto youth, showcasing an adventurous mix of musical styles, including underground disco, house, hip-hop, and techno, thus giving the city its first taste of the kind of underground clubbing experience that had already been popular in New York City for years. Though located in a raw, gritty, and frugal space of a mostly unfurnished former industrial warehouse, the Twilight Zone still featured an extravagantly designed US$100,000 state-of-the-art sound system courtesy of New York City sound engineer Richard Long. Paid for with a sizable bank loan the Assoons took out by putting their father’s house as collateral, its thumping bass could be heard miles away, flooding the deserted neighborhood with noise.
1990: Birth of the Entertainment District
Khabouth’s success with Stilife made other entrepreneurs notice; despite the Twilight Zone’s 1989 closure, numerous new clubs began appearing from 1990 onward, attracted by the developing nightlife scene and still relatively cheap rent. Most notable among this sudden influx of clubs were:
- Go-Go, a three-level superclub opened by the Ballinger brothers on 13 July 1990 across the street from Stilife at the north-west corner of Richmond West & Duncan,
- 23 Hop, a minimalist all-ages club opened by Wesley Thuro during the summer of 1990 at 318 Richmond West (a warehouse down the street from Stilife) that would soon become a catalyst for the early Toronto, CA rave scene,
- Klub Max, a vast venue launched in 1990 by Nick DiDonato and Angelo Belluz in a heritage building on Peter Street just south of King Street West that previously housed DiDonato’s P.M. Toronto sports bar and restaurant, and
- LimeLight, a stylish club, was opened in 1993 by businessman Zisi Konstantinou at 250 Adelaide Street West near the corner of Duncan Street.
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