King St E from Yonge St 1924-2009
In the heart of downtown, there are a few things that haven’t changed much at all.
I cannot agree more. I also can’t fault the gentrification of Queen West, even if it, on many levels, makes me sad. When I was an early teen, Queen W was a haven of awesome little stores, but was, basically still pretty skeevy and kinda gross. And it was generally agreed upon by our parents that we needn’t go much further west of Spadina (hah) for fear of our tender, young selves being torn asunder by the frightening denizens of skeevy Parkdale (hah). Anyway, we did and we weren’t, but it should give an idea of how things have cleaned up. When I was an undergrad, my friends and I referred to Queen W and Bathurst as “the corner of Sketchy and E.” Already things were brightening up and becoming more swanky east of there and the dirty parts were being pushed westward by rising rent and gentrification. And, much as I hate how so many landmark stores of my teens and twenties are gone now, I do like that gentrified Queen W means a lot of run down old buildings are being cleaned up and given new life. I’d rather see them repurposed than demolished, and I’d rather see that area of Toronto humming with activity than vacant, because as long as it remains vibrant, its architectural soul will remain mostly intact.
This is a little old at this point, since the new Crate and Barrel stores is already open, and this article on BlogTO has been floating around for a while. However, this has importance to me on 2 levels. First, as a Toronto historian, the fact that they’ve preserved the integrity of what was The Big Bop, and have had the opportunity to share the history of the building is awesome.
Second… I’d spent a lot of nights puking in that building, after drinking too much. When I was under-age I would go to events like Dark Raves, and Fetish Masquerades, etc that were held there. I’m friends with people older than me who remember when it was a Richmond St. style meat market club. Funny enough, once I entered my early 20’s I no longer desired to drink my face off at these events. I think the last time I was in the Big Bop was at Kathedral to see Mad Sin in 2008. I saw VNV Nation there, Assemblage 23, Goteki, and countless other bands. I’ve “modelled” there. My high school sweet heart’s band played there. It’s basically a building of significance to anyone who spent any time in Toronto’s alternative scenes.
I recall the outrage of old goths and punks when the Bop announced it was closing. First Sanctuary becomes a Starbucks, then Savage Garden closes forever, now the Big Bop was going to become another brand name store in the outdoor mall that Queen West has become. But as this article points out, only a big company would have had the budget to restore the building. And, at least it wasn’t torn down to make way for condos.
I think they’ve done a great job. They’ve shared a bit of Toronto history with the general public in the article, and Crate and Barrel have restored a beautiful building. Even if you’re not one to worship at the altar of consumerism, I hope you can at least appreciate what’s been done.
Also, this.
“Christopher Platt, director of collections and circulation operations at New York Public Library, which operates 100 libraries, spoke as the Evening Standard’s Save Our Libraries campaign is getting behind Londoners fighting to keep their local branches open in the face of public spending cuts…
Mr Platt said cutting services, hours and staff or having libraries run by volunteers should be “a last resort”, and that at times of financial difficulty New York libraries have found they are needed more than ever, leading them to lobby hard for public funding and improve rather than cut services.”
