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Any Night of the Week

Based on Any Night of the Week: A D.I.Y. History of Toronto Music 1957-2001 (Coach House Books, 2020), this podcast takes the listener on a virtual walking tour through Toronto’s most musical neighbourhoods, with stops at key sites in Toronto’s music history. Author Jonny Dovercourt illuminates how the various hotbeds of the music scene migrated through different neighbourhoods throughout the city, as clusters of music venues, sometimes along a single street, fostered new scenes and movements.

  1. All Episodes
  2. 1.4 Queen Street West, Part I: Classic Queen West and Clubland

1.4 Queen Street West, Part I: Classic Queen West and Clubland

Oct 29, 2020

Queen Street West is arguably Canada’s most important countercultural main street, and may even be North America’s. Queen West was a quiet, mostly forgotten commercial strip until the punk rock, new wave and reggae explosion of the ‘70s, and it really came to live in the diverse, inclusive, alternative ‘80s — eventually becoming a main hub for the Canadian music industry in the ‘90s. This two-part tour will take us west from University all the way to Gladstone Avenue.

The first half explores the origins of the Queen Street scene at its most eastern end — “Classic Queen West” — as well as the birth of Clubland just south on Richmond. Historic sites include The Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Club, The Music Gallery, The Beverley Tavern, Crash ‘N’ Burn, The Twilight Zone, 23 Hop, the BamBoo Club and the Rivoli.