The Cameron House is a small bar, live music venue, and informal cultural centre located on

Queen Street West Queen Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east-w ...

, just west of

Spadina Avenue Spadina Avenue (, less commonly ) is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods. Spadina Avenue runs south ...

, in the city's

downtown core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. The Cameron has a front lounge and a back room, both with the capacity for audiences of no more than sixty people. It has been described as a Toronto crossover of

CBGB's CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

and the Chelsea Hotel in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

History

The building that today houses the Cameron House was constructed in 1880. In that year, it was # 396 Queen Street, and the other half of the building, #398, was under construction. The land to the immediate west of the buildings was a vacant field. In 1881, Angus Cameron moved into #398 and opened a dry goods store on the premises. The other half of the building remained unoccupied. Cameron lived above the shop, his mother living nearby in one of the houses on the street that now bears her family name. By the year 1888, the shop became the “Ryan and Sullivan Tailor Shop.” In 1890, the store was vacant, but the following year, E. Hodd moved in and opened a furnishings shop. In 1895, the structure became the “John Burns Hotel.” In 1896, it became the "Cameron House. First opened as a working hotel in the early 1920s, since October 1981 the Cameron has been a community-based space for music, performance, and visual art. Launched by Paul Sannella, his sister Anne Marie Ferraro and their best friend, Herb Tookey.

Notable acts

The following notable acts have performed at The Cameron House:DeMara, Bruce (October 8, 2006). "Cameron Housed: Queen West's scruffy hostelry/hangout has catered to artists for 25 years, and its tiny stage, creative energy and draft beer made for something unique in Toronto", ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', p. C4.

Recent

House acts at the Cameron in 2005 included The Cameron Family Singers, The DoneFors, The Countrypolitans, Run With the Kittens, The Backstabbers, and Kevin Quain and the Mad Bastards. Recent acts include The Devin Cuddy Band, The Double Cuts, Colonel Tom and The American Pour, John Borra, Big Tobacco and The Pickers, David Celia, Patrick Brealey, Ferraro, Lori Yates and Hey Stella,

Doug Paisley Doug Paisley is a Canadian alternative country singer and songwriter with record label No Quarter Records. He was born in Toronto. Paisley's "What About Us?" was featured in Mojo magazine as part of a complimentary CD entitled ''New Harvest''. Pa ...

, Jay Swinn, and David Baxter. In 2011, the Cameron House served as a launching pad for Cameron House Records, a new

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

.Kinos-Goodin, Jesse (January 22, 2011). "Cameron House diversifies: New record label", ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', p. TO3.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron House Nightclubs in Toronto Music venues in Toronto