The Toronto Entertainment District is an area in downtown

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 anch ...

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 C ...

, Canada. It is concentrated around King Street West between

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and

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 ...

. It is home to theatres and performing arts centres, the

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, 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.

History

Garment District

In the first half of the 20th century, the original name of the neighbourhood was the Garment District and it was almost wholly industrial. The Canadian National Railway controlled a huge amount of land along the

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

waterfront, and to the north many firms took advantage of the easy access to rail and the harbour. The most important industry was textiles and fashion, and the area had few residents. Much of the area was built after the 1904 fire, which forced many businesses to move west of the Bay Street and Front area. TIFF comes in Toronto (29465981882)

Among the industry, the area was home to the

Royal Alexandra Theatre The Royal Alexandra Theatre, commonly known as the Royal Alex, is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located near King and Simcoe Street. Built in 1907, the 1,244-seat Royal Alex is the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in Nort ...

whose construction and launch were financed by four Toronto business leaders—Cawthra Mulock, Robert Alexander Smith, Stephen Haas, and

Lol Solman Lawrence "Lol" Solman (May 14, 1863 – March 24, 1931) was a prominent businessman in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Biography Born in Toronto, Solman was educated in public schools.Beaux-Arts styled proscenium-stage theatre is the oldest continuously operating legitimate theatre in North America. Following the death of the last individual from its original ownership group, the theatre began to be run by the trustees of the Cawthra Mulock estate (another one of the original owners). By then, the neighbourhood had almost fully transformed into an industrial district with additional manufacturing facilities appearing throughout. Structures such as the Gelber Building (built in 1912 by Jewish immigrants from the town of

Berezhany Berezhany ( uk, Бережани, ; pl, Brzeżany; yi, ברעזשאַן, Brezhan; he, בּז'יז'אני/בּז'ז'ני ''Bzhezhani''/''Bzhizhani'') is a city in Ternopil Raion, Ternopil Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It lies about fr ...

within the Austro-Hungarian Empire's poorest province of Galicia, Louis and Moses Gelber, to house their Gelber Bros Limited wool garment manufacturing business before adding a warehouse next door in 1932) and ACME Carbon and Ribbon building (built in the 1930s for the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veteran James Alexander Campbell's printing and publishing business), located on adjacent corners of the intersection of Richmond West and Duncan, were among the many examples of the

manufacturing industry Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

taking over the area. By the mid-1950s, Royal Alex turned into a money-losing operation, and was in 1962 sold for $200,000 to the forty-eight-year-old businessman

Ed Mirvish Edwin "Honest Ed" Mirvish, (July 24, 1914 – July 11, 2007) was an American-Canadian businessman, philanthropist and theatrical impresario who lived in Toronto, Ontario. He is known for his flagship business, Honest Ed's, a landmark disc ...

, owner of the

Honest Ed's Honest Ed's was a landmark discount store in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was named for its proprietor, Ed Mirvish, who opened the store in 1948 and oversaw its operations for almost 60 years until his death in 2007. The store continued to operat ...

discount department store. Initially unsure about what he wants to do with the newly-acquired property—and facing the drawback of being in an increasingly neglected industrial area of town, across the street from the

CP Rail The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

Yards—the businessman eventually decided to invest in an extensive renovation of the theatre. Hoping to attract more people to the area, Mirvish also decided to add dining to the theatrical offering. To that end, he proceeded to purchase the industrial warehouses adjacent to Royal Alex on King St. West's north side—including the 1904-erected six-storey warehouse known as the Reid Building at 266 King Street West, immediately west of the theatre—and, in 1963, open Ed's Warehouse, a

prix fixe Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who a ...

-menu restaurant. Originally meant to recreate the atmosphere of Boston's Durgin-Park—a restaurant Mirvish reportedly enjoyed—with communal seating at long tables and sawdust floors, Mirvish ultimately decided to go in a different direction with Ed's Warehouse, loading it with cheap eccentric decor. Offering simple food and Barnum & Bailey-like ambience amid garishly set interior featuring oversized oriental vases, red-flocked wallpaper,

Tiffany lamp Tiffany may refer to: People * Tiffany (given name), list of people with this name * Tiffany (surname), list of people with this surname Known mononymously as "Tiffany": * Tiffany Darwish, (born 1971), an American singer, songwriter, actress kn ...

s, bronze and marble statues,

stained-glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

s, and lamps with naked women on their bases, the restaurant acted as a complementary offering to the theatre in hopes of increasing revenues for Mirvish via catering to patrons who may want to have dinner before taking in the show next door. Looking to reduce costs, Ed's Warehouse served a very basic pre-set menu revolving around

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

(

prime rib A standing rib roast, also known as prime rib, is a cut of beef from the primal rib, one of the primal cuts of beef. While the entire rib section comprises ribs six through 12, a standing rib roast may contain anywhere from two to seven ribs. ...

roast Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizatio ...

mashed potato Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a ...

es,

Yorkshire pudding Yorkshire pudding is a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. A common British side dish, it is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on its ingredients, size, and the accompanying compon ...

, and

gravy Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a simple mix of salt ...

followed by spumoni ice cream for dessert while requiring its male patrons to wear a

suit jacket A suit jacket, also called a lounge jacket, lounge coat or suit coat, is a jacket in classic menswear that is part of a suit. Single and double-breasted Most single-breasted suit jackets have two or three buttons, and one or four buttons are unu ...

and tie and insisting on it long after other dining establishments had eliminated the tradition. Nevertheless, despite its lack of culinary ambition, the establishment would go on to become one of the most famous restaurants in Toronto, running for 37 years—serving its last meal in late 1999 and closing in 2000. The business synergy and integration between Royal Alex Theatre and Ed's Warehouse was prominently displayed, such that Royal Alex subscribers would receive their show tickets in the mail along with two complimentary coupons for Ed's Warehouse. From the mid-1970s, the popularity of Ed's Warehouse prompted Mirvish into launching numerous spinoff hospitality ventures within the warehouses around the Royal Alex Theatre, such as restaurants Ed's Seafood, Ed's Italian, Ed's Chinese, and Old Ed's, as well as Ed's Folly lounge. The trend of the

vacating the area increased in the 1970s, leaving behind an array of heritage warehouses and factories that began to be converted to other uses. Meanwhile from 1976, the newly-opened

CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...

brought many tourists to the neighbourhood. Still, the most notable arrival was

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

s that began opening sporadically in the early 1980s before becoming the area's staple and most recognizable feature from early 1990s onward.

1980s: Arrival of nightclubs, Roy Thomson Hall, and SkyDome

In January 1980, the

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

-born and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

-raised Assoon 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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

's famous

Paradise Garage Paradise Garage, also known as "the Garage" or the "Gay-rage", was a New York City discotheque notable in the history of dance and pop music, as well as LGBT and nightclub cultures. The club was founded by sole proprietor Michael Brody, and ...

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 Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

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 An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

Richard Long. Paid for with a sizable bank loan the Assoons took out by putting their father's house as

collateral Collateral may refer to: Business and finance * Collateral (finance), a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan * Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Collate ...

, its thumping bass could be heard miles away, flooding the deserted neighborhood with noise. Operating without a liquor licence, thus not serving any alcohol throughout its run, the afterhours club initially made a name via its Saturday night parties that went until the Sunday morning dawn featuring owners Tony and Albert Assoon spinning underground disco, funk, and freestyle tunes. Furthermore on Saturday nights, they introduced a practice of bringing international DJs, mostly from New York City and Chicago, such as

David Morales David Morales (; born August 21, 1962) is an American disc jockey (DJ) and record producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Morales is also a remixer. David Morales has remixed and produced over 500 releases for artists including ...

, Johnny Dynell, Frankie Knuckles, David DePino, and Kenny Carpenter. Many of these early bookings were done through

Judy Weinstein Judy Weinstein is a businesswoman who has been active in dance music since the 1970s. From 1971 onwards, she attended David Mancuso's parties at The Loft (New York City), The Loft in New York City, and assisted Mancuso with the running of his record ...

, New York based businesswoman and Morales' manager, who ran her own

record pool A music pool or DJ record pool is a regionalized and centralized method of music distribution that allows DJs (disc jockeys) to receive promotional music to play in nightclubs and other events such as weddings, festivals and on the radio. Record l ...

that the Assoons were able to access for DJ bookings as well as vinyl material. In addition to attracting diverse general crowds, the club also became frequented by touring performers showing up unannounced just to hang out and party such as Detroit DJs Derrick May and Alton Miller who got brought into the DJ booth for impromptu performances. Performers booked on Saturdays went beyond DJs so that acts like LL Cool J,

Sly Fox ''Sly Fox'' is a comedic play by Larry Gelbart, based on Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'' (''The Fox''), updating the setting from Renaissance Venice to 19th century San Francisco, and changing the tone from satire to farce. The play revolves around the ...

, The S.O.S. Band, D Train,

Divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

, Eartha Kitt,

Spoons Spoons may refer to: * Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup * Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons Film and TV * ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show *Spoons, a minor character from ''The Sopranos'' ...

Jermaine Stewart William Jermaine Stewart (September 7, 1957 – March 17, 1997) was an American R&B singer, best known for his 1986 hit single "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off", which peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also peaked wi ...

, and Anne Clark also played the club. In 1982

Roy Thomson Hall Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located downtown in the city's entertainment district, it is home to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and the Toronto Defiant. Opened in 1982, its circ ...

opened at King and Simcoe, becoming the new home of the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto ...

thus expanding entertainment options in the neighbourhood beyond partying at the Twilight Zone. With the arrival of early house music out of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1984, the Twilight Zone was among the first venues anywhere, alongside clubs in Chicago and New York City, to embrace the new sound, playing it heavily throughout its Saturdays club nights — the very first club in Toronto to do so. The Assoon brothers' business relationship with Weinstein and her 'For the Record' music pool benefited the club in this regard, enabling it to obtain and play new tracks and records long before they were available to the general public. Within two years, following the increased availability of house records in stores, the genre spread to other Toronto clubs such as the Copa in the Yorkville neighbourhood and the

Diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

on Sherbourne Street that dedicated specific club nights to house. Into the mid-1980s, as the popularity of the Twilight Zone grew continuously, its offering expanded to other nights of the week. First to Fridays featuring Don Cochrane, a DJ from Scotland, playing new wave as part of a UK dance party theme and then Wednesdays, promoted as 'Pariah Wednesdays', featuring local DJs Siobhan O'Flynn and Stephen Scott who played a blend of

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

, UK pop, disco, and

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...

. In May 1985, the Beastie Boys, in town as the opening act on Madonna's

The Virgin Tour The Virgin Tour was the debut concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her first two studio albums, '' Madonna'' (1983) and '' Like a Virgin'' (1984). Although initially planned for an international audience, the ...

, were booked for an after-show party at the Zone courtesy of Jonathan Gross, a writer for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' and music critic for the ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'', who also handled some of the booking for the club. According to Gross, they got paid $1,500 and a case of

Molson The Molson Brewery is a Canadian based brewery company based in Montreal which was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its C ...

's for the club gig. Their chaotic appearance became part of the Twilight Zone's lore as the trio began essentially vandalizing the club's interior by spray painting its walls, however, instead of stopping them, owner Michael Assoon urged them to resume and their graffiti was kept as a badge of honour of sorts for the remainder of the club's run. Furthermore, the day before their scheduled paid appearance, they also showed up at the club during its Pariah Wednesdays night, reportedly visibly intoxicated, and tried to gain access to the DJ booth Resident DJ Siobhan O'Flynn politely declined. In May 1987, popular local television station Citytv and Canada-wide cable channel MuchMusic (both owned by the same corporate entity,

CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...

) moved their headquarters to

299 Queen Street West 299 Queen Street West, also known as Bell Media Queen Street or Bell Media Studios, is the headquarters of the television/radio broadcast hub of Bell Canada's media unit, Bell Media located at the intersection of Queen Street West and John Str ...

(also known as the CHUM-City Building) on the northern edge of the neighbourhood. It wasn't until late 1987 that the still mostly deserted area got another nightclub—Stilife was opened by 25-year-old

Charles Khabouth Bechara "Charles" Khabouth is a Lebanese Canadian nightclub owner, restaurateur, music promoter, and hotelier. Controlling several Toronto-based hospitality properties and venues, he's been dubbed the "King of Clubs" due to his influence on the ...

at the corner of Richmond West and Duncan. Its young owner quickly managed to monetize it by attracting affluent Toronto crowds, a business success that would in a few years bring many new nightclubs to the area. In September 1988, recent arrivals to the neighbourhood MuchMusic and Citytv launched ''

Electric Circus ''Electric Circus '' (also known as ''EC'') was a Canadian live dance music television program that aired on MuchMusic and Citytv from September 16, 1988 to December 12, 2003. The name originated from a nightclub that once existed at Citytv's fir ...

'', a weekly dance music show airing live on Saturdays in the late afternoon from the CHUM-City Building's ground-level studios as a

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

on both stations. Quickly becoming popular with the Toronto-area youth turning up to watch the proceedings in the studios visible from the street (or even hoping to get inside and dance), the show began drawing more young crowds to the area increasingly becoming associated with nightlife and partying. The railway lands to the south were also converted to other uses. The SkyDome sports arena opened in 1989, bringing thousands of fans of the

and the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

as well as fans of big musical acts to the area.

1990s: Birth of the Entertainment District

Khabouth's success with Stilife made other entrepreneurs take 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 summer 1990 at 318 Richmond West (a warehouse down the street from Stilife) that would soon become a catalyst for the early Toronto rave scene, *Klub Max, a huge 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 opened in 1993 by businessman Zisi Konstantinou at 250 Adelaide Street West near the corner with Duncan Street. This trend continued at such a rate that, by mid-1990s, the area became home to one of the largest concentrations of nightclubs in North America. Along with the nightclubs, many bars and restaurants opened to serve these crowds. Given the success of the long-running Royal Alexandra Theatre, in 1993, the Mirvish family built the new 2,000-seat

Princess of Wales Theatre The Princess of Wales Theatre is a 2,000-seat live theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on King Street West, in Toronto's downtown Entertainment District. The theatre's name has a triple meaning: it honours Diana, Princess of Wales, ...

a block over. Alternative theatres—such as

Theatre Passe Muraille Theatre Passe Muraille is a theatre company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Brief history One of Canada's most influential alternative theatres, Theatre Passe Muraille ("theatre beyond walls") was founded in 1968 by director and playwright Jim Gar ...

(in a former warehouse) and

Factory Theatre Factory Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded as Factory Theatre Lab in 1970 by Ken Gass and Frank Trotz, and it was run for almost 20 years by Dian English. Factory was the first theatre to announce that it would e ...

(in a former manse), in the adjacent neighbourhoods of Alexandra Park and Fashion District, respectively—were also already in existence in the general vicinity: leading to Toronto emerging as the world's third-largest centre for English-language theatre, behind only

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

(

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1 ...

) and New York (

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

)."David Gardner
"Theatre, English-Language — Current Trends"
in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', 2009, retrieved July 6, 2009.

Canada's Walk of Fame Canada's Walk of Fame (french: link=no, Allée des célébrités canadiennes) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of Canadians who have excelled in their respective fields. It is a ...

got established in 1998, right in front of the two Mirvish-owned theaters on King St. West between Simcoe and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

streets, acknowledging the achievements of successful Canadians. In 1999, Festival Hall opened at the southwest corner of Richmond West & John, containing the flagship Paramount Theatre Toronto that has since been re-branded as Scotiabank Theatre Toronto.

2000s: Condo boom and population spike

In 2001, twenty-one-year-old local hospitality entrepreneur and former minor league hockey player Travis Agresti opened Inside at 218 Richmond Street West, a three-level nightclub that would become notable due to its association with the Raptors' basketball superstar

Vince Carter Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. (born January 26, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who serves as a basketball analyst for ESPN. He primarily played the shooting guard and small forward positions, but occasionally played Powe ...

who within two years decided to invest in the huge venue, becoming its co-owner. The two had reportedly met during late 1990s at nearby Fluid nightclub where Agresti worked as venue manager before deciding to launch his own nightlife venture down the street. Carter reportedly came to Inside's opening night and, liking what he saw, eventually decided to invest in the club. Though not involved in day-to-day running of the venue, Carter's high media profile nevertheless attracted a long list of visiting athletes, musicians, and entertainers to Inside throughout early-to-mid-2000s, such as

Jason Kidd Jason Frederick Kidd (born March 23, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Regarded as one of the greatest point guards a ...

, Antawn Jamison, Barry Bonds,

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado (; ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Furtado has sold over 40 million records worldwide making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. She first gained fame with her trip hop-inspired deb ...

, NSYNC,

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conrad ...

, Chris Rock,

Jessica Alba Jessica Marie Alba ( ; born April 28, 1981) is an American actress and businesswoman. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in '' Camp Nowhere'' and '' The Secret World of Alex Mack'' (1994), and rose to prominence at age 19 ...

, Elisha Cuthbert, etc. Even with Carter getting traded from the Raptors in late 2004, the club continued to thrive as a partnership between him and Agresti, expanding and opening additional lounges within the complex. However, the operation soured in the late 2000s due to the

global financial crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

and suddenly folded. By 2010, the space got turned into

day care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

for the kids of employees working in the nearby

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

. Simultaneously, all throughout the early 2000s, the Toronto condo boom began to transform the area. The abandoned warehouses began being turned into lofts, or demolished to make way for condominium towers. The core of the Entertainment District had only 750 residents in 1996, but this had gone up to 7,500 by 2005. The crowds, noise, and occasional crime especially associated with the clubs caused conflict with the new homeowners. The trend of the area being turned into a residential neighbourhood continued even more rapidly in the second half of the decade. Nightclubs still opened, including CiRCA launching in October 2007 on John St. between Richmond West and Adelaide West inside the RioCan Hall (formerly Festival Hall), perhaps the most ambitious club ever in Toronto due to its sheer size of 53,000 square feet and the money spent before opening. Further adding to its mystique was the fact that the man behind it was

Peter Gatien Peter Gatien (born August 14, 1952) is a Canadian club owner and party promoter. He is best known as the former owner of several prominent New York City nightclubs, including Club USA, The Limelight, Palladium, and Tunnel. Life and career Gatien ...

, legendary former

nightclub czar who had owned 1980s and 1990s hotspots such as

The Limelight The Limelight was the name of a chain of nightclubs owned and operated by Peter Gatien. It had locations in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, London and Hallandale. Context During the 1980s, club culture had died down because of the AIDS e ...

and

Tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

before being deported back to Canada. However, CiRCA's financial implosion less than 3 years after opening only served to underscore the neighbourhood's shift and was seen by many as the definitive symbol of the death of Toronto's clubland. Greater restrictions on venues in the area resulted in loss of jobs ; by 2011, the number of clubs had decreased substantially, from 60 to 100 in the period between 2000 and 2006 to 30 in 2013. On May 10, 2016, Toronto City Council voted unanimously in favour of naming a public laneway in honour of the Twilight Zone nightclub, after a successful online petition.

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{authority control Entertainment districts in Canada Neighbourhoods in Toronto