Death of Clubland (aka: Is Adam Vaughan trying to kill the Club District?)

[BobBob]

Walking down the street on a Saturday or Sunday morning, one can indeed observe a multitude of multi-coloured puddles decorating the sidewalk - a legacy of the previous night's "party" spirit.

 

[AlbertC]

Death of Clubland

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/999437--death-of-clubland


Death of clubland

Robyn Doolittle
Urban Affairs Reporter

At the height of the clubbing era six years ago, the city’s municipal licensing and standards division was monitoring about 95 bars in the Richmond, Peter, Adelaide and John Sts. corridor.

Today, that number is in 40s and falling, said executive director Jim Hart.

And while nightclub owners board up their doors, condo developers build sales offices.

In the early part of the decade, fewer than 1,000 people called the Entertainment District home. Today, the local population tops 10,000. By 2020, it will easily double, said Janice Soloman, the executive director of the BIA.

Landlords sick of fielding complaints from a ballooning number of residents are spending thousands renovating cavernous nightclubs into office space. The investment means fewer headaches and eventually more money. Commercial and retail tenants will pay significantly more per square foot.

This once industrial wasteland is now a bona fide residential area. The residents are overwhelmingly educated condo dwellers, mostly 20 and 30-somethings, just starting their careers and families.

They want restaurants, shops, drug stores and yes, child care. Not streets lined with windowless warehouses that only come alive three nights a week; nevermind the unrelenting vibrations of bass, the midnight street fights, the vomit on the sidewalks, and the litter.

In five years time, Soloman predicts the neighbourhood’s reputation as Jersey Shore North will be a distant memory. Instead, the area will be defined by its theatres, intimate live music venues, and fine dining.

Historically, the area to the west of Toronto’s financial district was a manufacturing neighbourhood. But with the coming of free trade in 1994, these blocks became a ghost town. Meanwhile, while the no-dancing-on-the-Danforth bylaw was being approved, the city was rezoning as mixed use the streets west of University Ave.

“The city didn’t say: nightclubs must go here. It said, nightclubs can’t go anywhere else,†said Councillor Adam Vaughan, who was elected to the ward in 2006.

At its peak, as many as 50,000 partygoers would pack into an area that was less than 1 square kilometer in size.

Don Rodbard, cofounder of the King-Spadina Residents Association, said it got to a point where he and his partner couldn’t leave their Victorian home after dark without being threatened by a drunk.

In the summer of 2005 , the area clocked 12 shootings and reported 53 gun-related calls.

“There’s guns. There’s drugs. People are doing, well, everything imaginable,†said Sgt. Mike Ferry, who regularly patrols the area as part of the police force’s Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS).

While club owners struggled to find patrons willing to pay a $20 cover and $7 a drink, chic pubs and lounges dripping with kitsch and character began popping up along Ossington Ave., College St. W. and King St.W.

All together, it created an environment that made it very difficult to operate a nightclub in the downtown core, said famed nightclub proprietor Peter Gatien.

Mike Williams, the general manager of economic development and culture, points to a booming tech industry in and around Spadina, the planned 150,000-square-foot Ripley’s aquarium at the foot of the CN Tower, and the sea of condo and retail construction as evidence.

“We’re very proud of the fact that we have more tall building cranes operating in Toronto than anywhere in North America and a lot of it is in that area of Toronto,†he said.

Anson Kwok, the vice-president of sales and marketing with Pinnacle International Realty Group, says they’ve already sold half the units at their 43 storey tower at the corner of John and Adelaide Sts. Construction will start soon.

Pinnacle has the fortune of being located along John St., which around the time residents start moving in two years from now, will be transformed into a pedestrian friendly thoroughfare.

An elaborate makeover of the small downtown street will link together the neighbourhood’s cultural icons, such as the AGO, the National Film Board theatre, the MuchMusic building and the TIFF Bell Lightbox. If things go according to plan and safety concerns can be addressed, the road will be curbless, allowing for street festivals and red carpet events.

“It will be a true cultural corridor,†said Soloman of the BIA, noting the Canadian Opera Company, theatres, Roy Thomson Hall, the symphony, the national ballet are just steps away.

“We see a very important focus on the after 6 p.m. economy. It’s about sustaining a vibrant and safe nightlife… and I think we’re the neighbourhood that can really accomplish that.â€

As Vaughan likes to say, the days of the big box nightclubs — at least in the downtown core — are over.

“You’ll always come down to the Entertainment District to be entertained. You jus won’t come down to get the s--- kicked out of you by an idiot with a beer bottle.â€

 

[TrickyRicky]

Cities evolve. The death of clubland was inevitable I guess. I just wonder how dead it will get. For all the love of high density we have on this forum it tells you something when the people who live in the former clubland have to increasingly come to my low-rise neighbourhoods to the west for something to do.

 

[nfitz]

I took a rare Friday night streetcar trip down King East from Dufferin to Broadview on the weekend. I certainly wouldn't have used the word dead.

 

[syn]

As Vaughan likes to say, the days of the big box nightclubs — at least in the downtown core — are over.

“You’ll always come down to the Entertainment District to be entertained. You just won’t come down to get the s--- kicked out of you by an idiot with a beer bottle.”

Funny, I've never had the shit kicked out of me by anyone in the club district.

 

[grey]

It happens a lot. Last year I saw a wasted girl in heels strike a cop outside the Scotiabank theatre, just after the cops pulled away her boyfriend (?) who was smacking her around. The take-down that followed was pretty awesome.

And yeah, it's anything but dead. There's still a looong way to go.

 

[syn]

It happens a lot. Last year I saw a wasted girl in heels strike a cop outside the Scotiabank theatre, just after the cops pulled away her boyfriend (?) who was smacking her around. The take-down that followed was pretty awesome.

And yeah, it's anything but dead. There's still a looong way to go.

That's one incident among how many people?

Vaughn's ridiculous blanket characterizations continue to rub me the wrong way.

 

[TheKingEast]

That's one incident among how many people?

Vaughn's ridiculous blanket characterizations continue to rub me the wrong way.

Agreed. I'd say that I was a frequent Clublander from 2000-2007 and I only saw a handful of altercations. A lot of the crap you read about clubland are overblown and tend to come from people who don't even party in the area.

 

[TrickyRicky]

I was refering to the club activity. I think it is no mystery on this forum that the "death of clubland" is occuring in conjunction with a rise in club activity in the west end regardless of if you want to call it "club" activity or not.

The movement of club activity poses a new interesting phenomenon. Clubland has large format spaces, the west end has small venues condusive to interesting restaurants and intimate bars. Vaughn wants the former gone from the entertainment district but the later to thrive there. It's the opposite direction of what the built form and new constructions allow. Perhaps large format clubbing is in cyclical decline but so many tiny venues in the west end are having more regular club-like nights jaming people into less appropriate spaces.

 

[grey]

That's one incident among how many people?

Vaughn's ridiculous blanket characterizations continue to rub me the wrong way.

That incident was one of the more colourful examples of the "a lot" I was referring to. I live here and fights break out every single night, no exceptions. Yes, it's a minority (for whatever that's worth). They're usually just harmless drunks stumbling around screaming at each other, knocking over news boxes, etc. and they rarely involve the police (who seem to miss a lot of the good stuff). You'd be amazed how many times the guys remove their shirts.

Agreed. I'd say that I was a frequent Clublander from 2000-2007 and I only saw a handful of altercations. A lot of the crap you read about clubland are overblown and tend to come from people who don't even party in the area.

I'd say things have changed dramatically since 2000-2004 or so. There was a wider variety of music back then, and things were more laid back and wayyy less pretentious. It's mostly a disgusting spectacle of reprehensible costumed jackasses now. Impressionable young people immitating what they see on TV and movies. And don't get me started on the suited bottle service crowd on King West. They get involved in humiliating shirtless fights than anyone

The movement of club activity poses a new interesting phenomenon. Clubland has large format spaces, the west end has small venues condusive to interesting restaurants and intimate bars. Vaughn wants the former gone from the entertainment district but the later to thrive there. It's the opposite direction of what the built form and new constructions allow. Perhaps large format clubbing is in cyclical decline but so many tiny venues in the west end are having more regular club-like nights jaming people into less appropriate spaces.

I'm often an advocate for spreading clubs throughout downtown, but this is one consequence I hadn't considered. Maybe overcrowding will decrease once more options become available? (this is some future scenario where the City has reconsidered where clubs can and cannot be.)

I'd love nothing more than to see the club scene return to the way it was a couple of years before System Soundbar closed. Something like that, but on smaller scale, less centralized, more variety. That's unrealistic, though. The culture has completely changed.

 

[toraerach]

One of the problems with Clubland is it's failure to connect with a younger generation that (probably - higher tuition, higher transportation costs, etc.) has less disposable income to spend on a more expensive and increasingly bland (music-wise and clientele-wise) night out. Add to that the fact that 905 clubbers have many more options closer to home and skyrocketting transportation costs and the area transitions from being the place to party to a place to party. I know a lot of my friends in the Western GTA, for example, who used to come down to the ED on the weekends now gravitate more towards Hess Village in Hamilton - cheaper parking, cheaper hotel rooms, cheaper drinks, less security hassle, etc. The proliferation of bog-box Entertainment Centrums in the burbs also draws 905 clubgoers away from this area.

I would bet that there hasn't been a net loss of clubs across the GTA over the past 10 years, if not necessarily in Toronto.

 

[grey]

There's still a decent share of 19-21 year olds here -- the types you'd find in groups loitering at a suburban Tim Hortons parking lot comparing notes on '94 Civic fart mufflers on any other night of the week.

I like the idea of Hess Village (or George Street in St John's). I haven't been there in years, but I remember it working a lot better than our Entertainment District. I used to think it would be a neat option for John St long before the possibility of mixed-use development in the ED.

 

[BMO]

One of the problems with Clubland is it's failure to connect with a younger generation that (probably - higher tuition, higher transportation costs, etc.) has less disposable income to spend on a more expensive and increasingly bland (music-wise and clientele-wise) night out. Add to that the fact that 905 clubbers have many more options closer to home and skyrocketting transportation costs and the area transitions from being the place to party to a place to party. I know a lot of my friends in the Western GTA, for example, who used to come down to the ED on the weekends now gravitate more towards Hess Village in Hamilton - cheaper parking, cheaper hotel rooms, cheaper drinks, less security hassle, etc. The proliferation of bog-box Entertainment Centrums in the burbs also draws 905 clubgoers away from this area.

I would bet that there hasn't been a net loss of clubs across the GTA over the past 10 years, if not necessarily in Toronto.

THIS...I live in the 905, but work downtown, and I DJ often downtown at a few clubs on the weekends. If I wasn't spinning, I wouldn't trek downtown for a club unless I could crash at a friend's house downtown. The cost of transportation back home after a night downtown is too much by Taxi ($40), and I don't want to take the yonge barf bus down to steeles where i'll have to walk god knows how far to get home, or take a taxi the rest of the way from Steeles.

The situation is even worse if I went to a bar or nightlcub in Ossington.

so at the end of the night I spent $50 on drinks, $40 on a taxi back, $15 pre-drink, and $3 on TTC to the club. Just no sustainable.

 

[grey]

Haha, I remember having to skip out during an event before the headliner showed up (delayed flight from the UK) in order to catch the last GO train, missing the train anyway, and splitting a $50 cab ride back to Mississauga with a friend. Brutal!

 

[Jonny5]

Haha, I remember having to skip out during an event before the headliner showed up (delayed flight from the UK) in order to catch the last GO train, missing the train anyway, and splitting a $50 cab ride back to Mississauga with a friend. Brutal!

GO needs to step up the late night options on weekends. The last run buses are awful experiences. Funniest memory is a drunken girl in a mini skirt and no shoes put on the bus by the police. The cops told the driver she lived in Hamilton. Somewhere around Oakville she sobered up enough to tell the driver she actually lived in Milton.