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Riverdale

There was a lounge of some sort, but I actually think it was in the building that is now Goodlife. It went belly-up, space was empty for awhile, and then they expanded the fitness club and redid the facade.

I think there used to be apartments above the bank (?). Then they added a new floor to the bank building. For a time, there was signage in the second or third floor window, but the text was so small that it was hard to read from the street. There might have been a banner or something too, but I don't recall that.
 
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A couple of photos. Hard to tell.

20080124_extremefitness.jpg


20061217_danforth.jpg
 

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Skeezix said:
A couple of photos. Hard to tell.
Click to expand...

Oh there was definitely a lounge up there. In 2000 or 2001 maybe, I innocently went up there with a friend for a quick drink. We were the only actual customers. The others, who looked to be men in the midst of some sort of meeting, glared at us. We left without ordering.

From the Globe & Mail three years ago:

He obtained Canadian citizenship, and regularly travelled back and forth from Greece. By the 1990s, he was running a nightclub in a suburb of Athens. In Toronto, he developed a visionary eye for the future of the Danforth, and began buying up buildings that others considered eyesores. His first acquisition was an old theatre that now houses an upscale Extreme Fitness club. A numbered company that he controls paid $1.5-million for the building in 1994. He would go on to buy at least four other commercial properties that currently house tenants such as a National Bank of Canada branch and Rogers Video. For some of these purchases, he partnered with another Greek businessman, Peter Boussoulas.
Click to expand...

Incidentally, he also owns the building just east of Pape which houses a bike repair shop and the very very very short-lived Bistro 699 (which still has a Facebook page) and, guess what, the Greektown BIA.

But I have mentioned all this before.

I am leaving out names so none of this searchable.
 
I'm not saying that there wasn't a lounge, just that the one I remember was a Greek place upstairs was in the old cinema building, not above the bank (which looks like it was apartments).
 
Long time lurker, first time poster: I've started a neighbourhood blog for the Riverdale/Danforth/Riverside/Leslieville area. I'm hoping that it becomes a place for the neighbourhood to come together and share information. I'd love if if any of you here at Urban Toronto wanted to submit content or provide me feedback! You can find it at http://www.riverdaler.ca/
 
riverdaler said:
Long time lurker, first time poster: I've started a neighbourhood blog for the Riverdale/Danforth/Riverside/Leslieville area. I'm hoping that it becomes a place for the neighbourhood to come together and share information. I'd love if if any of you here at Urban Toronto wanted to submit content or provide me feedback! You can find it at http://www.riverdaler.ca/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the blog! Will check it out.

Meanwhile, they've started demolishing the new old red brick portion of the Don Jail. I passed by on the street car today and was able to get a good look at a cross-section revealing half a corridor and cell doors.
 
Skeezix said:
Something has opened up in the old Bamboo location on the Danforth, called Staxx Mediterranean kitchen, or something like that.
Click to expand...

Went by today. Don't think it's open yet. Sign says "Stixx Fare" with "Mediterranean Grill" or something on the facade.

I googled and came up with this in NYC. I wonder if the concept isn't the same?



http://stixny.com/
 
Last night was bummed to see that Kitchen Roots, north side of Danforth just east of Pape, is going out of business. It was a great little store, with a knowledgeable and no-nonsense owner. My guess is, the rent skyrocketed and it didn't help that the Canadian Tire and other big kitchen supply store opened up west of Pape.

Another indie bites the dust.
 
^ Good question. The City's website says they have a permit (13 159724 BLD 00 BA) for the interior work they are doing on the 2nd and 3rd floors, but no mention of the rooftop. Depending on what was on the roof previously, how much area they enclosed for the stairwell, and whether they extended plumbing up to the roof, maybe they didn't technically need a permit for the roof? Or maybe they simply didn't get one.
 
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