Depending on whom you listen to, the Village (Church & Wellesley) is either dead, on life support or just going through a renaissance period of rebirth and reinvention. While die-hards stand by the venerable Village steadfastly, many on the Street and in the media are sounding the death knell as bars and businesses shut shop for good or for lower rents in other areas. Is Church Street dead or merely resting?
Bars and bistros are vanishing from the Village
The supposed slide began a few years ago as a few Church Street landmarks like Crews/Tango and Bar 501 shut their doors. Soon, others followed winding up in an apotheosis of “Closed” signs that saw Zelda’s at its zenith. One by one bars and bistros have been vanishing from the Village leaving many to ponder, “Who’s next to go?” and “What the hell is going on?”
Opinions are flying like towels in a bathhouse as to what is happening on Canada’s most famous queer strip of real estate. Some are blaming skyrocketing rents while others are wondering if the bars and bathhouses that historically have attracted so many are the reason why the core audience is abandoning ship. After all, you can only drink and party so much until it’s time to pay the piper (or in this case, the credit cards, rent or mortgage). The population is also ageing and with that comes a shift in priorities. The party boys of the 80s are now middle age men who may be feeling the physical affects of all that indulgence or have moved on to pastures with picket fences.
Is the Village still relevant?
Gentrification—and “queerification”—of other neighbourhoods just outside the core have become the new stomping and nesting grounds for the upwardly mobile homosexual as of late. Areas like Parkdale, Queen West, Leslieville and the Beach have booming gay Boomer populations as queer couples go off to raise families in more “kid-friendly” areas where real estate is affordable and a good long-term investment. Around these “enclaves” have sprouted up cafés, shops, pubs and bars where gays and straights of all ages and ethnicities mingle merrily over mochaccinos or martinis.
Is this a natural attrition that happens in a ghettoized area that was once ground zero for the gay rights movement in Canada or is the Village succumbing to its own party-till-you-drop manifesto? Are the last of the Village Vanguard dropping? Is the Village merely going through a metamorphosis? Do we still need a ‘gay ghetto’? Is the Village still relevant?
I’ll be moderating two panel discussions called Bent Village to explore the state and fate of the Village. Panelists include: David Wootton - Church Wellesley BIA; Tom Warner- Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario (CLGRO); Nick Mulé – Queer Ontario and Kristyn Wong-Tam – Local Queer Activist
The first evening is:
Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Gladstone Hotel Art Bar, 1214 Queen Street West
The second evening is:
Sunday, February 28, 2010, 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Gladaman’s Den, 502A Yonge Street
Admission is FREE. Your feedback, ideas and input are encouraged! See you there.
Learn more on our Facebook Bent Events page and RSVP.
