dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
I truly respect you as a valuable contributor here at UT and I'm most often on board with your comments. But not here.
I do agree with your resentment to losing the Alexander & Church space, I miss it too. If you hung out there often enough you'd know my face - and my dog who is always by my side. For 4 maybe 5 years I'd sit there with a friend or friends slowly sipping my decaf, chatting, hanging out, meeting new people and enjoying the evening (I very rarely have a drink anymore, so bars are not so much my thing for the last decade or so) - but then the corner got a little too freaky.
There really wasn't a gay village in the 80's, most of the clubs were on Yonge Street or scattered here and there between Bloor and King Street, though a lot of gay men lived in the area.
Soooo, you've never seen two drunk/stoned or SOBER drag queens going at it or a drunken lover's quarrel gone bad? It happens. But that's really not the issue. I don't want to make the Village area sound like it's a dangerous "no-go" area, that's just not true at all. But you should watch your back in and around the Village at night, well - anywhere at night really.
I've lived and haunted this area for close to 30 years, I've seen some crazy, messed up stuff. I do many of the Midnight Madness screenings at Ryerson during TIFF and I dread that walk home at 2am'ish, it's even sketchier south of Carlton - like back in The Barn days, walking from there to around Alexander Street could be a little daunting at times. Don't fool yourself into thinking that drug dealers are cool and harmless, and that there aren't some very desperate and messed up people wandering the area. That would be foolish. Enjoy your outings and be aware of your surroundings. Hopefully new spaces to congregate will come again soon under KWT's watch.
I do agree with your resentment to losing the Alexander & Church space, I miss it too. If you hung out there often enough you'd know my face - and my dog who is always by my side. For 4 maybe 5 years I'd sit there with a friend or friends slowly sipping my decaf, chatting, hanging out, meeting new people and enjoying the evening (I very rarely have a drink anymore, so bars are not so much my thing for the last decade or so) - but then the corner got a little too freaky.
There really wasn't a gay village in the 80's, most of the clubs were on Yonge Street or scattered here and there between Bloor and King Street, though a lot of gay men lived in the area.
Soooo, you've never seen two drunk/stoned or SOBER drag queens going at it or a drunken lover's quarrel gone bad? It happens. But that's really not the issue. I don't want to make the Village area sound like it's a dangerous "no-go" area, that's just not true at all. But you should watch your back in and around the Village at night, well - anywhere at night really.
I've lived and haunted this area for close to 30 years, I've seen some crazy, messed up stuff. I do many of the Midnight Madness screenings at Ryerson during TIFF and I dread that walk home at 2am'ish, it's even sketchier south of Carlton - like back in The Barn days, walking from there to around Alexander Street could be a little daunting at times. Don't fool yourself into thinking that drug dealers are cool and harmless, and that there aren't some very desperate and messed up people wandering the area. That would be foolish. Enjoy your outings and be aware of your surroundings. Hopefully new spaces to congregate will come again soon under KWT's watch.
