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

It is a very good idea indeed... and fairly typical in many cities (the extreme example being pre-Katrina New Orleans).

Maybe save a few addresses for an Amsterdam good time experience for Toronto's legalized prostitution district (not sure about the ladies in the picture windows though). I'm serious.
 
Thanks for the support guys. I fear that my idea can no longer be implemented because of the condos going up at Joker, Cantina Charlie's, Tonic and Light Lounge.

Unless the podium for those condos is designated for entertainment uses (such as a bar -- not likely -- or a restaurant), the odds of turning Richmond into a Las Vegas style contained entertainment strip are not good.
 
Closing in about a month. The sales office for this condo will be moving in after.
Cantina Charlie's and Pizzaville will be demolished in 2010. I hope that all these condos going in on this corner have street level presence or Richmond + Peter is going to go from center of the club universe to snoozeville.
 
^I think it's already there! With Tonic closing and the old Plastique site already under redevelopment (at least I think it is) and Fez Batik becoming a homeless shelter this is going to be a pretty dull intersection.

Joker, G-Spot, Plastique, Tonic, etc. gone. I'm getting old! :p
 
This is becoming very real. Adam Vaughan's crusade on the club district is showing results: Just found out that a developer is getting the VIP treatment to buy out the Level/Suite building just down the street on Peter.

How is Vaughan responsible for all this some of you ask? He's putting rezoning approvals on the fast lane and doing all he can to on one side make life impossible for club owners and on the other side treating developers who want to build condos like kings.

He's winning his war. I hope he knows how to explain to city council how all of a sudden, revenue from tourist dollars will have dropped to next to nothing in a couple of years in this part of his ward.
 
^It's pretty unfortunate. An idea like yours is a good one and I thought that was where clubland was heading. I can't see it disappearing altogether, though it is a limited area.
 
I'd hope to see more than just condo lobbies at street level. There's no reason why there can't be more frontage for stores, restaurants, bars, small performance venues and galleries. And certainly smaller clubs can easily continue to fit into such an area, along with some larger ones.

I'd like to see the area diversify in terms of entertainment and leisure possibilities, not evolve from a major club district to a major condo district.
 
How many cities across North America wish they had a touristy income generator like Toronto's club district. I'm sick of those dimwits who claim not to like noise or crowds, but still moved into expensive condos in the club district. I hate those clubs; I avoid that small area.
 
Erik T said:
How many cities across North America wish they had a touristy income generator like Toronto's club district. I'm sick of those dimwits who claim not to like noise or crowds, but still moved into expensive condos in the club district. I hate those clubs; I avoid that small area.
Click to expand...

its not the noise or crowds but the drug dealing,assaults,damages to local building that worries the condo owners,but I agree that when you buy a condo in that area dont expect a quiet nite sleep on Thursday,Friday or Saturday.Thats the reason when I bought my condo it was not near any clubs,drinking establishment and was not TTC friendly..If I wanted quiet condo close to the local downtown entertainments I buy near Habourfront not in the core of the club scene.I had issues with a local neighbor last year and Vaughn office helped out bigtime.dont underestimate him he knows a lot about city hall and how to get things done quickly,he maybe not be a media hound but he is extremely smart and driven.
 
Sorry, does anyone have any actual figures (not supplied by the club owners) about this mega-tourism-dollar-generator that this strip supposedly is? Or is this just supposition?
 
It's truly disastrous what's happening to this area. I have a feeling people will look back one day 10 years from now and talk about how great an entertainment/party are Toronto use to have.

Whenever I'm there the random people I talk to on the streets are always from OUT of town, raving about how much fun Toronto is.

Hopefully we can get Adam Vaughn the hell out of there before it's too late. Alas, I think it already is.
 
I'm not a club owner but I work in the industry. If you want to take my word for it, many many people come in from around the region and spend money here whereas if you had a handful of scattered clubs, there would be no interest.

I've bumped into people coming from Buffalo three weekends in a row to party in "one of North America's most concentrated nightlife entertainment districts". I often see the same people who come from Hamilton, Cambridge, St. Catherines and even Niagara Falls almost every weekend.

I would love to see better studied numbers, but from what I can see, it is in plain view that Toronto's club district attracts people from around the region that otherwise wouldn't spend money here.

Even though I'm pissed at what Vaughan is trying to do (I'm his constituent, yet he's targeting my livelihood), I'm beginning to think that all he's doing is shifting the entertainment district around. The heart of it all is @ Richmond and John and before his crusade began, things were really hot on Peter also... but from the looks of things, it seems to be moving to King St. West (Pantalone's Ward). Century Room used to be there all by itself... then came Brant House, then 8 Below, then Atelier, then a bunch of restaurants, now Loki... a bunch of other one's are in the tube...
The Deputy Mayor will probably welcome the shift and even promote moving the whole thing even further west to Exhibition Place (not a bad idea since he's on the Board of Directors).

An Exhibition Place Entertainment District (currently Musik is all by itself there) makes good sense actually. It's a wide open space currently occupied by a massive parking lot, Exhibition Place is looking to remain relevant, it's very accessible via Lakeshore and the Gardiner without passing through downtown and N-S major streets such as Dufferin and Spadina, has access to the lake for party cruises and it's not far from downtown, but far enough to remain out of sight, out of mind of residential communities.

I'm gonna talk to Pantalone about this now that this came to mind...
 
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