Fifty Years of Queer Street West

Queer West became a popular spot for artists in the 1970s thanks to its affordable rents and closeness to the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). Several artistic groups and organizations helped to transform this growing artistic area into a vibrant community.

In the early 1970s, artistic collective General Idea created FILE Megazine, devoted to mythologizing the emerging Queen West scene. The artists of the collective rented a house in Queer West that featured a storefront window. The group began setting up displays in the window to amuse themselves, at one point opening their front room as a functional 1940s-era women’s clothing store. Their creativity and design-focused atmosphere was reflected in the writings of FILE Megazine. The issues helped to spread the word about Queer West’s existence, but a neighbourhood needs more than just ideas.

Queer West also offered meeting places, cafes, and bars for the queer community: hubs where people could relax and meet other, like-minded people. One such place was the Peter Pan restaurant, located at the intersection of Queen Street West and Peter Street. In 1976, model and fashion icon Sandy Stagg became co-manager of the restaurant. Stagg was friends with General Idea and her restaurant cemented the neighbourhood’s artsy style. Peter Pan’s cook, Murray Ball, was also vocalist in The Dishes, a new wave punk band which played at the nearby Beverly Tavern and other music venues around Queer West.

With this avant guard scene, it is no surprise that queer people felt at home within the area. The Body Politic, Toronto’s major queer news magazine, was typeset in a warehouse on Adelaide Street, just a block south of Queen Street. A 1979 benefit for the magazine brought the communities together and cemented the artistic energy Queer West would become known for.

The 1980s were a time when queer life became more visible across Toronto. The city’s public decency laws led to the infamous raids on gay bathhouses during Operation Soap on February 5, 1981. Four gay steam baths, including The Barracks, located at 56 Widmer Street, one block south of Queen Street West, were raided by police officers who violently stormed the baths, damaged the interiors, and opened lockers to get information on customers. Over 280 charges were laid that night, making it the largest mass arrest in Canada at the time since the War Measures Act of 1970 in Quebec.

Other developments during the 1980s also hurt the queer community spirit of the neighbourhood. The Body Politic was on trial for publishing obscene material. The artistic collective General Idea moved to New York in 1986, taking with them some of the soul of the area. Throughout this, the HIV/AIDS crisis was running its course and it seemed as though the neighbourhood might not survive.

Despite the hardships of the 1980s, Queer West was not ready to disappear just yet. In the early 2000s Queer West became the target of gentrification. Throughout the neighbourhood, new buildings and developments began. The Gladstone Hotel, a historic Toronto building, was one that experienced a notable renovation. It was built in 1889 by architect George Martell Miller as a hotel for travellers arriving from the Parkdale railroad station. By the 1990s the hotel was run down, full of structural issues, and failed to meet many of the city’s safety codes. The hotel became home to several long-term tenants.

In 2000, the Tippin and Zeidler families bought the Gladstone property and began to renovate. Despite hoping to keep parts of the hotel accessible to its existing tenants, renovations quickly pushed out the people living at the Gladstone. Today a famous hub for the arts, the Gladstone has remade its image and hosts queer events such as drag night. However, these successes came at the loss of those who had called the Gladstone their home.

In 2006, alongside business partner Lynn McNeill, visual artist Will Munro opened The Beaver, a queer-friendly restaurant. During the 1990s, Munro had become known in the community for hosting events at the El Mocambo, including Vaseline, monthly queer-friendly DJ sets. The Beaver, located near Queen Street and Gladstone, was further west than the historic Queer West scene had been, but as rent went up and Queen West’s art scene was replaced by trendy, brand-name stores, the queer neighbourhood shifted west. The Beaver became the heart of Queer West until it shut down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sweaty Betty’s opened at Ossington and Queen Streets in the early 2000s, as one of the first bars in what is now a busy area for nightlife. Sweaty Betty’s had been a queer-friendly dive bar before it was purchased by long-time manager May Brand, making it one of Toronto’s noted lesbian-owned bars.

Take a step back to 2016, Queer West was a fast-growing neighbourhood, with new and exciting businesses opening constantly. Cultural features like Nuit Rose, a queer offshoot of the Toronto’s art night Nuit Blanche, started in the area and set up public installations during Pride. Throughout the year, the streets were full of galleries, making it easy for artists living in Queer West to feature their work. In 2016, the neighbourhood had at least eleven gay and lesbian-owned businesses, including several queer bars and cafes.

One such business was Lipstick & Dynamite, owned by Celeste Toledo and Steven Cann. Affectionately nicknamed a “bar-staurant,” the unpretentious space converted an old church into a community hub. This decade saw the name “Queer West” enter the mainstream and gain popularity with both locals and tourists. The West Queen West Business Improvement Area formed to work on streetscape improvement and promote the area to tourists. They also created the “Queer West” street signs which can be found in storefronts in the area. The area quickly gained fame after a 2014 Vogue article ranked it as the second coolest neighbourhood in the world.

While this popularity could be good for business it came with the drawbacks of increasing rent. real estate in the area was in high demand and smaller business owners struggled to keep up. Many people and small businesses found themselves losing their homes to “renovictions.”

In 2023, the future of Queer West seems uncertain. Many queer bars failed to survive the hard years of restrictions and closures connected to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Beaver, which had been the heart of the neighbourhood, is now closed. Going forward, is there hope for queer life beyond the well-established Church and Wellesley Village?

Queer West stood apart from the Village by being more diverse. As hinted by its name, the scene here was more welcoming to the wider community of lesbians and transgender people rather than just gay men. Places like Lipstick & Dynamite and The Beaver catered to these audiences. As the bars, cheap diners, and greasy spoons that once defined the neighbourhood are replaced by expensive upscale bistros, some of that diversity is lost as well. Many long-time residents find that the Queer West they knew is disappearing.

It’s hard to tell what direction things will go from here. People are still hesitant to go out to bars and clubs in the same numbers as they did before the pandemic. Emerging movements in the queer scene include Queer Wine Night, an event without a set location. The lack of fixed spaces makes it harder to build a real sense of community. However, Queer West has survived what seemed like certain death before. Sweaty Betty’s and The Gladstone are still neighbourhood features, and new places continue to open. Tammy’s Wine Bar, which opened in December 2021 near Queen Street and Roncesvalles, may be continuing the trend of moving west as rent rises. Whatever the future holds, Queer West has been a key piece of queer history in Toronto and its impacts are sure to be felt for years to come.