fuck scenes!

[malejested]

In a recent article in The Walrus, Mark Kingwell talks about whether the battle between various creative types and moneyed hanger-ons when it comes to control over the cultural capital of Toronto and the "revitalization" of those environments

Comments

[katrinar]

i like all the revamps even though the drake has a crowd of people i'd rather pretend doesn't exist. i LOVE the gladstone and the ROM and OCAD's look though. the gladstone inside, the rooms, the art etc is so beautiful. same with the drake. it's so very chic and forward thinking.

you say it's a cycle. it is. people will get sick of these places (like the new "tattoo rock bar" on queen where a bunch of rich brats from forest hill/rosedale and frat boys go to listen to back in black and pretend they are rock n roll for a day)

[malejested]

I agree that they look nice but what do they do? When you add up a list of pros and cons, do they come out on top? Are they making their neighborhoods better?

The Drake's had some good shows but I've yet to be able to get into any of them. The Gladstone definitely needed a renovation due to serious building code violations and while their communal, local-food dinners are pretty cool a lot of their featured art shows have turned into friends-of-my-friends wankfests. The ROM raised admission prices.

I'm not so sure if it's a good thing.

[katrinar]

the rom's always free on friday nights though, so i can't complain about the price when i know i can always go for free.

the gladstone's got GREAT karaoke every weekend in the melody bar and good shows in the ballroom regularly. what they do is add beauty to an otherwise disgusting neighbourhood. i've lived in toronto my whole life, my uncle, who's a cab driver wouldn't go pick up fares at either hotel before about 3 years ago. it drives business up which drives crime out. its' a good thing sometimes.

[plumjudy]

no longer free. just lowered.

making do

[pedram]

I wasn't around much in the 60s and 70s but it seems like Toronto was really all about becoming a city you could take pride in. Now the city seems mostly concerned with digging itself out of its own hole, at the expense of developing a real cultural element. Take a look at a city like Seattle and you can see it's a city that still takes pride in becoming a better city every day. But then again, I was only there for a few days and that could have just been a clever illusion

[plumjudy]

yup...it just keeps on truckin'. i grew up in parkdale. i remember the drake, all boarded up. i might even remember when it was still open! with the ducks flying on the side of the building. those where the days.

[filmfatale]

"The Drake: Where hipsters go when they are dead inside."

[malejested]

Hipsters are mostly dead inside anyway. The Drake's worse 'cos people go there to achieve what they perceive as some kind of cultural credibility.