Yorkville in the 1960's

[temperance]

I do feel that at that time you were heard at least --we aren't heard we are lulled ,feared into conformity and some how we cant band together --you were banded then and trust was rampant among you

 

[csanopal]

I do feel that at that time you were heard at least --we aren't heard we are lulled ,feared into conformity and some how we cant band together --you were banded then and trust was rampant among you

Banded??? They sure were, they were all stoned...Great revolutionaires!(sarcasm)

 

[Curiosity]

I went back and looked up that earlier thread on Yorkville....there were only a few posts ... here is the link to the topic Soniq started before...

http://forums.canadiancontent.net/ontario/42453-yorkville-toronto-1960s.html

I thought I had lost what's left of my mind when this topic showed up again and my posts were gone lol.

Michael Kluckner - a great historical artist who did Vanishing Vancouver - also did a book called: Toronto - The Way It Was - his primary focus is on capturing historical buildings which are being torn down and replaced...and he wishes to preserve the old neighborhoods in the major Canadian cities. I think the Toronto book was published in 1988....have many of his books but I don't have the Toronto one...as I'm from B.C. and was more interested in his western city publications

 

[darleneonfire]

We were naive. We were determined. And we wanted to see a free and peaceful world. As a generation, for the most part, we sold out and lost our idealism. but it was a time of artistic and intellectual advancement that is still being felt to this day.

The sad thing is, that when the 60's ended, nothing had really changed. The "establishment" was still in charge. The same corporate people of the 60's were still running thw show after this decade was over. We had long hair and we had more personal freedoms and expressions, but the poor were still poor and the rich still uncaring.

The drugs are what ruined the image and the goals of this motivated generation. that was the one big failing of the overall movement. In gernal though, the 1960's proved a time when young people actually said "No", instead of just doing as they were told. For me that is the most significant change of that generation of people. Suddenly, regardless of your point of view, you had to actually think about what you were supporting or not supporting and be prepareed to defend your position.

Artistically, well, we are talking about the time when avant-garde became mainstream and The Beatles were re-inventing recorded music. It was an interesting time, that it was!

 

[blenheimbard]

We were naive. We were determined. And we wanted to see a free and peaceful world. As a generation, for the most part, we sold out and lost our idealism. but it was a time of artistic and intellectual advancement that is still being felt to this day.

The sad thing is, that when the 60's ended, nothing had really changed. The "establishment" was still in charge. The same corporate people of the 60's were still running thw show after this decade was over. We had long hair and we had more personal freedoms and expressions, but the poor were still poor and the rich still uncaring.

Actually quite a lot was changed. The one that is most significant within the U.S is the end of the draft as a social tool. At the time the draft was set up to force people into certain roles
, so that if you worked in a defence industry you were deferred, if you were a teacher and taught a desirable subject (science or math0, you were deferred. if you taught music or English, you were not deferred.
The whole idea was to push people into "desirable" paths, after all we all know we need more scientists and defense workers, than we need musicians and philosophers.
Interestingly this was not what the military wanted. They didn't want all the people who couldn't make it in school, the ones who were in trouble with the law, to be punishment for not towing the society's line.
I came to Canada at this time from the US, for the obvious reasons. But my background was a little different, I had planned to go into the military, possibly as a career. But I came to the conclusion that the politicians were subverting the American political system and since you cannot speak out politically from within the military, I left my training program, losing my deferment, and "voted with my feet".
Now if you believed that somehow "free love" and the peace movement would end conflict in the world, then you were naive. And there was a lot of that going around, how else do you explain using the Hell's Angels to handle the security at Altimonte concert. Now to my knowledge the Bikers who handled security at Rochdale never engaged in behavior like the H.A.s did, but I might not have heard about it.
Even Rochdale had its rules. Grass, hash and acid were fine, but coke and meth were "verbotten".
From my point of view many people confuse what happened in Vietnam, the American Military did not lose the war, the politicians lost the war, and there was nothing honourable about how they got out and what happened afterward.
One of the resulting changes in the political world is how differently the decision to fight in Iraq was reached. Now some people will always say that the whole WMD thing was a "lie', but I don't buy that. Before the war everyone believed they were there. The fact that weren't found doesn't mean anything beyond the fact that they haven't been found. That they were there at some point is a given, for they had been used. I personally cannot see Saddam giving up any weapon voluntarily, so i believe that he still had WMDs, how many and where is another question.
There is probably a better place to continue this, so i will go to what originally led me here. I'm trying to remember the names of the msuic venues of the time. I remember the Riverboat, the Mynah Bird,The Rock Pile/Masonic Temple, The Zanzibar (on Bloor), The Horseshoe(country music on Queen), Victory Burlesque (Spadina), upstairs at the Brunswick house (dixie land and some times other styles). I think the Gas Works came later, but wasn't there a Penny Farthing in Yorkdale, and a Purple Onion near the village on Avenue? Any others you remember. I'm trying to recollect the period 1968 to about 1972.
Thanks in advance

 

[mapleleafgirl]

Actually quite a lot was changed. The one that is most significant within the U.S is the end of the draft as a social tool. At the time the draft was set up to force people into certain roles
, so that if you worked in a defence industry you were deferred, if you were a teacher and taught a desirable subject (science or math0, you were deferred. if you taught music or English, you were not deferred.
The whole idea was to push people into "desirable" paths, after all we all know we need more scientists and defense workers, than we need musicians and philosophers.
Interestingly this was not what the military wanted. They didn't want all the people who couldn't make it in school, the ones who were in trouble with the law, to be punishment for not towing the society's line.
I came to Canada at this time from the US, for the obvious reasons. But my background was a little different, I had planned to go into the military, possibly as a career. But I came to the conclusion that the politicians were subverting the American political system and since you cannot speak out politically from within the military, I left my training program, losing my deferment, and "voted with my feet".
Now if you believed that somehow "free love" and the peace movement would end conflict in the world, then you were naive. And there was a lot of that going around, how else do you explain using the Hell's Angels to handle the security at Altimonte concert. Now to my knowledge the Bikers who handled security at Rochdale never engaged in behavior like the H.A.s did, but I might not have heard about it.
Even Rochdale had its rules. Grass, hash and acid were fine, but coke and meth were "verbotten".
From my point of view many people confuse what happened in Vietnam, the American Military did not lose the war, the politicians lost the war, and there was nothing honourable about how they got out and what happened afterward.
One of the resulting changes in the political world is how differently the decision to fight in Iraq was reached. Now some people will always say that the whole WMD thing was a "lie', but I don't buy that. Before the war everyone believed they were there. The fact that weren't found doesn't mean anything beyond the fact that they haven't been found. That they were there at some point is a given, for they had been used. I personally cannot see Saddam giving up any weapon voluntarily, so i believe that he still had WMDs, how many and where is another question.
There is probably a better place to continue this, so i will go to what originally led me here. I'm trying to remember the names of the msuic venues of the time. I remember the Riverboat, the Mynah Bird,The Rock Pile/Masonic Temple, The Zanzibar (on Bloor), The Horseshoe(country music on Queen), Victory Burlesque (Spadina), upstairs at the Brunswick house (dixie land and some times other styles). I think the Gas Works came later, but wasn't there a Penny Farthing in Yorkdale, and a Purple Onion near the village on Avenue? Any others you remember. I'm trying to recollect the period 1968 to about 1972.
Thanks in advance

mary dosent come here anymore. but honestly, your geneation and those hippies were messed up. too many drugs to make any changes. people are still hungry and looking for food, and it dosent seem like we have peace and love..so what was the point except a bunch of people who didnt want to conform.

 

[snfu73]

mary dosent come here anymore. but honestly, your geneation and those hippies were messed up. too many drugs to make any changes. people are still hungry and looking for food, and it dosent seem like we have peace and love..so what was the point except a bunch of people who didnt want to conform.

We definitly don't have peace and love when you are around, that's fer sure.

 

[blenheimbard]

What was accomplished? The US government moved from a situation where it assumed that the populace would go for any policy if it waved the flag hard enough, and it discontinued a really horrible draft policy, by which it attempted to drive people into certain life patterns and career choices.
Now did it end war and bring world wide peace, no. But it did make a difference in how the system works. Is it perfect, no, but the world is not a perfect place either. Are you under the impression that if the hippies hadn't done drugs there wouldn't be hungry people in the world? i don't really think you can draw that causal relationship.
mapleleaf girl you really need to look a little closer at what happened, and what the results are. Don't expect the whole world to change, change doesn't work that way. It sounds like you are looking for an easy way to dismiss working to effect change, simply because the changes we hoped to make weren't achievable.
Now if you have figured out a way to make sure no one goes hungry, I would like to hear it. But be forewarned, I no longer have stars in my eyes. Things that work well theoretically, frequently don't work in life. Take Marxism for instance. A total disaster. It ignored one of the basic laws of the universe.
No matter how many votes you get you can't repeal gravity (atleast not yet), nor has any one managed to veto Murphy's law(s), and you ignore "tanstaafl", there is always a bill. Anything we choose to do as a society we will have to pay for it, not always in ways we anticipate. All the projects of the "Just Society" ended up with a huge bill, like the double digit inflation which ruined a lot of people's lives.
Given a few years experience of dealing with the world I don't believe we can legislate away homelessness or war. War would be fairly easy if everyone could agree on a basis for working together, but that isn't going to happen. Can you see the Islamic fundamentalists agreeing with any Western (liberal or conservative) ideal of freedom? Everything we take for granted, tolerance of others, freedom of choice, is anathema to their concept of a "holy" life.
Homelessness? I have met enough of the homeless to know that while their are some real tragedies, there are a lot of these people who are incapable of maintaining a normal life and living with other people. Now a lot of these people used to live in institutions like 666 Queen St. in Toronto, but we decided that it was unfair to keep them locked up, so we did away with the people "warehouses", and guess what. Most of these people can't live with others, some of them can't even live with the fairly basic rules of a "shelter". In days past a lot of these people would have moved to the frontier, away from other people, a lot of our "pioneers" were people who couldn't abide to live close enough to hear another person's ax.
In the settled countries we had "debtors prisons" and workhouses for the people who couldn't cope with the economy. And the reality is our "poor" are far better off than the "poor" in most of the world.
Are we to assume because one solution didn't work that we are to give up looking for solutions? the young should all be liberals, they should always be looking for solutions, as you get older you get more conservative, as you realize how ill-formed solutions can gum up the works.
keep thinking and keeep working
maybe you will be the one to come up a solution that works.

[tanstaafl= "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch"]

 

[Rick Martin]

Neil Young worked at Coles Bookstore on Young St. when I lived in Yorkville 1n 1965.
Joh Kay of SteppenWolf also hung out in Yorkville in the early 60s. Bob Dylan playued at the Riverboat and Lighthouse played at a club called Boris's. I still have my membership card from there. The Ugly Ducklings played at The Myna Bird. What a great time it was..................:lol::lol::idea::idea::idea::idea:

hey, how about a personal memory type anecdote?

We didn't live in TO, but some of my friends ventured to Yorkville one day/night to see what the noise was about. (ca 1965/66)

I remember hippies, bikers (I believe the colours said Vagabonds MC) sitting on their Harleys drinking beer, and hippies, cops, of course, long hair, beads, beards, tie-dye, mini-skirts, sandals, go-go boots, sunglasses at night, hippies, good lookin' women, go-go dancers in windows and hippies.

Hundreds of colourful, friendly people in a small space. It was amazing to us.

I vaguely remember a club called The Mynah Bird.

And the smell of...what is that smell?...Hey, that's marijuana...let's get some.

Oh, what a night.....

ps: Rick James and Neil Young worked at The Mynah Bird in the sixities.

 

[Rick Martin]

Yes great book about the music scene in Yorkville in the 60s. Very accurate and the only book I've found on the Yorkville scene. I was at the sitin when we tried to have the street closed to cars on the weekends. Putting up draft dogers who came up from the US to avoid the Vietnam War. You will also fing some information in Neil's book [Neil and Me].
:idea::idea::idea::idea:

Sorry about suggesting the wrong book! Try this one,instead.."Before The Gold Rush" Nicholas Jennings[Penguin 1998]16.99 Nearly the entire book is on the early Toronto music scene.

 

[Rick Martin]

didnt have to be there to see the kind of lifestyle the hippies created. thats kinda where we are at now, a world where everybody has to do their own thing. nice one you guys gave to us. now we got guys who dont want to know their children, homosexuals getting married, drug and sex abuse and crime like crazy. yeah, nice byproduct of the 60's. just an excuse to not do anything and take dope, thats what the hippie thing was really about. we studied that period in school and our teacher said most hippies were losers who had no responsibility and who just wanted an excuse to live like pigs and take drugs.great movemtn(not)

I'd say you're teacher is totally unaware of the soul of what went on in the 60s and made the event
look very negative when it was a very positive experence. We treated each other as brotheres and sisters. It wasn't all about drugs. It was about peace and helping out draft dodgers and each other without the influence of the government. Music was another majour factor about that era. Freedom of communication. Some of the best music to this day came from the 60s. Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Sttepenwolf, The Birds, The Who, The Guess Who, The Lovin Spoonful, The Kinks, The Moody Blues, The Doors, Janis Joplin to name a few. You're teacher must be very narrow minded.
Rick Martin:idea::idea::idea::idea::idea:

 

[garymda]

Thanks Doc

Gosh Mary what a beautiful surprise to hear from someone out there in Cyber Space remember Bob. I'm trying to remember the Electric Orange -- great name for those times! I remember Luke and The Appostles, The Ugly Duckings at Charlie Browns, Edward Bear.
Bob is a beautiful guy who still lives on in my heart. He and I became good friends; we went to High School together - sadly Bobby died in 1993. He'd had a stroke at 28, blew out his guitar hand, taught English and Drama in Brampton, and attended dialysis 3 times a week for years. I used to go with him to kill the time for him. I miss him so much. I'll never forget those great Yorkville Days.
I myself became a professional musician for 15 years and Bob came to my gigs!! Then I moved out to Vancouver and became a doctor; I'm turning 59 this year and I'm back in the studio working on an album. It's been quite a trip!!! (to say the least)

Yes it is sad, have been looking for info on what happened to the rock show of the Yeomen hoping they may show up again fo one more show. i remember them as 2 front men with floor tom toms singing " Bring It Down Front " I think that was the name of the tune. saw them several times in the Toronto area and at Dunn's Pavilion in Bala or the Kee to Bala ...dont remember when they changed the name. So who else did that tune and who was the other front man? still around?
thks again Doc

 

[Bunky]

The Rock Show of the Yeomen

Ahh yes, The Rock Show of the Yeomen.
I remember seeing them on that after school rock show on CBC called "Let's Go" several times.
They blew my socks off as I recall. But I was just kid at the time, perhaps 12 or 13. But they must've made an impression because I remember them and that 2 drum thing as well.
It's all pretty blurry now. They really warped this prairie boys brain and good thing too.

I'd love to hear from more fans of this band. I have no idea who was in the band? Where they started? Did they have a connection to Dee and the Yeoman? Did they ever record anything?
Pass it on before you're gone.
Cheers

 

[DaveT]

didnt have to be there to see the kind of lifestyle the hippies created. thats kinda where we are at now, a world where everybody has to do their own thing. nice one you guys gave to us. now we got guys who dont want to know their children, homosexuals getting married, drug and sex abuse and crime like crazy. yeah, nice byproduct of the 60's. just an excuse to not do anything and take dope, thats what the hippie thing was really about. we studied that period in school and our teacher said most hippies were losers who had no responsibility and who just wanted an excuse to live like pigs and take drugs.great movemtn(not)

I lived in Yorkville in the 60's. The only things that have changed is the homosexuals getting married, and the amount of information you receive (the news). The hippie thing was about changing all that bad stuff. Losers are everywhere and irresponsibility is not owned by that one movement. Ever heard of politics? Your teacher did not know and now, neither do you. How sad, you missed it.

 

[VillageGirl]

I remember the Night Owl Too!

Regarding Yorkville during the 60's...I was there, in the movement, the hippie scene, the music scene, the sit-ins, the love-ins, the 12 hour fantastic concerts at Varsity and so on. I frequented all the coffee houses, but spend most of my time at The Night Owl listeneing to the great sounds of Bob Smith and his band The Rock Show of the Yeomen. Great memories. I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Wow! I can't believe someone else remembers the Yeoman. Originally, there were only 3 of them....Dee & The Yeoman. Dee was the lead guitarist, Terry I think that was his name was on organ, however, I can't remember the name of the drummer. When they became, Rock show of the Yeoman, there were 4 guys. Did y'all know that they did the very very first milk commercial on Canadian TV? I spent alot of time at the Night Owl with a couple of old friends. Larry and Fred. Larry is still around but unfortunately Fred is not, so sad, but man oh man what a dancer. I sure learned alot of moves back then lol. Village Girl was my favorite song and Dee always played it for me. Wish I could find the song somewhere as Dee hinted one time that they wrote it just for me, unlikely though as there were about 5 or 6 of us young regulars at the Night Owl. Oh those were the days for sure.

 

[allissee]

Unfortunately, there is not much photos regarding the Yorkville of the 60's. I was there in the mid 60's and lived on Prince Arthur. My friend danced in the top window of the Mynah Bird.....the blond go go dancer. We both danced at Jacques Place and caught the Ugly Ducklings at Inn on the Parking Lot (Charlie Browns???). There was Webster's Restaurant where dope deals went on but the Yorkville Restaurant on the corner of Bay and Yorkville served the best chips and gravey. Remember blond haired Richard with the black leather pants that lived in the low rise apt building on Yorkville.....how about the Grab Bag. Bruce Palmer played with the Mynah Birds (I have pix) and remember the Colonnade Restaurant....the only place that was open 24 hrs.....anyone that came from the burbs was not considered part of or from Toronto..........simple as that! Then there were the 'week end hippies'......you can tell them apart because they had shorter hair and looked dressed up.........lol

 

[lone wolf]

This one pretty much sums it up....


Sadly, the 60's and Yorkville were over by the time I got there - but '73 was close. We did the Nag's Head before the Stones and jammed on Broadview with a little guy with a great big ego - Geddy Lee. Funny you should mention Ugly Ducklings. In around '90, Dave and a lot of friends - four generations of rockers - wrote and recorded a demo called "Caught In The Crossfire" for Amnesty International - and loose-jammed Gaslight - in my basement....

 

[Risus]

I didn't notice any reference to The Riverboat where Lightfoot performed.

 

[Rick Martin]

The Riverboat saw the works of Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, The Gaslight had The Ugly Ducklings.

 

[Rick Martin]

This one pretty much sums it up....

Sums what up? Do you have any idea what this is about?
This started when the hippies decided they wanted the street, "Yorkville" closed down on weekends to car traffic, Saturday and Sunday. The Government didn't listen so one Saturday evening we had a sitin in the middle of Yorkville Street. There were hundreds of people and we did stop the traffic for a couple of hours. This took place when the Police were called in to breakup the sitin. A picture that made it to the newspapers the next day.:lol: