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EVERY WEEKEND
Every weekend......The Single Professional Network has one or two dances at fabulous locations like
the Old Mill, The Boulevard Club, Delta Chelsea Inn and the Toronto Don Valley. It's the best of the bunch for meeting people,
dancing and locations.You can get more information by calling their number 416-236-8222, 24 hrs a day for details. You can
look for their website located at http://www.singlesparties.com You can also check the Toronto Star every Friday and Saturday,
in the classified section 609 and will find the location of the weekly dance as well as other single events. Your host is
amiable Peter and his charming wife Diane. They have been at it for years, quite successfully. Cover charge.
TUESDAY
Tuesday night....for you jazz lovers this is the place. The Reservoir Lounge located downstairs
at 52 Wellington. Mixed crowd of those in wide-pants and pierced nose types as well, alongside smiling 40's, 50's and 60's
something, the inevitable confused-looking Bay Streeters. Tuesday nights usually feature a quartet led by a sharply dressed
24 year old pianist and vocalist named Tyler Yarema. He's just released his first album and my predication is he is too good
for just T.O. So you better see him now, since he may be gone soon. Go before 8 p.m or you'll face a line up to get in. Cover
charge to enter.
TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY
Tuesday night through to Saturday night....on any of these evenings you may find me and others at
the legendary Club 22 at the Windsor Arms. From 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, the man who in many ways is a fixture
at the 22, none other than that great pianist Paul Drake will be appearing. At 10 p.m. Paul is followed up by a different
Jazz Group each week and yes you can even dance. The original Club 22 and Courtyard Cafe were sold and torn down only to arise
like Phoenix in this new format as part of the Windsor Arms. You'll find this elegant bar and setting at 15 St. Thomas Street,
1 block west of Bloor and Bay running south. Phone 416-971-9666. No cover.
WEDNESDAY
Valhalla Inn is a great place to go dancing on a Wednesday night. It is a Latino theme with a live
band and a cover charge. You'll find the Valhalla Inn is located on the 427 Highway, north of Dundas Highway, south of Burnhamthorpe
Road. They also have dances on Friday and Satruday night. Phone 416-239-2391 for further details.
THURSDAY
Thursday the action is at the Keg on York Street between Richmond and Adelaide. With its big inviting patio not
only smokers are attracting here in the summer but the in crowd. Inside the bar is spacious so those rainy and cold days a
large crown can gather. The food is excellant. I like what they call the baseball steack. See you there.
Thursday try.......Easy & the Fifth. Action starts around 9 p.m. Crowd is 35 to 55 with the
median age hovering in the 35 to 40 year old category. Not pubescent kids but ripening, seasoning, empty headed, NO cross
that out, younger people. It is a barn of a place, since it use to be factory space for the needle trade in the area. It has
20 foot ceilings, with old wooden beams and hardwood floors that have been sanded down. Two long bars on opposite sides of
the room, small groupings of chesterfields with plantings around, and white and sandy colours for the draping and the furniture,
gives this place a California feeling. Great dancing, music middle of the road. Be sure to look for the back room with its
small bar, crap table, yes crap table, you can play but you can't gamble, two pool tables, a cigar humidor and a great jazz
piano player ..... you'll sit right down and enjoy yourself. Oh...one more secret. They have a dining room bar upstairs that
is very exclusive, for 40 diners, and is open only Wednesday through Saturday. California feel again, with a functioning fireplace,
intimate tables and chesterfield grouping, with a fixed price menu of $65. It has a great duet of one piano player and one
jazz singer who create a pleasant ambience. You can also go up for drinks there as well. When I say it upstairs I mean you
are taken through the back storage room to a freight elevator that is a wooden cage like contraption from the 30's, and up
five floors. Feels like New York, New York. You definitely need reservations for this place. You'll find Easy & the Fifth
located at Duncan and Richmond, south east corner, second floor, rear entrance to the building, in a lane way. Reservations
for the restaurant are achieved by dialing 416-979- 3005. Cover charge for any of this is $10, waved if you are dining. If
you gather by the amount of copy that I like this place you are right. If I owned a club this is how I would do it. Believe
me, I have done a lot personal research over the years. Check out their web site by going to toronto.com and finding it there.
I can't figure out how to connect through a Hyperlink. After all I am over 39.
Thursday night......Centro Grille and Wine Bar, downstairs, great bar scene and the jazz group is
great. Nine oclock is a good time to show up. Oh yeah, by the way, this is a four star restaurant if you want one of the finest,
all be it expensive, meals you can have in Toronto. Available up or downstairs. Located at 2472 Yonge Street, three and half
blocks north of Eglinton on the north side. Phone number 416-483-2211 No cover.
Thursday night, is definitely high tide at Jump's winter or summer. Five p.m. starting time. The
bar inside is always packed with a good crowd. During the summer it's out to the Patio. It's hidden away behind the Commerce
Court building at King and Bay. There is a square there with a lovely fountain and there is the patio which we gather at during
the summer. Winter of course we are indoors. This is a real winner. No cover.
Thusday night at Hemingways. Run by Auzzies this is a laid back roof top patio all year round. It is less pretencious
then most other places and has a regular cast of characters. Look for a lot of rugby players, ex pats, cougars and coyotes.
A beer drinking crowd that's relaxed and open for a good time. Located in Yorkville on Scollard right between the Parking
Garage and York Lane.
Thursday night again. Ki. A simple word for a simply great place to meet and greet someone of the opposite sex.
This is the newest in place. It is a Japanese restaurant with a great sized bar. Go early since the place is packed. It is
located at the south east corner of Bay and Wellesley in the BCE Place.
THURSDAY, FRIDAY, OR SATURDAY
Any time is high tide at the Drake Hotel especially Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Summer time the patio is open
and hip while the rest of the year the bar and dining room on the ground level is full of a cross section of ages, occupations,
and sexes. This is right in the heart of the new trendy area either know as West Queen West or the Art and Design Neighbourhood.
Visit the Gladstone Hotel down the street when you are there or the new art galleries in the neighbourhood. Get there before
8 p.m. on the weekend. After 5 p.m. on Thrusday is when you will find yours truly hanging out at the bar.
Thursday night, Friday night or Saturday night, you might enjoy the bar in the Four Seasons. There
is a good crowd at 5 p.m. or anytime during the evening. This is again a classy New York style bar and is located on the ground
floor. In addition to the regulars, and those downtown on business you'll run into giants over six feet, (they're the opposition
to the Raptors staying in the hotel), or the Export Manager of Sherry from Spain, the President of CBS, a movie star or you
name it. In short it's a great place for people watching. They have a piano player and singer playing later in the evening.
After a few drinks I have been know to dance with any lady who ask me even though there is no dance floor. The Four Seasons
is located in Yorkville at 21 Avenue Road. Their phone number is 416-964-0411. No cover.
Delta
Chelsea Hotel once upon a time had a great place for dancing called the Chelsea Bun. They have spent considerable coin to
create a new bar and ambiance in the former rooms of the Chelsea Bun. It is now called the Monarch and it is a great place
to dance Thursday, Friday or Saturday from 9 until 1 p.m. The music is great the ambiance is great, the dance floor is great
and the people are great. I checked it out recently and stayed right to 1 a.m. There is no cover. The Delta Chelsea Hotel
is located 33 Gerrard Street, just west of the corner of Yonge and Gerrard.
If you are into Salsa dancing then here is a two for one location on College Street just east of Bathurst. This
area should have the title Little Latino or somehting like that since a number of Latino businesses are in the area including
these two great places to dance the Salsa to. On the north side is the oldest Salsa dancing spot in Toronto El Rancho and
on the south side is Playa Flaminco. They sometimes have shows and give free Salsa lessons. Check them out on the web or give
them a phone call.
FRIDAY
Friday. Sonoma. I thought it was a wine. No one told me about this place. I found it by accident.
As usual it isn't in Toronto but in Burlington. It is fabulous place to dance to live music Friday or Saturday and on the
first Thursday of each month they have a special evening of live entertainment. The lay out is great with an elbow high bar
surrounding a sizeable dance floor, plenty of alcoves to sit and talk, away from the music. A full bar with three great gals
tending. The music is blues, and rock and roll. The kind of music I like to dance to. It you don't have a good time here I'll
pay for your gas to and back to Toronto. You'll find Sonoma at 3135 Harvester Road. Harvester Road runs parallel to the south
side of the QEW in Burlington between the Guelph Line and Walkers Line. You might even want to have supper there. Their phone
is 905-333-9463. No cover. Enjoy!
FRIDAY/SATURDAY
On the weekend, if you really want to walk on the Wild Side as they say here's the place. Most of
you know College Street, west of Bathurst as being the now-yuppie Little Italy. Oh how it has changed since I was a kid sitting
on Johnny Lombardy's knee. Well there is a place called El Convento Rico, on a Sunday night after 9 p.m. you can learn to
Latin dance, or just dance the night away. However, this place is really different. If it feels a little, well, gay---that's
no accident. When the club opened five years ago, it was exclusively a "gay and lesbian Latin bar". But, times changed and
everybody wanted in and today it is a mixed crowd of as they say "all persuasions". You'll have fun, and I sure you will find
it non-threatening. Friday and Saturday nights there is Latino dancing and the club hops even more with drag shows starting
at 1 a.m., yes 1 a.m. The Ladies who sing, well I am been diplomatic, lip synch to recordings of Streisand and Madonna. Your
best bet, if you feel wild and crazy, is to go with a mixed group of guys and dolls It will blow you away. El Convento Rico
is at 750 College 416-588-7800. Cover charge.
SUNDAY
Sunday night.....Club 54 is one of the biggest dances for the older crowd I know of. It has been
a perennial favourite. You have to travel to Burlington for it, but as the ad says for the Olde Hide House, It's worth the
trip to Acton. In this case Burlington. Located at 3345 Harvester Road. If you are taking the QE get off at Walkers Line and
travel South to the first light and turn right. Phone number is 905-634-4545. Lots of room to dance, great selection of music,
great crowd. Surprise, Surprise the busiest weekends, believe it or not, are holiday weekends. Over 500 show up. Cover charge
with light food selection included.
You can now dance
the night away on Sunday night to a live band yet! This is probably one of Toronto's best kept secrets, in one of Toronto's
out of the way places. The place is called LuLa. It is located at 1585 Dundas that is about two west of Dufferin. The location
was once an old movie house. The outside is bright orange and yellow, the inside pure kitch. They went out and bought all
the old furniture they could from the Sally Ann, and local Antique stores or dragged it out of their parents rec rooms. However,
the key is the dance floor, it is big and spacious. They have a live band Sunday nights that plays swing music. This is another
way of saying the kind of music you and I danced to just before we got into Rock and Roll. The young kids think they have
invented it. So if you want to dance, this is the place, and on a Sunday night. The band comes on 8 p.m. but they have lessons
starting at 7 p.m., as if you need them. Its a great fun evening, what more can I tell you. Cover charge $5.
SUNDAY AND ANY TIME
Sunday night.....Chicken Deli I can tell you from just going there recently that the Chicken Deli
swings on Sunday night. They have live music. Yes, real live music that you can dance to. You know rhythm and blues, rock
and roll, slow baby making music. The crowd is.... yes, our age. No punk hair styles, no rings in protrudence, no "hey dude".
Just the old Romeo looking for Juliet, and Juliet looking for Romeo. It's the script most of us use of chatting someone up
and or dancing and then....I'll leave that to your romantic dreams. I really enjoyed this old style bar. It starts happening
about 9 p.m. The Chicken Deli is located at 733 Mount Pleasant, that is one block south of Eglinton, and there is no cover
charge. Phone number is 416-489-3363. One additional item. They do this every night of the week and Saturday and Sunday afternoons
as well, with the same format and crowd. It really is back to the future.
If you know of a place you would like to
share with the rest of us you have two choices to inform me; (1) call it in to my voice/info line 416-761-6039 (2) e-mail
me care of genova@sympatico.ca and I will include it for broadcast on this web-site.
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