To be honest I didn’t do much in Toronto. Hell, I didn’t even do the CN Tower, that wonderfully bombastic symbol of the city and until recently the tallest structure in the world. Toronto is a great city but I was left a bit unsatisfied. It’s a young city (It only surpassed Montreal in size and as the commercial capital in the 1960’s) and you feel that as you walk down the street. The buildings are relatively new and the people youthful. IN parts it is picturesque. The University quarter would give Trinity a run for it’s postcard perfect architecture and Queen Street West buzzes with great shops and vibrant graffiti. But overall you feel it is lacking something special. It didn’t captivate me like other metropolitan sirens like New York and Montreal, the two other cities on my itinerary this time. Nevertheless it was a thoroughly enjoyable place to be.

“Peaches was here last week”

That’s how my Toronto mates sold the Drake to me. The Drake Hotel, situated on Toronto’s hip strip Queen Street West is like its home city wanting to make a statement and that statement is to be the epitome of cool. Owner Jeff Stober has very much achieved that garnering acres of column inches in Canada and abroad for what is a beautiful retro-styled hotel. One could call it boutique with its 19 rooms all fitted in various 20th century styles but it is more than a hotel. This is one of the nicest hotels I have been to in style and service. Ok I only went for a few drinks and didn’t stay the night but the staff were impeccable in their fashion (understated cool) and talkative. The music in the background of the main bar switched from Matthew Dear to Dandy Warhols effortlessly. It deserves its accolade as a Bohemian Mecca. Open late it has a club that has a varied array of nights. Check out their listing on their website.

American Apparel-tastic!

I don’t get the mad ravenous craze that is American Apparel. Their clothes are a cross between that Eric Prydz video “Call On Me” and a 1980’s low-end hooker from the Bronx. Also their print ads are paedophilia-lite. But hey they make great hoodies. So it was after a drink in the Drake that I ended up in the Social. I have begun recently to garner how cool a place is by how many American Apparel hoodies I can count in a room (you’d think that it would be so un-cool to be wearing the same thing as someone else) and this place was swarming with them. The Social is a great bar. Minimal in its bare limestone walls and rough metal edges the music flirted from Boys Noize style electro to early 90’s hip hop and dance. In fact in judging from the style of people and the music it would be somewhere that someone like M.I.A would feel comfortable after a gig (in fact it is actually what she did after a recent gig). Surprisingly the drink was cheap too. $2 drinks before midnight was a great way to start a night in my opinion.

The Social
1100 Queen Street West
Toronto

That job in between becoming a pop star

Canadians are known for their social tolerance. This has created ample space for the gay community to flourish. Church Street in Toronto is the official gay village full of gay B+B’s to a multitude of saunas and leather clubs. However I was being conservative when I decided to meet a Dublin friend in the most famous (non-fetish) gay bar in Toronto, Woodys. It was a Sunday and we expected a quiet night with the ubiquitous drag queens singing dire Dolly tunes (we were not disappointed). As the night was closing I ended up talking to the bar man. Named John it transpired he was the bassist for local band Kids on TV. Being signed to Chicks on Speed’s record label you can kind of guess what they sound like. Irreverent rock with a twisted electro tinge courtesy of a trip down Peaches’ rabbit’s crack hole would be a good idea of what it is.

Their most noticeable song “Breakdance Hunx” contains the great lines “Surely you must realize you have market value/little blonde boy who break dances and suck cock” and the video is stupid but in a good way.

Conor O'Neill is a winetaster and former Buenos Airen, studying History and Politics in Trinity.
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