A heritage clock tower at Yonge and Grosvenor Sts. For years, the gay bar was also the site of homophobic violence β a place where hateful spectators gathered to pelt arriving patrons with eggs and rotting fruit, and patrons leaving could risk being arrested.
Charles in the s. He said the firehouse clock tower is a historic monument, but cautioned against conflating its history with that of the tavern below. In Torontoist in , Jamie Bradburn looked at how, over the s, the St. While the St. Charles Tavern continued to serve Chinese-Canadian fare after Hemstead sold it, the clientele began to change.
When the Westbury Hotel now the Courtyard Marriott opened down the street in , it included a bar in the basement. Cocktail lounges like the St. Charles sold food and could stay open.
Many men who probably found the family ambiance at the St. Others, who found its attempts at chic somewhat more to their taste the bar lights were shaped like violins stayed, settled in, and became the beachhead that eventually made the St.
Charles the gay bar it is today. Tagged with glbt issues , history , nightclubbing , photos , st. Years later in The Body Politic, Gerald Hannon reflected on the shuffle between bars along Yonge: Many men who probably found the family ambiance at the St.
