 |
|
|
UER Store
|
|
sweet UER decals:
|
|
|
 PoeFXTC
   
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Gender: Male
 |  | Interesting note on the Big Bop
< on 2/12/2008 6:43 AM >
|  | | | A friend asked me if I could recall what the Big Bop was before it was painted blue and turned into the Big Bop, which I can't seem to picture it otherwise.
Does anyone remember what the venue was before it became the Blue Bop?
I've scoured the internet and can't find much information on the building (651 Queen St W) or it's history, except these pics:
sourced from:
http://www.flickr....92/in/photostream/
I've always thought it a strange looking warehouse moonlighting as a Victorian, but hadn't given it much thought until I came across those photos. Makes me wonder, how exactly did the building loose it's ornate third floor?!
Doors Open Toronto is this weekend? Oh, naw, I was there last weekend. |
|
Mutt
  
Moderator
Location: Bunbury, Western Australia
Support your local Funeral Director ----- Drop Dead!
| |  | Re: Interesting note on the Big Bop
<Reply # 1 on 2/14/2008 2:31 PM >
| | | | The roof was lost most likely to decay.
I spent many a night at the Bop back in the 80's. The sports bar was my least favourite floor. The Waterfall/blacklight room up top was the neatest for chilling out.
Why not phone the owners up during the daytime to find out the lineage? I had set up a college pub night back in the late 80's and found that the owners were very accommodating with our needs. I will tell you this, in the daytime with all the lights on inside, the place has a whole different feel. Its very ugly and grimy.
All men are cremated equal. |
|
vicexsquad
Location: Oshawa, Ontario
Gender: Female
Explorer / Pediatric Nurse / Axe thrower / Bowler
| | Re: Interesting note on the Big Bop
<Reply # 2 on 2/14/2008 9:00 PM >
| | | | This place used to be called The Kathedral... I went there between 2000 and 2004 for some insane punk shows... Day Glo Abortions were one of my fave shoes...
|
|
vicexsquad
Location: Oshawa, Ontario
Gender: Female
Explorer / Pediatric Nurse / Axe thrower / Bowler
| | Re: Interesting note on the Big Bop
<Reply # 3 on 2/14/2008 9:01 PM >
| | | | oh wait.. the Kathedral is still downstairs.. nevermind..
|
|
Mutt
Moderator
Location: Bunbury, Western Australia
Support your local Funeral Director ----- Drop Dead!
| | | Re: Interesting note on the Big Bop
<Reply # 4 on 2/14/2008 11:07 PM >
| | | | I went to the Bop's website and they say that the club opened in the early 90's but I beg to differ as I have pictures of me somewhere hidden away of me in the Big Bop in 1988 while a student of Seneca College. ..And no... I wont post pictures of me with 80's hair and tie dyed tighty jeans with safety pins in them.
Back in the 80's the Bop was set up like this from what I recall...
1st floor "Dance Club" music dance bar.
2nd floor New Wave (now called retro) dance bar.
3rd floor Sports bar
4th floor? The trippy waterfall room with couches and blacklights. The waterfall was a functional one in the corner of the room with neon coloured "water". This was the era of neon clothing too and as such the glow from the clothes and water was neat. I never ventured to sit on the couches as they often had recent spunk on them. This floor had a much smaller floorspace than the rest of the club. I wonder if it is my mind failing over the years or it might have been on the same floor as the sports bar area, the 3rd. I do recall that to access it you had to use the back staircase. The back stairs always had a sticks of incense burning in them to possibly cover the smell of spilled beer, cigarettes and stale spunk.
[last edit 2/14/2008 11:15 PM by Mutt - edited 1 times]
All men are cremated equal. |
|
vincec
Location: Here there and everywhere
The image of success
| | | Re: Interesting note on the Big Bop
<Reply # 5 on 2/14/2008 11:51 PM >
| | | | The Big Bop was known in the 80's as the Holiday. It used to showcase country and western bands as well as the occasional new wave band. KD Lang used to play there when she was in town. It was in the late 80's when the brothers turned it into the Big Bop. Three floors of crap pop. The great punk bands of the day all played the Bridge, DMZ, Turning Point, Isabella Hotel and Larry's Hideway or any of the other punk venues that lasted a minute or two. The brothers ( I can say the name but can't spell it. Garmisian(?))also owned several other clubs along Queen at the time. One of them was the Heartbreak Hotel which is now the Hero Burgers at Tecumseh as well as a club in the space occupied by the Velvet Underground. The cool place to investigate an interesting history would be Larry's Hideway that was located on Carlton near Jarvis. The building is now gone but it was an amazing place to see bands but it was also a fleabag hotel that had a long history. When they tore the place down they found old weapons and a secret room that once housed a gangster on the run from Al Capone. Anyway back to the Big Bop try looking into the old Holiday Tavern and you should find more history. I hope this helps you.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to loose
|
|
SoNaive
Location: Brampton, Ontario
Gender: Male
Why did it come as a surprise, to think that i was SoNaive
| | Re: Interesting note on the Big Bop
<Reply # 6 on 2/15/2008 9:53 PM >
| | | | Well, i found out that in 1924 it was the "United Cigar Store"on the corner (where the stage in the Kathedral now is) and a store that sold "Ocean Tickets" next to it in the space next to it (Where the Reverb door is)
Prinny Dude! |
|
admiralhonshu
Necromancy Plague Crusader
| | Re: Interesting note on the Big Bop
<Reply # 7 on 2/21/2008 1:58 PM >
| | | | Well actually it was an Hotel, the top was demolished due to fire damage. 
Sexual Necromancer |
|
starkey
Location: Greater Toronto Area
Gender: Male
| | Re: Interesting note on the Big Bop
<Reply # 8 on 2/22/2008 6:07 AM >
| | | | I'd also heard it had doubled as a former cult temple. but that was just a rumour. i do know for a fact that what I guess was The Holiday also had dancing girls that used to be in the windows (that seem to have been since bricked off/closed off). It would be interesting to see what other photos/historical artifacts surface. i used to play shows at the Reverb (the second floor) when I first started playing in bands.
|
|
|
|
All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire.
To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site:
UER CONTACT
View Terms of Service |
View Privacy Policy |
Server colocation provided by Beanfield
This page was generated for you in 109 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 739697547 pages have been generated.
|
|
