YORKVILLE MUSIC SCENE IN THE 60'S
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- In the 1960's Yorkville was the music scene in Canada. It was the Canadian equivalent of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury or New York's Greenwich Village. There were experimental art galleries, coffeehouses, clubs and bohemian boutiques. It was an artistic community known internationally all contained within several city blocks.
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Thanks for the Far back Trip just Amazing
I feel privileged to have lived these memories, Toronto was a wonderful city to grow up in. Great pics!
My parents forbid me to go there. But just like a typical teenager, I found myself there with friends. Loved it. Sorry, mom and dad.
The most interesting photo (of all the wonderful photos) in my opinion is at 6:56 where we see Rick James and Neil Young together on stage in the band The Mynah Birds playing at the Yorkville (Toronto) club The Mynah Bird. Although I lived not too far away during the time of the Yorkville music scene, I was only ten years old and still in grade school at Davisville Public School.
In the summer of 1968 my friend Brian and I hitchhiked to Toronto from Sydney NS. We had no money, lived on the streets, in shelters, stole food, ate what the Diggers were giving away, and couldn't afford to go to any of the clubs. It was a fun couple of months that I'll never forget.
A real life “Goin Down The Road”…. Which I think was common occurrence. A ice time of memories. I too went to Toronto first time in late 80s , from NS. Different circumstances from yours, but my sister lived there, and first morning she asked, where do you want to go? I replied, “let’s go to younge street, buddy!” She didn’t get it, it we went and I said I’ve never seen so many people in my life.
Nucleus!!!!!!!! My God. Remember (I think) seeing them at the Electric Circus a few times. Late nights sitting in the barrel room. Great memories.
… Mr. Genova … you just blew my mind. I have so many comments because I was there. I moved there January 1, 1967, and of course I gravitated to Yorkville. But I had to work to make a living so I was a part-timer, in fact you show the office I worked in on Avenue Road at Yorkville going up Avenue Road on the right side, the round windows up above. I worked as a secretary for an absolute maniac. But I got to spend my lunch hours on Yorkville, which was exciting even at 12 o’clock in the afternoon to me. You also show a shot of the famous go dash go girls backstage … I was offered a job as one, and when I told my mother, she said no daughter of mine is going to be in a cage dancing for men … yes ma’am … all the memories and thank you for making me feel young again. To me the most telling segment was the picture of ‘the suits’ coming in to change Yorkville forever. I wish I had a camera back then. Thank you. 👵🇨🇦💥🥂🥰
I spent my life in Yorkville, but I only remember the nights! That's when Yorkville came alive.
At the Riverboat I saw the likes of Joni Mitchell, Sonny Terri and Brownie McGee, John Hammond, and Jr. Walker. I tripped many a night away to the sounds of Luke and the Apostles at the Purple, etc. The Ugly Ducklings were my favorite band of the era. Then, years later when I discovered jazz, Lenny Breau became my guitar idol.
I live in California now, and play music (blues, rock and jazz) with a fellow Canadian xpat who played in the original Beatlemania. What I still lack in talent I make up for in equipment. In my mid-60's now I can afford the best equipment money can buy. Where's Long & McQuaid when you need them, eh? Great work Bill.
Thanks for the comment!
Right on, Peter. And I am transplanted from that era in Yorkville Village and loved it too!
I am 70 now and living in Oregon just north of you.
Keep on rockin'.. and PEACE in Jesus Christ.
… oh contraire … I was there … you weren’t … it was exciting even in the daytime.
So many great pictures, Thank you❣️
💗🌎🎶🥰🎶😍🎶🌌💗
This was great to see. Love Ian and Sylvia's You Were On My Mind. They were one of my favourites.
2024: I started going to Yorkville in 1964, when I was 16. Loved the Ugly Ducklings. I guess most of us are gone now, but it was a time and place which has stuck with me all these years. Glad there is this video for a permanent record. Peace and Love ☮☯☮
Those were some of the best days of my life - bring it on again - it is terrible today wow if only the walls could talk - and people who dont know the real Yorkville could see it like this
what would they think or say.
Did you see the Sparrow play there?
That brings back so many memories! My dad (art director, photographer and graphic artist extraordinaire George Pastic) had a studio on Yorkville Ave in the early 60's and although I was just 10 years old in 1965 he took me with him to many of the clubs and coffee houses during the late 60's. I can still close my eyes and feel it all. There has never been a time like it. I remember the old age home (which is now a Chanel store) and the elderly people sitting outside gawking at the hippies and bikers. Today I can't handle the opulence of Yorkville...it feels so foreign and strange. But, the times always change, and so be it. I would have loved to contribute some of the thousands of photos my dad took in the village during those years for your video. As a side note, my dad took the photos and designed the artwork for Bruce Cockburn's first album High Winds White Sky. Thanks for creating this short video flashback!
Ah. I was old enough to tool my GTO down those Toronto streets at 110..but I was not old enough to drink. grinzzz.. couldn't get into those Yorkville clubs. Sure heard them on the street though.
David Clayton Thomas and the Shays, Mandala, Ugly Ducklings.. man, those were the days. For sure. God bless.
Fantastic - brought back so many memories, Gordon Lightfoot, Ugly Ducklings, Joni Mitchell, etc. Used to go to the Riverboat and Mynah Bird a lot.
This brought me back to a time when I was a poor student and could only afford to sit outside of these music venues and just listen. One specific memory was standing outside of the Riverboat with Danny Marks, listening to Kris Kristofferson.
The '"Village" was unrepeatable magic! I kept looking for "Pops". And I didn't see the "Gaslights" where there was a sign, which had a swing that went back & forth. I still have my headband & sandals. The music experience, set the bar so high. We expected, at least as good, as what we heard down in the "Village". Thank you, for the time capsule! Turning of age, in the most incredible Toronto experience ever. More than fifty years ago, and the music is still on the radio.
I was there....Oh sweet memories.......where did time go?
We used to go to Yorkville for school trips when I was in high school for art class... Simpler times... Fun times...
Thanks for the trip down memory lane Bill Genova! I loved Yorkville or The Village as I called it!
So fantastic to see Blow Up in those glory days. It was definitely the best of times. This little film brought back so many memories. So lucky to have been there.
Great pics of a youthful generation. Now most of us are one step away from the Home for Elderly Care just down the street, remember?
Thanks for the comment!
Great vid, Bill. Thanks for the effort. Some of the comments it rcvd on FB by musicians, writers and fans alike may well be worth considering another with tighter visual shots concurrently with additional and varied sound tracks of some Yorkville acts?
Malcolm Berry
Hi Malcolm, Thanks for the comment. You are right about tighter shots and different background music but I am just learning how to put these videos together and may revisit this shortly. Incidentally I am using a program called PowerDirector which is truly unbelievable in that you can do anything that a full time professional studio can do and all this for $89.
Malcolm Berry Don't trust anyone over 30... :)
Yes lol It's a state of mind ppl.
Yorkville nowadays is similar to any major league sports arena, you can't tell which city you're in because they all look the same with the same major luxury brands as tenants. I'm too young to remember Yorkville's heyday but it's amazing to realise what a major music spot it was. Not sure, about the naked chef at The Mynah Bird. I remember shopping at the Book Cellar (remember the stairway down to where the Riverboat was located) which also sold music and listening to Bruce Surtees and William Littler on their radio show, Meyer's Deli, Parachute clothing, Vidal Sassoon, Cy Mann's, Cerruti 1881 and Lovecraft. Now it's Balenciaga, Chanel, Pusateris, Whole Foods, The Hazelton and Brunello Cucinelli, yawn. Thanks for the video, Bill!
… I was in Yorkville back then, and I now live on Queen St., West across from Trinity Bellwoods … from Ossington Avenue west … is the modern magnet for everyone to seek out alternative bands and or cultural guidance … it is exciting to this old lady who has experienced both … I find as we get older. It’s us that have to change our attitude because we remember our parents not changing theirs. Cheers.👵🇨🇦💥😉🥰
those were the days!! fantastic.. miss it so much and my mom lived in one of those houses. i am so glad this is here to remind us of how we grooved
Thanks for this, Bill!
Thank you, Bill. Good job giving a lesser known folk mecca its due.
Thanks so much Bill. I love these pictures. I was a waitress at the Upper Crust and then Manager at Charlie Browns. After work off to Websters on Avenue Rd. at 2:00 in the morning and it was always packed.
Hi Rhonda. I was a waitress at the Upper Crust too from June 1967 to May 1969, mostly worked nights inside slinging coffee and danish. Lived above the Grab Bag.
@@mariewhite9102 Hi Marie, those were the times!! Sorry I don't remember you. So many friends then, plus I was more often high that not. Got my highs from a guy named Fat Fred. I've lost touch with everyone from that time.
Wish I still had my posters and my picture from the Blow Up.
This is very nice to see - spent my childhood on the “Danforth” (Logan/Withrow Park).
Wow did that blow me away ..... memories flooding back. I had to be in at least one of the crowd pictures, use to hang out there all the time.
Great job Bill. Thanks for the memories. I was part of many of these as an emcee and wandering singer doing guest spots. Cruised the streets in my 1965 Purple Pontiac nightly.
Oh yes the memories. 😍
Nice video ❤ my husband is a member of THE BEAVER PATROL he is the drummer and also a vocalist. He knows all the people on photos
I was in the River Boat many years ago. It looked like a boat inside with wood panelling and port holes.
What a great trip down memory lane. Thanks Bill, much appreciated!
Thanks, I was 15, working at Goo Goo's Healthfood Cafe on Avenue Road...what a circus!
we were at the El patio. Purple Onion and Boris's
Great memories thank you.
Very groovy! Thank you for sharing this Bill!
What sucks is that much of the history has been forgotten with the rise of the condos.
We're playing some music from the Yorkville scene at Hugh's Room in Toronto Nov 16th, thanks for sharing the photos!
ty for this Brings back fond memories
Bill, Fantastic job, passionate and captivating, we remember!
Thanks for assembling these great glimpses into one watch.
If you were there, you will see yourself, here!
Thanks for the comment!
Hey Bill - thanks for putting this together. I lived at 118, over the BlowUp shop in 67/68. This sure brought back a ton of great memories. Thanks so much!
It was the best of times....
You were on my mind. Thank you Bill for the amazing story and a nice song.
Was a regular at the El Patio...to see Last Words...sadly, Brad Campbell, bass, died this month unexpectedly but peacefully. A fine, fine musician.
My brother-in-law played the Yorkville scene during that time. he went by Bobby Neilson, Neil Lillie, and lastly Neil Merryweather. He played in the following bands: The Reflections, The Just Us, The Tripp, The Mynah Birds, and The Flying Circus to name a few. I was wondering if you have any pictures or posters that you could share if you do.
My old Boris's card finally fell apart. I kept it in a plastic sleeve, but it was just worn from use. Great times listening to Luke & the Apostles et al.
I was one of the Go-Go dancers in the window-lol
Wow! Thanks. Great work 👍
those were the best days of my life
Wow! Sure takes me back. Where did you manage to compile so many photos and ticket stubs and ads?
Thank you so much for this.
52 Avenue Road was my father's family home ...
6:55 crazy that Rick James & Neil Young were once in a band together! The 60s were wild!
If I'm not mistaken (but I could be) the photo of The Isabella Blues Band at the 'Love-In' might actually be at the NFB 'Film In' which was set up as part of the 1967 film 'Christopher's Movie Matinee". David Depoe spoke at this event and there is some coverage of him and the "Film In" in the aforementioned film (available on TH-cam)...the scene includes some quintessential optically printed 'multi-frame' images redolent of this fascinating period.
'Flowers On A One Way Street' was the NFB film on the sit-in.
What a great time that was! Many a Newtonbrooker was there…thanks, Bill
Good stuff. Thanks for posting. After seeing Bruce Cockburn as part of the "Flying Circus" band, I can't find a sample of their music online. I'll keep looking!
Good memories, Yorkville was my home away from home. Gallery Moos was my workplace.
Luke and the Apostles.. were huge in the yorkville scene
Mike, though you wouldn't remember, friends & I were Boris' regulars. My card only recently disintegrated. Loved your version of Spoonful & Smokestack Lightning of all Luke'amd the Apostles material. And I remember your nickname, Gronk! Still sporting that chinstrap?🙃
Those were crazy days. Glad we survived, where many friends didn't.
~Be well.
deaf from standing in the onion listening
Great video. Many thanks for the sharing and the work that you put in. Took me for a trip into the land of nostalgia.
Really interesting. Nice one thanks
Thanks for the memories!
My friends and I would go to the Flick and listen to The Stich In Tyme.
I Really Enjoyed This ....Back in the DAZE ....
Thanks for the comment!
Wonderful :)
another fantastic Canadian band
Bill, thank you for that. What a trip. We spent so many nights jumping from club to club and of course playing at Crazy Davids for $25. There was no other place to be on Saturday night. Sharpen the ax John Hammond its time to do it again. (as long as I don't have to stay up past 9:00) LOL
Thanks for the comment!
Great photos. They go by too quick tho.
6:04 was John Kay but with Steppenwolf. 8:13 was John and the Sparrows playing at Chez Monique.
Love the playback.
stumbled across this. I like seeing a montage of the music scene in Toronto, I was more involved in the 70's, as an American in school in Canada. Back then Toronto had it's own music scene. Though some of the artists broke the US market, that was not the point of the Toronto scene. It was Canadians for Canadians, to hell with what is going on south of the boarder. Now when I look at the music scene in Toronto, it's like a poor mans LA.
well a big hello from east york
Great video.
I was there ❤
Thanks
Love memory trips
Willie ! We hardly knew ya...
Great Work Chum; however, you missed a few -
Menfolk, Seaway Singers, The Pilgrims & The Twenty Valley Boys
Still looks like you could strap on the cleats and do a whole nine yards.
I sure remember all those great places. Until the developers with big money came in and ruined it all. The last group I saw at the River Boat was Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, it closed very soon after that. The closing date was June 25.78 - Murray McLauchlan, the music died.
It became the most expensive real estate in Ontario. From rats to 10 million $ condos
great stuff...have my Mynah Bird membership card somewhere
Check out "Chiarandini Hippies" on a series of life size Yorkville Hippies painted by Albert Chiarandini in August 1967. -- to include David Fennario, now an award winning playwrite!
El Patio, Stich in Tyme I was there,
El Patio, David Clayton Thomas, I was there, (1964 I think)
the photos are great you flash through them too too fast
When the Bill Genova video starts - Who is singing “You Were On My Mind”
People back then actually had access to becoming musicians songwriters and artists and bands :not like todays scene
Great photos and very evocative for someone who missed the "scene" by about 10 years.P.S.- once definitely enough for the Ian & Sylvia track...
Yup i was there buying acid on the corner good times
you can neber go back ''' so i just close my eyes .
Nice work Bill. You're the man (not like "the man", but like in the good way).
Want a new soundtrack, Bill? I a an ex-Village hangout who went to the US and still play and record oldies and nostagia. (google me: Silvermane Wesley John and my tongue-in-cheek song "Weekend Warrior" about us aging rockers;)
Great piece on the Village, btw. I used to tool thru it almost every week in and on hot rods and bikes from the suburbs where I lived. Your video is very nostalgic. Thank you!
My daddy hated Yorkvillle. Lol
I think Winnipeg and Toronto are tied for Music Capitals of Canada! Toronto has an edge, with proximity to New York City.
......I think Toronto was the music capital of Canada during the 60's
Hmm, think I saw Alex and Geddy in there somewhere!
Thanks for the comment!
Penny Farthing and Myna Byrds
Got my first hit of acid in Yorkville from a guy i went to school with did not he sold acid till that night.
Killing me with kindness. Half century? Really?? Still can't believe it was a time when eight white kids could play R&B for tuxedos and gowns at the Avenue road club and then go downstairs to the Devils den and do it again for a largely black crowd - and everyone had a good time!
ooohhhhhyes
I am trying to locate anyone who might have some information on a band called the Bobby Alexander Review/Revue and R&B from the Southern united states that was pretty advertised with flyers in 1967/68. Can anyone help me.
?
Where is the fire? way too fast on the video
Fun but, you flipped through the photos way too fast!
The Grab Bag.
Canadas best days now gone traitor governments brainwashing whites to hate themselves and our culture is gone so clean and beautiful back then now we are being replaced R.I.P Canada.
just think the older people did not like the new generations music, fashion, and weed! if they were alive now, seeing what's going on in the world "Terrorism" and liberalism, they would want the 60's back!!
Sorry buddy. There were lots of black folks there too. Then as now you see what you want to see.