Larry's Hideaway

Larry's Hideaway was a bar in the Prince Carlton Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The venue was notable for being one of the first venues in Toronto to open itself to punk and new wave music acts, as well as hard rock.[1] The venue was well known for its good acoustics.[2] Several artists recorded live albums at the venue.

Larry's Hideaway
Address121 Carlton Street
LocationToronto, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates43.662686°N 79.375289°W / 43.662686; -79.375289
Construction
Closed1986
Demolished1993–1996?

Venue

The bar was located in the basement of the Prince Carlton Hotel on the north-west corner of Allan Gardens, on Carlton Street at Jarvis Street.[3] The room was a restaurant prior to 1961, when it became a jazz venue.[4]

Starting in the late 1970s, the venue was booked by the "Two Garys", Gary Topp and Gary Cormier, who also booked bands to "The Edge" venue and to the Horseshoe Tavern. The bar had a dirty, un-clean reputation[3][1] although bands reputedly loved to play there.[3]

The bar closed in the summer of 1986, but the hotel remained open and was the site of several robberies and sexual assaults.[5][6][7] In September 1986, the hotel was raided by the Toronto Police. The police arrested 26 persons and seized thousands of dollars of stolen goods and drugs.[8] The hotel was sold in 1988 and closed. It was boarded up and left vacant, sometimes used by squatters and vagrants. On October 16, 1991, a three-alarm fire destroyed much of the hotel.[9] The City of Toronto government bought it in 1990 to increase the size of Allan Gardens park.[10] The location is now the off-leash dog area of the park.

Notable artists

Live albums

References
  1. Krewen, Nick; Fraser, Garnet (January 3, 2010). "Toronto's transit of venues (or, weep not for the bop)". Toronto Star. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  2. "10 Unforgettable Defunct Toronto Music Venues - My Freakin Ears!". Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  3. Weglarz, Karolina (October 21, 2009). "'The biggest shit hole in the city'". the eyeopener.
  4. Scott, Patrick (August 16, 1961). "JAZZ SCENE: He Had It Once, But It's All Gone Now". The Globe and Mail. p. 13.
  5. Jocko, Gwyn (29 Oct 1986). "Most robberies on the increase but bank holdups are down 8%". Toronto Star. p. A2.
  6. "2 Men charged in downtown sex attacks". Toronto Star. October 14, 1986. p. A7.
  7. "Robbed man beaten with clubs and chain". Toronto Star. November 11, 1986. p. A6.
  8. Pron, Nicholas (September 17, 1986). "26 arrested, drugs and loot seized as 50 police raid Carlton St. hotel". Toronto Star.
  9. Stancu, Henry (October 16, 1991). "Arson Suspected in $1 million fire". Toronto Star. p. A7.
  10. "Amending of Designating By-law – 160 Gerrard Street East (Allan Gardens)" (PDF). www.toronto.ca. City of Toronto. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  11. Lacey, Liam (February 14, 1984). "Good news, music from Queen Street". The Globe and Mail. p. 22.
  12. "Larry's Hideaway Toronto Concert Setlists". setlist.fm. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  13. Sakamoto, John (September 27, 2014). "Eight late-career resurrections or, last gasps?". Toronto Star. p. E4.
  14. "Larry's Hideaway/The Prince Carlton Hotel". Lost Toronto.
  15. Adilman, Sid (August 31, 1991). "Tory numbers guru a rock fan and film buff". Toronto Star. p. K3.
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