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Music

Historic Venue Spotlight: Adelaide Hall

Learning more about the history of Toronto's classic venues.

Musically speaking, Toronto has a rich and sorted past. With the Yonge Street and Yorkville scenes of the 1960’s having been a mecca for rock and roll, only in this city could Neil Young and Rick James have played in the same band. In the 1980’s we championed a rising genre out of New York called hip-hop while in the 90s we harboured a bustling underground electronic scene that found its footing in rave culture. With the recent surge of interest in EDM, we’re now playing host to some of the most successful mainstream electronic festivals in all of North America.

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So, with this in mind, we at Noisey have decided to dig through the archives of our city’s musical past to uncover the secret history of some of Toronto’s greatest venues. First up, Adelaide Hall.

Although the concert venue officially opened its doors less than a year ago in 2013, the structure that houses Adelaide Hall, which is now located at 250 Adelaide Street West, has served a few significant musical functions over the years.

During the 1950’s, the building actually housed the world-renowned CHUM-FM. Although it was not the station’s first or last home, it was during this residency that CHUM was purchased by now broadcasting legend Allan Waters. At the time that Waters took over sole ownership of the company (then called York Broadcasters Limited.) in 1954, he was a leading salesperson for Jack Q’Part’s patent medicine company. The daring move not only dramatically improved CHUM’s fortunes after a number of years of financial instability but lead the station to change the face of Canadian broadcasting for good.

One of Waters’ first orders of business was to secure a license for 24-hour-a-day broadcasting, along with a power increase to 5,000 watts. But, his boldest contribution came on May 27 of 1957, when Waters switched the station’s format from a combination of information, music and sports (a style typical of the late 1940’s), to the then unheard of Top 50 and later Top 40 format. Billed as the “Nifty 1050”, not only did the move make CHUM the first station in Canada to exclusively play rock and roll 24-hours a day, it made them one of the first in the world.

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After officially changing the company’s name to Radio CHUM 1050 Ltd. on April 17, 1959, the CHUM Studios left 250 Adelaide Street West and relocated to their famed 1331 Yonge Street location, where they erected their iconic neon sign for the first time.

Some 30 plus years later, 250 Adelaide Street West would once again come to serve an important function within the city’s ever-enduring music scene. After stints as both a print shop and book store, the building was transformed into the now-legendary Limelight Nightclub. Officially opening it’s doors on March 10th, 1993, Limelight quickly became the centre of electronic dance culture in Toronto.

Purchased by businessman and first-time club owner, Zisi Konstantinou, Limelight rose to prominence under the guidance of General Manager Boris Khaimovich. Khaimovich knew the Toronto club scene well (he had worked the door and managed clubs such as Boom Boom Room, Go-Go and The Copa), and understood that the city didn’t need another high-end, high-priced nightclub but rather a fun, welcoming social spot without a formal dress code and where cover charge and drinks were deliberately cheap.

Size wise, Limelight was absolutely huge. With a capacity of 1,100, the nightclub boasted three separate levels: a dance floor, balcony and later rooftop patio. Aesthetically, it was anything but pretentious. Many Torontonian’s will recall its gigantic, metallic, garage door façade, the Marc Sorozan murals that were strewn across the walls, and the glorious, glittering mirror ball that hung high above the dance floor.

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In its prime, Limelight operated an average of six nights a week, hosting everything from rock and retro to gay weeklies and even a popular monthly fetish party. But it wasn’t until the club began to champion the city’s bustling, underground electronic scene that it really hit its stride.

Weekends at Limelight became heavy on commercial dance music, which at the time meant Euro-dance and popular house. DJ James St. Bass (James Vandervoort) helped lock down the club’s highly successful Friday nights while the infamous Peter the Greek (Peter Ivals) managed the club’s high-powered Saturdays. Sunday were reserved for DJ Iain’s “Childhood’s End” (later “Primal Vision”), which featured a forward thinking blend of alternative, industrial and electronic. But it was PURE Wednesday’s produced by DJs John E and Peter Ivals alongside DJ/promoter Craig Pettigrew, which helped to truly establish Limelight as mainstay in the Toronto rave scene.

Although it started slowly in the summer of ’96, featuring House on the main floor, classic House on the second and jungle and breaks on the rooftop, many in the community came to embrace PURE because it was smart enough to grow with it’s audience. It made a point of emphasizing Toronto’s homegrown talent and once the rave culture began to peak, it provided a space for maturing ravers to continue to listen to great music and to socialize.

Thousands flooded Limelight’s dance floors during its ten-year run, but the club officially closed its doors on January 18th, 2003. With one hell of sound system, a killer promotional muscle and Khaimovich’s finger-on-the-pulse leadership, Limelight was much more than just another Toronto nightclub. Attracting all the best DJ’s, both locally and internationally, in addition to a diverse and musically open-minded crowd, Limelight became the heart of a frenzied, underground musical culture, smack in the middle of cosmopolitan city.

Later developed into a club called Afterlife and then into The London Tap House, 250 Adelaide Street West was most recently purchased by Matt Gibbons, President of MRG Ventures. Gibbons, who already owned Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre as well as London’s Hideaway, envisioned the building as being a unique three-tiered event space and concert hall. Today, he has transformed it into that very thing, boasting three independently run businesses: Adelaide Hall, Rock n Horse Saloon and The Porch.

As one of the most recent additions to Toronto’s already rich live music scene, Adelaide Hall has shown great promise and their strategy is pretty simple. As Gibbon’s told me via email: “On any given week we might have a punk show, a rap show, an all ages pop show, a soul orchestra or touring jazz band. We've been proud to host events for Manifesto Festival, NXNE, CMW, Red Bull 3Style and tons more. We're committed to being a warm, inviting space where you'll always receive great service, be impressed with our production quality and most importantly, love the music and have a great time!”

Juliette Jagger is a rock n' roll journalist in Toronto - @juliettejagger