Last weekend, I joined the Yorkville Music Scene in the 1960s walk sponsored by Heritage Toronto:
Discover the birthplace of Canadian song. Visit the sites of famous clubs and coffeehouses like the Riverboat and the Penny Farthing and learn how stars such as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young got their start.I was aware of some of the points highlighted by Nicholas Jennings, tour guide and author of Before the Goldrush. Throughout the tour, he showed memorabilia and some albums, passed along interesting trivia, and played some music. If you are interested in the early Toronto music scene, you might want to check this out, but I think you will have to wait until next year.
Although this tour concentrated on coffee houses in Yorkville, coffee houses existed in other parts of the city. For example, there was the Pornographic Onion Coffee House on Victoria Street:
Bruce Cockburn is in the upper right corner of this image, from 1969. I have no idea who the rest of the people are, however, but I think Nicholas would know. The guy in the lower left looks very familiar, and I think we talked about him on the tour, but since my memory is crap, I forget. If you know who any of these people are, please tell me.
