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- Canada - Toronto & Southern Ont.
-- RIP Big Bop...
RIP Big Bop...
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| On January 30th 2010 at 9pm, the big purple building on the corner that was once referred to by some as "Crack and Pizza", will open it's doors one last time for Nocturnal Commission's and Embedded's Good to The Last Bop. For the past three decades, The Big Bop has been host to a variety of events catering to youth of all subcultures from punk, ska and goth to being Toronto's most notorious rave venue. To many, the close of the complex comes as sad news. As one of the few well known all-ages event spaces in city some argue that there will certainly be a decrease in the already limited number of all-ages parties. However many such as myself have seen the close as a kind of blessing and as the possibility of a re renewal in the search for new, cleaner, more positive feeling spaces for parties. There is nothing like the feeling that freshness brings. Instead of a loss to the nightlife community the close should be seen as a new era. The scene has changed over they years and it should be expected that change should take place in all areas. We all have our favorite Big Bop memories. From talking for hours with our friends in the washroom, telling our moms we were sleeping at friends house while trying not to fall off of the fire escape, drinking until the sun came up and even having sex for some of us (See: i had sex at big bop Facebook group). Some of us made friends or got to know the friends we had even better. Others, for the first time, were able to express themselves in a way that they weren't comfortable doing in another environment. Hearts were broken and mended and cell phones were lost and found._ So as we gather there for one last time on January 30th we should be reminded that the parties made it the place it was, and not the place that made the parties what they were. |
Ohhhh man, going to local punk shows there (and in the Kathedral downstairs) to support friends was always fun. It's been yearsssssss since I've been inside it though! Ugh I still remember being a small 14 year old at the front of the stage and some idiot crowd surfer decides me and my friend (who were the only ones standing around there) were an ideal target to dive into and begin his surfing escapade. He landed right on us and my friend's shirt was like almost half ripped off. Not a very interesting story in comparison to what most people likely have seen there, but lots of little memories like that from when I was pretty young (I never went to any raves there, so maybe a bit different). ALWAYS an interesting crowd there nonetheless.
long time ago at a rave there i remember seeing a fat security guard that was so fucked at work he unbuttoned his shirt and was busting out some ridiculous moves beside the speaker all sweaty and with his fat belly sticking out, lol...
Been to some cool events there over the years, and some not so cool events.
would be cool if someone purchased the place, cleaned it up a bit and continued to use it for events.
Actually had the pleasure to throw few events in there. Despite the overall dodgy look and feel in that place, the staff was down to earth and friendly. They treated the audience with respect, always making sure that people feel as comfortable as possible in a space such as that (which, as you can imagine, can scare some people abit). I say "space", because one of the positive points about this venue was the ability to transform. In essence, you could do anything with that space. Create any sort of environment, and it will always work really well. One year we did a winter-glacier themed party, and few months later did a tropical forest theme event. Both are totally different environment settings, yet both did work equally well. Above all, this was a place that welcomed anyone and everyone. No matter from which walk of life you arrived, nobody would give you any hassle or cold shoulder (unlike some venues at the club district).
People have different opinions about Big Bop, but I'd say that if anything, this place became a part of local history, and I am proud to have been a part of that history.
Been to some wild, cool, and crazy events there. Sad to see this close down, but it's Toronto, the scene here just keeps getting worse.
RIP Big Bop.
You know, I've never been.
I've driven by about a million times and always planned on checking it out but it just never happened. And now that it's closing, I really feel that I should pop in on Saturday just to see it.
Even if I never step foot in the place, it'll still be sad to see such a big Toronto landmark go...
Attented and played at several memorable nights at the Bop, and always had a good time. Haven't been there in well over a decade, but also hoping that the new ownership continues to use it as a party venue, as the city is sorely lacking in decent, multi-room spaces.
I was there for a darkrave probably 5 years ago.
It was a crazy ass party (not good, just crazy). A tone of black-light, day-glow clothes, lots of candy kids, very mashy, very young. Music was loud, over-driven and intense. People had those expanding geo-balls and lots of glowsticks, photon lights, wands and other dancing toys.
I saw some thugs choke out a guy in the bathroom and steal his wallet and stash. Minimal security and search on the way in - the crowd seemed to be half thugs/dealers and half candy kids (with few really old folks that were clearly out of place).
Somehow I ended up lost in the labrynth of rooms and really had no idea where I was or how to get out.
Ive been to the Bop so many times back in the day before I was into house and was a huge fan of hardcore!!!!! I remember the days of Unabomber, Dragnfly, Phink etc playing there at the Darkrave parties good ol psytrance and hardcore. I remember a lot of good times there when I was younger, met some interesting people. The darkrave crowd is definatly a unique crowd. I was invited to go to a show late last year with lopi and that's when I foundout that it was the second last darkrave because of the closure of the Bop. It was quite funny when I was there cuz I haven't been to one of those event in over 5 years and it was all underage kids on the dance floor with a bunch of old pedofiles around the outside watching the kids play. Something was also off the music was terrible I thought to myself what was wrong with me before??? Well I cleaned up now and don't do drugs or drink I guess a handfull off pills will make dance to whatever noise as long as it's loud lol RIP Big Bop
This should answer a few questions...
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| The Big Bop will lock it's doors forever January 31st 2010 after 29 years. The Big Bop started in 1985 as a DJ nightclub. But by the time Richmond Street super-clubs were up and running in 1993, the venue fell on hard times. Dominic bought the building in 1996 and turned it into a live music hall consisting of three venues: Kathedral, Reverb & Holy Joes. "We found a business with the all-ages crowd and that�s what The Big Bop ended up being known as: an all-ages venue." Many International acts have graced all three stages of The Big Bop, as well as the many local acts who treated the place as their second home. Muchmusic favorites like Billy Talent and Alexisonfire crafted their art within the big purple building. Dominic sheds some light on his future plans: "Now what�s happening is that I�m taking my act to the west end at Kipling and Dundas. It will be a similar idea, with a single-storey venue about the size of the Reverb.� * If you would like to keep up-to-date with the new venue opening Spring 2010, email: [email protected]. Please include 'Mailing List' in the subject line. What will happen to the building?: "We sold the building in 2006, and I just kept leasing from the new owner. Now he has a tenant coming here, a big furniture store from the States." The building is considered historical, so no one can knock it down to make way for a condo tower. The Big Bop wants to thank all the people of Toronto, music lovers and musicians who have supported not only our venue, but music over the years! Special thanks to: The Staff, Ratch, Long & Mcquade, Steve's, The 3tards, The Lonely Vagabond, The Misfits, The Creepshow, Dirty Bird, Dayglo Abortions, Down With Webster, The Matadors, R.E.D, L.A. Guns, C-P Concert & Promotion, ATG Concerts, We Got The Movement, S&S Productions, DJ Lazarus, Eye Weekly, Now Magazine, CMW, Ewan Exall, Subspace Fetish Night, Supernova & the many, many more we didn't have time to list! |
Hahah, special props to the Dayglo Abortions...awesome.
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| What will happen to the building?: "We sold the building in 2006, and I just kept leasing from the new owner. Now he has a tenant coming here, a big furniture store from the States." The building is considered historical, so no one can knock it down to make way for a condo tower. |
It's likely many of the people who'll lament the passing of The Big Bop - the Queen and Bathurst club that was Toronto's home to metal, hardcore and other music with a notable underage following - are the sorts of people whose opinion isn't usually sought. Many of them can't vote, don't buy much, and certainly won't be among the clientele for the new tenants rumoured to be taking over the space - an American home furnishings chain that specializes in the loft market.
With the passing of the Bop and its three stages - Kathedral, the Reverb and Holy Joe's, in descending order of size - one of the last obstacles to the gentrification of the intersection, long considered a tough nut for developers, will disappear, but due to the club's customers and reputation, the reaction has been surprisingly muted. Dominic Tassielli was the owner of the Big Bop until three years ago, and the manager since then, on a lease renewed monthly, and during his decade and a half running the place, he saw it host everything from grizzled punk veterans like the Dayglo Abortions and the Cro-Mags to the nascent versions of bands like Billy Talent, Alexisonfire and At The Drive In.
Looking back, Tassielli says that there's no particular show that he remembers as fondly as the response he's gotten from a core group of customers he didn't know existed. "For the last two months that we were closing, I've been getting so many kids coming up to me and thanking me for the last 10, 12, 14 years that I've given them a venue where they could come and have fun. There aren't that many all-ages clubs, and I never thought we had a regular clientele, that we had a live venue and people just came for shows, but there were kids who came here maybe 30 times a year."
"It didn't matter what show - coming here and just having a good time. And I think seeing a lot of these bands that have made it - 14 years ago they might not have had a stage to play on, and who knows if they would have kept up with the music. Now they've moved on to bigger and better things, and who knows if they stuck to music because they played here maybe five or ten times a year."
Whoever the new owners are - and the leading rumour favours CB2, Crate & Barrel's "urban" subsidiary - they won't be starting from scratch with a new building. The building that's housed the Big Bop since the mid-80s is heritage landmarked, though it's hard to tell from its scabby, purple-painted exterior or the scuzzy, well-worn space inside.
It was the mid-80s when the Ballinger brothers, Lon, Stephen and Douglas, took over the Holiday Tavern, a down-at-heels nightclub whose scuffed retro decor had gone from stage shows featuring jazz and R&B acts to mid-day drinkers and end-of-career strippers, and a final gasp of life booking new wave acts like Gene Loves Jezebel and a weekend residency with the Shuffle Demons.
They gave it the winsome name it sported until this weekend, and a garish makeover that splashed new wave graphics in neon colours all over the the old tavern, which Tassielli painted over in the mid-90s with the assertive purple hue for which its underage clientele would know it. It was a dance club under the Ballingers' management, but turned to live music after they left for New York to make their reputation with premiere event space Webster Hall.
Before all of that, however, it was a Masonic lodge whose false domed ceiling can just be glimpsed over Reverb's dance floor. Called the Occidental Hall, it lost its top two stories and a magnificent mansard roof in 1948 when the Holiday was opened, decapitating a roofline that met its looming neighbour to the east, the recently redeveloped Burroughes Building. In an article in NOW magazine, Toronto architectural historian Alec Keefer called it a "desecration," and one that was only magnified by the massive 2008 fire that leveled most of the wood-framed block of buildings further to the east.
Tassielli says that the landlord is committed to putting $3 million into a renovation of the building, which will make it "quite the landmark," and workmen currently gutting the basement say that they'll start work on the rest of the place on Sunday, just hours after the last band plays its last note.
http://www.blogto.com/music/2010/01...of_the_big_bop/
oooh i used to live by this place when i lived @ bathurst and carr!!
I saw it almost everyday .. never went in, but talked to some interesting people on my drunken stumbles out or home on the weekends.
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