Toronto Entertainment District
| Entertainment District | |
|---|---|
| Neighbourhood | |
The Princess of Wales Theatre, one of a number of venues in the Entertainment District
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 Vicinity |
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| Country |
 Canada
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| Province |
 Ontario
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| City |
 Toronto
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| Government | |
| • MP | Adam Vaughan (Trinity—Spadina) |
| • MPP | Han Dong (Trinity—Spadina) |
| • Councillor | Joe Cressy (Ward 20 Trinity—Spadina) |
The Toronto Entertainment District is an area in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is concentrated around King Street West between University Avenue and Spadina Avenue.
It is home to theatres and performing arts centres, Toronto's four major-league sports teams, and an array of cultural and family attractions. The area is also home to most of the nightclubs in Toronto. The officially designated district does not include Yonge Street, where the Elgin/Wintergarden Theatres, Ed Mirvish Theatre, Panasonic Theatre and Massey Hall are located, nor does it include the St. Lawrence Centre or the Sony Centre.
In the first half of the 20th century the area original name of the neighbourhood was the Garment District and was almost wholly industrial. The railways controlled a huge amount of land along the waterfront, and to the north many firms took advantage of the easy access to rail and the harbour. The most important industry was textiles and fashion, and the area had few residents.
Manufacturing industry began to vacate the area in the 1970s, leaving behind an array of historic warehouses and factories that began to be converted to other uses. Meanwhile from 1976, the newly-opened CN Tower brought many tourists to the neighbourhood. Still, the most notable arrival were nightclubs that began opening sporadically in the early 1980s before becoming the area's staple and most recognizable feature from early 1990s onward.
In January 1980, the Trinidad-born and Brooklyn-raised Assoon brothers (David, Albert, Tony and Michael) together with Luis Collaco and Bromely Vassell opened The Twilight Zone, Toronto's first large dance nightclub, at 185 Richmond Street West between Simcoe and Duncan Streets. Modeled after New York City's famous Paradise Garage club, the Twilight Zone quickly became popular with the Toronto youth, showcasing an adventurous mix of musical styles including underground disco, house, hip-hop, and techno thus giving the city its first taste of the kind of underground clubbing experience that had already been popular in New York City for years. Though located in a raw, gritty, and frugal space of a mostly unfurnished former industrial warehouse, the Twilight Zone still featured an extravagantly designed US$100,000 state-of-the-art sound system courtesy of New York City sound engineer Richard Long. Paid for with a sizable bank loan the Assoons took out by putting their father's house as collateral, its thumping bass could be heard miles away, flooding the deserted neighborhood with noise.
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Wikipedia