[Urban Shocker]

That sounds like a place someone took me to in Athens in 1978, where you pay for a few hours of "sleep".

 

[Grainger]

Athens Ohio or Athens Georgia ‹(•¿•)›

 

[DSCToronto]

That sounds like a place someone took me to in Athens in 1978, where you pay for a few hours of "sleep".

Considering that you are our doyenne you have a rather 'suspect' past :->

 

[Grainger]

I found a listing for this place in the "1952 Arrow Toronto Street Guide" under hotels. It is identified as the "New Asia House" however there is no mention of it in the 1947 Telephone Directory under Hotels.

So I am going to guess that some time between 1947 and 1952 it went from being strictly a drinking establishment to being an actual Hotel.

 

[Addy]

I found a listing for this place in the "1952 Arrow Toronto Street Guide" under hotels. It is identified as the "New Asia House" however there is no mention of it in the 1947 Telephone Directory under Hotels.

So I am going to guess that some time between 1947 and 1952 it went from being strictly a drinking establishment to being an actual Hotel.

That's awesome... Thanks for looking this up!

 

[Urban Shocker]

Athens Ohio or Athens Georgia ‹(•Â¿•)›

Athens ... Greece!

 

[adma]

Athens, Ontario? (Now, here's a sign that'll send Urban Shocker running away screaming)

 

[buildup]

Athens ... Greece!

Grease obviously.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Spit, probably. If I recall, the hotel was in the old Plaka district at the foot of the Acropolis. Athens in those days, a few years after Greece had emerged from military rule, was delightfully seedy ( Barcelona, a few short years after Franco had kicked the bucket and long before the port was cleaned up for the Olympics, was also great fun then - grungy and working class but not as run-down as Athens, and with some good contemporary residential design, built for ordinary people ). There weren't many gay bars in either city then, and one met local guys by cruising parks and getting invited back to their apartments. Or, in the case of this Athenian, to a hotel of sorts. I recall him telling me it cost quite a lot of his weekly wage to go there.

Sometimes I wonder what happened to all those easy-going, Mediterranean gay men from Shockers European Vacation of '78/'79. Mostly dead, I expect.

 

[Ramako]

I've heard that the sandwich shop in here is similar in style and quality to Pret a Manger. Anyone have any insight?

 

[Xray_Crystal_Junkie]

Just posted by sMT in the Sick Kids thread:

Today:

Looks like they're constructing a deck on the roof. For the hotel?

 

[someMidTowner]

They are! I completely forgot to get a zoomed in shot of it. Sorry about that.

 

[Xray_Crystal_Junkie]

Great update nonetheless. Interesting angle.

 

[plink]

Thought I'd cap off this thread now that the hotel is operational, with a few links:
- A super-light overview of the project, with some pictures pre-reno (kind of a refresher if you don't want to look back through this whole thread)

- a review of the hotel, with interior photos. (blogto)

- and the obligatory link to the current hotel website. Amusingly, the predecessor hotel site is still up and running.

It'll be interesting to see how this place is doing in say five years. Despite the superficial paintjob on the exterior, it looks cool on the inside, and, well, it's an increasingly rare example of not tearing a building down and instead trying to make something of what's already there. (even if what was there was not particularly special)

 

[bmiller]

I recall the renovations included painting the brick exterior to look like bricks. From afar it looks great, but i'm not sure if that holds from the sidewalk in front of the hotel.Other than that, it appears they've done
a nice job on a pretty decrepit building.