Club dilemma: Watch or drink?
One of the most interesting things about Friday's Clubland documentary (airing at 8 p.m. on Global's Currents) is that it manages to both glamourize and demonize this city's embattled Entertainment District.
Originally screened as part of this year's Hot Docs festival, the cut-for-TV version makes Toronto look like a fun, hedonistic, Bright Lights, Big City party that will be appreciated by anybody who's ever had a night out where their life was saved by a deejay.
It also does a pretty good job of outlining the frustrations of residents in the King-Spadina neighbourhood, reflected by Toronto Councillor Adam Vaughan's war on fun.
There are plenty of shots of drunk kids and macho dudes beating each other up after last call.
As a reporter who has covered the club beat for a long time, I'd say it does a pretty fair job of summing up most of the issues and mindsets of all of the players, including the cops, promoters, club kids, visiting 905-ers and high profile club owners.
But it is limited by focusing only on the downtown core and is already a little outdated.
And it doesn't provide any answers to the condo vs. clubs, mixed-use conundrum that has plagued the area for almost a decade – not that I really expected it to.
It also doesn't consider that beyond the big fight in the city's core, there are plenty of skirmishes elsewhere, like the growth of the Ossington Ave. club scene, which I think should be considered an unqualified success, even though it has sparked a city moratorium on new clubs.
Another new hot spot that has sprung up since the doc was made is Harbord Ave. Toronto Star restaurant critic Corey Mintz recently reported on a dispute between Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone and the Ici Bistro restaurant he opposes at Harbord and Manning. Pantalone argues that it doesn't fit the area.
Being a homeowner in my mid-30s, as I watched this doc, the famous words of Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon kept echoing in my head – "I am too old for this s---" – and I would undoubtedly be concerned if a big club tried to open on my block.
But as an entertainment reporter, I wish the doc had tried to find some mechanism to work toward a peaceful coexistence.
Also unfortunate is the Friday night time slot, since one group of people with a very vested interest – the clubgoers – will be far too busy pre-drinking to watch.
The only real constant about clubland is change and, in the time since this doc was shot over 17 nights two summers ago, one of the key players interviewed, former New York club kingpin Peter Gatien, has left Circa. There are plenty of rumours flying that club might not be long for this world.
The next real big change to come in the area will be completion of the Bell Lightbox, the Toronto International Film Festival's new headquarters and, fittingly, accompanying condo tower. The project will definitively have a transformative effect on the area and, in a funny way, could be the lifeline for the clubs that manage to stick it out for a few more years.
One possible way to alleviate the pressure gasket when all the clubs empty after the 2 a.m. last call is to extend drinking hours to 4 a.m., like they do during the film festival, when the celebrities make their annual pit stop in town.
After all, if late closings are okay for the stars and their fans when they are visiting, why not for the rest of us who happen to live here?
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/article/704185
A Closer Look at Toronto's Club District
http://www.blogto.com/film/2009/09/a_closer_look_at_torontos_club_district/
