Toronto to Lose Another Music Venue: RIP The Silver Dollar

February 1, 2017February 1, 2017 Alan Cross 0 Comments Silver Dollar, Toronto

Toronto fancies itself as a music city, but it’s getting tougher and tougher for musicians to find a place to play. So far this year, we’ve lost the Hoxton and Soybomb HQ and we almost lost Hugh’s Room for good (It’ll re-open next month thanks to the generosity of some local music fans.) Now we hear that the Silver Dollar at College and Spadina will close on or about May 1.

This isn’t entirely a surprise. Both the Silver Dollar and the Hotel Waverly next door have been targeted for demolition since 2013 when it was announced that the corner was going to be redeveloped. There are plans for a 20-storey tower with student-friendly rentals. In 2014, the venue was granted official heritage designation–that means it has “cultural value or interest”–but the developer came back with new plans that respected the historic nature of the place.

If there’s any good news in all this, there is apparently some kind of plan to include venue in the base of the new building, but no one really knows what form it will take. It certainly won’t be the Silver Dollar, though.

More detail at Exclaim! and The Toronto Star.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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