Bohemian Embassy, Commemorative Plaque, 2024.
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Resource ID
11743
Access
Open
Address
7 St Nicholas St. Toronto, ON M4Y 1W5
Credit Line
Heritage Toronto
Date of Creation
2024
Historical Themes
Keywords
Program Category
Rights
Heritage Toronto
Time Period
Caption
Bohemian Embassy, Commemorative Plaque, 2024.
Description
Located here in a former hayloft, the Bohemian Embassy was a countercultural hotspot during the hippie and folk era of the 1960s and an important home for live music, poetry, readings, comedy, and performance art.
Founded in 1960 by five partners led by writers Don Cullen and Ted Morris, the makeshift third-floor venue was positioned between Yorkville — the heart of Canada’s hippie community in the 1960s — and the Gerrard Street Village. The Bohemian Embassy gave many future household names their starts: writers such as Milton Acorn, Margaret Atwood, Dennis Lee, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Lorne
Michaels, Al Purdy, and Michael Ondaatje performed here.
Likewise, musicians Doug Bush, Al Cromwell, Bonnie Dobson, Maureen Forrester, Sylvia Fricker (Tyson), Amos Garrett, Glenn Gould, Sharon Hampson, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Bram Morrison, Ian Tyson, and Zal Yanovsky played here. It also featured jazz, notably the Artists’ Jazz Band, whose members included visual artists Graham Coughtry, Nobuo Kubota, Robert Markle, and Gordon Rayner.
The club sold memberships for 25 cents, and by 1964 about 10,000 people were “citizens” of the Bohemian Embassy. Entertainment varied nightly. On Sundays, the weekly Hootenanny was a freewheeling mix of folk performances. The Bohemian Embassy closed in 1966 but later reopened for short periods at Rochdale College on Bloor Street West in 1969, at Harbourfront in 1974, and on Queen Street West in 1991.