Looking southeast towards Grossman’s Tavern at the corner of Spadina Ave and Cecil St in the Chinatown neighbourhood of Toronto.
Grossman’s first appeared in the 1952 Toronto City Directory. The Grossman family initially operated it as a cafeteria before applying for a liquor license in 1957. By 1959, it was listed as Grossman’s Tavern. Around this time, the tavern first introduced live music, featuring a couple of gypsy violinists. According to an article in a June 1971 edition of The Globe and Mail, a musician walked into the tavern in 1969 and asked if he could perform. Al Grossman Jr. eventually agreed, provided they kept the noise down. That musician was Donnie Walsh of the Downchild Blues Band. The tavern’s popularity grew, attracting a diverse audience of all ages.
In 1975, the family sold the business to Sam Louie and Jack Bing-Fong for $385,000. Although they originally planned to rebuild and open a Chinese restaurant, customers asked if it could stay the way it was, and it did. Over the years, Grossman’s Tavern has hosted a variety of musical acts, spanning genres from blues and jazz to rock and R&B. Notable musicians who have performed there include the late Jeff Healey, Kid Bastien, The Happy Pals, Alannah Myles, Carole Pope, and many more. Fifty years after purchasing Grossman’s Tavern, the Louie family continues to operate the iconic music venue today.
Then and Now
SOURCE
- City of Toronto Heritage Register
- Heritage Toronto
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada
- The Globe and Mail Newspaper Archives: May 24, 1957, pg 10
- The Globe and Mail Newspaper Archives: Jun 5, 1971, pg 25
- The Toronto Star Newspaper Archives: Jul 5, 1975, pg A8
- The Globe and Mail Newspaper Archives: May 6, 2004, pg A15
- Photo: Denise Marie for TorontoJourney416
- Vintage Photo: City of Toronto Archives
- Vintage Photo: Toronto Public Library
- City of Toronto: Maps
- Toronto City Directory courtesy of Toronto Public Library
