Junction Rocks!

It always surprises people when I tell them my neighbourhood was dry up until a few years ago - yes, that's right, no bars or liquor stores for miles. Whilst trolling the internets, I found this article written in Eye magaine circa 1998, which was the first year anybody had been able to legally sit in a bar and sip an alcoholic beverage in 94 years. "The last time a restaurant served booze in Toronto's Junction District, all hell broke loose. "As many as 5,000 strangers thronged the Junction streets," recorded the Toronto Star, creating scenes that were "phenomenal and offensive." The six hotels and three cops in the area were kept busy as scores of drunks "half-crazed with liquor" got into brawls and acted like pigs." Think Spring Break or Mardi Gras, except with beards, bonnets and bad teeth. Anyway, you can read the entire piece here to get a good idea about the history of prohibition in the West Toronto Junction.