Article originally published June 10, 2013 by The Grid online (thegridto.com).

In the 1990s, Boa Café was one the city’s busiest late night hangouts; in the mid-2000s, its second incarnation –a much larger, full-blown dance club– was hailed as the best-sounding. But with high expenses and no liquor licence, the party couldn’t last for long.

BY: DENISE BENSON

Club: Boa Redux, 270 Spadina Ave.

Years in operation: 2003–2005

History: In an earlier edition of Then & Now, we explored the story of Rony Hitti’s 1990s Yorkville hotspot, Boa Café. By the time Hitti closed the Café in 1998, he owned a number of other fine-dining establishments, including Brasserie Zola and Winston’s. A few years later, he closed the book on his life as a restaurateur, keen instead to open a large underground dance club, which had been a dream for decades. Hitti would soon bring Boa’s name to a new generation by creating an after-hours venue of a much different nature than its predecessor.

“Boa Redux came out of my desire to have a house club in Toronto similar to Montreal’s Stereo,” he begins.

Hitti spent two years searching for the right location. A real-estate agent took him to 270 Spadina Ave., former home of a rundown porn theatre. At 16,000 square feet, with soaring ceilings and multiple levels, the space had great potential.

A big staircase dominated the room, its large steps each allowing a view of the entire area. A separate lounge space would be built on the lowest level, also to serve as the club’s entrance. There was an existing stage, later to be utilized both for dancing and late-night performances. In total, Boa would have a legal capacity of more than 1,300 people, an ideal size for a club purpose-built to feature some of the globe’s top underground DJs in a city that continued to have a thriving late-night scene in its post-rave years.

“It took us almost nine months to build Boa Redux,” states Hitti. “We stripped it down to the ground, and built the perfect acoustic room.

“People say that Boa had a great sound system, but it wasn’t just about the system. It was actually what we put into the walls, ceilings, and floors. We built completely sound-neutral rooms, and then went with a Dynacord system, which made Boa what it was. I believe that if you own a restaurant, you spend money in the kitchen first, and if you’re building a club, you put your money in sound, and then work outward. Every inch of that room was done with sound in mind.”

The main room tiers of Boa Redux. Photo courtesy of Carey Britt.

Also core to the identity and function of Boa Redux was the fact that the club would operate specifically during late-night hours, and without a liquor licence.

“There were two reasons for that. One, the liquor board hated my guts because for 10 years they tried to shut Boa Café in Yorkville down, and they couldn’t. I knew that if I wanted to licence a space that big, I’d be in for a big fight. I also knew that I would have a fight with [then city councillor] Olivia Chow, because the area over there was not licensed for clubs of that size. I got around that by making it into public hall. I love challenges.

“On top of all that, honestly, the house-music scene is not conducive to liquor, and vice versa.”

In order to court in-the-know clubbers, Hitti hired a team of talent bookers and promoters that included Ralf Madi and Carey Britt. Madi had worked at The Guvernment while Britt was a booker for Most Wanted Entertainment. The two men had also collaborated on numerous productions, including under the Project Orange banner. They knew Toronto’s big-room scene well, and got to work crafting Boa’s musical focus months in advance of opening.

“Without Carey and Ralf, Boa Redux would not have happened,” credits Hitti. “Certainly not the way that it did.”

After a few “soft launch” parties featuring DJ Sean Miller in its lounge, Boa Redux announced itself on a larger scale with the booking of Sander Kleinenberg in December 2003. By January 2004, the new Boa was in full swing.

Sander Kleinenberg (December 2003) was the first large production at Boa Redux. Flyer courtesy of Jeff Button.

Boa in action. Photo courtesy of Rony Hitti.

Why it was important: “You would never know that Boa was a club from the outside,” says Sean Miller, the DJ/producer who became the club’s star resident. “You’d come in the back door, and just be transported to another world.

“I’d never been to anything like it before. Rony spared no expense on the sound. He brought in that Dynacord system, and even flew in the engineers from Germany. Nobody else was putting that kind of attention into sound [in Toronto].”

It is the incredible quality of sound at Boa Redux that most defines its reputation to this day.

“It was a floating room, meaning that the floors were raised and hollow, there was a drop ceiling, and the walls were built out from the exterior walls and insulated,” explains Britt. “I have heard the same Dynacord sound system in clubs like Space Miami, Pacha New York, and The Docks, but none of them came even close to sounding as good as Boa’s room.

“Coming up [from the entrance], you would get a taste of the sound building and, as you approached the top of those stairs, the sound and vibe in the room was enough to put a smile on anyone’s face. The floors were also built on different levels, which created an awesome feeling for the DJ and the crowd, with heads and bodies bouncing at all different levels.”

Boa Redux promoter Erica Kelly and talent booker Carey Britt. Photo courtesy of Britt.

As Boa’s Music Director and Marketing Manager, Britt was most responsible for the DJs who entertained those bodies and put Boa’s sound system to the test. At the start, he worked most closely with Madi, as well as respected club promoter Edward “Eddy K” Kwak and Erica Kelly, a young clubber who Eddy suggested be brought on board for her impressive street-promotion skills and guest-list abilities.

When Madi left Boa in July 2004 to open Century Room, Kelly was promoted to work full-time as Boa’s Promotions and Marketing Manager. (Madi is now one of the forces behind Capture Group, owners of Maison Mercer, Blowfish Restaurant, and many other enterprises.)

Collectively, they decided to focus Boa’s programming on emergent artists and sounds, with a focus on both local and international talent.

“At the time, the competing clubs were all booking the biggest names in the game,” explains Britt. “Strategically, we made a decision to focus on a more a underground sound, and prided ourselves on featuring talent that either rarely played the city, or had never been here before. We debuted artists like DJ Demi and Chus+Ceballos, and worked closely with the Def Mix crew.”

DJ Demi on the decks at Boa Redux. Photo courtesy of Carey Britt.

Demi was signed to a bi-monthly residency, Chus+Ceballos played quarterly, and a monthly Def Mix showcase offered appearances by house-music legends like David Morales, Frankie Knuckles, Satoshi Tomiie, and Hector Romero.

“The [Def Mix guys] rarely appeared in the city post-Industry, and they made Boa their home,” says Britt.

Boa may not have had the budget or connections of competing clubs like The Guvernment and System Soundbar, but the team was creative.

“Carey found the buzz, the good new music, and we had to make it grow to suit a venue of that size,” credits Erica Kelly.

“We visited history-makers like Jeff Mills and Frankie Knuckles while building followings for today’s Toronto favourites, like The Martinez Brothers. With Boa you could always trust that you were going to hear something amazing, not because it was the guaranteed name to book in the past, but because it was someone who should be booked, someone you should know about.”

DJ/producer Sean Miller at Boa Redux. Photo courtesy of him.

Toronto’s own Sean Miller was exactly that. Though he’d come up playing raves and a number of parties produced by Britt, Miller was far from a well-known name in this city when he started as Boa’s main Saturday DJ.

“Sean Miller was our one and only true resident, and it helped launch his career,” Hitti tells me with pride. “I love his music; he plays such sexy house. The deep, dirty tribal house sound we were famous for was all Sean.”

When Miller started spinning every Saturday at Boa, he had just begun producing. He’d generally play from 1 to 4 a.m., warming up for international headliners. “I’d focus on setting the atmosphere and making people feel good,” Miller explains.

As time went on and crowds responded, Miller was often booked to play extended sets, sometimes DJing from 1 a.m. through to noon the next day.

“That taught me so much about how to play to a bigger audience, about DJing and performance, and about how to take people on a journey.”

These were especially helpful skills as Miller’s career exploded, with releases on labels including Chus+Ceballos’ Stereo, Steve Lawler’s Viva Music, Anja Schneider’s Mobilee, and Satoshi Tomiie’s Saw Recordings soon taking him around the world.

Miller may have moved to playing Boa only once or twice monthly—with DJs including Nevio and Kenny Glasgow stepping in as fellow Saturday-night residents—but his Afterhours mix CD, recorded in 2004, is still revered by regulars of the club. (We present it here, in digital form for the first time.)

When asked what, in addition to its sound, most made Boa Redux a unique experience to him, Miller has no shortage of answers.

“First and foremost was the space itself, as an old theatre,” he describes. “There was also the fact that it wasn’t in the club district. Whoever came to Boa was committed to us the whole night. It didn’t open until 1 a.m., and the headliners went on at 4 a.m., so people could come after other experiences. We had a bit of a different, older crowd. It was expensive to get in—like $30 or $40—because there was no other revenue stream, and it was very much based around the guest DJs.

“It was also a different kind of after-hours experience. I’d say it was an upscale after-hours. It wasn’t like places where people would be tweaking out hard. From my perspective—and I never did drugs there—people were pretty much together. People were there for the music, and to dance.”

“The crowd was incredibly diverse,” adds Britt. “That was one of the things that made that place so special, and the vibe so incredible. Saturday nights in particular, you would see all different types: downtown crowds that were out specifically for music, the Church Street crowd migrated west, suburban kids, and suits coming from clubs on King Street who wanted to keep it going. There was no VIP section, everyone was respected, and people came to have a good time.”

“If I fit in, you fit in,” echoes Kelly. “It didn’t matter what your deal was. I met old-school rave icons, Yorkville salon owners, lawyers, doctors, strippers, and bodybuilders, models, teachers, audio fanatics, breakdancers, artists, and international DJs. Even Tiesto came through one night.

“I have no idea how the street kids found the money to be there, but they were there, too,” she adds. “You always knew someone in the room, and never met anyone that ruined your night.”

Friends at Boa Redux. Photo courtesy of Rony Hitti.

Boa’s steep cover charges may have skewed its crowd to the older and more fashion-conscious end of the dance club spectrum, but one had to appreciate the venue’s commitment to the basics.

“Boa wasn’t about bottle service, clamouring to get into VIP areas, or shiny bling-y things,” Kelly emphasizes. “It was grungy furniture you could dance on, and mismatched linoleum tiles—with heel scuffs and old gum marks—that made it the perfect place to dance on any level. Wherever you were, that was your space. You could see everything, you could hear everything, you could feel everything. In that one huge main room, we were all there to hear the best in cutting-edge underground music.”

Sean Miller (left) with Kenny Glasgow. Photo courtesy of Erica Kelly.

Who else played/worked there: When asked about standout events at Boa Redux, everyone I speak with mentions the June 2004 appearance of New York’s Danny Tenaglia, who played to more than 3,000 people over the course of a marathon 18-hour set. It had been years since Tenaglia had played Toronto, and the Boa team worked hard to bring him to their club.

“Carey booked a lot of DJs who were Danny’s protégés in order to get word into his ear about what a great club Boa was,” shares Hitti. “We landed him for a Canada Day party. He loved Boa, and played longer than anyone else ever played there. It was magnificent, and absolutely the vision I’d had of the room.”

Tenaglia did indeed love Boa, and signed the club’s stage to say exactly that.

Danny Tenaglia’s appreciation of Boa Redux signed on the club’s stage. Photo courtesy of Carey Britt.

Another event that put Boa Redux on the map, both locally and globally, was the X-Tend Your New Year blowout that brought in the year 2005. That party went for two days, with more than 4,000 people attending to hear a massive lineup of DJs that included David Morales, Tom Stephan, Saeed Younan, Cevin Fisher, Chus+ Ceballos, Demi, Miller and more than 20 other Toronto talents.

New Year’s Eve flyer courtesy of Rony Hitti.

British DJ/producer Demi may well have played Boa more than any other international guest. Live mixes from his many appearances can easily be found online, including his full set from BringtheBeat’s “Mad Hatter” event in October 2004.

Friday nights at Boa may not have attracted the large, consistent crowds of Saturdays (“It’s very hard to do an after-hours on Fridays; Fridays, you need liquor,” says Hitti), but they certainly were interesting.

“Fridays were our night to take risks outside the tribal and progressive house genres emphasized so heavily on Saturdays,” explains Kelly.

Mat Lunnen of Hustlin’ plays at Boa. Photo courtesy of Jeff Button.

Fridays featured a lot of impressive local talent, including parties like Chemistry, with DJs including Matt Coleridge, John Tremblay and The Dukes, and Hustlin’ with DJs Mat Lunnen and Mike Gleeson. Black Light Activists produced a number of psy-trance events, complete with their signature glowing artwork. There were occasional breaks events, with DJs including The Phat Conductor, Big League Chu, and Dave Saddler. Other locals who played Fridays included Mischief & Frankie, Mario J, Adam Marshall, Robb G, Jon Tremblay, Lady Lindzee, Jason Hodges, Jonny White, and Nitin.

Fridays later moved to more of a one-off, international-headliner format, with names that included Derrick Carter, Stacey Pullen, Jeff Mills, Miguel Migs, Kaskade, and early Toronto appearances by both Claude VonStroke and Tiefschwarz. Lovers of deeper, funky house will also associate Boa’s Fridays with DJ/producer Phil Weeks and showcases of his Robsoul Recordings. (This live recording from November 2004 is an absolute gem.)

Autographed Derrick Carter & Frankie Knuckles poster courtesy of Erica Kelly.

And while DJs of all sounds and stripes pounded out the beats in Boa’s main room, DJs like the supremely soulful Jermaine Brown brought a more chill, funky sensibility to Boa’s lower lounge.

Just as this is not a comprehensive list of all who DJed at Boa Redux, it is equally impossible to list all of the promoters, bartenders, door staff and others who made the club function. Kelly mentions that other key promoters included Kevin Noel (now of Platform), Jeff Button (now best known as a DJ), and Pat Boogie (Boogie Inc.). Hitti gives props to head bartender Bart (now general manager at Yorkville’s Amber bar) and head doorman Edwin Harris (now at Club V).

“Edwin was probably the most patient person heading a door I have ever met,” agrees Britt, who also makes mention of two other staffers. “Li, the tech, was the hardest-working guy in the club, always taking care of the sound and lights like they were his kids. And Justin, who headed up operations—that guy could move a mountain if you gave him 10 minutes.”

Jeff Button (middle) and friends at Boa. Photo courtesy of Button.

What happened to it: Boa Redux made a big splash, but had a storied crash, complete with rumours, innuendo and infighting. Legal battles that ate up a great deal of Boa’s 2005 and Hitti’s cash also played a huge role.

“We faced a very big problem with our landlord,” states Hitti. “He wasn’t happy with what we were running, even though he knew in the first place. Also, we were demanding a brand-new air-conditioning system because it was boiling in there in summertime. It got to the point where we went into litigation with the landlord—it was a $250,000 air-conditioning system that needed to go in.”

Kelly, who stayed on at Boa after Britt and others had quit, confirms that an expensive “year-long court case against the landlord” took its toll.

“When Carey decided to leave, it was a really hard decision for me to stay,” she says. “I understood that financially we were losing friends fast, but I just didn’t want to give up on something that I knew was the greatest place in Toronto.

“The summer of 2005, we had almost paid off the sound system, and I remember feeling like it was finally the time we had be working toward—no more pay cuts, no more putting off payments, no more struggling.”

Alas, the court case was decided in the landlord’s favour, and other factors kicked in. While Hitti says he had been attempting to negotiate with the landlord, other people, including Nevio Persia and David Morales, are reported to have made a separate offer.

“They offered him twice the rent that I was paying, and said they’d put in their own air-conditioning unit,” claims Hitti. “[The landlord] stopped cooperating with us, and things got ugly over a period of many months. I decided I didn’t want to do it any more. It was lucrative, but I had other businesses that were lucrative. We got out of it, and [Persia and Morales] promptly took it over and changed it into Sonic.”

Boa Redux during brighter days and nights. Photo courtesy of Carey Britt.

Boa closed with a big party on August 28, 2005. Sean Miller played a 12-hour set. Miller also went on to DJ at Sonic, which opened late April 2006 and closed less than a year later.

“I left before Sonic closed,” says Miller. “It never really had what Boa had and, by that point, my career had really taken off. I was playing all over the world.”

Miller continues to tour globally, and plays occasionally on home turf. (“I sort of lost touch with Toronto, and my goal is to find a residency here.”) His next release will be the This Is That EP, out soon on Josh Wink’s Ovum label, and he is at work on a collaborative project with legendary guitarist and vocalist Jose Feliciano.

Like Miller, Britt worked at Sonic, but feels its Boa’s legacy that remains.

“Although there was quality renovation, and a great sound system in the room, [Sonic] never quite stood up to what Boa was able to do,” Britt says. “There was something really raw, mysterious, and underground about Boa. No one has quite been able to replicate it.” (Britt currently heads the Canadian music and entertainment initiatives for global marketing agency GMR Marketing.)

Hitti himself wasn’t able to replicate Boa Redux, though he tried with a short run of events at 360 Adelaide St. W., former home of clubs including Turbo. He also produced a number of parties at 99 Sudbury, before its renovations, where parts of Boa’s sound system were put to good use.

Hitti still owns the system, but claims to be “retired” from the club and restaurant business, other than as a consultant. He did design short-lived Peter Street venue Abode, but legal issues put a halt to its operation. (“The liquor board said they wanted to ban me from even entering the space, and that had to do with a charge from Boa in Yorkville going back to 1997. They put me through the roughest trial you could imagine.” Hitti says he is suing the liquor board “for slandering my name.”)

Hitti is now co-owner of D’Hacro Corp, a venture capital and finance corporation. He also tells me that he and his Hong Kong-based brother own a bank in that financial centre. (Related web links do not appear to exist.)

“There’s a lot more to me than restaurants and clubs, although they were always my passion,” says Hitti. “I do find the world of finance boring as hell. I’m the guy who always shows up without a suit and tie.”

As for Erica Kelly, who followed Hitti to Boa Redux on Adelaide and then worked as Operations Manager at Sonic, she went on to bartend at Footwork, as well as work at clubs including Sound Academy and CiRCA. Although she now works for an airline, Kelly can occasionally be found holding down door duties for some of her favourite promoters and events.

“Looking back, it’s amazing that Toronto was able to create and support a venue of Boa’s size with no liquor licence,” Kelly reflects. “It was a financial struggle, and it didn’t last forever, but I’m glad we tried.”

270 Spadina is slated to reopen as the 10-storey Dragon Condos in 2015.

Thank you to participants Carey Britt, Erica Kelly, Rony Hitti, and Sean Miller, as well as to DJ Demi, Jeff Button, Mat Lunnen, and Ralf Madi.

The post Then & Now: Boa Redux appeared first on Then and Now: Toronto Nightlife History.

Article originally published May 10, 2012 by The Grid online (TheGridTO.com).

This late-’90s venture by the party-starting Sbrocchi and Assoon brothers became the favourite Sunday night spot for a mature crowd of dedicated house heads. It was so beloved, some called it the Toronto house scene’s version of Cheers.

BY: DENISE BENSON

Club: The Living Room, 330 Adelaide St. W.

Years in operation: 1997-2002

History: Though it may be difficult to imagine, just 15 years ago, Toronto’s Entertainment District still had some semblance of cool. It hadn’t yet become overrun with copycat venues, fall-over-drunk partiers, and frustrated residents, while the mad condo-fication we see today hadn’t fully taken hold. There remained a whiff of possibility in the area for those who wanted to open music-minded social spots.

Into this epicentre returned the brothers Assoon. In 1980—when the area was decidedly non-residential and still touted as the Garment District—Albert, Tony, Michael and David Assoon (and partners) opened Twilight Zone on Richmond near Simcoe. The deeply influential after-hours dance club ran until 1989.

Eight years later, Albert and Michael partnered with Anthony Formusa and brothers Tony and Johnny Sbrocchi to open a vastly different venture in a two-storey, Art Deco-style warehouse building near the corner of Peter and Adelaide. It had been home to the Sbrocchis’ fine-dining restaurant Ola, but that hadn’t taken off.

Conversations between Tony and Albert, who’d followed The Twilight Zone by opening the infamous Fresh nightclub at 132 Queen’s Quay E. and later worked for The Guvernment at that same address, led to the development of a new venue. The Living Room opened at 330 Adelaide St. W. in November of 1997, with Albert and Michael Assoon at the creative helm.

DJ Andy Roberts (left), DJ Nicole, and Albert Assoon. Photo courtesy of Pat Boogie.

“Our inspiration was always house music, and we noticed that it had moved to a different level [in Toronto],” says Michael. “We thought it would be a good time to bring back some of the magic that we had from The Twilight Zone.”

“The Assoons were already legends in their own right, as they were a true party family,” confirms infamous social queen Jennstar, who worked at clubs including Industry before joining The Living Room’s Sunday team. “I think that being back in the district, close to where the original Zone had been, gave the venue some energy. There were a lot of good vibes there.”

Inspired by its Miami namesake, which Albert had visited and been impressed by, The Living Room was intended to be a mature, versatile lounge and dance club.

“We envisioned it to have the comforts of a living room, with lots of couches and art and curtains,” Michael recalls. “I took on the responsibility of the layout, the colors and the logo. Albert and our brother Tony upgraded the sound system.”

Originally licensed for 250 people, but soon increased to 400 after minor renovations, The Living Room’s three rooms paired comfort with a large hardwood dancefloor and clear, booming sound.

“The first DJ booth was in the washroom, with a hole cut into the wall that faced out onto the dancefloor,” shares Andy Roberts, a DJ whose name became synonymous with the club’s Sunday nights. “Eventually a proper DJ booth was built, with a RANE MP2016A and crossover. The sound was exceptional if you didn’t over do it.

“The atmosphere was cozy,” he continues. “It didn’t feel like a medium-sized club; it literally felt like you were at home, and we were having a house party every week.”

Andy Roberts in The Living Room’s DJ booth. Photo courtesy of Pat Boogie.

Why it was important: Opened a year after Industry and a year before Roxy Blu, The Living Room drew a related clientele, as all three clubs nurtured and hosted Toronto’s underground house movement of the time. The more intimate Living Room was unique in that it attracted a slightly older crowd.

“There were no other venues in the city that offered lounging and dining as we did when we started out,” says Albert Assoon. “There were not many chic lounges like The Living Room that also had the casual attitude we offered as place to dance and have a good time. It was an easygoing, fun place to party at.

“The varied signature nights we had also meant there was something for everybody; we definitely were a non-commercial venue that attracted a mature clientele.”

Initially open only on weekends, the venue began with David Assoon and Nathaniel Garcia promoting Fridays, with a young jojoflores in from Montreal to spin R&B and classic house. Albert, who DJs as Phat Albert, was Saturday’s musical mastermind, and brought blends of soulful house to the tables for more than two years.

“We booked guests like Kenny Carpenter, the original DJ from Studio 54 who also worked under Larry Levan at Paradise Garage,” says Albert. “We’d often brought him in to the Twilight Zone, and he was the top international DJ to promote our Living Room Saturdays.”

There were a number of musically-themed nights at the club over the years, but The Living Room will always be thought of as the home to Hard & Soul Sundays, arguably Toronto’s longest-running underground house weekly. This city’s house heads had already shown they would support on Sundays, having packed Thundergroove at OZ throughout the mid-’90s, and Mark Oliver’s Sunday weekly at Velvet. Oliver was, in fact, an original resident DJ at Hard & Soul when it opened in December of 1997. He and Andy Roberts played as co-residents for months, with DJ Everdelicious Nicole the next to be hired as Roberts’ co-resident.

The night’s original promoter was Gairy Brown a.k.a. Gigi, then also a waiter at The Living Room and now the Executive Director at gay event production company Prism. It was Brown who named the night, grabbing the title from Danny Tenaglia’s 1995 album. Promoter/hosts including Jennstarr, the roller-skating Big Daddy a.k.a. Roman Steel, and Megan McMullen-DeGennaro joined Brown in building a loyal following for Hard & Soul.

Packed dancefloor for The Living Room’s Angel Moraes event. Photo courtesy of Pat Boogie.

“The Sundays became a signature house night in Toronto,” says Albert Assoon. “It was definitely underground, deep, soulful house music that Andy and Nicole played. Generally, 300 to 500 people would come out, and on long weekends they would boost up to 800.”

“Since it was a weekly residency, we were able to introduce new music, and develop what would become a sound unique to Hard & Soul,” says Roberts, who also played a variety of nights at clubs including Mad Bar, Apothecary and Element Bar during his Hard & Soul run.

“The main reason the night thrived, in my opinion, is because Tony Sbrocchi kept it going even though we were pretty slow in the beginning. Most owners these days only give promoters a couple of weeks. Oddly enough, when we first started getting busy on a weekly basis, most of the crowd was coming from the Comfort Zone.”

That said, a lot of the international guests at Hard & Soul—like Sneak, Cajmere, DJ Heather, Mark Farina, Honey Dijon, and J-Dub—had strong ties to Industry, often playing there on a Saturday and The Living Room the next night. People like Jennstar frequented and worked at both venues.

“Andy was the reason I wanted to be involved at Hard & Soul,” says Jennstar, who co-promoted and hosted for two years. “He always had his unique sound. No one was doing Sunday parties at the time, and it was a great night of people who worked in the scene, people who were in the know about music, and those who generally had their finger on the pulse. There was always lots of fun people—gay, straight, all races, and of various ages—cheering and having a great time to great music.”

Roberts attributes the mix of people to the night’s broad range of house, moving from deep to disco, garage and gospel house to funky Chicago sounds. He recalls being an early champion of house tracks that became huge club anthems, citing Armand Van Helden’s “Flowers,” Stardust’s “Music Sounds Better with You,” and “Big Love” by Pete Heller as examples.

Promoter Pat Boogie, a devoted house head who’d long been a regular at the night before he joined the Hard & Soul team in 1999, adds to the musical memories.

“Andy really developed a distinct sound, and had a bunch of anthems,” he says. “A couple of my favorites were DJ Gregory’s “Block Party,” and the absolute number one Hard & Soul anthem, Jasper Street Company’s “God Helps Those (Who Help Themselves.” People would lose their minds when he dropped this gospel house floor stomper!

“I still get goose bumps when I hear the song because it brings back memories of Andy in the booth with his hands in the air, and everyone on the dancefloor singing at the top of their lungs, stomping their feet and clapping their hands. The staff would join in too, bartenders would get on top of the bar and bar backs and security would join everyone on the dance floor. That’s what I loved most about The Living Room: it was a like a family of real characters; everyone got along and helped with the success of the venue. It was like the Toronto house scene’s version of Cheers.”

DJ Andy Roberts and promoter Pat Boogie. Photo courtesy of Boogie.

Boogie, who has since worked for companies including Most Wanted Entertainment, CiRCA Nightclub, and his own Boogie Inc. production company, speaks lovingly of The Living Room and Hard & Soul Sundays, later sub-titled ‘Sunday Religion.’

He tells me about other DJs who graced the booth, like Luc Raymond, Fred Everything, Alton Miller, DJ Deep, and an impressive array of locals including The Stickmen, Nick Holder, Mitch Winthrop, Shawn Riker, Allen Best, Kenny Glasgow and brothers Dino & Terry, who joined Roberts as co-residents after Everdelicious Nicole moved to New York in 2001.

Boogie spills a few fun details about one of The Living Room’s most memorable guests. Back in the days when people could smoke cigarettes anywhere and tobacco companies spent big bucks courting clubbers, Benson & Hedges sponsored a ‘Goldclub’ series of ‘Big DJ, Small Club’ events. This included the legendary Danny Tenaglia at Hard & Soul in December 2000.

Andy Roberts (left) and The Living Room co-owner Tony Sbrocchi. Photo courtesy of Pat Boogie.

”What I remember most about the Tenaglia night—apart from the club fully doubling the sound system—was that the whole DJ booth was full of records,” Boogie recalls. “To this day, I have never seen any DJ bring that many crates to a gig. When I asked some of the other staff about it, they told me that they’d unloaded all of the records from a cube van that Danny’s people drove from New York. Tenaglia played at least an eight-hour set, and the sound system pounded with all of the extra bins. That night was pure insanity.”

While Hard & Soul was handed to a different team at the close of 2001, Roberts and Boogie host occasionally reunion parties to this day.

Bartenders Jen Hill & JD. Photo courtesy of Albert Assoon.

Luao Party: bartenders JD and Megan McMullen-DeGennaro with Albert Assoon (right). Photo courtesy of Assoon.

Who else played/worked there: Dozens of DJs dropped a variety of sounds at The Living Room over the years, with Gio, James K, Hedley Jones and Chris Sheppard among them. Johnny Quest (a.k.a. Robby Streek) and DJ Astronaught held down a short-lived Wednesday trance night, while Jedi Records and Most Wanted Entertainment promoted the drum ‘n’ bass Silk Thursdays for most of 2002. Silk’s roster of local residents included DJs Ra, Illfingas, and Slip & Slide. DJ Freaky Flow and MC Flipside recorded a live CD for Moonshine Records at Silk, and UK guests included Goldie, Total Science, and Mickey Finn.

As with any good bar, the staff was integral to The Living Room’s vibe, with other star characters mentioned including bartenders JD and Jennifer Hill, and promoter Billy X.

“The staff was like this crazy family,” says Sbrocchi. “We all worked hard together and played hard together. All of the staff—from the door, to the barbacks, bartenders, and DJs—were amazing, and we were fortunate to have them.”

“When it comes down to it, clubs are all about timing, and I think that with The Living Room, the right people came together at the right time,” says Roberts. “I feel very fortunate for it. That’s tough to recreate.”

Andy Roberts (left) with Christian Newhook a.k.a. Dinamo Azari, at The Living Room. Photo courtesy of Pat Boogie.

What happened to it: By 2002, The Living Room had slowed and the lease was set to expire.

“The club closed due to a lengthy court battle with the landlord, who wanted to evict us and build a condo,” says Sbrocchi. “It became too costly to continue.”

330 Adelaide St. W. next housed a variety of businesses, most notably The Roosevelt Room. Today, just like the former site of The Twilight Zone, it is a condo in the making—the 40-storey Peter Street Condos are currently in development.

“Operating a successful club requires a lot of attention and can be hazardous to your health,” summarizes Sbrocchi, who’s now a law student. “If not for the support of my brothers, and the creative input of the Assoons, the Room would never have turned out the way that it did. I’m glad we were able to liven up a scene that has become a homogenized joke. There are days when I really want to do another club just to wake up people and actually give them their money’s worth.”

The Assoons appear to be thinking likewise.

“We are presently engaging in conversation about a space that would mean an up-to-date Twilight Zone,” offers Michael.

“Whenever the opportunity arises for us to open a nightclub, we work to give the city something fresh, exciting and memorable,” says Albert; “And sometimes set new benchmarks.” [Addendum: The Assoons opened Remix Lounge at 1305 Dundas West in 2014.]

In the meantime, DJ, producer and Mixed Signals Music boss Roberts will soon host a new Sunday weekly devoted to “classics from all eras of house music” just down the street. Déjà vu launches June 10 at Parlour Lounge.

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