The Longest Saturday
7 August 2005, early afternoon
“Sorry we can’t let you in, it’s past two.”
“But our friends are in side.” I replied to the first bouncer.
“Sorry those are the rules,” he replied right back. The Drake is quite tight ass on the weekends.
“Dude, you’re skinny,” a second bouncer interjected. He had an afro. I’ve met him before. We both have the same zip-up FCUK top.
“What?”
“Want a cookie?” he asked.
“Uh—sure,” I replied. I like chocolate chip cookies as much as the next guy. “This is a pretty good cookie. So, can you let us in?”
“Hell no. It’s two o’clock.”
And so Yathavan and I sat outside of the Drake hotel for 10 minutes or so, waiting for Rishi, Constantine, and James to come out. I chatted with the bouncer who gave me the cookie for a few minutes. It turns out he is dating a friend of a friend. It was a long day for me; I had been to: the Danforth for the Taste of the Danforth festival, Little Italy for Drinks, Harbourfront in a vain attempt to see Born into Brothels at the South Asian Festival, Carvill’s house to eat, Laura’s house for some drinks and to see Heather off, Neutral to listen to some British music in a somewhat dank bar—all before finally end up at the Drake Hotel. The day was long but fun.
For the record: you can’t do much in Toronto after two, but trying to go out is still fun.
The lineups for some of the MMM movies were pretty nuts, but they mentioned that at least one (King of Bollywood) would be shown at the ROM on Friday.
You could check to see if Born into Brothels is being replayed too, though im not sure where you would check…
by Ananthan on August 7 2005, 10:02 pm #
You are not helping my urge to move to Toronto at all, Ram. Please call the next post “Toronto sucks don’t ever move here.” Thanks.
by Ben on August 8 2005, 12:46 am #
Ah but you missed out on the Rico and the Drag show. Amusing stuff, certainly.
We’ll have to try to meet up next time.
by Victor on August 8 2005, 1:52 pm #
Toronto doesn’t suck. Just the Drake Hotel. I don’t think it’s tough finding things to do after 3am in Toronto, it’s just that your options are limited. What place on earth doesn’t limit your options after 3am?
by rishi on August 8 2005, 5:17 pm #
A lot of great things happen after 3.
For example, you can go to after hours house at Boa (albeit a little expensive for some). You can hit up some great chinese at Swatow or Garden. You can be part of the early crowd at Comfort Zone.
by Victor on August 8 2005, 6:15 pm #
Boa and Comfort Zone were vetoed by James—too many cracked out crack heads for his liking. We had Lobster at Excellent, which was excellent.
Also, I never said Toronto sucks. Toronto is wicked.
by ramanan on August 8 2005, 6:21 pm #
only peripherally related—I was out in the Annex this weekend, trying to dig up some food past midnight. I didn’t do a very good job (ended up at Vesta Lunch—ew). Any suggestions?
Mel’s Deli, 7 West, and Koreatown don’t count.
by Weiguo on August 8 2005, 6:23 pm #
How close to the Annex do you want to stay? If you are willing to walk to little Italy there are a few places. Sneaky Dee’s has good tex-mex food and is open quite late. If you walk a block or two south on Bathurst to College you’ll see it. Amato’s and John’s are two pizza places in the area that are also quite good.
by ramanan on August 8 2005, 6:46 pm #
I can agree with that for Comfort Zone, but last I was at Boa, it wasn’t that strung out. There’s one super hot girl always there that’s with this shirtless older mobster. She is a very impressive looking girl and the guy is reasonably scary and no one ever seems to mess with her. =p
by Victor on August 9 2005, 1:04 pm #
if you guys are ever out in that direction, try Czehoski’s (Queen W of Bathurst, north side…a bit west of Hero Burgers if you know where that is).
kitchen closes at 11 but they serve a “bar menu” until 1 which includes a few pastas, some sandwich and salad types, a few tapas, and a really good (but freaking salty) soup. And you can get your booze on too, of course. Nice place inside.
by Weiguo on September 25 2005, 6:16 pm #