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Eglinton Avenue West
Jamaicans and other members of the growing black community settled in this area during the sixties and seventies and developed a small business class.…
”the West Indies Federation Club”
"The club’s founders—Harry Gairey; Kermit Lynn; Jim Moxley and Clarence Lucey—provided help to West Indian immigrants of all backgrounds helping clear the hurdles of the immigration process; recommending employment agencies or boarding houses; or…
”the Bermuda Tavern”
”One of the clubs opened during the calypso craze but also a safe space for West Indian people.”
”Riverboat Coffee House”
”In the middle of Yorkville-- the center of Toronto's counterculture community. Famous musicians and bands performed here.”
”Zanzibar”
”Part of the Yonge Street strip of bars/ taverns and clubs where musicians played every night.”
”Club One Two”
”Harry Belafonte’s explosive popularity in the late 1950s touched off a new craze for calypso-themed music; Hollywood films; West-Indian-inspired ruffled shirts and 'Calypso Cut' hairdos targeted at a mainstream white audience.”
”YWCA McPhail House”
"Domestic workers from the West Indies established a Caribbean club in Toronto as early as 1958 holding weekly gatherings at the YWCA’s McPhail House to dance to calypso records—providing a burst of camaraderie and familiar culture in unfamiliar…
”Ram's Roti Shop”
"The occasional signs of the new black population along Bathurst St. stand out. This store is on Bloor St. near Bathurst: there are also beauty parlors and book stores that obviously cater to blacks; but the community does not open to the street as…
”Central Technical High School”
”one of the largest public high schools in Toronto provided education for first and second generation new Canadians in the Annex community.”
Contrast
”One of the first and the most influential newspapers in the Black Toronto community. Many prominient Caribbean-Canadian writers got their start here. ”