Heliconian

Come on, admit it. You remember Yorkville during the 1960’s too! We were either in university or checking out the job market. On Friday nights we went to Yorkville to see Gordon Lightfoot, or Joni Mitchell, or even Neil Young at the Riverboat or one of the other clubs or coffee shops that popped up during that intoxicating decade. After that we moved on to building careers and raising children, while Yorkvillke went downhill when biker gangs and drug dealers moved in.

Soon the new Bloor-Danforth subway line enticed high-end businesss, and a new class of patrons, rich shoppers, started coming by. That area is now referred to as the “mink mile.” Stores like Versace, Louis Vutton and Cartier sell exclusive items, and restaurants serve the latest in food trends, with a negroni cocktail, and a serving of kale on the side.

Through all of this a lot of renovation and rebuilding has taken place. But there are still a few old gems hanging around. The Yorkville Library at 229 Yorkville Ave is one of the earliest branches of the city library system, designed in 1929 in the Carnegie architectural style. The first site of Mount Sinai Hospital, built in 1923 at 100 Yorkville Ave, is now a trendy store.

My favourite old building is the Heliconian Hall at 35 Hazleton Ave. Originally a Baptist Church built in 1875, it was bought by a feisty group of women who had founded an arts group in 1909 and were loking for a permanent home. The building, designed in a style referred to as Carpenter Gothic, ie Gothic in wood, is the oldest building standing in Yorkville.

Inside the building that feisty group of women, or nowadays their grand daughters, still run an active arts program open to the public. The name comes from Mount Heliconian in Greece, said to be a source of poetic inspiration for the muses. There are concerts, performances, and art shows on a regular basis. And the best known? A literary lecture series once a month. The club invites Canadian authors with recently-published books to come and speak to an audience of about 150. There are rarely any empty seats.

I have seen many reputable authors there. Marie Henein comes to mind. She was the laywer for that controversial case involving Jian Ghomeshi a few years ago. I expectd her to be another feisty woman. And she was! I also heard Ann-Marie MacDonald and Wayne Johnston, 2 Canadian authors whose fame is well-known, even in the US. Later this season we are being treated to a lecture by Dr. Vincent Lam who now spends a lot of his spare time writing. His latest novel takes place in a Toronto ravine and deals with a timely subject – drug overdosing.

I attend these presentations with an old friend who shares my love of writing. On our subway trips we discuss our latest novels, stories and yes, even blog posts! When the subway arives at our stop, we have a short walk through Yorkville, beautifully lit up at night, until we arrive at Heliconain Hall. We share tea and cookies with other members of the audience. Then we all settle in for the lecture and audience questions.

What better way to spend a winter evening? Friendship, food and our favourite Canadian writers, in an historic setting.

Sue