[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto says goodbye to legendary gay bar Zipperz"

[rfmcdonald]

At blogTO, Phil Villeneuve bids goodbye to Church Street's Zipperz.

Imagine walking into a dimly lit downtown cabaret bar. There's a man at a piano belting out show tunes while several others sit around him staring up into the night. You grab a drink and every single person in the room is quietly checking you out. You've just walked into their Cheers, their home away from home and you're totally welcome, but who the hell are you?

Trying to find something to stare at other than your glass, you spot a thick, red velvet curtain in the back corner of the room.

Walking over to it you start to hear a distant thumping, but it's when you pull back that impossibly heavy curtain, that a scene from an '80s gay cruising flick reveals itself.

Flashing lights, stainless steel dancefloor, and a crowd of gay men and women with their hands and cares in the air. This is Zipperz, there is nothing like it in Toronto, and it's now closed because of yet another condo development.

The Church and Carlton bar opened as Buttons in 1998 by a couple friends of current manager Harry Singh. Singh, a ball of endless energy who talks a mile a minute, filled with village histories and late-night tales, worked with them, but eventually took over the bar in 2000 when the original owners were running the place into the ground.