Strolling the posh sidewalks of Yorkville, it’s hard to imagine that this quaint former village was a slightly derelict, bohemian drag as recently as 40 years ago. Best known for its 1960s and early ’70s coffee house scene, Yorkville was the launching pad for music talents like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Ronnie Hawkins and so many more.
But the area also has a rich literary history, which is what author and tour guide Lisa Pasold will be focusing on tomorrow afternoon (3 – 5 pm), as she leads local and international guests through the streets and laneways that gave rise to literary lights like Milton Acorn, Matt Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, bpNichol, Dennis Lee and others.
Pasold’s tour (email her for details, advance reservations are required), is part of a week-long “vacation for the soul” called Classical Pursuits organized by Ann Kirkland. Every summer in Toronto, more than 100 individuals from around the world retreat from the hurly-burly of daily life to engage in unhurried discussion and personal reflection about the world’s great literature, music, and art. Taking place all this week on the leafy campus of UofT’s Victoria College, Classical Pursuits features a variety of guest lecturers and tour guides; Kirkland likens the week to “slow food for the intellect.”
Yesterday, Pasold gave me a preview of her walk, which digs back into Yorkville’s 19th century history before fleshing out the literary side of things. We strolled past the sites of former coffee houses like the Riverboat, above, and the Mynah Bird, where authors rivaled the folkies with readings of seminal Canadian works.
“Dennis Lee has written about how ‘goofy’ the city was in the 1960s and how prior to that time there was nowhere you could go in Toronto to hear or see Canadian writers or musicians. Yorkville changed all that.”
Turning toward Bloor Street, we pass by the Park Hyatt Hotel, above, with its famous Roof Lounge where literary legends like Morley Callaghan and Mordecai Richler swilled martinis and pontificated engagingly. Across the street from the hotel is the Royal Ontario Museum which is featured in three Margaret Atwood novels, including one of Pasold’s favorite scenes where the protagonist of The Edible Woman is ejected from the museum for committing a public display of affection: “Kissing in the Mummy Room is not permitted,” scolds the guard.
Walking west, we soon come to the site of Rochdale College, a 1960s hippie haven and bastion of psychedelic drugs and free love. Round the corner is bpNichol Lane, left, a memorial to the late poet and the site of Coach House Press, one of the city’s oldest and most influential small publishers.
Pasold, whose first novel, Rats of Las Vegas was published last year, began giving walking tours during a stint in Paris in the early 2000s. “Literary walks are a really good niche for me,” she says, “because they bring together my interests in history, architecture and especially literature.”
Pasold, who was born in Montreal and has traveled widely, moved here two years ago. “Toronto is a phenomenal city,” she enthuses. “True it has these very deep Presbyterian roots — Mordecai Richler in Barney’s Version writes some extremely biting and funny commentary about Toronto in the early 1960s. But today the city is nothing like that. People who grew up here carry baggage about being hated by the rest of the country but to an outsider like me it’s a city of wonderful neighbourhoods with their own histories and personalities. I find that really exciting.”
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You look awesome, Lisa, in one of my most favourite colours!
Hope to see you again, soon. Maybe August.
Love, Marie
Introducing the lovely Lisa!!! You look great. I want to take your tour next time in Toronto.