Hugh's Room
Hugh's Room is a restaurant and live music venue in Toronto, Ontario.[1] Formerly on Dundas Street West until 2020, as of July 2023 is has relocated to Broadview Avenue in the city's East Chinatown neighbourhood.[2]
 Original Hugh's Room (Dundas West) in September 2008. | |
| Address | 296 Broadview Avenue Toronto Canada |
|---|---|
| Location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Coordinates | 43.654832°N 79.452202°W |
| Type | Concert Hall |
| Genre(s) | Folk, Jazz, World Music |
| Seating type | theatre style |
| Capacity | 200 |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1894 |
| Opened | September 2023 (original venue April 2001) |
| Website | |
| Hugh's Room | |
The club was opened in 2001 by Richard Carson and named in memory of his brother Hugh, a former folk musician who had dreamed of opening his own performance venue before his death of cancer in 1999.[3]
Primarily a folk music club,[1] Hugh's Room also sometimes booked jazz, blues, classical and comedy artists as well.[4] Noted artists who have performed at the club include Pete Seeger,[5] Serena Ryder,[5] Sylvia Tyson, Odetta, Jane Siberry, Ron Sexsmith, Maria Muldaur and Richie Havens. Odetta's performance at the venue, on October 25, 2008, was her last live performance before her death on December 2 that year.[6]
On January 8, 2017, Hugh's Room closed its doors for financial reasons.[4] Several days later, a community committee announced plans to restructure the venue's accumulated debt and reopen.[7] The club reopened in April 2017, following a successful fundraising initiative and the formation of a non-profit committee to manage the venue.[5] The new corporation is called Hugh's Room Live.
In 2020, the Hugh's Room management announced that it was looking for a new building as it could not secure an affordable lease at its current site.[8]
After a lengthy effort and the support of over 1000 individual donors, Hugh's Room secured its new home at 296 Broadview Avenue in the Riverdale/East Chinatown neighbourhood of the city's East End. In addition to operating as an independent and not-for-profit charitable music venue, Hugh's Room has plans to build their new larger facility into a community based music "hub" for the development of new talent in addition to its many legacy artists.
References
- "Hugh's Room anchored Toronto’s grassroots folk scene". Toronto Star, January 10, 2017.
- "Hugh's Room - blogTO - Toronto". www.blogto.com. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
- "Requiem for Hugh’s Room: Much-loved folkie venue a victim of cash-flow problems". The Globe and Mail, January 16, 2017.
- "Music community reeling from closure of west-end venue Hugh's Room". CBC News, January 8, 2017.
- "Hugh's Room to reopen April 19". Toronto Star, March 9, 2017.
- Weiner, Tim (December 3, 2008). "Odetta, Voice of Civil Rights Movement, Dies at 77". The New York Times (December 3). Retrieved December 3, 2008.
- "Hugh's Room Reveals Plans to Restructure and Reopen". Exclaim!, January 12, 2017.
- Staff, N. O. W. (March 5, 2020). "Hugh's Room Live forced to move due to rising rent". NOW Magazine.