In the bohemian 1960s, Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood was a hippie haven-our version of Haight-Ashbury or Greenwich Village. Coffeehouses like the Riverboat (134 Yorkville Avenue) and the Purple Onion (35 Avenue Road) offered a creative mecca for musicians from across Canada, including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot, as well as underground literary figures such as Margaret Atwood, Gwendolyn MacEwen and Dennis Lee.

Joni Mitchell captured a colourful impression of the nightlife scene on Yorkville Avenue in her song “Night in the City.”

Photo: https://rockandrollroadmap.com/