Dancing Queens

INTERVIEWS BY ALI AMAD, ZIYA JONES, MADDY MAHONEY, JES MASON AND ISABEL B. SLONE

In a sense, Crews and Tangos was born of a gay marriage. It was originally two separate establishments located in a pair of 1850s rowhouses: Crews, a gay bar at 510 Church Street that opened in 1994, and Tango, a lesbian bar at 508 Church that opened four years later. In 2004, they merged, embracing the guiding philosophy that would come to define Crews and Tangos: everyone is welcome.

The three-storey brick building became the heart of the Church and Wellesley Village, a homing beacon in particular to young queer people looking for a place to belong.

The drag shows are now the stuff of legend, and patrons dance until closing, leaving fake eyelashes, rhinestones and boa feathers scattered in their wake. A testament to its lasting success: Crews and Tangos has managed to thrive while many of Toronto's queer venues have fallen victim to one economic crisis or another.

In 2022, Graywood Developments, which owns the building, got city approval to turn the site into a 14-storey condo tower. Late last year, Graywood raised the stakes, ratcheting the planned height up to 48 storeys-a build that would tower over the mid-rise Village. City council rejected the latest proposal in February, calling it inconsistent with the character of Church Street, but Graywood is appealing the decision with the Ontario Land Tribunal, which has a history of siding with developers.

The bar has retained the right to return to the site post-construction, but if it does, the Crews and Tangos of old would be drastically alteredthe iconic blue exterior would be dismantled, and the bar would likely be squeezed onto a single floor. With the end of an era looming, we tapped staff, performers and patrons-past and present-for their raunchiest, funniest, most poignant memories of the Queen of Church Street.

MYKEL HALL A.K.A. DJ BLACK CATT
DJ