Yesterday Pops and I went to see my sister DJ at Stones Place, a "Rolling Stones-themed bar". I was delighted to discover that inside, despite (or perhaps, because of?) its Parkdale location (considered by many as the worst part of Toronto in terms of crime), it was wonderfully furnished and decorated. Antique furniture, drapes and tapestries, a barber's chair. It's like several living rooms stuck together, and then having the walls between them removed, each "living room" centered around a coffee table. Well, that's the back half of the bar. The front half looks like any other bar. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me so I wasn't able to take any pictures. You can check out this link to get a sense of the interior -- just substitute the people with much younger, trendier dressed urbanites. I think it just may be the most comfortable looking bar I've been to, ever. Actually, the place is just down the street from the Drake Hotel, as featured on the k*spot. There were quite a few people, although the place never seemed "packed", just busy, like a good party should be. I was even able to, temporarily, convince one young lady that the eyes of the fish in the aquarium would turn red at midnight.... Oh, before Stones Place we tried out a new pool hall on Bathurst, just west of Spadina. It was sort of hard to find at first, since it turned out to be on the upper level of a store, but a woman on the street quickly pointed us in the right direction. The name is sort of hard to remember now.. something like "Rak-N-Wak" or some such. Don't let the name fool you -- its goofy sound does not belie the trendy decor, the hip (and kinda overly loud) music, and the excellent quality of tables and cues. Mag-ni-fique. PLUS there's no smell of smoke, which is a huge plus for me, since most pools halls are notorious for being thick with lung-clinging cigarette smoke. Some time after the ugly lights were turned on at Stones Place, Pops and I strolled along the streets of Parkdale, sobering up. Admiring some of the nice old houses with huge trees and real brick interiors. So it's actually a pretty nice area, once you get past the ominous-looking hooligans prowling the main roads. WOW.. did you look at the Drake Hotel scrapbook (warning: the interface is kinda krazy)? They have (had?) boardgames in a bar... BOARDGAMES! IN A BAR!!
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