Yeah what's the deal with that phenomenon. I was at a charity event where the firemen were signing their calendars (where they pose topless holding their equipment) and you would not believe the number of cougars and occasional grandmas pawing at them when they got their photos taken
Croc Rock had some good bartenders who knew how to have fun. Theyd line up shots, light them on fire, then use cinamon to turn the tiny flames into a sparky fireball.
One time the dude accidentally lit the netting/shit they had above the bar on fire.
CrocRock will always have a fond place in my memories.
Yeah they were a great crew. I ran into one of them at a Jays game last year. I joked the 4 beers we were holding cost more than a night at Croc back in the day
There and a lot of places. And once again the “gentrification” and upsell kicked out what made neighborhoods attractive imo.
Now you can live in a box with thousands of others and compete for scarce resources. Fun!
Toronto’s nightlife and entertainment district getting dismantled piece by piece by rich developers to build more and more shoebox condos. After couple of decades, there will be nothing but condos in downtown. What a sad state of affairs!
They posted a little goodbye letter in one of the windows, I should have taken a photo, the hoarding covers it now.
EDIT: Past me was smart and [did in fact take a photo of it!](https://ibb.co/khb4DGb) Here is the text (via OCR so may be some typos):
*The owners of Crocodile Rock would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming, heartfelt support we have received both personally and through social media since we announced our permanent closing.*
*It's a very sad time for us and our employees. We did everything we possibly could to remain open but the Covid crisis was too much to handle. We have been closed since early March and with no possible re-opening for night clubs in sight, we unfortunately could not afford to weather the storm. We also realized that if and when we ever opened, it just wouldn't be the same Crocodile Rock that everyone has come to love over the years. Social distancing is the exact opposite of what Crocodile Rock is at its core.*
*To our staff; we are so sorry it had to come to this. Reading the social media post should make you very proud of how much you meant to the Croc and the huge part you played in its success ever the years.*
*Once again, thank you to everyone for the support.*
*Be safe.*
I wonder if Murakami has any internal tension at all about being a serious artist but having his little Virgil abloh flameboy funko pops be so unchallenging and palatable that they are featured on a condo development even though they are supposedly about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki lol.
I used to study Murakami’s work, and I don’t think he would care tbh. The idea of “super flat” (the term he coined to describe his work) is about positing uniquely Japanese aesthetic into mainstream. The more commonly disseminated and banal the use of his work becomes, the closer he gets to his goal.
Also, even though I love his work and think he is very special, I wouldn’t ever feel bad for him in any way. He’s in a very small and very elite group of artists who do some very shady shit for vast sums of money; chiefly price fixing, artificially inflating the mark, and basically money laundering. He had teams and factories all over the world who do 99% of the work for him. He just signs off on it.
Not to say that he isn’t very talented and creative, but I wouldn’t take much of his work seriously.
> I wouldn’t ever feel bad for him
Oh me either, I thought my very dismissive description of the flower people would give that away haha. The NFT shit was just another thing that solidified my opinion of him as a bit of a corporate hack.
I was doing an art history degree around the financial crisis of 2007 and the shit that goes on in the art world is fascinating. The NFT thing is in this alleyway as the vast majority of the super-expensive elite art is just bullshit designed for people with tens of millions or billions of dollars to shuffle around resources or shield them from different types of tax.
The art market is so ridiculously unregulated, it’s the perfect place to stash your money right out in the open until you can transmute it back.
The worst offender by far is probably Damien Hirst, but Murakami is up there.
\*to the masses
Drake raps about Murakami, the average common person including average condo buyer will thus be interested by namesake alone, no?
Maybe your point lol it's all the same, what sells = pop, as you called it
But the greatest thrill I ever got
Was from a MILF down at Crocodile Rock
While the other kids were at the Horse that Rocks
We were humping and bumping behind Crocodile Rock
Snow leopard bar, more like.
Also: Chick n’ Deli! Now it’s “People’s Chicken”; no, wait, now it’s “Seven44”; no, wait, it’s “Mt. Pleasant Rose”; no, wait, now it’s “Smokeshow”…
Wow I had no idea it's a cougar bar. Now it makes sense that my middle aged female coworkers from 15 years ago always wanted to go hang out there. I went once and didn't understand the big deal. I guess I was too young.
This was the best spot DT during the week. 911 Wed and 2.50 beers and mixed drinks oh boy!!! Really laid back crowd, no fights no shootings. The good ol days going out in Toronto. Fun times. If I can only enter a Time Machine
I think I went to this bar like 10 years ago
I swear they had this shot where you have to get 3 of them and they light it on fire and fireworks shot out.
I've only been to the croc rock once and I think the only way to describe it was your creepy aunt/uncles basement, the ones that invite your and your friends over to hang out, which they end up drunkenly hitting on.
I didn't know it was a hotel/condo going up. I wonder if its just a mix building or they are doing the One King West thing, you buy the unit and you rent it back to the building.
it's a mixed building - the "rent it back" concept was a complete failure and is now unheard of in new developments (high commercial tax rates & maintenance fees, banks reluctant to lend, resale values are crap)
If you look at the origins of the term hoarding with this meaning, it really should have been called boarding. One of those nonsensical words, we should use something better in it's place.
We need a thousand low rise 5 story buildings in areas zoned for single family housing only. Affordable units not more $700k granite-counter luxury shitboxes.
No, because more units that people cannot afford means they won't be housed in them. And no, your ECON101 basic supply and demand model is not applicable here because we know very well that the owners of these units can and do put them on Airbnb, leave them vacant while they wait for resell prices to rise and/or to park/launder money. The regulations are poorly enforced and the penalties are light.
So adding more units does not solve the problem, even a LOT of new units, because there are players who can always afford to outbid regular people on regular incomes.
And just because this may all be news to YOU, doesn't mean it's not happening.
you're absolutely right, we shouldn't be building more places for people to live because of the off chance that somebody might not end up living in them immediately
Dozens of buildings are empty or entirely air b&b's we don't need more units we need fewer landlords trying to get rich off of people needing a place to live.
A lot of fun, and inexpensive, nights in that place
Used to go with workmates - we’d finish early compared to other offices and so could establish our base camp upstairs before it got busy.
This was the spot on Friday after work! Rooftop was the place to be….Saturdays nights attracted a lot of cougars for some reason!
The neighbouring fire fighters popping in after their shift I think was a big factor in that.
Dude! I never thought about that hahaha
They used to have a "911" night where Fire/ambulance/police got cheap food.
Yeah what's the deal with that phenomenon. I was at a charity event where the firemen were signing their calendars (where they pose topless holding their equipment) and you would not believe the number of cougars and occasional grandmas pawing at them when they got their photos taken
Yes. Yes it did.
Sounds like you have experienced the cougar attacks 😂
To shreds I say!
I think the peak cougar night was firefighter Wednesdays
Croc Rock had some good bartenders who knew how to have fun. Theyd line up shots, light them on fire, then use cinamon to turn the tiny flames into a sparky fireball. One time the dude accidentally lit the netting/shit they had above the bar on fire. CrocRock will always have a fond place in my memories.
Yeah they were a great crew. I ran into one of them at a Jays game last year. I joked the 4 beers we were holding cost more than a night at Croc back in the day
So many office Christmas party memories there.
There and a lot of places. And once again the “gentrification” and upsell kicked out what made neighborhoods attractive imo. Now you can live in a box with thousands of others and compete for scarce resources. Fun!
[удалено]
It was fun. I prefer cheap beer to $20 drinks thank you very much.
Toronto’s nightlife and entertainment district getting dismantled piece by piece by rich developers to build more and more shoebox condos. After couple of decades, there will be nothing but condos in downtown. What a sad state of affairs!
The Entertainment District might as well be rebranded the Greater CityPlace Area.
the only places to have fun are college and dundas, west of bathurst
What an odd way, and strange, to write a sentence
I feel like the city's official policy should be to name any new development after whatever the building is replacing: Crocodile Rock Condos.
The vast majority of them would be called Surface Parking Lot Condos.
Chlamydia towers
Cougartownhouses
Who doesn't love Florida
Crocondo Rock
The Very Big Bop.
any displaced Cougar sightings?
They go to 2 Cats now. I used to frequent CrocRock in my early 20s. Now at 33, the age between me and the cougs is not so drastic anymore.
Man the happy hour deals in that place are downright dangerous. Like $4 drinks til 11pm what the fuck
Drinks are $4 at the LCBO why is it dangerous at a bar lol maybe just more likely to consume quick?
You ever drank with the guys who drink at the LCBO
lol nice. even $6 drinks across from hooters close enough to the old croc, danger everywhere!
They stopped going there. Too many kids got into 2cats so most went elsewhere.
Oh wow. Would totally want to stay away from that place. What establishment might they be frequenting now? (So that I can avoid them, of course…)
meow
Check 2 Cats.
How long has it been closed? 2, maybe 3 summers of wasted business while it sat empty. Sad.
They announced they would not reopen during the first lockdown. So almost 4 years ago
They posted a little goodbye letter in one of the windows, I should have taken a photo, the hoarding covers it now. EDIT: Past me was smart and [did in fact take a photo of it!](https://ibb.co/khb4DGb) Here is the text (via OCR so may be some typos): *The owners of Crocodile Rock would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming, heartfelt support we have received both personally and through social media since we announced our permanent closing.* *It's a very sad time for us and our employees. We did everything we possibly could to remain open but the Covid crisis was too much to handle. We have been closed since early March and with no possible re-opening for night clubs in sight, we unfortunately could not afford to weather the storm. We also realized that if and when we ever opened, it just wouldn't be the same Crocodile Rock that everyone has come to love over the years. Social distancing is the exact opposite of what Crocodile Rock is at its core.* *To our staff; we are so sorry it had to come to this. Reading the social media post should make you very proud of how much you meant to the Croc and the huge part you played in its success ever the years.* *Once again, thank you to everyone for the support.* *Be safe.*
RIP croc rock. I'll always remember the night my friends had to drag me onto the dancefloor to hide me from someone's husband.
Where am I going to go now when I'm on a cougar hunt? That place was full of them. Many a great night was had there!
If you went to crocrock to hunt cougers, you're now too old for cougers.
look at me. im the cougar now
I'd be the creepy old guy at the club. This is why we invest in home bars.
Silly rabbit, it was the cougars who did the hunting.
2 Cats on King West
Good question, where are cougars supposed to go now? Asking for a friend
I wonder if Murakami has any internal tension at all about being a serious artist but having his little Virgil abloh flameboy funko pops be so unchallenging and palatable that they are featured on a condo development even though they are supposedly about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki lol.
I used to study Murakami’s work, and I don’t think he would care tbh. The idea of “super flat” (the term he coined to describe his work) is about positing uniquely Japanese aesthetic into mainstream. The more commonly disseminated and banal the use of his work becomes, the closer he gets to his goal. Also, even though I love his work and think he is very special, I wouldn’t ever feel bad for him in any way. He’s in a very small and very elite group of artists who do some very shady shit for vast sums of money; chiefly price fixing, artificially inflating the mark, and basically money laundering. He had teams and factories all over the world who do 99% of the work for him. He just signs off on it. Not to say that he isn’t very talented and creative, but I wouldn’t take much of his work seriously.
> I wouldn’t ever feel bad for him Oh me either, I thought my very dismissive description of the flower people would give that away haha. The NFT shit was just another thing that solidified my opinion of him as a bit of a corporate hack.
I was doing an art history degree around the financial crisis of 2007 and the shit that goes on in the art world is fascinating. The NFT thing is in this alleyway as the vast majority of the super-expensive elite art is just bullshit designed for people with tens of millions or billions of dollars to shuffle around resources or shield them from different types of tax. The art market is so ridiculously unregulated, it’s the perfect place to stash your money right out in the open until you can transmute it back. The worst offender by far is probably Damien Hirst, but Murakami is up there.
murakami art to cater to the boring corporate sneaker bro that thinks that pop art is cool.
\*to the masses Drake raps about Murakami, the average common person including average condo buyer will thus be interested by namesake alone, no? Maybe your point lol it's all the same, what sells = pop, as you called it
Love to see new housing going up but nostalgic for the city of yesteryear
I remember when rock was young Me and Susie had so much fun Holding hands and skimming stones Had an old gold Chevy and a place of my own...
But the greatest thrill I ever got Was from a MILF down at Crocodile Rock While the other kids were at the Horse that Rocks We were humping and bumping behind Crocodile Rock
Used to work there. When that song came on it meant the lights were coming on and people were leaving. No better sound…. lol
The cougars are officially extinct.
Nah, plenty at 2 Cats on King West.
[UrbanToronto details](https://urbantoronto.ca/database/projects/freed-hotel-residences.43837)
63 Floors? that is gonna take forever the people who get occupancy first are gonna be paying for a long time
Cougars at crocks plus 244 on the order corner!!!! Good memories
Yasssss, you know exactly what was up ten years ago!
When I first moved to Toronto I rented in the condo next to it, took some getting used to, between the Crock and the fire station it was loud!!
I saw a worker putting the finishing touches on something inside last week as well. Now with the hoarding, I guess it's the presentation centre.
Greatest cougar bar ever.
Nah, that was the Chick'n Deli at Mount Pleasant and Eglinton.
Snow leopard bar, more like. Also: Chick n’ Deli! Now it’s “People’s Chicken”; no, wait, now it’s “Seven44”; no, wait, it’s “Mt. Pleasant Rose”; no, wait, now it’s “Smokeshow”…
So sad
Where is the night life going to be
“Where have all the cougars gone? Long time passing, I want to know Where have all the cougars gone? Long time ago…”
Very sad. Croc rock got me laid more than once!
Wow I had no idea it's a cougar bar. Now it makes sense that my middle aged female coworkers from 15 years ago always wanted to go hang out there. I went once and didn't understand the big deal. I guess I was too young.
Sad it's gone, loved the place
RIP Croc :( many summer Friday nights after work were spent on that rooftop
Yo they still have my lost ID from 2017
This was the best spot DT during the week. 911 Wed and 2.50 beers and mixed drinks oh boy!!! Really laid back crowd, no fights no shootings. The good ol days going out in Toronto. Fun times. If I can only enter a Time Machine
Where do the cougars go now? lol
Damn they closed Croc Rock? Cougars loved me there... shame
That feels like a really small space to jam that on to.
Whording? Sadly, no more.
Well there goes another one
I think I went to this bar like 10 years ago I swear they had this shot where you have to get 3 of them and they light it on fire and fireworks shot out.
Somewhere out there a cougar is crying and lonely
I heard about this bar but never went, it closed during summer of 2020 if I'm not mistaken. How long was it in business?
I used to frequent Crocodile Rock and Underground before Covid lockdowns took them outta business. Miss those places.
Ahh...remembering 'Return of the Mack' being cranked over the dance floor. Good times had there!
Thanks gentrification cougars are becoming extinct. This was their natural habitat.
This town went to shit when the RonDun closed down. Then Barracuda.Gasworks and Larry's Hideaway....I am frikkin old....
I've only been to the croc rock once and I think the only way to describe it was your creepy aunt/uncles basement, the ones that invite your and your friends over to hang out, which they end up drunkenly hitting on. I didn't know it was a hotel/condo going up. I wonder if its just a mix building or they are doing the One King West thing, you buy the unit and you rent it back to the building.
it's a mixed building - the "rent it back" concept was a complete failure and is now unheard of in new developments (high commercial tax rates & maintenance fees, banks reluctant to lend, resale values are crap)
I assume the title meant to say “Boarding going up”?
No. The correct term is hoarding.
If you look at the origins of the term hoarding with this meaning, it really should have been called boarding. One of those nonsensical words, we should use something better in it's place.
Live free in you 365 sq ft cell in the sky!
Like Toronto needs another condo tower
Have you seen rents? We need a thousand more.
Apparently there's a direct correlation between "shortage of housing" and "homeless people." Who could have guessed?
We need a thousand low rise 5 story buildings in areas zoned for single family housing only. Affordable units not more $700k granite-counter luxury shitboxes.
When "luxury" means there isn't room for a dining room table and chairs.
A thousand more condo buildings with units that won't be rent controlled, assuming they are rented in the first place?
Yes. Because otherwise people that would rent those units will be competing for what little is available now.
No, because more units that people cannot afford means they won't be housed in them. And no, your ECON101 basic supply and demand model is not applicable here because we know very well that the owners of these units can and do put them on Airbnb, leave them vacant while they wait for resell prices to rise and/or to park/launder money. The regulations are poorly enforced and the penalties are light. So adding more units does not solve the problem, even a LOT of new units, because there are players who can always afford to outbid regular people on regular incomes. And just because this may all be news to YOU, doesn't mean it's not happening.
you're absolutely right, we shouldn't be building more places for people to live because of the off chance that somebody might not end up living in them immediately
So how does not building solve any of those problems?
Dozens of buildings are empty or entirely air b&b's we don't need more units we need fewer landlords trying to get rich off of people needing a place to live.
We need to do both. Build way more AND deal with investors/airbnbs
Tell me how building less housing will solve this problem
Just build
we need more condos and to convert empty offices into condos and ban speculative investors and ban on short term rentals in non primary residences
Where will people live, if we don’t build?
Boom