Caption: On a somewhat overcast winter's afternoon, TTC CLRV 4138 on the 505 Dundas rumbles by Filmore's Hotel, the infamous Toronto strip club with a hotel above it (they really do operate a hotel there, although how much sleeping actually goes on inside is questionable). Features advertised to welcome passerbys such as us include "Bumping and Grinding", a selection of affordable dance rates with the lovely ladies inside, and drink specials for those so inclined to wet their whistle (note: no shenanigans or debauchery was partaken on this day).

If I was a Ryerson Image Arts Student, I would call this my B&W film period, and instead be wandering around West Queen West eating an avocado toast from Starbucks while shooting manhole covers, construction pylons, and various types of roadkill as still life (in the case of the roadkill, really still life) for my portfolio, rather than be wandering around the seedy underbelly of downtown shooting streetcars for fun. Unlike the Imperial Pub that was in the "safe" area of Dundas, once you wandered further east of the Ryerson campus and passed the "HoJo" (Howard Johnson's) at Jarvis Street, things started getting sketchy. Filmores was like a big sign, in more ways than one, warning you you weren't in that tourist-friendly Dundas Square/Eatons Centre area anymore. This area around Dundas, Jarvis and Sherbourne had a number of problems dating from the 1990's including crack cocaine, prostitutes, johns, transcients, drug dealers, addicts, homeless, flophouses and such. There's an informative NFB documentary called "East Side Showdown" (1999) that documents some of the shady goings-on in this area. It didn't seem too bad during the day during this admittedly brief foray, and in recent years, gentrification and new developments have taken most of the edge off.

Research shows the hotel building itself dates from the late 1800's, but the "gentlemen's club" opened sometime in the early 1980's. The property, located at the jog in Dundas at St. George, was sold to developers for potential redevelopment during the pandemic, but the peeler bar venue continued to operate until it closed sometime in 2026 (the hotel operation appears to still be open, for now, but their one hour room bookings have no doubt suffered). Being one of those "unique" places that gives certain neighbourhoods in Toronto their character, it's likely in the near future to be replaced by a bland condo development with a few chain retail stores at ground level (and it's likely the ladies workin' the new Shoppers Drug Mart won't compare).