So much history, mythology, questions and conspiracy theories here...
Rumors and some evidence points to James Earl Ray hiding out at Toronto's Hotel Waverly, after shooting Martin Luther King Jr.
The Hotel Waverly and The Silver Dollar Room came up in a conversation lately with a friend, too young to remember the rich, and sometimes infamous history of the four-story low rise hotel located at 484 Spadina Avenue (and College Street) in downtown Toronto.
He wanted to know what he missed in recent memory, so this is for him.
It was built for J.J. Powell and opened in 1900, making it one of the oldest Toronto hotels in continuous operation. In 1958, The Silver Dollar Room was added.
"The Room" closed in 2017 making way for a mixed-used redevelopment called The Waverley (photos attached).
The good news is The Silver Dollar is still around.
In the basement was "The Comfort Zone" that opened in 1996 on New Year’s Eve. It turned out to be the longest running underground dance club in Toronto’s history. (It's also not going away relocating somewhere else).
The Comfort Zone was known as the "after-party" for the after-hours club crowd offering debauchery and hedonism as well as a few police raids.
Before the "Comfort Zone" was "Buzz" which had a great run at the Waverly and later became "Industry", which is now widely recognized as one of the most important dance clubs in Toronto’s club history.
~ Paste these links into your browser to scroll through some old cool photos... especially the first link...
