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El Mocambo (aka "The El Mo") is a live music and entertainment venue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Spadina Avenue, just south of College Street, the bar played an important role in the development of popular music in Toronto since the 1940s. It is best known for the 1977 surprise show by The Rolling Stones, which became nationally notorious for the presence of then Prime Minister Trudeau's wife, Margaret Trudeau (now Margaret Kemper), who was partying with the Stones. == History == Apocryphally, the original building at 462 Spadina had been a music venue since 1850 and was first used as a haven for escaped slaves. The current building was built in 1910 and housed a dry goods store, a barbershop, and restaurants in its first three decades.〔("A Brief History of the Legendary El Mocambo" ). ''Torontoist'', September 23, 2014.〕 With the passage of the Liquor License Act of 1946, which allowed the sale of liquor in taverns and restaurants in the province for the first time since World War I, restaurateurs Joseph Brown and John Lang decided to apply for one of Toronto's first liquor licenses and convert their property at 464 Spadina into one of the city's first cocktail bars. The establishment's name and iconic neon palm sign was inspired by a San Francisco nightclub.〔 In the club's original incarnation, which officially opened in March 23, 1948, the main floor was converted into a dining hall with a dance floor on the second floor and featured Latin music.〔 Live music was not permitted until July 1948 when the Liquor Licensing Board of Ontario reversed an earlier ban.〔 In later configurations of the establishment musical acts appeared on separate stages located on the main and second floor of the building. By the 1960s, Adam Schuy owned the venue which, by then, featured music appealing to Toronto's Hungarian, Irish, and Portuguese communities.〔 A German dance club, Deutsches Tanz Lokal, frequently rented the second floor during this period.〔 By the time Schuy died in 1971, striptease was being featured on the main floor.〔 The business and building were bought by Michael Baird and restaurateur and former Toronto Argonaut Tom Kristenbrun, who also owned the Jarvis House, in 1972.〔 Under the pair's ownership, the “El Mo” became a youth oriented blues and rock music venue and brought bands like Downchild Blues Band, which became the club's house band, as well as Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters and many others "up the street" and paid them a regular fee to perform. During the early 1970s, the upstairs featured "retreads" and "has-been" acts mostly with the occasional group on the rise. Most of the time drink sales determined which bands would return. The bands would start out downstairs and if the revenue they generated increased, they would sometimes graduate on upstairs. Up and coming performers such as Tom Waits and U2 and Elvis Costello performed at the El Mo in the 1970s.〔 Located within walking distance of the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, and George Brown College (which was housed in Kensington Market at the time) the venue became a popular place for students living nearby. Throughout the 1970s the club was known as a bastion of the blues and rock and roll during a time better known for disco. It became infamous due to a 1977 surprise performance by the Rolling Stones after which Mick Jagger was rumoured to have had a backstage assignation with Margaret Trudeau, wife of then-Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau. The venue was featured on the Stones' ''Love You Live'' concert album. In its heyday, the venue also hosted performances by Blondie, the Ramones, Devo and Joan Jett.〔 Changes in the record industry's touring practices, a failure to update the venue, and a deal with Concert Productions International which prevented other promoters from booking the club, saw fewer international acts performing at the El Mo, which increasingly booked local acts instead. Baird and Kristenbrun sold the club in 1986, initiating a long period of frequent ownership changes and decline〔 including it being padlocked twice in 1989〔 and brief closures in 1991 and 2001.〔("El Mocambo saved by Dragons’ Den star Michael Wekerle" ). ''Toronto Star'', November 6, 2014.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「El Mocambo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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