If you want to know one thing about Toronto, let it be what went on in Yorkville during the 1960s.
When New York City found its artists burrowing in Greenwich Village, and while artists were flocking to Haight-Ashbury on the San Francisco scene, the hippies of Toronto were building their own cultural haven in Yorkville.
Located in the dead centre of the city, the neighbourhood became a place for Canadian musicians, writers, and political activists to form a community in one of their country’s largest metropolises. Singers like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Gordon Lightfoot found themselves in the same cafes and clubs as migrated Americans including Rick James, Ronnie Hawkins, and Leon Redbone before making a name for themselves in the mainstream. Draft dodgers mixed in with curious Canadian youths, and a presence was born that shocked and alarmed the Silent Generation as the 1960s counterculture grew.
But after a few years of a flourishing arts scene and political demonstrations, the creation of an experimental university started Yorkville on its short road to decay. But could an educational experiment gone wrong be enough to destroy one of the most prominent cultures in Canadian history?
Check out the documentary preview below. An Indiegogo campaign didn’t quite make the goal for the production team, but keep an eye on their official website for more details.
