The Boat Restaurant
Kensington Market music venue The Boat says goodbye
The Boat, A Portuguese restaurant since 1976, the bar has thrived since the mid-2000s as a kitschy party spot and live music venue.
A night of dancing to the smoothest music you’ve ever heard in your life. Yacht Rock at the Boat happens every first Friday of the month at The Boat, and is hosted by Toronto’s DJ group The Hit Parade. The “Yacht rock” name for the soft rock format that peaked in popularity between the years of 1975 and 1984. In the musical sense, yacht rock refers to the highly polished brand of soft rock that emanated from Southern California during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Another Toronto music venue is closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Boat has existed as a Portuguese restaurant and event venue since 1976, but got taken up by the music community in the mid-2000s. Since then, the Kensington Market nautical-themed venue was a kitschy spot for DJ parties and live music, playing host to everything from Owen Pallett (then Final Fantasy) to Arkells to community-minded music festivals like Pitter Patter Music Fest and Wavelength.
Over the years, celebrities like Dan Levy, Rachel McAdams, Ronnie Wood and Dan Aykroyd have been spotted on the dancefloor.
The bar had actually reopened for 50-person queer events and open mic nights when Toronto was in Stage 3 this summer, but it’s thrown in the towel with the latest lockdown.
“It is with extreme sadness that we are saying goodbye to this amazing community,” they wrote on Facebook. “Like so many other venues before us, we had done our best to survive this pandemic. We had the best landlord that worked with us through these unforeseen times; but we are unsure what the future will bring for this industry.
“We cannot thank everyone enough for all your support over the years. To everyone who has ever eaten here, jammed here, DJ’ed here, hosted a birthday party here, danced the night away here, met up with friends for a drink here, we want to say CHEERS
to you.”
The Boat is one of many music venues calling it quits amidst the pandemic. Like the Mod Club, which also recently closed, it was one of the venues receiving tax relief from the city. But it clearly wasn’t enough.
Kensington Market, especially, has been facing a crisis of closing businesses.
On Augusta, The Boat was next door to Krudar Muy Thai and fellow music and party spot Round Venue, both of which were abruptly locked out by their landlord earlier this month.
We all loved The Boat Restaurant, So here is a few other great bars and munchies worth checking in and around Kensington Market downtown Toronto your going to love HERE!