I wanted to be a Beatnik. The beginning of the 60's saw the emergence of the "village" in Toronto. Before I attended Malvern, I was a student at Runnymede Collegiate. During my grade nine and the first time in grade ten my school buddies and attended the downtown jazz and folk clubs. Also, I was a member of a downtown amateur theatre company, so had more access to these “subterranean” haunts.

First it was the Gerrard Village - with a few coffee houses and book stores – (Clayton and Christine Johnson's father’s Vanguard Book Store). The hub of the scene was The Bohemian Embassy with poetry readings, theatre and folk singing. The House of Hamburg gave Toronto jazz and improv theatre (Clem Hamburg played at least once a night). The Upstairs Club, the Cellar and the First Floor Club were jazz spots not to be missed. The Mouse Hole, had a steady stream of folk and blues artists. Tight liquor license laws meant all these places where open to 14 and 15 year olds who were reading Ginsberg, Kerouac and Burroughs and listening to Monk, Miles, Mingus and Dylan. The “times they were a changing”.

I wanted to have my own place to present plays, music and poetry. My mom and dad owned the grocery store at the comer of Willow and Pine with a basement large enough for a few people to watch a play or listen to music and poetry. "Momsie" was all for it. So it began. With my girlfriend Astrid Buss (Adams) and some school buddies - Larry Barnett, Bernd Baudisch and Ron Edmonds and Momsie the construction began (building codes…. what building codes?). We painted the brick walls red and the ceiling joists black, covered orange crates with burlap for seats, picked up wooden olive barrels from Kensington Market for tables, fixed up the "Kahn", built a bar, got some stools and wired lights and a sound system. During construction more people joined the group - Carl Pamminger, Reinhart Blum, John Bennett, Peter Brown.

After school each day we would get together to dream and build our Grotto - don't know where the name came from - just sounded cool. I set about making some membership cards, menus, and posters then lining up some entertainment.

We had a good start, Astrid was singing with Larry and Reinhart was singing with Judith Campbell. Opening was set for Friday & Saturday October 5th & 6th (1963). I figured a few people from school would drop by just to see what we were doing. Well, it was nuts! We had over five hundred people go through the doors the both nights. Some came in and looked around and left others stayed the whole night talking, drinking coffee and listening to the music. It was “groovy”.

The Grotto stayed open for most of the winter and spring. During the week after school it was open to sit around and play music and talk. On weekends we continued to present folkies and poets. A daily paper or two came for a story; Don Cullen, owner of the Bohemian Embassy, interviewed me on CFRB. Next September or October we reopened. The Grotto continued to be a popular weekend spot. Gerry Robinson from CKVR - TV Barrie contacted me to produce live three folk music shows called "Hootenanny" and one Jazz Concert (produced by our Jazz coordinator - Carl Pamminger). Joni Anderson (Joni Mitchell) was scheduled to play the show, but failed to arrive at the Eglinton Subway station when the bus pulled up. (Hey Joni can you make it this time?) The TV shows were fun. I would line up the talent, fill a rented bus for the audience, then off to Barrie and host the show. Too bad it was live to air – no video record.

Some very talented people performed at the Grotto and the TV shows: Adam Mitchell (later with the Paupers), Russ Little (theme music for SCTV and Howard Shore (motion picture composer). Many of the singers and poets have continued to perform. It was a blast creating memories that have lasted decades.

All things come to an end. The scene changed with the electrification of music, the coming of the Beatles and growing older. No more Beatniks. It was the summer of LOVE - everyone was a Hippie.

Billy