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Lifestyle Real Estate

Neighbourhood spotlight: Club crawl on King West

Even though it’s technically outside of the official Entertainment District, the area around King West between Spadina and Dufferin once held many of Toronto’s best underground clubs, including legendary party spots Industry, Roxy Blu, Footwork and Una Mas. 

These days the Hoxton (69 Bathurst, 647-400-4788, thehoxton.ca) is your best bet for international DJ superstars as well as live shows by touring bands and electronic acts.

If the lineup there is too long, there are plenty of other dance floors nearby. Walk around the corner to EFS (647 King West, 416-477-5460, efstoronto.com), where you can party to hip-hop and R&B and enjoy the big rooftop patio. Or just cross the street to Door Three (667 King West, 647-923-6673, doorthree.ca), a cozy lounge that the Wheat Sheaf (one of Toronto’s oldest bars) has opened on its second floor. 

Further west and away from the crowds, Cabal (782 King West, 647-342-8866, cabalsocial.com) has a more casual mood than most King West clubs, and often features the kind of soulful deep house that people used to seek out at Roxy Blu and Una Mas. 

The hedge fund crowd is catered to at spots like the Citizen (522 King West, 416-703-2800, thecitizento.com), Weslodge Saloon (480 King West, 647-660-0999, weslodge.com), and Brassaii (461 King West, 416-598-4730, brassaii.com), but a growing number of venues offer more offbeat ways to spend your nights: play ping pong at Spin Toronto (461 King West, 416-599-7746, toronto.wearespin.com), or cool off at Chill Ice House (82 Bathurst, 416-901-3330, chillicehouse.com), where everything is made out of actual ice.

Even live music fans have some options: the King West location of the Bier Markt (600 King West, 416-862-1175, biermarktmusic.com) now has indie bands many nights of the week. This isn’t the one Rob Ford made famous, though. 

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