On Tuesday afternoon, an iconic Toronto sign appeared in a very unexpected place: on eBay.
When we talked to El Mocambo owner Sam Grosso last month about selling the venue (he owns 50 per cent), he had been hopeful the sign would remain in tact, on Spadina Ave. where it currently hangs. So what’s it doing for sale on the internet?
“What else am I gonna do with it? I need to get rid of it. The new owners want it off the building, so we gotta take it down,” says Grosso.
The new owners, he adds, are an unnamed retail store. But they haven’t quite signed on the dotted line.
“The sale is supposed to firm up tomorrow at 5 pm. But it was supposed to firm up last Wednesday at 5 pm. So this place might not even be sold. It’s a conditional sale right now so the buyers have an out. They can just walk away.”
The internet is already buzzing about the sign’s sudden availability – something Grosso had banked on.
“That’s why I put it on eBay,” he says. “Because I want to get something stirred up. I want to see if the city can come in and take it off our hands.”
Grosso estimates that it will cost about $4,000 just to take it down – money he doesn’t have at the moment.
“I’m hoping that the city would buy it and do what they say they’re going to do with the Sam The Record Man sign,” he says, adding that he’d really love the neon palm tree to stay in Toronto. “Or, I could raise enough money and hang it on Queen Street.” Where exactly? Grosso’s thinking outside his other club – the Cadillac Lounge. “I’m a big fan of neon. That’s why I spearheaded it.”
At press time, the highest bid was $305.00.
