It’s a summer afternoon in Parkdale, and there’s a party going on.
A back alley south of Queen West is blocked off, the sounds of motorcycles roar through the sidestreets and the smell of barbecuing meat wafts over the porches of nearby yards.
If the festivities get loud, or the party goes late, the neighbours aren’t likely to complain.
The men hosting this party are the Downtown Toronto chapter of the Hells Angels, and this nondescript building a stone’s throw from the Gladstone Hotel is their hangout.
Say hello to the local face of the world’s most notorious biker club.
The Downtown Toronto Hells Angels were rousted from their Eastern Ave clubhouse in a high profile police raid in 2007 and relocated to Parkdale, where their new digs is blending in with trendy bars and artisanal jewelry shops.
Unlike that infamous biker den, there is no Hells Angels logo above the door on Elm Grove Avenue, no winged skull emblazoned on the wall. But that the nondescript building with barred windows is a major biker hangout is well-known to the neighbours.
It’s clear from asking around that at least some in the area don’t feel up to commenting.
Questions about the hangout are frequently met with averted eyes and suggestions to ask someone else.
And Gord Perks, the city councillor for the neighbourhood, would not take questions on the subject.
There are anecdotes of rowdy bikers catcalling local women, and motorcycles so loud they set off car alarms as they tool down Queen St, but no one says as much on record. Some locals seem completely unfazed by the Angels in their midst, however.
One woman who lives nearby doesn’t hesitate when asked if she’s seen anything unusual happening on Elm Grove. “Oh, you mean the Hells Angels?” she responds.
Although she crosses to the other side of the street when she sees congregations of bikers there, she said the Angels’ presence in the neighbourhood is more a curiosity than a source of fear.
Jennifer Day and Alastair Crombie work at Made You Look, the jewelry store directly across the street from the hangout. Day says the Angels have invited her over for barbecues several times, and she’s on such good terms with the bikers they’ve even given her a playful nickname, which she is too embarrassed to share.
“They’re really nice and friendly,” she says.
Crombie’s large workshop window faces the Elm Grove hangout, and he frequently spends late nights there in full view working. “I’ve had more trouble with the kids at Wrongbar” than with the bikers, he says.
Det Sgt. Len Isnor of the OPP Biker Enforcement Unit says that there have been no official complaints about the address on Elm Grove.
According to Isner, the Elm Grove building was set up as a temporary hangout some time around 2008, after the raid on their Eastern Avenue clubhouse.
Det. Sgt. Isner suggests that the Angels haven’t cleaned up their act, merely their image. Since federal anti-organized crime legislation was passed in 2007, the Angels have become more discreet. The new laws made it illegal to belong to a criminal organization, and although the courts have had a hard time making such charges stick against the biker clubs members, Hells Angels across the country are less open about their ties to the club. Hence the lack of signage in Parkdale.
“That seems to be the trend of the future,” Isner said. “They’re not putting the markings like they used to because they’re afraid of the criminal organization laws.”
They’re also more cautious about doing anything at their clubhouses that could lead to criminal charges.
Hells Angels members often argue that not everyone in the club is a criminal. But Isner says, “they’re still operating as a criminal organization. They still exist. We’re doing everything we can” to stop them, he said.
Five senior members of the Toronto chapter of Hell Angels were convicted of drugs and weapons charges in May.
A court ruling is expected as early as this week on whether the police can permanently confiscate the Eastern Avenue clubhouse as the proceeds of crime. That decision will determine if the bikers get back the keys to their longtime headquarters, and could have a big impact on whether Parkdale’s Angels are here to stay.
