Although it took much longer to build than anticipated – doesn’t everything? – the 80-seat rooftop patio at the Bovine Sex Club (542 Queen W, at Bathurst, 416-504-4239, bovinesexclub.com) is finally ready to rock. Bovine honcho Darryl Fine hopes it will remind his hard-partying clientele of a certain other long-gone deck.
“I spent the 80s on the Bamboo’s patio and it left a lasting impression on me,” says Fine.
Not to mention his liver.
“There was a real sense of community. You’d get artists and musicians mixing with party cats and fun girls. I missed those days.”
The patio itself – which sports a tiki concept – is an engineering marvel, built on a steel frame suspended over the building. Up a new set of stairs, you’ll find a cocktail bar with a thatched roof and a jungle of tropical plants. And enough tiki knick-knacks to sink a battleship. Just don’t come expecting Motorhead or AC/DC.
“We’re playing the kind of music you’d hear lying on the beach in Hawaii,” explains Fine. “I like to think of lounge as the rock ‘n’ roll of the beatnik era.”
