I wish I could take credit for the title of this post, but that has to go to Doug Sheppard, who came up with this gem after reading a Torontoist article by local nightlife crusader Kevin Bracken in which he suggests that in order to boost tourism, Accordion City should promote itself as a capital of vice — having the cops look the other way when it comes to pot, extending legal drinking hours, and having “a little bit more ‘red-light district’.”
I have more to say, but in the meantime, enjoy this book cover that I posted in an article from a couple of years back…
3 replies on “Kevin Bracken: “You say ‘ecstasy-fueled sex tourist hellhole’ like it’s a bad thing.””
You have to admit, if our world is a TV show in another dimension, like you have pondered before, my proposals would get us a serious ratings boost.
If there were no network censors, anyway đ
Toronto could use better night life, although I think what it really needs is diversity in nightlife. Yeah it would be great if bars were open until 4 or hell, 6am, but if that’s only going to apply to bass-thumping stuff in the Club District and not, say, the neighbourhood pub, that’s not so exciting.
In New York you can find an all-night anything. In Toronto it is going to boil down to one of six things: greasy spoon, club/lounge, donut shop, drugstore/retailer, bowling alley, bingo hall.
Toronto’s getting there, but we still have a long way to go.
[…] While we might disagree on specifics, I think that Kevin Bracken is on the right track about promoting Toronto’s naughtier side, something which he proposed in the Torontoist article titled Toronto the Naughty and to which I quickly linked in an article titled Kevin Bracken: âYou say âecstasy-fueled sex tourist hellholeâ like itâs a bad thing.â. […]