Please join us on Sunday, September 19th, 2021 at 7pm
In the open-air parking garage on the ground floor of
SPK (Polish Combatants) Hall, 206 Beverley St., Toronto, ON
(Just South of College & St George)
A FREE event!
PARTIES AND MAKING YOUR OWN FUN Revelry and excess in 60s and 70s Toronto, presented by the Home Movie History Project
For 25 years a couple filmed their whirlwind social life of parties, dancing and excursions, through the rise and fall of the 60s and 70s era. Recent European immigrants they enthusiastically embraced the fat years of prosperity in post-war Toronto. The couple started to capture parties thrown at their apartment in the late 50s, along with outings in the company of their circle of friends. A scene that led to more than one wedding, with participants dressed in the searing synthetic colours of the day and guests doing dances like the limbo and twist. As the couple aged the celebrations became a bit calmer, but they continued to film social gatherings at their various homes, showcasing the excess in taste of the coming 70s. From costume parties, pool parties and partying aboard a cabin cruiser; to eye-popping interiors in the 50s, 60s and 70s (from the era of kidney-shaped coffee tables and console stereos, all the way to that of mirrored wallpaper and psychedelic paintings); to Yorkville, the recently opened Nathan Phillips Square and newly built suburbs in the 60s; to going car-camping together with other couples or wearing sombreros at Expo 67; to the lights of the CNE by night, including Laff in the Dark and other amusements; to travel and cottage life full of games and merriment staged for the camera—all this tireless revelry reflecting the ever-expanding personal and material expectations of the times.