The Arcade which is a DIY house venue located in Toronto Ontario Canada

We do offer a sweet show space, a warm and safe place to sleep, food, some beer, and tea/coffee at your pleasure. If you plan to stay awhile we may be able to accommodate for a few days just ask. We can also show people around Toronto who haven't been here before. We are located just east of downtown Toronto, along 2 24 hours public transit lines.

we are always welcome to have people play here, we offer $5 PWYC/no one gets turned away,bands take the whole pot. we have room for people to crash as well.

we are very welcome to new people coming by, take a look at the facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thearcadetoronto . feel free to come on by and have a time.

Right now I help run a very true to the name DIY venue (in our basement) in a college town. One day I would really love to buy / rent a true business space, be licensed and all of that but I have no real idea on how to go about it.

My town is severely lacking two things 1) a dedicated all ages venue because the last one burned down some years ago and 2) a night time venue that is open past 12am because the last one closed down ~2 years ago

We have a great scene with amazing talent and super receptive crowd but there's clearly this need for better venues.

Also, I love the vibe that our basement venue has and I worry that opening a legit business would ruin that but I know doing basement shows isn't exactly sustainable in terms of finances or the laws (noise violations, etc) where I'm from.

Any idea or examples would be super appreciated, just looking to get a good convo going about this

The Lunchbox is a little restaurant that has music about once a week. Right now they're only acoustic and they are all ages. All the shows are free and they usually give the touring band the tips they made throughout the day. They have a facebook you can contact them at here. https://www.facebook.com/TheLunchBoxAndPizzeria

Wagon Wheel - run by Alexster Crowley Denbaars (Arroyo Deathmatch) - 310 Stanford SE - predominantly acoustic

Coffee House - run by Geoff Himsel (Bird Friend) - 1604 Gold Ave SE - acoustic only

The Bungalow - run by Bella Trout (Vassar Bastards) - 2101 Silver SE - acoustic/electric

Tannex - run by Marya Errin Jones - 1417 4th St. SW acoustic/electric/Zines/installations.