07/24/2025
In advance of Coast & Colour, an affirming day for q***r and trans BIPOC folks to gather and take up space at Hanlan's, we wanted to share these incredible photos, courtesy of Bruce Jones. Bruce was born in Jamaica in 1949 and first visited Toronto in June of 1971, where a friend from back home, Delroy Douglas, introduced him to a network of g**s and took him out to the St. Charles Tavern (Yonge/Grosvenor). Bruce moved to Toronto in September of that year to attend the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD) and made his first of many visits to Hanlan's that same month.
These photos, from over half a century ago, are an incredible gift and a powerful reminder that q***r and trans BIPOC folks have always been part of Hanlan's q***r history. It's because of people like Bruce and his friends that we still have Hanlan's today. It remains one of only a small handful of public q***r spaces globally to have survived this long—and it survives because q***r people continue to make regular pilgrimages to keep it alive.
We hope you’ll help amplify this history by sharing these images far and wide—and we want to hear from you!
Let us know below what these photos mean to you and what message you have for Bruce. We will pass it along! Let’s give these beautiful elders their flowers 💐💬
1973 Photos
1 - Bruce on the beach
2 - Bruce and Leroy Gray at the swing set, yes THAT same swing set
3 - Bruce and Leroy on the beach
4 - Leroy, Bruce, and Delroy walking along the north end of the beach
5 - Bruce on the ferry
1974 Photos
6 - Bruce and Detlev Meyer on the beach
7 - Bruce's boyfriend Allan Dean camping it up
8 - Friends, food, and jockstraps
9 - Bruce, friend, and Leroy near the Mooring Wall
10 - Detlev, Leroy, and friend near the Mooring Wall
