Why nobody's at the (private) club
A new wave of members-only clubs are booming everywhere except Toronto.
When Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry were spotted out for dinner at Le Violon in downtown Montréal, the story quickly made international headlines: there they were, two of the most recognizable people on the planet, photographed while sharing a meal at a restaurant that anyone reading this newsletter could theoretically book.
Things might have gone down differently if their dinner was in, say, London or New York, where a wave of members-only restaurants and nightclubs have popped up to cater to celebs and high-rollers looking to curate their social lives while staying out of public view. People wait years to get into Annabel’s, have to avoid getting cut by Casa Cipriani, and literally give blood to spend the day at Magic Castle. But in big Canadian cities, clubs that have tried to follow a similar playbook just can’t seem to take off.
I’m not talking about the legacy clubs that have endured across generations and continue to reinforce social hierarchies: the Lawn is private enough, sure, but it’s hardly suitable for grabbing dinner with a pop star. Soho House does continue to operate, but has dialled back its corporate presence in Canada over recent years.
A few years ago, Ink Entertainment launched Clio, a members-only concept mostly marketed around exclusivity and likemindedness, but over time members said it struggled to deliver on both. As this played out, a number of wellness clubs, fitness studios, and co-working spaces stepped up to fill the gap and were well received. The space relaunched just last month as three new restaurants under the name Portland Square, in a move that Toronto Life called a “pivot from exclusivity to accessibility.”
The city’s social scene is likely no more accessible without these clubs. If anything people will continue to stay in their bubbles, bouncing between backyard parties and private dining rooms. I’m rooting for anyone who steps up to build something new, but if not it wouldn’t be the first (or last) American-driven trend to skip Canada entirely.
Air Canada flight attendants might have won wages for the time it takes to board a plane. Hard to think of another time the public has rallied around a cause like this.
Authentic Brands is taking Guess private in $1.4 billion deal. The company will scoop up 51% of Guess’ intellectual property as part of the deal. The Wall Street Journal ran a great feature on Toronto-born Jamie Salter last year, who has built a multi-billion empire around reviving struggling brands and undervalued IP. In May, Authentic agreed to buy Dockers from Levis with a plan to expand internationally.
Gustaf Westman’s IKEA meatball plate broke my algorithm last night. IKEA has teamed up with different creatives over recent years to keep the brand fresh, including the artist Evelina Kroon, colourist Teklan, and designer Ilse Crawford.
A college football team has started selling tickets to postgame press conferences.
It’s not easy to see someone else living out your dream. Johnathan Hicks says he makes “well over” six figures by filming self-guided walking tours for YouTube. This has been a popular niche on the platform for years, but that hasn’t stopped footage of Hicks walking around Downtown Toronto on a Friday night (something I sadly do for free) from racking up 1.1 million views over the last five years.
Billy Bishop Airport is getting ready to welcome its first fully electric planes.
Cohere is having a very good month so far. The AI start-up raised $500 million last week and yesterday signed a deal to develop tools for the Canadian government.
Louis Vuitton is entering the (saturated) luxury beauty space. Expanding into make up is part of LVMH’s push into more accesible categories, including fragrance and small leather goods as sales for its fashion and leather goods divisions fall.
Can someone please create a new version of Roommate Court for Toronto?
Social media is reviving the 9-9-9 challenge at baseball games. Nine innings. Nine beers. Nine hot dogs. Guys especially love it, and there’s something interesting about the vitality of what is a binge drinking contest in an increasingly sober era.
Sydney Sweeney is … everywhere but it was fun to read more about her story.
Some of the best culture reporting is actually very simple. The Toronto Star sent their culture reporters out to find the best ice cream for under $5 (very happy to see Soma made the list) and map the city’s best happy hours. More of this please.
Feeding birth control to the growing pigeon population is harder than it sounds.
We’re not reading as much as we used to. Reading for pleasure has fallen by more than 40% in the U.S. over the last 20 years, while Denmark is cutting sales taxes on books to address a similar problem. Both of these stories tie back to falling or stalled literacy rates among most OECD countries and brought me to a surprising Canadian stat from 2012: 48% of adults were considered to to have “inadequate” reading skills, according to the Conference Board, up from 42% nine years earlier.