Owner Darryl Fine Opened January 1991 (1991-01) | Type Bar | |
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Address 542 Queen Street West
Toronto ON M5V 2B5 Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada Genre(s) Rock, punk, alternative, rockabilly | ||
The Bovine Sex Club (original styled "Clvb") is a bar on Toronto's Queen Street West strip. In operation since January 1991, the Bovine Sex Club (often shortened to 'the Bovine' or 'the BSC') has at various times found itself at the forefront of Toronto's rock, punk, alternative, and rockabilly music scenes.
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A haven for independent musicians and artists since day one, the Bovine also became well known for being one of the first establishments to serve Jägermeister on tap.
History
The club opened in January 1991 with a trio of Toronto nightlife enthusiasts behind it in ownership capacity — Wesley Thuro who already had some organizational experience with Toronto nightlife establishments having launched the all ages rave club 23 Hop just a few months earlier in 1990, colourful CFNY radio personality Chris Sheppard who in addition to achieving a measure of local fame as the voice of CFNY's weekend live-to-air broadcasts from various Toronto clubs also performed under the 'DJ Dogwhistle' moniker, and Darryl Fine.
Those who have visited the club include members of U2, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Foo Fighters, The Offspring, Rage Against the Machine, Mötley Crüe, The Strokes, Lenny Kravitz Perry Farrell, Kings of Leon and Pink. As well, the Bovine is the home away from home for desert rockers Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal and has hosted countless actors, including Mickey Rourke and Nick Nolte, filmmakers, TIFF parties (including annual parties for the Wild Bunch film production and distribution company), festival after-parties, tattoo artists (favourite of both Kurt Wiscombe and Bob Tyrrell) and festivals.
In 2013 the club opened a roof top patio bar known as the Tiki Bar.
Art
The Bovine's facade was built by a small group of local artists including Dave Grieveson and Great Bob Scott (also the drummer for The Look People). They worked under the creator of the Bovine, Happy Dog (real name - Wesley Thuro). The exterior and interior were an art installation made solely from discarded items. Long rumoured to have been modelled after New York City's "The Scrap Bar" in fact owes more of its heritage to a 70s Toronto club called "Brandy's" whose reputation for as a 'meeting place' inspired both Thuro and the Bovine's eventual sole owner, Darryl Fine.