Accession 2024.014 - 2024.014 acquisition

Co-owners of the BamBoo Club, Patti Habib and Richard O’Brien met when they both worked at CBC Radio. O’Brien worked on This Country in the Morning and Habib worked as a story producer for CBC Radio’s As It Happens. The two ran a speakeasy named M.B.C. in the late 1970s. The name was an allusion to the fact that Habib and O’Brien had been unable to buy the legendary Embassy Tavern which was nearby. The M.B.C. was open only two days a week (Monday and Thursday) but it attracted big names of the day such as Rough Trade, Parachute Club to soul singer Junior Walker. Bands would often play until 6a.m.
Habib and O’Brien spent these early years building a reputation for throwing [adjective] parties and building a mailing list of attendees. In 1983 they leased a space at 312 Queen Street West that had been a laundry and then a shop called Wicker World and the BamBoo Club was born.
The space needed massive renovations including adding toilets, fixing the plumbing, and removing heavy equipment from when the space was a laundromat. O’Brien and Habib enlisted many friends to help with the renovations and sourced their furniture and decorations for the club from clubs that had gone out of business. They had promised to host the release party for Parachute Club’s debut self-titled album and they kept that promise despite not having a liquor license nor running water in the venue. The club officially opened on August 26, 1983 with a show by American funk band, Prince Charles and the City Beat Band.
The BamBoo quickly built a reputation as an unpretentious space with good food and the best in live performances of world music. The very popular menu of Thai and West Indian food was thanks to chefs Wandee Young and Vera Khan respectively. The menu changed very little through the club’s almost 20 year run and in 1997 Patti Habib and Richard O’Brien put out a cookbook based on that menu. The kitchen’s “Spicy Thai Noodles” was the first introduction for many Torontonians to Pad Thai.
In summer of 1984, Habib and O’Brien opened the club’s rooftop patio dubbed the Treetop Lounge. This offered a view of the Toronto skyline including the CN Tower and a Jamaican style bar and bbq. The Treetop Lounge raised the club’s legal capacity to 500.
The décor of the club was bright and colourful. Much of it’s aesthetic was due to artist Barbara Klunder. Her African-influenced art was essential to the BamBoo’s marketing. The logo, ads, menus, posters, t-shirts, giant murals, monthly newsletters, and much more were designed by Klunder in her unique style.
Richard O’Brien was responsible for booking most of the bands and the BamBoo’s lineups reflected his taste in music. The BamBoo was somewhat unique in the Queen Street West scene because, with space for 500 patrons, it had a much larger capacity than many of the other small clubs on Queen Street. The capacity made it an attractive venue for larger international acts. Over the years it featured international musicians and bands such as Hugh Masekela, Fishbone, Cecil Taylor, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Emiliano Salvador, David Byrne, King Sunny Ade, George Clinton, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Erykah Badu, sonny Okusun, Kanda Bongo Man, Native Spirit, Okyerema Asante, Sankofa, Slim Gaillard, Bunny Waller, Buckwheat Zydeco, and many more. It was the venue for early iterations of Afrofest. It also provided a stage for local talent such as Leroy Sibbles, Mesenjah, Rio Connection, CoCaDa, Ramiro’s Latin Orchestra, Mother Tongue, Arrow, Molly Johnson, Soul Stew, Siyaka, Lillian Allen, the Shuffle Demons, Willie Williams, Clifton Joseph, Jason, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Parachute Club and later Parachute frontwoman Lorraine Segato’s solo projects, 20th Century Rebels, Skatones, Kali & Dub, Jacksoul, Bass Is Base, the Sattellites (their 1987 live album Live Via Sattalites was recorded at the BamBoo), and many more. The club also hosted yearly Christmas parties with a Santa Claus for the kids, as well as benefits for various causes, notably they initiated a pro-choice Queen Street club crawl in support of Dr. Henry Morgentaler, and an event to support the CBC which featured everyone from Margaret Attwood to Ernie Coombs (aka Mr. Dressup). The BamBoo was also home to an annual St. Patrick’s Day event that Richard O’Brien and childhood friend Marcus O’Hara had founded in the late 1970s called Martian Awareness Ball. These events also featured O’Hara’s sisters singer, Mary Margaret O’Hara and actress Catherine O’Hara. The club also played host to many parties and events including its annual Toronto International Film Festival parties and its Caribana parties.
The BamBoo was also known as a great place to work. The staff was incredibly close knit, they often worked and socialized together. Patti Habib and Richard O’Brien were known for helping the staff out in any way they could.
In 2000 Richard O’Brien had a very serious stroke that left him paralyzed on his left side. He was not able to participate in running the club as much as before so all of the work fell to Patti Habib. The club closed after their October 31st 2002 event called BooHoo where the Sattalites and Billy Bryans performed. Richard O’Brien had plans for a new venue called Bambu By the Lake on Queens Quay. The venue did not work out and O’Brien suffered a second stroke in 2007 and passed away.
The BamBoo Club is gone by very much not forgotten. Several reunion parties have taken place and Patti Habib maintains a very active Facebook group called BamBoo Reunion where she and others post updates about former staff and bands who played the club.