La Ha was my hangout for years during the late 80's/early 90's. I was such a fixture, everyone knew they could find me there, indulging in their delicious chicken&black bean burritos, listening to Gun club or The Pixies. I wrote some of my best early songs and essays in their darker corners. I loved Anna Barss and her BFF, Michael Fitzgerald, aka Bitch Diva. Chef and assistant manager, the charismatic Craig Dehne and I started dating, and had a wonderfully passionate love-affair. I often helped him prep behind the counter, and did dishes in exchange for pints of beer. I joined the crew as they cleaned and fixed up out back in their FIRST attempt at a patio, and planted pansies and marigolds. Late Sunday afternoons I'd put my laundry on at the 'mat across the street and keep watch from my window seat. My cat Salem was the nephew of their official pest control officer, Bruce. Yes, for a time, La Hacienda really was my world, or at least a huge part of it. Of course life got in the way, as it often does, and everything changed. Schedules changed. Acquaintances changed. I started dancing, went back to school, and moved out of the neighbourhood. I always said I'd go back "one day", but 'One Days' just add up to more of life's regrets...
RIP La Hacienda. "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment"...I got to be part of something really fucking special.
https://www.thestar.com/…/toronto-musicians-mourn-la-hacien…
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