Traveling through time: New tour focuses on Little Jamaica’s musical history

Lately, Phil Vassell has been music Historical Walking Tour Toronto’s “Little Jamaica”.

On a hot afternoon, Global News took an exclusive walking tour of Eglinton West, the heart of the ghetto, with the executive director of the Canadian Black Music Archive.

“The first stop on this tour is Wisden’s Barber Shop,” Wasser said, pointing to the sign for the barber shop, which he said was owned and operated in the community for more than 41 years by the late Jimmy Wisden.

“He was part of the duo Bob and Wisdom,” Wasser said. “He moved from Montego Bay to this part of the city… He started singing on the side, and the basement of his store was a rehearsal space.”

Wasser said that in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, coinciding with the mass immigration of Jamaican pioneers to Canada, it was common to see some of the biggest names in reggae music, such as Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles and even Bob Marley, roaming Little Jamaica, rehearsing and recording in store basements.

“There’s a lot of oral history here, but not enough written history,” Wasser said. “We want to research, record and preserve it so that future generations can have something to look forward to.”

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Conservation is key, Wasser said. He noted that over the years Light rail constructiongentrification and neglect nearly wiped the neighborhood off the map.

That was a hard truth to swallow for Jay Douglas, who had witnessed and benefited from the glory of Little Jamaica. In the 1960s, Douglas was the lead singer of The Cougars, a popular band in Caribbean nightclubs in Toronto and Montreal that played everything from ska and reggae to blues and funk.

The three-time Juno Award nominee’s contributions are immortalized through his likeness on a massive mural in Reggae Alley in Toronto’s Little Jamaica.

“I grew up in this neighborhood, and this is where all the action happened,” Douglas told Global News, his words echoing the colorful mural behind him. “This is where we shopped, this is where we hung out and rehearsed.

“We need to teach our children, our grandchildren, we need to teach them and share the culture with them so they can pass it on.”

Fergus Hambleton, singer-songwriter for the Juno Award-winning Canadian reggae band The Sattalites, also traces the band’s origins to Little Jamaica, where it began as a music school.

“I started coming to this area around the mid-’70s,” Hambleton said, standing in front of another longtime neighborhood staple, Spence’s Bakery.

“Jojo (Bennett) and I started a little music school right down the street,” Hambleton said, pointing to a building with a sign that read “Jewelry of the Caribbean.”

“Students would come and play their songs. So this whole area is just amazing as a music venue.”

Back to the interactive tour, Wasser brings Global News to one of Little Jamaica’s oldest and most influential institutions, located in the heart of the neighborhood.

“Monica’s was one of the first Black-owned and operated businesses in the area,” Wasser said, pointing to the store’s iconic red, white and yellow sign that reads “Monica’s Cosmetic Supplies, Inc.”

“According to Monica’s son, they started doing it in the late ’60s,” Wasser said. “They had a basement studio, and that basement studio recorded the first rap record ever made in Canada… It was called Ladies’ Delight This is what a gentleman named Mr. Q did. ”

For those who attended the public tour at 5 p.m. that evening, one emotion kept coming back: a new appreciation for Little Jamaica’s rich history.

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