A lakeside dance hall that outlasted the amusement park around it
The Palais Royale
Opened in 1922 as part of the Sunnyside waterfront scene, the Palais Royale hosted big bands for generations and survived the demolition of the amusement park that once surrounded it.
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The Palais Royale opened in 1922 on Toronto's western waterfront, part of the same lakeside entertainment strip that included Sunnyside Amusement Park, built as a large open dance hall with sweeping views over Lake Ontario. It became one of the city's premier venues for big band and swing music through the 1930s and 1940s, hosting touring American orchestras alongside Canadian bands during the height of the swing era.
A survivor of Sunnyside's demolition
Unlike most of the surrounding Sunnyside amusement park structures, which were torn down in the 1950s to build the Gardiner Expressway, the Palais Royale building survived, continuing to operate as a live music and event venue in the decades since, through periods of both popularity and near-closure. It remains an active concert and event space today, one of the few physical remnants of Toronto's once-thriving Sunnyside waterfront entertainment district.
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