Hooker Harvey’s

[yessir235]

Was walking past this Toronto institution the other day and have a question for the older generation on here since I am Gen Z/millenial.

As the name suggests, this place was a popular intersection for street prostitution back in the day. I’m curious at what point did street hookers completely disappear due to the rise of the internet? Was is post 2010 or earlier, and at what point did it become more normal to see women from the internet than classified ads ?
Did anyone have any crazy stories from back I the day? As someone who never got to see that and never will, (at least not in Canada for sure)

 

[unassuming]

Was walking past this Toronto institution the other day and have a question for the older generation on here since I am Gen Z/millenial.

As the name suggests, this place was a popular intersection for street prostitution back in the day. I’m curious at what point did street hookers completely disappear due to the rise of the internet? Was is post 2010 or earlier, and at what point did it become more normal to see women from the internet than classified ads ?
Did anyone have any crazy stories from back I the day? As someone who never got to see that and never will, (at least not in Canada for sure)

Yup, rise of the internet!

 

[great_times2]

I recall Craigslist changed everything..... the OG Leo

 

[onomatopoeia]

Hooker Harvey's is at the northwest corner of Gerrard Street East and Jarvis Street. Back in the day, the streetwalkers were usually found on that block, north to Carlton. I don't think there's been any street action there in the past thirty years or so.

 

[Jenesis]

Was walking past this Toronto institution the other day and have a question for the older generation on here since I am Gen Z/millenial.

As the name suggests, this place was a popular intersection for street prostitution back in the day. I’m curious at what point did street hookers completely disappear due to the rise of the internet? Was is post 2010 or earlier, and at what point did it become more normal to see women from the internet than classified ads ?
Did anyone have any crazy stories from back I the day? As someone who never got to see that and never will, (at least not in Canada for sure)

I don't know when they left but I know that 2000/2001 was the start of online forums for escorts.

 

[Combat Shock]

Up to about 10 years ago you could still find a few street walkers on Carlton, Sherburne, Gerrard and Jarvis. You were basically looping around the park, but as others have said Carlton was the main spot right around #140. Another area was Regent Park before they started taking down the high-rise buildings on the south side of Dundas, more or less around the same time, maybe 12-14 years ago.

 

[Ponderling]

A lot IMO was the result of police effort to kill street prostitution.

Police and crown likely dont give a rat about consenting adults, but bend to the ear of outraged neighbourhood groups.

So ladies figured out the issues, and moved to other ways of getting dates, and a ton of police friction went away.

 

[Fun For All]

You can still find the occasional stray at the Carlton/Church corner

 

[glamphotographer]

Was walking past this Toronto institution the other day and have a question for the older generation on here since I am Gen Z/millenial.

As the name suggests, this place was a popular intersection for street prostitution back in the day. I’m curious at what point did street hookers completely disappear due to the rise of the internet? Was is post 2010 or earlier, and at what point did it become more normal to see women from the internet than classified ads ?
Did anyone have any crazy stories from back I the day? As someone who never got to see that and never will, (at least not in Canada for sure)

I would say the early 2000's and when Terb started.

 

[GameBoy27]

You can still find the occasional stray at the Carlton/Church corner

And Sherbourne and Dundas. Pretty nasty intersection.

 

[SchlongConery]

I recall Craigslist changed everything..... the OG Leo

Loooonnnnnng before craigslist, there was NOW Magazine's escort ads starting from the back pages.

Used to have to go down to pay for ads in person on Danforth. (I had an 'adult' business investment)

Later, more and more mainstreet newspapers started carrying what were known as "Business Personals". The Toronto Sun was quite strong and made a shitload of money on them at teh time which saved them from bankruptcy.

This all started in the mid-90's.

A littlle after this started in Canada, in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, a small 'Alternative' tabloid like Toronto's NOW Magazine started carrying thinly veiled prostitutuion ads under "modelling' or private entertainers.

The name of this Tampa Bay weekly newspaper? The Backpages!

Which then morphed into local online newspapers hosting the sex ads under the Backpages website infrastructure.

Tons more followed, Both print and starting online. This was also in the 1-976-SEX-TALK phone fantasy services era. Those ads kept newspapers alive.

Then the actual escort ads moved onto automated phone ads for escorts. The girl would pay to record a sexy ad to which guys would call the automated attendant system and listen to the girl describe herself= and give her number out. Anyone remember 'The RedZone'? (Someone else can tell about that)

Some Americans got their prayer beads in a knot and got Backpages web shut down. Then working girls moved to a free advertising BBS (Bulletin Board System) called craigslist. Soon enough craigslist started charging for sex ads. The rest of the ads were still free.

Then more and more BBS' like leolist and too many others to count started popping up, coming and going in and out of business.

And so it continues.

 

[wigglee]

north from church and gerrard to carlton , right turn to jarvis, right turn to gerrard (harveys), right turn to church and round and round....and to check out the tgirls, homewood and maitland and jarvis and wellesley ( basically that whole block around jarvis collegiate).

 

[unassuming]

I started the hobby in 1980. My first SP was a street walker that I picked up from the "Track". She gave me a BBJ in the washroom of a nearby small hotel, the "Selby". I didn't know the protocol regarding a BBBJ, I came in her mouth, she pulled off immediately and I apologized. I did repeat with her a few times . From then on I was hooked on this scene, at least once a week I would drive and cruise the track , was always nervous about LE, never got busted though.
Although covered BJ was the norm, I did get my fair share of BBBJ. There was this facially stunning hooker that would do CIM in a parking lot stairwellI, between clients she would go into a house across the street to brush her teeth and rinse with Listerine. I always used a condom for vaginal sex.
The "Track" was a sight to see, especially on the weekends- the "Hooker Harveys"!!!!

Then the agencies started to pop up in the 90's. I abandoned the street scene and from then on used agencies. Service began to open up, I received DFK, BBBJ from most of these SPs., and sometimes CIMSW.

The 2000's saw more and more europeans at the agencies and I believed they started doing the BBBJ and eventually the CIMSW.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

I come from an era of the Warwick House circa 1973. All quite genteel in it's way. Go in and sit down and have a drink. Girls were all sitting at small tables with a little table light with lampshade. One could approach and sit down and chat and make an arrangement to scurry up the street to Larry's Hideaway for a $10.00 room and a $30 fuck. The lady would wash your junk with a washcloth at the sink and the fun would begin. Somewhere around 1981 the street action exploded. I moved downtown to Sherbourne Street right beside the Hotel Isabella. That summer and fall there was a sudden throng of hookers on the sidewalk. My buddy and I used to drink at the Hotel Isabella. One Monday we went back in and it had changed overnight into a gay bar. The Greek waiters looked none too pleased.

 

[unassuming]

....The lady would wash your junk with a washcloth at the sink and the fun would begin. .....

Saw this one SP where after I got undressed, she would play fully grab my cock and lead me to the sink, where she would wash it before the fun started (I was extra horny that night) I blew my load in mid wash, could not get a 2nd SOG in the 1/2 hr session.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

Without rambling on too much more. I am reminded of a one night stand....well it actually turned into a several nights with the hottest 16 year old nimpho I ever met. Her last name was Harvey and after we fucked the first time she started singing the tune "Harvey's got a reputation" (theme song of their advertising pitch back in those days)

 

[Mandalorian]

I remember those days. Mid to late 90’s. I was not into the scene but would drive the track with some friends to gawk at the street walkers. We suburban kids were easily amused. My first foray into real SW (not strippers) was at Fantasia in RH. That really opened my eyes and was the gateway drug into bigger and better things. When Fantasia got shut down, I used to make weekend trips to Niagara Falls to enjoyed Seductions and Sundowners. Those were the days.

 

[onomatopoeia]

Once I saw a young woman, about 20 years old, working on the north side of Carlton, just west of Jarvis. A convertible with several guys in it drove by, and a couple of the guys recognized her and shouted her real first name. She said "No! I'm not me!".

 

[Bucktee]

Gentrification and the internet. Lots of new condo developments in and around the area were rising so there was pressure on law enforcement to clamp down on street solicitation. More broadly, the internet killed oldschool street prostitution.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Hooker Harvey's is at the northwest corner of Gerrard Street East and Jarvis Street. Back in the day, the streetwalkers were usually found on that block, north to Carlton. I don't think there's been any street action there in the past thirty years or so.

I think that's about right. I remember walking to a Leaf game with a buddy in the 90's after parking in the Jarvis area. We obviously didn't look like cops and a girl came up to us and offered to blow us both for $100. We weren't exactly hobby partners and our wives knew each other so we passed. But it was an interesting, and memorable, proposition.