Lee's Palace Gets Facelift With New Mural, Burrito Restaurant(!)

Toronto's Lee's Palace concert venue is currently updating the famous mural decorating the front of the building, and will have a completely new facade very soon. It will also get its own Big Fat Burrito franchise.

Against The Grain Concerts' Jeff Cohen, who owns the venue on Bloor Street West near Bathurst Street, says Runt, the original artist, has been asked to redo the mural once the rebuild is complete. Cohen says the building's signs will also be moved, new entrances will be put in place and the Big Fat Burrito franchise will move into the building.

"Lisa and Mike [Shepherd], who own Big Fat Burrito, an indie mom and pop eatery in Kensington Market, are big live music fans, and Mike used to manage the Phoenix, so it's a nice fit for us, and a nice addition to the Annex, with our loss of Mel's, and IMO thank god another eatery that isn't a sushi place," Cohen says in a statement.

According to Cohen, Big Fat Burrito's owners suggested the venue contact Runt to update the mural, and also suggested getting a grant from the City Of Toronto. Cohen says the City Of Toronto is matching the costs of the renovation.

"We had applied two years earlier to do this via our local BIA, but word was they couldn't sign off because in their opinion our facade was a form of graffiti," Cohen says.

"So we just reapplied the following year direct to the city and got it.

"Since the City Of Toronto seems to spend so much time trying to close bars, dance clubs, and entertainment businesses, personally it's wonderful to see them enthusiastically contributing to it, and our culture."

Before it became a concert venue, the building that is now Lee's Palace was a movie theatre in the 1950s and was a restaurant in the '60s and '70s. It officially opened as a concert club in 1985. The building also hosts the Dance Cave nightclub on its upper floor.