Big Bang Bash at Hearn Power Plant – Toronto Luminato

On Thursday I was fortunate enough to attend the Yves St. Laurent & Luminato opening party with my father which was held at the old Hearn Power Station, usually the site of movie sets and the odd urban explorers who venture in to snap photos although the premises is patrolled by security 24/7, Thursday it saw a whole new kind of event. Now when I was a teen going to raves in abandoned buildings in Toronto was common place, but once the rave scene met it’s demise as we knew it so did those types of events. However on Valentine’s day this year Promise (the company that hosts the Cherry Beach parties on Sundays) hosted a spectacular rave  in the Tower Automotive building which had sat vacant for years while developers tried to get plans approved to redevelop the site, the proposal to redevelop that site has been since approved and we can expect to see some mixed use lofts breaking ground there in the next few years.

So on Thursday the powers that be allowed Luminato event to be held in there and my what a sight to behold. When we pulled up the smoke stack had been lit up with a few spotlights as we followed the convoy of cabs, personal vehicles and limousines to the north-west side of the building and proceeded down a lit up entrance into the actual building where we were met by the valet, a red carpet, and a long step and repeat wall with various media personalities such as Jeanne Beker conducting interviews with the movers and shakers as they arrived as the photographers snapped pics.

The venue seemed to have been cleaned up real well, perhaps the puddles in the roped off areas were from a high pressure washing they had given the place, and patches of what appeared to be reasonably fresh patches of concrete on the floor here and there covered up what would otherwise be ‘car eating’ sized holes in the floor. The food was top-notch, the lighting was fantastic, the music and all the rest of the atmosphere often left me standing there asking myself “Am I really inside this place for a party? Wearing a suit? Why doesn’t this happen here more often?” as I sipped on champagne and had my fill of hors d’oeuvres.

Yep.

It was real.

It totally happened.

I know this because the hangover the next day didn’t come from nowhere and I’ve got the pics to prove it.

I heard a rumor that Hearn might become a location for more events in the future, I mean with the work already gone into it for this event and getting it up to code for Fire and such it would be a waste.