GO Centre: 288½ Bank Street

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The GO Centre struggled to find a new location after the fire that destroyed their space on Elgin Street. On top of that, they were busy trying to coordinate a major national conference that year, Celebration '79. 

A space above what was Yesterday's Restaurant on Sparks Street was seriously considered, but the deal fell through, probably due to discrimination from the landlord.

Eventually, they found the space at 288½ Bank Street, but it needed significant renovations to bring it up to code and to meet the demands of the organization. This new landlord, however, refused to do any renovations after they learned Gays of Ottawa was... a gay organization...  and they were eventually squeezed out of the space. John Duggan recalls that a midnight move was done in November to get their property out of the Bank space to move to 175 Lisgar, which became their home for over five years.

If you know more details about this place, please email info@bankstreet.ca to share dates, facts, images or more.