by Gordon Richardson
Glad Day Bookshop, located at 598A Yonge Street in Toronto, is an independent bookstore specializing in LGBT literature. The store’s name and logo are based on a painting by William Blake. Opened in 1970 by Jearld Moldenhauer, it was the city and Canada’s first bookstore targeted to the gay and lesbian community. The bookstore originally operated out of Moldenhauer’s apartment in the Annex, which also served as the original offices of The Body Politic. Moldenhauer later moved to a house in Kensington Market, where the bookstore and magazine operated out of a shed in his back yard.
For some time in the 1970s the store was located on the second floor of a building just north of the Toronto Reference Library. It was moved to its present location in 1981. In 1991 Moldenhauer sold the store to John Scythes who managed it until late 2011 when Scythes announced he was putting it up for sale due to declining revenues. The store was ultimately purchased by a collective of twenty-two community members and is now the oldest surviving LGBT bookstore in North America.
The ArQuives collection houses two signs advertising the bookshop. One is hand painted and probably an original, while the other is quite modern and of a much later date.
Update: Jearld Moldenhauer has advised that he hand-painted the first sign (left in above photo) and that the other sign was initially produced for Glad Day’s Boston location. More information on the origins of Glad Day Bookshop can be found on Jearld’s website: Click here