ROCHDALE – IT’S THE SIXTIES MAN.
Tomorrow's Caribbean Camera Tonight! ROCHDALE – IT’S THE SIXTIES MAN. FREE LOVE AND FREE RENT COME TO TORONTO. BLACK POWER TOO By Stephen Weir Do you know what Rochdale College was? No? That probably means that you weren’t alive and living in the Toronto in the late Sixties when Rochdale was the centre of all things counter culture … including Black Power. Cast of rochdale in costume It was a large residence on Bloor Street near Spadina and housed over 800 people; most of them love bead-wearing students. It was launched in 1968 as an experiment in a student run, free form alternative education set in a hippie run co-op. Rochdale lasted only 8-years. Closure came when the students stopped paying rent and the building started falling apart. At the time the police and neighbours said it had become a haven for drugs and crime. It was closed in 1975 when the authorities actually welded the front doors shut. Irony of Ironies, it is now a senior’s residence and many of