WELCOME TO OUR HOME
A Little Pop-Up Social Club Inside The Gables
Sometimes a house is more than a home, it’s a place where curiosity, creativity, and connection appear unexpectedly.
Welcome to The Gables, one of Tottenham’s most historic homes, located at the corner of Wilson Street and McGoey Drive. Built around 1880 as a single-room dwelling, it gradually grew into the four-storey, seventeen-room house that stands today.
A handful of years ago, the house was lovingly restored to its original splendour and grace by Stuart Starbuck, whose careful attention ensured that the home’s beauty and character would endure. Thanks to his restoration, The Gables stands proudly in its original spirit, and feels like a place meant to be shared.
So, lately, we’ve been experimenting with a simple idea: what if the house just… opened? A little experiment to see if we can spark community, lively conversation, shared ideas, and a few laughs with some new friends.
This is not a formal venue or a commercial space, just an occasional a small, alcohol-free pop-up social place where new community can meet, connections can be made, and interesting things can happen.
In truth, The Gables is just a private home. And yet, it keeps reaching beyond itself… asking, gently, to become something more. So, we’ve begun to wonder what it might look like to open it, just occasionally. Not as a business (we don’t have the bathrooms, or the stamina, for that). Not as a commitment. But as something softer. More spontaneous.
A space that appears now and then for creativity, for conversation, for whatever wants to be made or shared… and then disappears again.
It might be:
• a Saturday pop-up coffee shop
• a Barrel Sauna Sunday
• a murder mystery night (in a house like this, how could we resist?!)
• a pop-up poetry & spoken word afternoon
• a Settlers of Catan game night (we have an expansion pack!)
• a beginners mahjong night (we have the set and have no idea how to play… we just need two more players to figure it out!)
• a karaoke afternoon
This is really about making new friends and creating a space to hang out with them! We can assure you nothing will be scheduled months in advance. Our lives don’t work that way. When something is brewing, members will receive an invite via email about 7 days before. We may share the event on social media, but probably not. If something catches your interest, follow the thread. But a small warning: these gatherings are intentionally tiny. Usually 4–6 people. That’s simply all the room there is at the table.
Inside our home, you might find coffee brewing on a vintage Gaggia espresso machine, ginger kombucha (KomBOOYA!) fermenting, sourdough cookies baking, medicinal mushrooms growing, or a constantly rotating collection of vintage books laying around. On any given day, the house might feel like a café, a creative studio, a think tank, or simply a space where good conversation has taken over the room. But it will always feel like our home, first and foremost, because it is.
The Gables is light, informal, and a little mischievous: a social experiment of sorts. A temporary pop-up social club created to nurture connection and creativity, whilst honouring the home’s calling to be shared.
Look what you discovered!
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Look what you discovered! 〰️
The Creative Gathering Space
Our current idea is to create a pop-up space where ideas, creativity, and community can collide in interesting ways. The Gables Social Club is not so much a finished concept as it is a bit of a social experiment. It is temporary, evolving, and very much a work in progress. Not a business, not a formal venue, just an old house opening its doors to see what kinds of curious and creative things might happen when people gather inside.
Bake sourdough? Bring a loaf and sell it. Make bead jewellery? Set up a little display and see who admires it. Offer workshops? Try a small one here and see who wanders in.
Got a book to launch? Why not do it here. Gather a few people, read a passage, and sign a few copies.
Are you a poet? Please stand on the staircase balcony and read us something dramatic. We’ve always suspected that spot was meant for poetry.
Love Shakespeare? Recite a scene in our café corner. Got a set of pipes? Step onto our very unofficial pop-up karaoke stage and belt out a song.
Or maybe nothing quite so theatrical happens. Maybe two friends simply sink into the couch and talk the afternoon away. Someone might claim the bistro table by the window and finally give their long-neglected project the breathing room it needs. A few curious minds might gather around the table to wrestle with a new idea.
There is even an upstairs room that seems quietly convinced it was meant for yoga, meditation, or something equally restorative.
Honestly, we are not entirely sure how all of this will play out. That is part of the fun. This little pop-up club is an invitation to experiment, to gather, to share ideas, and to see what kind of community might grow when a house full of rooms meets a group of curious people.
Can you imagine it?
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Can you imagine it? 〰️
Our Little Fungi Project
Like many people during the pandemic, Tracy watched Fantastic Fungi and promptly fell down the mushroom rabbit hole. At the time she was in Argentina during what became the longest lockdown in the world, where she began learning how to cultivate mushrooms in a small two-bedroom apartment. What started as simple curiosity soon grew into a lasting fascination.
After eventually returning home to Toronto, the cultivation practice came with her. What began as pandemic experimentation evolved into an ongoing exploration of medicinal mushrooms such as Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Turkey Tail, and Cordyceps, and a growing appreciation for how to steward their cultivation carefully and respectfully. Along the way there were a few unexpected adventures, including helping establish a small mushroom project in the mountains of Costa Rica.
These days The Gables maintains a modest little cultivation space where Tracy continues exploring the craft while slowly teaching Chris the process. From time to time members may find small quantities of fresh mushrooms available to take home, along with dried mushrooms or simple extracts for morning coffee. It’s not a commercial operation, just a small act of curiosity and care we’re happy to share with others who are intrigued by the strange and wonderful world of fungi.
Elder Duke Redbird’s definition of culture:
Anything you invent, borrow, or discover that satisfies a need.
Let's Make Our Own Culture ;)
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Let's Make Our Own Culture ;) 〰️
Supporting Men
Chris’ coaching practice is something new growing, like many other projects in the fertile grounds of The Gables.
For many years Chris has run a wonderfully successful landscaping company, drawing inspiration from Japanese gardens and Scandinavian landscapes. But more recently he began to notice that the work he felt most called toward was not just shaping landscapes, but walking alongside men as they navigate the terrain of their lives.
This might be partly because the world men grew up expecting is shifting quickly. Old ideas about masculinity are being questioned, the cultural ground is moving, and many men feel like they arrived late to a party where all the rules have already changed. The transition is important and necessary, but it can also leave men quietly wondering where they fit.
Like much of what happens at The Gables, this practice is still evolving. Chris is developing his coaching work while offering men’s groups and one-on-one conversations for those who are looking for a place to talk honestly about identity, relationships, purpose, and the pressures of modern life.
The idea is simple. A room, a few chairs, real conversation, and the possibility that something meaningful might grow from it.
With a Little Help From My Friends
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With a Little Help From My Friends 〰️
Connecting Conversations with Jill
As part of our commitment to fostering thoughtful dialogue and meaningful connection, we occasionally invite guest facilitators into our space to lead small-group conversations around topics that shape our everyday lives.
Jill joins us as one of those guests. A compelling speaker and facilitator, she is known for her ability to illuminate the subtle patterns that influence how we communicate, lead, and relate to others. With warmth, insight, and practical wisdom, she helps people explore how domination-based models of power and communication often create tension and disconnection—and how alternative approaches grounded in empathy, shared understanding, and mutual respect can transform the way we interact.
Rather than formal workshops, these gatherings are designed as relaxed evening discussions. Over coffee, participants are invited to listen, reflect, ask questions, and engage in conversation about the dynamics that shape our relationships at home, at work, and in community.
We are honoured to welcome Jill as a guest in our space and look forward to the thoughtful dialogue her presence inspires.
In all honesty, Jill has been such an incredible gifts in our lives and to The Gables community. Every day that we spend with her, we learn so much about how to be better communicators, how to deepen our connections with ourselves and others, and how to be more empathetic listeners, always. Thanks, Jill. You’re awesome. :)
Express Yourself
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Express Yourself 〰️
Building Community
We’re relatively new to the area and, like most people landing somewhere unfamiliar, we started wondering how one actually meets interesting humans these days. The Pop-Up Gables Social Club is our slightly unconventional answer.
Instead of joining something, we decided to try something.
By opening our home as a small pop-up social club, we’re creating a place where conversations can wander, ideas can bounce around, and new friendships can quietly form. At the moment, the community mostly consists of us, a few friends, and these two incredibly adorable cats. But, we’re optimistic.
It’s an open invitation for curious, creative, like-minded people to gather, share a few thoughts, maybe a few laughs, and see what kind of community might grow from it.
Good Company
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Good Company 〰️
Every club has testimonials. Ours just come from the future ;)