Terry Koumoudouros

Last updated
Terry Koumoudouros
Born
Greece
DiedJune 1, 2007
Canada
NationalityCanadian
OccupationStrip club owner-operator
Years active1969-2007
Organization House of Lancaster (strip clubs)

Terry Koumoudouros (died 2007) was a Greek-Canadian strip club owner who paved the way to legalise naked dancing in Toronto. With his brother, he was the co-owner of two House of Lancaster strip clubs.

Contents

Early life

As a child, Koumoudouros worked as a shepherd in Greece, and read about philosophy before emigrating to Canada in 1964 [1] with his younger [2] brother, Spiro. [1]

Career

The same year that the Koumoudouros brothers moved to Canada, they opened the Queen Steak and Burger restaurant at the intersection of Kipling Avenue and Dundas Street. [2] Later they sold food in the basement of a University Avenue office block. [2]

In 1986, Koumoudouros won a legal challenge in the Supreme Court of Canada [3] to allow naked dancing in strip clubs. [1] He had previously avoided the intention of existing legislation that forbade naked dancing by employing dancers who initially danced topless before putting on a shirt and then dancing bottomless. [1]

Koumoudouros and his brother ran a strip club in Toronto from 1969 [2] or 1970 [1] until 1980, at which point he returned to Greece. [1] In 1982, he returned to Toronto and opened a strip club on The Queensway, opening another on Bloor Street in 1983. [1]

Politics

Koumoudouros was a donor to the Liberal Party of Canada [4] and a worked with Toronto's municipal government to improve the Bloordale neighbourhood. [3] His meeting with federal immigration minister Judy Sgro's chief of staff came to light during the Strippergate (Canada) scandal in 2004, when he advocated for federal help for Dominican strippers trying to move to Canada. [5]

Personal life and death

Koumoudouros was married with three children and two stepchildren. [1] He died on May 24, 2007. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conrad Black</span> Canadian-born British newspaper publisher (born 1944)

Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, is a Canadian-British former newspaper publisher, businessman, and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swansea, Toronto</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Swansea is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, bounded on the west by the Humber River, on the north by Bloor Street, on the east by High Park and on the south by Lake Ontario. The neighbourhood was originally a separate municipality, the Village of Swansea, which became part of Metropolitan Toronto in 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Sgro</span> Canadian politician

Judy A. Sgro is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she currently represents the electoral district of Humber River—Black Creek in the House of Commons of Canada. Sgro currently serves as the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade and as a Chair on the Canadian House of Commons Liaison Committee since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North York</span> District of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

North York is a former township and city and is now one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, the district has a population of 644,685.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Volpe</span> Canadian politician

Giuseppe "Joe" Volpe is a Canadian politician. He represented the Ontario riding of Eglinton-Lawrence as a member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 until 2011, when he lost his seat to Conservative candidate Joe Oliver. Volpe held two senior positions in Prime Minister Paul Martin's Cabinet from 2003 to 2006, and served as transportation critic when his party became the Official Opposition. In 2006, he ran unsuccessfully for the Liberal Party leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mimico</span> Neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Mimico is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, being located in the south-west area of Toronto on Lake Ontario. It is in the south-east corner of the former Township of Etobicoke, and was an independent municipality from 1911 to 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Eggleton</span> Canadian politician

Arthur C. Eggleton is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 59th and longest-serving mayor of Toronto from 1980 to 1991. He was elected to Parliament in 1993, running as a Liberal in York Centre and served as a member of Parliament (MP) until 2004 when he declined to seek re-election. Eggleton held a number of cabinet positions from 1993 to 2002 including Treasury Board president, minister of infrastructure, minister of international trade, and minister of national defence. He was appointed to the Senate in 2005, serving until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roncesvalles Avenue</span> Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Roncesvalles Avenue is a north–south minor arterial street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It begins at the intersection of Queen Street West, King Street West and the Queensway running north to Dundas Street West. At its southern starting point, King Street West traffic continues northward onto Roncesvalles Avenue unless the traffic turns east or west onto Queen Street West or the Queensway. At its northern end point, traffic continues onto Dundas Street, which is essentially a straight-line northern extension of Roncesvalles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloordale Village</span> Human settlement in Ontario, Canada

Bloordale Village is a Business Improvement Area (BIA) located along Bloor Street from Dufferin Street to Lansdowne Avenue, west of downtown in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It sits on the southern border of the Wallace Emerson neighbourhood and the northern border of the Brockton Village neighbourhood. The district is home to various and unique shops including restaurants, bars, vintage and thrift stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Queensway</span> Road in Toronto and Mississauga in Ontario, Canada

The Queensway is a major street in the municipalities of Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is a western continuation of Queen Street, after it crosses Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in Toronto. The Queensway is a divided roadway from Roncevalles westerly until 600 metres of the South Kingsway with its centre median dedicated to streetcar service. The road continues undivided west from there to Etobicoke Creek as a four- or six-lane thoroughfare.

Louis Plamondon is a Canadian politician who has represented Bécancour—Nicolet—Saurel in the House of Commons since 1984, making him the Dean of the House, the longest-serving current member of the House of Commons.

John A. "Jack" MacDonald was a politician, businessman, and journalist in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He served as Mayor of Hamilton from 1976 to 1980, and wrote a column in the Hamilton Spectator newspaper for many years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election</span>

The 2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was prompted by outgoing Prime Minister Paul Martin's announcement that he would not lead the Liberal Party of Canada into another election, following his party's defeat in the 2006 federal election in Canada. The party's biennial convention, already scheduled to occur from November 29 to December 1, 2006 in Montreal's Palais des congrès, was followed by the party's leadership convention at the same venue occurring December 2 to December 3, 2006. As the winner, Stéphane Dion led the Liberal Party into the 2008 federal election.

Norman "Norm" Gardner is a politician and administrator in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a former North York and Toronto City Councillor, serving most recently as chair of the Toronto Police Services Board (1998–2003). He was subsequently chair of the board of the Mackenzie Institute for several years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Miller (Canadian politician)</span> 63rd mayor of Toronto

David Raymond Miller is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 63rd mayor of Toronto from 2003 to 2010. Following his career in politics, Miller briefly returned to law before serving as president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF-Canada) from 2013 to 2017, after which he began working as the director of international diplomacy at C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports in Toronto</span> Overview of sports traditions and activities in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has a long history of sport. It is home to a number of clubs, including the Granite Club, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, the Argonaut Rowing Club, Toronto Argonauts football club, the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, and the Badminton and Racquet Club. A number of heritage venues have developed in Toronto such as: Christie Pits, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Varsity Arena, and Maple Leaf Gardens. Toronto is also the location of the Canadian Football League's headquarters.

The Toronto Police Association (TPA), founded in 1944, is a labour organization representing the approximately 5,500 uniformed and 2,500 civilian members of the Toronto Police Service in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While police officers in Ontario are prohibited by law from forming a union or striking, the TPA fulfills most of the functions of a public-sector union, including collective bargaining contract negotiations with its membership's employer, the Toronto Police Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Lancaster (strip clubs)</span> Toronto strip-clubs

The House of Lancaster is the name of both a current strip club in Toronto that opened in 1983, and a former strip club in Etobicoke that operated from 1982 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strippergate (Canada)</span> Canadian political scandal 2004/5

Strippergate was a 2004-2005 political scandal in Canada in which federal immigration minister Judy Sgro was accused of providing favours to people who helped with her political campaigning during the 2004 Canadian federal election. Sgro was accused of giving favourable immigration processing to Romanian immigrant, stripper, and campaign volunteer Alina Balaican, and Harjit Singh, a campaign donor and pizza shop owner.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Terry Koumoudouros, 67: Strip club owner". thestar.com. 2007-06-01. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Nickle, David (9 March 2022). "The House of Lancaster on The Queensway has its last dance". Etobicoke Guardian. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  3. 1 2 McKnight, Zoe (2014-09-01). "Strip club owner spawns rivals as Bloordale tidies up on his watch". stcatharinesstandard.com. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  4. Wente, Margaret (2004-11-30). "Opinion: Why is Canada pimping?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  5. Jiménez, Marina (2004-12-03). "Sgro's chief of staff takes leave". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2023-01-11.