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Ann Dunn



Ann Chopik Dunn
I went out with Ann for a while. We partied with the smother's Brothers at the Royal York
and I attended her Daughter's wedding at the club. Great Ukrainian party.
She was a classy lady

The Matador Club was a country music venue in Toronto opened by Ann Dunn in 1964. The exterior of the club, complete with marquee signage, still exists today, though the building itself is currently vacant.

The after-hours dance venue was a hot spot among Torontonians and tourists alike, and was said to be frequented by country notables like Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn, as well as local celebrities like Leonard Cohen and Catherine O'Hara. While originally a country music venue, by the 1980s the Matador featured a wider variety of music including rock 'n' roll, blues, and rockabilly. During this time the Matador was a busy and popular venue where local and itinerant headliners would regularly drop in to jam after their gigs, treating live music lovers with impromptu performances.

k.d. lang's official music video for "Turn Me Round" (1987) features the Matador sign and street frontage as well as long shots of the stage with its uniquely odd background array of dusty cowboy boots and dozens of signatures.[1]

Big Sugar (band)'s official music video for "Ride Like Hell" (1995) was filmed here by director Eric Yealland and DP Douglas Koch and was nominated for a Much Music Video Award.[2]

The space was a dance hall with an 18-foot ceiling, hardwood floors, a stage, and numerous items of country music memorabilia, such as antlers, cowboy boots, and records. An unlicensed establishment, the Matador Club provided live music every Friday and Saturday night from 1:30am to 5:30am.

The club was inaccurately described as a "booze can" by the time of its closure on March 1, 2010 when the dance hall was sold.[3]

DUNN, Ann Chopik - Of Oshawa, ON. Peacefully passed away on Tuesday, June 8, 2010, at the Oshawa Lakeridge Hospital. Ann was predeceased by her parents Harry and Mary (Plypew) Chopik. Devoted mother of five children: Barry (Rose), Lonny (Wendy), Charmaine (Sheba and Nanuk), Lenore Farrell and Lona (Everett) O'Reilly. Ann is also survived by her former husband Alonzo Thomas Dunn. Baba enjoyed and loved her eight grandchildren Colleen, Sara, Joseph, Heather, Katherine, Laura, Scarlett and Justin, plus five great-grandchildren Liam, Reagan, Hayden, Avery and Jackson. Ann will be sadly missed by her brother Paul Chopik and sisters Sylvia McPhee and Rose Rolko and all of her nieces and nephews. Ann was the proud Founder and Proprietress of the renowned Matador Club in West Toronto from 1964-2007, a legendary night club. As per her wishes, private services were held at MOUNT LAWN RECEPTION CENTRE in Whitby (905-443-3376 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 905-443-3376 end_of_the_skype_highlighting), on Sunday, June 13, 2010. A Memorial Mass will be held on Tuesday, June 22, 2010, at St. George's Ukrainian Catholic Church, 38 Lviv Blvd., Oshawa. In lieu of flowers, donations accepted for the Heart & Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Hearing Society, www.chs.ca




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