trategically situated in a comfortable spot down the street from The Drake, Lot 16 looks just like any other Parkdale bar. And really, it is like any other Parkdale bar. But, like other entrepreneurs who had earlier sensed the quickly increasing activity in the area, the owners vault to new heights with their little bar.

Lot 16 might not have ever drawn record crowds through its own devices, but the minimalist bar on suddenly hip West Queen West has a down-home appeal nonetheless. The nightly scene here is an amalgam of pre-Drakers, Stober ignorers, and the booze-hungry patienceless.

Just like Cheers, everyone knows your name at Lot 16. This could be because Penny Rose, who owns the place with Heather Fox, is also the booking manager at another area hotel with an illustrious past: The Gladstone.

"We were looking for locations in this area, and the Elvis Restaurant came available," said Rose. "Location was great, being by the two hotels. We even used the location from the survey map - 'Lot 16’ - to name the place. But the place was an unbelievable mess. The dirt was 3 inches deep, poor Elvis was in rough shape... It took some work. I’ll tell ya, there really is a reason those places are called greasy spoons."

All cleaned up, Norm Peterson would feel right at home at Lot 16. In its pre-Drake days, the bar served a local mix of younger slacker types and artists, many of whom live in the area. And now, while basking in a post-Drake heyday, Lot 16 sees even more of the same, in addition to a large influx of inner-city kids of young and old, yuppie and hipster, artist and CEOs. Many seeing the bar and the other venues in this area for the first time.