The Colonial Tavern was one of the most famous jazz venues in Canada from the 1950s till its closure in the late 1970s.

The Colonial Tavern was owned and managed by brothers-in-law Mike (Myer) G. Lawrence, Goodwin (Goody) and Harvey Lichtenberg.

The properties were sold to MOD Developments of Toronto in January 2012 for the Massey Tower condo project[1][2] Jazz musicians played on the ground floor on a raised stage along one wall beneath a disco ball.

Concerts were often recorded by CJRT's jazz disk jockey, Ted O'Reilly, and were broadcast on Saturday mornings with interviews of musicians discussing their performances and memories.

A brass plate memorial in the park which now remembers this historic building records the names of over 150 jazz musicians that performed at the tavern.