Mandy Goodhandy has never backed down from a challenge.

She’s an entertainer, author and business owner who 15 years ago opened Club 120, originally named Goodhandy’s, a provocative pansexual playground first for trans women, and later the broader LGBTQ community and others who appreciate exploring and celebrating sexuality. It was part nightclub, part sex club that allowed for live entertainers and pioneered sex positivity.

Eventually it would expand to the 120 Diner, a restaurant with a cabaret vibe, an all-too-uncommon concept in a city with increasingly limited venues for performers.

She and business partner Todd Klinck were devastated to close for good in May 2020 at the beginning of the “devastating, horrible, horrendous” COVID-19 pandemic, but now less than 18 months later with the pandemic still a factor, Goodhandy and chef Richard Henry are getting ready to open Mandy’s Bistro, a restaurant for live entertainment and special events.

“When we closed I didn’t have hope as a business owner, I had hope as an artist,” she says. “Whatever you art is, it is your responsibility to do that … The Mandy Goodhandy persona works very well in a bar, nightclub setting and on stage.”

It turns out she’s not alone. A handful of other restaurants, theatres, supper clubs and venues for live entertainment have opened in the last year, with more to come.

In a time when countless businesses relied on government support programs to function, shuttered through lockdowns or closed altogether, new owners were crafting new ideas and quietly preparing to open doors. All say they were driven by their own artistic expression and the hunger of music and theatregoers to be entertained.

That doesn’t mean it has been easy. The Medley, a Yonge and Davisville Supper Club and lounge in the space that once housed the Limelight and Mysteriously Yours dinner theatres, opened for all of three weeks in September 2020 before pandemic case numbers forced them to close.

Owners built out the restaurant side of the business, opened a small patio when the government allowed — once having a small space for a performer to entertain in a Plexiglas box out front — and invested thousands in technology and other features for safety.

“We opened with automated temperature checks,” says show producer Joseph Patrick. “We are using hydrostatic sanitation. We added UV air filters to our HVAC system (because) UV light kills germs. Hand sanitizers are at every table. We converted all the sinks to touchless sinks. We added call buttons to every table to limit traffic around the dining room.”

The doors opened in September 2021, kicking off with “Forever Dusty,” a musical about Dusty Springfield, before moving to a live musical production of “The Rocky Horror Show.” Solo artists including Heather Bambrick and Debbie Fleming are also on the bill in coming weeks, performing behind a 2.5 metre Plexiglas barrier between artist and audience. They operate with reduced capacity as required, but “blessed with a large dining room, shows are selling out.”

“We are cautiously optimistic,” Patrick says. “If another lockdown happens, we are going to hang out and keep going. This is the best it has felt for a long time.”

Shaunt Tchakmak, co-owner of The Oud & The Fuzz in Kensington Market which opened in June 2020 after a three month delay, says the need for both art and cultural space in a “city that is desperate for authentic culture” was greater than the pandemic deterrent.

“The importance of creating a space like that took over,” he says. “The space and what it stood for had to exist, whatever obstacles we had to overcome became necessary.”

Like Goodhandy, Tchakmak and brother Raz were driven to give space to artists who “didn’t always have a chance to perform.” Also owners of Antikka coffee and record shop on Queen Street West, they originally planned a cocktail bar but expanded to offer Armenian food.

“It was my first time working with food, and found just like music, it is a tool for communication to appeal to somebody’s senses,” he says. “We present Armenian food in a new and unique way.”

But they were to be a live music venue first and foremost, and it wasn’t long before live music snuck in on their expansive patio. They had DJs for a while, and eventually included live solo performers and bands in August. The schedule is hopping, often with two artists a night offering everything from Arabic jazz to brass bands, some with residencies in the space. The dining room is open now with limited seating capacity.

It wasn’t easy. As a new business, the brothers weren’t eligible for any of the federal benefit programs including the wage subsidy and the loan program, and they became reliant on a generous landlord for support until business ramped up.

“She cares about the market,” Tchakmak says. “She cares about the space. She cares about who is in here. It played a big role in us being able to survive this.”

Goodhandy and Henry are also relying on generosity for Mandy’s Bistro. They have silent investors and $9,000 in funding from a crowdfunding campaign that ran this summer.

Opening at 123 Danforth Avenue in a space that was once the Old Nick, a venue known for live music, they are also reliant on a loyal clientele of music lovers and walk in traffic from a spirited neighbourhood.

Goodhandy says they have less financial pressure, and less overhead than what they managed for the Club 120/120 Diner spaces.

Henry will focus on the food, with Goodhandy on entertainment, promising fair payment for artists. They have the government protocols in place and had the ventilation system updated to improve air quality.

“I have learned how much communities pull together when you need them,” Goodhandy says. “I want to be there for people. They will be there for us.”