Jerry Stone is the owner of Stones Place, the Rolling Stones-themed bar that put Parkdale back on the map. Stones Place officially opened its doors two years ago and has since been home to some of the most popular party nights in Toronto, including Santa Cruz, Hey Ladeez, and Big Primpin'. The hours have just been extended and now include Wednesdays and Sundays.

I spoke to Jerry over the phone as he sat down to a quesadilla from the newly opened kitchen at Stones Place, which used to be a dilapidated pool hall. 'œWe had to do a lot of work in here and then we had a hard time getting a liquor licence. But we did get it and we got it going. Bring this dead area alive. It was known as a bad area at that time.'?

'œI think the first big party we did was for a record company, bless their heart, and it was packed. There had to be like 300 and change (in attendance). It looked like a used Mercedes dealership out front. First time for Parkdale. You never had a line-up here unless the Queen Mother came by.'?

'œThis has been built on word-of-mouth and the press,'? says Stone. 'œI had a guy phone me up from Kansas. I said, '˜What are you doing calling from Kansas?' He wants to know my hours and I say, '˜Where'd you hear about us from Kansas?' He said, '˜I saw you on TV.' '? Apparently the SARStock concert coverage put Stones Place on satellite TV all over the States, and Stone has had people from all over Canada and the United States coming to check out his bar.

Before Stones Place, Stone was representing Ronnie Wood for his artwork. Stone isn't just a fan of the band, he's a friend. He first met them in 1965 through the president of a fan club. But, he says, 'œwe really didn't connect until (I met) Clive Burchamp, who grew up with Eric Clapton when they were little, little kids.'? Burchamp and Clapton had been friends with the Stones for years. 'œI met Clive in '89 and that's when the friendship (with the Stones) really developed.'? But he's been collecting memorabilia for almost 38 years. 'œThe archives are one of the biggest in the world next to Bill Wyman and I'm not going to push that with him. He's a little older than me.'?

The furniture in Stones Place is largely comprised of props from movie sets. Those lamps? They were in a gangster's office in Jackie Chan's The Tuxedo. Those couches off on the side? How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Mostly everything in the bar was transplanted when Stone moved from his 8600 sq ft. house. Stone just unpacked everything into the bar. 'œSo this is what happened with it. So this is my old mansion, now in Parkdale.'? He originally thought of decorating the bar like the Hard Rock Café or something similar but, after unpacking, decided he liked the home feel. 'œI couldn't have thought of it, and it's the best thing I've ever done.'?

Stone, who was born in Belgium, but was raised in the Queen and Spadina area, also has a large collection of Elvis memorabilia that he'd like to translate into a bar, Jerry's Graceland, complete with an Elvis-inspired menu, and he's also thinking about Jerry's Soul City, with a Creole kitchen. He's currently looking at suitable buildings in Parkdale.

'œNow I just got to make some time for myself to do my coffee table books,'? says Stone. 'œThere's three that I got that I want to do with my memorabilia '˜cuz it's so vast. They'd be nice three-volume coffee table books and the other one is just images of my different homes. (I've had) five, and I then I've always plastered them from floor to ceiling, all the walls. When Charlie (Watts) saw all the pictures he said, '˜You're fucking mad.' '?