The Weeknd's epoch-defining mixtape House of Balloons just celebrated its 10th anniversary, and the Toronto pop sensation marked the occasion by re-releasing his alt-R&B debut in its original form. But House of Balloons isn't just a mysterious name for an enigmatic mixtape — it's the nickname for a real house in Toronto, where the Weeknd lived in the earliest days of his music career.
The real "house of balloons" is located in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood, at 65 Spencer Avenue, just a couple blocks away from the major intersection of King Street and Dufferin Street.
The singer also known as Abel Tesfaye confirmed the address on Reddit back in 2013. As for its nickname, he told Rolling Stone back in 2015, "We'd throw these shitty parties and have girls over, and we'd try to make it celebratory, so we'd have balloons."
Back in 2017, the house briefly appeared in a Puma ad starring the Weeknd.
Now, more than a decade later, 65 Spencer Avenue is still standing and looks much the same as it always has. It's on a densely populated block filled with high-rise apartments.
"We kind of put that part of the city on," Tesfaye previously told Rolling Stone. "We were legends on that street. If you go there now, it's all these little 18-year-old kids that look like me."
The photo above is what the real-life "house of balloons" looks like these days (as of April 7, 2021). Note the large cat tree just outside the front door.
Read Exclaim!'s recent retrospective on House of Balloons and the way it sparked a new generation of underground R&B while simultaneously putting the Weeknd on the path to full-blown pop stardom.
The real "house of balloons" is located in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood, at 65 Spencer Avenue, just a couple blocks away from the major intersection of King Street and Dufferin Street.
The singer also known as Abel Tesfaye confirmed the address on Reddit back in 2013. As for its nickname, he told Rolling Stone back in 2015, "We'd throw these shitty parties and have girls over, and we'd try to make it celebratory, so we'd have balloons."
Back in 2017, the house briefly appeared in a Puma ad starring the Weeknd.
Now, more than a decade later, 65 Spencer Avenue is still standing and looks much the same as it always has. It's on a densely populated block filled with high-rise apartments.
"We kind of put that part of the city on," Tesfaye previously told Rolling Stone. "We were legends on that street. If you go there now, it's all these little 18-year-old kids that look like me."
The photo above is what the real-life "house of balloons" looks like these days (as of April 7, 2021). Note the large cat tree just outside the front door.
Read Exclaim!'s recent retrospective on House of Balloons and the way it sparked a new generation of underground R&B while simultaneously putting the Weeknd on the path to full-blown pop stardom.
