In 1983, Chris Bearchell, Toronto gay activist and dyke about town hoodwinked a bank into letting her buy a house. For twelve years, the kitchen table at 97 Walnut Avenue served as a gathering place where activists organized, debated, got baked, drank coffee and ate approximately one tonne of take-out szechuan food.

At Walnut, which was ironically nick-named "Harmony House," Chris and her friends provided a great haven for people running from the law, running from jealous lovers, or just running scared. Whores, queens, bulldaggers, radical faeries, perverts of all sorts, pornographers, journalists, cats, photographers and artists found a refuge in those horny hallways.

People fell in love. People fell out of love. Mainly people just fell down.

In January of 1995, cb packed her bags, grabbed her cat and headed for a tiny island on the West Coast of Canada. "Walnut" has been sold, but the web of acquaintances, friends and family grows ever larger and more dispersed. So here we are, connecting through the aether, creating a new place for lively discussion and controversy.

From 1983 to 1995 many people were at one time or another residents of Harmony House. Some of those people have passed on but they leave behind a trove of great accomplishments. "The Walnuts" is a website dedicated to the spirit of 97 Walnut, and to the residents past and present in the ever-growing house.