large cafeteria and a ground-floor restaurant open to the public. It had a health-food store, a laundromat on the roof, a day-care, a free school called Superschool where the kids designed their own curriculum, and a medical clinic run by an RN. "It is often claimed," says Henderson, "that some inhabitants didn’t go outside for weeks and months at a stretch, since they could access everything they needed right within the building." Drug culture Rochdale was originally a refuge for idealists. Ultimately, the constituents of its cooperative idealism were its downfall. Dedicated to consensus decision making and granting a vote to everyone who lived (or claimed to live) in the building, Rochdale's governing body was unable to reach agreement to expel those who failed to pay their rents or otherwise live up to its ideals. Unable to pay its mortgage to the Canadian government, Rochdale drifted towards insolvency. As nearby Yorkville became gentrified during the late 1960s, much of Toronto's counterculture moved into Rochdale. This included homeless squatters and bikers who dealt hard drugs, along with a substantial number of undercover officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Judith Merril, librarian at Rochdale during the early 1970s, reported that Robert MacDonald, an employee of the Addiction Research Foundation, maintained a presence at Rochdale and actively collected samples of the available drugs, which were lab tested for toxicity and the results made available to Rochdale residents. According to the CBC Archives, by 1971 Rochdale had become known as "'North America's largest drug distribution warehouse.' Hash, pot, and LSD are in large supply. The Rochdale security force includes members of biker gangs" Hiring the bikers for security in late 1971 was the beginning of the end. Until then there was a strict unwritten code that no one sold hard drugs out of Rochdale. CBC Archives also describe how "[d]ue to problems with cops and bikers, the governing council set up a paid security force to be on 24-hour alert. Ironically, some of these security people were bikers themselves. As had happened in Yorkville, an unofficial alliance with the Vagabonds outlaw motorcycle club developed." Rochdale's educational focus and student population declined as the drug business increased. After increased clashes with police, and unable to pay its mortgage, political pressure forced financial foreclosure by the government, and Rochdale closed in 1975. A number of residents refused to leave. On 30 May the last residents