Toronto’s Azan’s Hair Salon has been a Yorkville mainstay for more than 50 years. Remembering the ‘larger-than-life’ man behind it

Actress Tonya Williams was just 15 years old when she and her mother first stepped into Azan’s Hair Salon on Davenport Road.

Having spent most of her life to date in predominantly white communities, the 1975 visit marked a pivotal moment for Williams, formerly on the soap opera “The Young and the Restless.” “An establishment filled with Black people, everyone hustling and bustling,” she recalled.

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Kemeel Azan and Kem’s Secret, a racehorse Azan bred, owned and trained, in 1990. 

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Kemeel Azan with Veronica Grant, one of his many clients. Date unknown. 

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