Colorado Travel Packages - Hello From Toronto - Exploring Chinatown and Kensington

Standup comedian who is also a passionate historian and has become one of Toronto's most well-recognized history experts, actor, playwright, a well-known author, one of the best people to learn from about the twists and turns of Toronto's history is Bruce Bell. Interesting stories and anecdotes, toronto has many lesser known nooks and crannies that are full of history, in all my explorations of Toronto over the last few years I have learned that in addition to numerous world-class sights and attractions.

I have always enjoyed the experience and wanted to do another tour with Bruce for a while. Lawrence market. Covering the downtown area and featuring a culinary exploration of Toronto's famous St, over the past couple of years I have taken two of his tours. So he called me up and said that there is this guy that is doing all these neat walking tours through Toronto and that's how I connected with Bruce - through a European detour, was reading a German travel magazine that was featuring a story about Bruce, who happens to live in Austria, the story of how I met Bruce is also quite intriguing: my brother.

The Sharp Centre for Design has a unique "table top" structure which has quickly become one of Toronto's most recognizable landmarks. Design, is part of the 2004 redevelopment of the Campus of the Ontario College of Art & i call it the "gift box on stilts", the OCAD Building. Just south of the University of Toronto campus, to share the experience I brought out six of my friends and we met yesterday at 6:30 pm at one of Toronto's modern architecture icons: the OCAD Building at 100 McCaul Street. So I called up Bruce and said let's do another tour. One of Toronto's most vibrant and fascinating neighbourhoods, this time it was going to be Chinatown-Kensington, i figured it was definitely time for more entertaining and informative explorations of Toronto; well.

The Grange is owned by the Art Gallery of Ontario and is in the process of being renovated and integrated into the AGO's Frank Gehry-led redesign, today. The classical mansion reflects the British architectural traditions of the 18th century. A member of one of early Toronto's most prominent families who owned about 2000 acres of land in the area, . From there we headed west into a green space that features Toronto's oldest house: "The Grange" was built in 1817 for D'Arcy Boulton Jr. Surrounded by the stilts holding up the table top of this extraordinary building, we met in the Butterfield Park area.

One of the very few hotels left from that era which today is a men's residence, we also passed by a former hotel which dates back to 1822. The Bolton family even owned a private racetrack near the intersections of Dundas and Beverley and many formal social occasions were celebrated on their enormous estate. Families such as the Cawthras and others owned huge tracts of land in what is today's downtown Toronto. The "Family Compact" - the true power brokers of the early 19th century, after leaving this park we walked north on Beverley Street which features several yellow-brick mansions of some of Toronto's most pre-eminent families.

He was also the founder and editor of the Toronto Globe newspaper which today is known as the Globe and Mail. Politician and one of the Fathers of Canada's Confederation, bruce stopped at a mansion of one of Toronto's most influential historic figures: George Brown (1818 to 1880) was a Scottish-born Canadian journalist. Historic apartment buildings and narrow Victorian homes with attractive architectural details and amazingly intricate woodwork, a street with a mix of imposing mansions, our stroll took us westwards on Baldwin Street.

Although George Brown only suffered a leg injury at the time he died about 6 weeks later from the wound. A certain George Bennet who had been fired from his job for drunkenness, bruce added that in 1880 George Brown was shot by one of his former employees at the Globe newspaper. Early Canada's conflicts mostly unfolded between Protestants and Catholics, bruce elaborated that while the United States was characterized by an ongoing conflict between Blacks and Whites. He remained a staunch anti-Catholic, as much as George Brown supported the cause of freeing black slaves, ironically. A network of secret routes and safe houses that allowed African slaves to escape from the United States to Canada in the 19th century, bruce enlightened us that George Brown was an important figure in the Underground Railroad.

Which advocated increased independence from Britain and self-government for Upper Canada, robert Baldwin was instrumental in establishing Responsible Government. A group of extremely wealthy Anglican conservative families that represented Canada's elite at the time, most of the land in and around the old City of York was owned by the "Family Compact". Particularly about the issue of land allocation, the unsuccessful Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 was an uprising against the British colonial government. A member of the Parliament of Upper Canada and a key public figure around the time of the 1837 uprising of the Toronto population against the entrenched British power structure, just a few steps further west we saw the mansion of Robert Baldwin.

Not surprisingly as Toronto features the second largest Chinese population in Canada after Vancouver, old Chinatown is actually one of North America's largest. Is centered around Spadina and Dundas and is the largest Chinese shopping area in the city, one of three Chinatowns within Toronto's city boundaries, this historic neighbourhood. The expansive north-south artery that is the centre point of Toronto's Chinatown, we had finally arrived on Spadina Avenue.

In addition to the well-established Chinese stores, as a result an increasing number of store signs are now in Vietnamese. Taiwan and Hong Kong have moved outside the City's boundaries and the void has been filled by many ethnic Chinese people from Vietnam, originally from mainland China, many former Chinatown residents. Recent years have seen a migration of Chinese immigrants to the suburbs which has led to the closure of some of the local restaurants.

Testament to the fact that Toronto's demographics continue to be in flux, recently there has been a noticeable local increase in Latin American immigrants. All of which are sold at very reasonable prices, low cost clothing and general merchandise, meat and seafood, goods sold include fruits and vegetables.

000 Jewish residents lived here in the 1920s and 1930s who worshipped in about 30 local synagogues, and about 60, the entire Kensington area became known as "the Jewish Market". Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe as well as some Italians started to stream into the area, from 1910 onwards. The small working-class houses in this historically inexpensive area have been inhabited by successive waves of immigrants from different places. The Kensington area became a residential area for Irish and Scottish immigrant labourers, originally the Denison estate. It is one of Toronto's most ethnically diverse and eclectic neighbourhoods and has been attracting immigrants from different countries of origin for the last 130 years or so, as Bruce explained. Queen Street and Bellevue Avenue, college Street, roughly bounded by Spadina Avenue, the same story applies even more to Toronto's Kensington area.

Today it is one of the few synagogues still in active operation in downtown Toronto, as a result of the out-migration of many of the Jewish residents from Kensington. Construction of the synagogue commenced in 1922 and was finally completed in 1930. Toronto's Downtown Synagogue, home of the Congregation Anshei Minsk, andrew Street. We stopped at the Minsker Synagogue at 10 St.

Andrew and Augusta we stopped to admire a "half a house" that was attached to some flat-roofed houses and the complex was then capped off on the other side by another "half a house". At the intersection of St. The Chocolate Addict and many other unique nooks and crannies illustrate the free-spirited character of this unusual neighbourhood, my Market Bakery, graffiti's Bar and Grill, bruce pointed out numerous favourite hangouts: places such as Cob's Bread. But the diverse and unusual storefronts and murals illustrate the Bohemian flavour of this area, at about 7:30 pm most of the stores had closed or were in the process of closing. Cheese and meat to dry goods and assorted merchandise, shops selling anything from fish, restaurants, bakeries, captivated by the colourful and unusual variety of stores we walked through narrow streets filled with a jumble of vintage clothing stores.

European and Asian origin, carribean, including people of Latin, today's Kensington features residents and merchants from all over the world. There is no better area than Kensington Market to come face to face with Toronto's culturally diverse makeup. An eatery that surprisingly combines European and Asian culinary traditions originating in Hungary and Thailand, one of the most poignant symbols of Toronto's multi-ethnic mixing is a restaurant called the "Hungary Thai".

Bruce pointed out that Al's wife Sara is immortalized on a bench right next to the statue in a carving that says "Sara loves Al". A Toronto actor who starred in a popular television series "The King of Kensington" and was involved in numerous charitable organizations and events, the northwest end of the park features a statue of Al Waxman (1935 to 2001). Particularly on Bellevue Square Park, and there is a distinct marijuana culture that pervades the area, kensington Market is one of the few areas that features Cannabis cafes and products. Representing some of Toronto's artists and counterculture, a green space that is frequented by a very Bohemian crowd of people, southwest of Augusta Avenue we turned onto Bellevue Square Park.

The Kiever Synagogue continues to be active and to offer religious services every Sabbath as well as educational services to the remaining Jewish population, although many Jewish residents have left the Kensington area over the last few decades to move further north in the City. Its twin towers are crowned with Stars of David which give it a distinct middle-eastern or Byzantine feel. The Kiever Synagogue on Denison Square was built in 1912. Right opposite the Al Waxman statue at the corner of Bellevue Avenue is another relic from Kensington's Jewish history.

An appropriately offbeat symbol of this colourful neighbourhood, at the corner of Augusta and Queen we stopped and Bruce made us aware of one of the emblematic statues guarding the entrances of Kensington: an oversized cat prancing on a globe. We proceeded southwards on Augusta Avenue until we reached Queen Street.

A move which has greatly improved the safety in this area, non-profit housing cooperative, in 2003 the former Alexandra Park became Canada's first public housing complex to be converted into a tenant-managed. Bruce explained that this residential complex was a major urban planning mistake and had become one of Toronto's most crime-ridden areas. Across the street Bruce pointed out the former Alexandra Park public housing complex that has been renamed the Atkinson Housing Co-op.

The famous burlesque dancer who became known for putting the "tease into striptease", home of famous Gypsy Rose Lee, he also explained that this theatre had at some point morphed into the Victory Burlesque. A former vaudeville theatre, bruce stopped again to show us the Art Deco Victory Theatre, right in the heart of Chinatown, at the intersection of Dundas and Queen Streets.

Many of these poor Jewish immigrants had little language skills and began to work in low-paying jobs in the garment factories that had sprung up near Spadina. But major immigration got into full swing in the 1890s, jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe settled in the area from 1832 onwards. The history of the Spadina area is colourful indeed.

A direct result of the invention of the Otis safety elevator which made it feasible to carry out industrial manufacturing on higher level floors, bruce also elaborated that many of the buildings and warehouses became gradually higher. Spadina Avenue became the centre of the Garment District which still survives on a much smaller scale today - even today there are numerous fashion and fur stores that sell their merchandise to the public at wholesale prices, as Bruce pointed out, indeed. Social and cultural institutions developed in the area, synagogues and other political, yiddish theatres, cinemas, tailors, numerous Jewish delicatessens.

Mary Pickford was a cofounder of United Artists film studios, griffith. And D.W, douglas Fairbanks, together with Charlie Chaplin. "America's Sweetheart" who became Hollywood's biggest star of the Silent Era, the famous Toronto born-actress, right around here we also got to admire the former location of a theatre owned by the parents of Mary Pickford. Despite heavy fines, our group then stopped at the Glen and Paul Magder Fur Store which was a pioneer in reforming Toronto's Sunday shopping laws by staying open on Sundays.

Got their start at this tavern, including Blue Rodeo, at the Horseshoe Tavern Bruce explained that many famous music acts of Toronto. Restaurant and pool hall, an extremely popular bar, including the Rivoli, restaurants and eclectic bars and taverns, we then walked east on Queen Street which features a whole stretch of eateries.

Relocated to British Columbia and died in 2002, he was paroled in 1966. Was sentenced to eight life terms plus twenty seven years concurrent, by then a Canadian folk hero, two of the gang members were captured and hanged for the murder of a policeman in 1952 while Edwin Boyd. Gun fights and daring captures, liaisons with beautiful women, jail breaks, including bank robberies, the gang garnered a lot of media attention due to its sensational actions. A 1950s gang of bank robbers led by Edwin Alonzo Boyd, incidentally this was also a favourite hangout for the notorious Boyd Gang.

It is also the centre of the Communist League of Toronto and the former location of the 1980s television series "Street Legal", where Russian refugees were taken in, just steps further east is the "Friendship House".

Almost every city block had one or more of these theatres which were popular entertainment spots for the locals, explaining that in the era before cinemas and podcasts, bruce pointed out a couple of former vaudeville theatres. Although the buildings were symmetrical in appearance the sisters did their best to modify the architecture to ensure that each of their sides would look different from the other sister's property. Were owned by two sisters who had had a serious falling out, as Bruce explained, a few steps east is a series of Victorian townhouses that.

So a final watering hole on the outskirts of town was important, this was at a time when a horse and carriage ride to Niagara Falls could take two days. And the tavern housed in this building was the last tavern on the way out of town, bruce explained that in the 1800s Toronto's city limits extended to Peter Street. A decades old hotel and tavern that features a spacious outdoor patio, at the Corner of Queen and Soho is the Black Bull.

Ade make it a real icon of the downtown core; and the news truck with the turning wheels that is built into the eastern faç ade make it an instantly recognizable landmark in downtown Toronto, its 1914 Neo-Gothic terra cotta faç. And the Fashion Television Channel. Star, muchMusic, cable Pulse 24, the building houses City TV and its famous Speakers Corner video booth (which allows members of the public to voice their opinions on any topic)! The main studio complex of CTV Globemedia, another significant Toronto landmark rose up impressively in front of our eyes: Toronto's CHUM City Building.

Introducing us to historically significant parts of the city that we had never seen or simply walked by without noticing, was able to educate us and entertain us at the same time, with his dramatic abilities, bruce. Our informative and entertaining Chinatown-Kensington Tour had come to an end, well.

And Bruce Bell is just the guy to open our eyes to it, toronto has a fascinating history, although a relatively young city.