stuff to do in toronto canada

transit app is called Rocket Man (heh). There's a website called myttc.ca which is unofficial but good for like 'How can I get from this address to -landmark-' if you don't have an address.. pick up a copy of The Grid from the free newspaper boxes, it has stuff to do inside. Bloor to Front street is only about a mile and a half, turns out, so you should be fine with walking.. if you ask a conductor inside a TTC station, they usually have maps IIRC with the subway and streetcars on them.

I live on a street that would have been paved for the Spadina extension! Heh. Guess I'll need to check out this Jane Jacobs, who I've never read :P

If you're going to be in Little Italy/Portugal, my suspicion is you're around Ossington so I would walk to Oss and College, along College to Augusta, then take Augusta to walk into the Kensington market area, which borders Chinatown (Spadina ave). I'd walk south on Spadina to Queen street and check that area around a bit too. That's kind of all the west-end stuff in a fun lump - Distillery district, St Lawrence market etc maybe for another day.

here is a map of my suggestion

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=ossington+and+college&daddr=augusta+ave+and+nassau+st+to:dundas+and+spadina+to:queen+and+spadina&hl=en&ll=43.653031,-79.409566&spn=0.026145,0.037165&sll=43.652907,-79.409566&sspn=0.026145,0.037165&geocode=FfkcmgIdHBtE-yn1WMWg9zQriDEbkfXmijQYNg%3BFUQgmgIdv2pE-ymtjnAFwjQriDH_hX0hfmvrkg%3BFS8XmgIdAHtE-ynJF5V3wzQriDHMU3tUmQITqQ%3BFcwGmgIdhYFE-ylXGdNv2zQriDHGGtKvkKR03A&vpsrc=0&dirflg=w&mra=ltm&t=m&z=15

then I would walk back to Ossington along Queen because there's lots of fun stuff in that strip, and you'd be home-ish.

also toronto is super fun if you have read lots of jane jacobs because you keep recognising places she talks about. there is even a plaque for where they didn't build the spadina expressway or something

haha yes this is very much what I'm hoping for

v much in character

Expensive sushi? Hiro or Ema-tei

have you been to sushi kaji?

I'm interested in the underground area mostly just 'as a place', like it seems inneresting even if it's crappy and basically a mall?

its mostly a series of underground pathways (its called PATH i mean) that connects the big mall w/all the office towers and the subway. like its less a mall than just corridors that let you get from the stock exchange to the mall to an accounting firm's hq to the king subway all w/o having to go above ground?

Toronto is a cool place to live but it's not really a great tourist city in my experience

yeah this is super otm, theres not really that much stuff to 'do' but its a p sweet place to live

also i thought abt it more and since your there anyway most of the little north-south streets btw ossington and bathurst are kinda neat to walk along, some really nice places. im kidna biased cuz its where i live but each street sorta has its own character and fun discoveries

yeah I think we'll be okay cause we're not really 'do' stuff people, just like to wander arond and see how people live. I haven't left the nyc metro area for 2 years so it'll be nice to be in a small town again.

oh that's not a very nice way to endear yourself to helpful Torontonians who made google maps and shit. "small town." :*(

if you proclaim it quaint about your return I'm mailing you anthrax

about=upon, I have holiday fog in my brain. and fierce loyalty to my beloved city.

it was a joke :(

will irl torontanians not appreciate that joke, I was planning on using it a lot

depends, ever take a punch from a 6'1" woman? hehe. might come off better IRL with 'joking' inflection in voice, etc etc. But honestly Canadians get slagged off by the USA so often I'm always on the defensive.

the puncing was a joke too :(

this is becoming a diplomatic crisis

the part of toronto yr staying in sorta is like a small town, thats what i like abt living there

is there a 'hipster' neighborhood?

everything south of bloor imo

kensington market, queen street - I sent you on a hipster crawl really

okay good just making sure

lol kensington is all crusties and new immigrants

the stretch of ossington btw queen and dundas used to be a hipster stretch but now its just pseuds and yuppies

the real hipster nabe is dufferin to landsdowne around bloor st. and parts of north parkdale ime

Torontonians have a notorious inferiority complex, and probably will get offended at that, as I would have been if I hadn't scrolled up to after reading "it was a joke"

I don't know anyone that's ever willingly spent time in the PATH. The idea of someone visiting it as part of trip is kind of incredibly ridiculous, unless you're really, really excited about, like, small-scale shoe repair places and mediocre foodcourts.

'it used to be.. now it's just..' spoken like a true hipster, Lamp ;D

If you go to the Distillery District, which is worth doing (especially to see a play), and want to balance the yuppie gloss of it, head up parliament for a more authentic, mostly unglamorous stretch of the city, and while there go to Suko Thai, which is the best Thai food, and some of the best food, in the entire city, and is also cheap.

Hey, that's great. I'll catch up tonight with what's already been suggested...Try to get to the Lightbox for a film. Any chance of meeting up for lunch? I'll give Herman Cain a call, see if he can make it too.

for sure, pm me, we're free all days at this point.

have you been to sushi kaji?

I haven't. I wouldn't consider mentioning it to anybody but a rich kid with a car. I hear it's amazing? But Hiro is half the prize and all the once-yearly omakase I could ever ask for.

+1 on that Googlemap. Looking good.

If you're interested in "shows", like, gigs, you'd normally look here http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/listings/ or pick up a copy of "Offerings" 'zine. Yes, you can see Mary Margaret O'Hara w/Miss America-guitarist Rusty McCarthy tomorrow night.

Lamp, your assessment of Kensington market is correct but that's why it's so recommended

also, kensington market is just streets with shops i have no idea how it is supposed to be a market

Because the shops are tiny and falling down, there's a heavy emphasis on vintage clothes, furniture, produce and foodstuffs, there are no chain stores.

I haven't. I wouldn't consider mentioning it to anybody but a rich kid with a car. I hear it's amazing? But Hiro is half the prize and all the once-yearly omakase I could ever ask for.

oh yeah i wasnt recommending it for iatee, i mean for two of them itll be like $400 and a 90 min bus + subway + bus ride but it is by far the best sushi ive had & was just curious if you agreed. hiro is good but tbh i almost never go east of young for anything tho so i forget abt it. also now i want to go to suko thai

for actual shopping i think kensington is sorta meh but its neat to walk through, i thought? probably more so in the spring/fall i guess.

Is there an The Official Toronto Kids in the Hall Tour of On-Location Shots? I'd hop on that bus.

xp Really? If I have a day off in the city, that's usually where I go. Besides having my favourite coffee and record stores, it's got Hibiscus, Oishi Kada, El Trompo, Akram's, Xe Lua and [secret Chinese restaurant], which are my favourite cheap meals. Good groceries.

I'm moving this month, actually, to be closer to that area (without actually living in it).

...on your left, you'll see where "this guy died, died died died died" that's right it's the cemetery feature in the "Terriers" musical number.

Kensington market took the market part from when there were a lot of immigrants who made the area very market-like, fruit stands on the streets, etc. I'm far too much of preppy capitalist for much actual shopping in KM nowadays, but it's a fun place. Blue Banana probably a cool place to find a little Toronto tchotchke or two.

Yonge street, not young, ugh! I hope we can blame an iPhone for that! :)

who is judith and opal usually? I'm so confused.

el trompo is the taco place on augusta @ oxford, yes? if so thats the place i was rec'ing upthread for iatee

curious what yr favorite record store is i think most/all the places in toronto are really terrible tbh, which sucks, i can buy everything i want online but its nice to browse.

i mostly meant for vintage, i think the places in kensington are p lackluster, or maybe i just have bad luck. i keep meaning to try akram's but havent yet. being that close to the butcher would be nice tho. i would never live in kensington but certainly north of the market is nice if overpriced

for all your KITH needs: http://torontoist.com/2011/03/kith_map/
I don't think there's a tour. We do have a Hippo Tour - a bus that drives on streets and then floats in the harbour. Exciting! Not very exciting.

oh yeah I can't do vintage shopping, I'm built like a male drag queen, there's nothing out there for me ...except maybe vintage drag. :P

this thread has me inexplicably, desperately wanting to find those old RunTO Nike ads 'hey queen street west, too cool to 10K? - parkdale' etc. sigh.

i spent forever with a female friend of mine in this vintage shop in paris getting increasing bored as she flicked through the racks complaining that everything there were too big for her before we realised that we were in the shop you are looking for. im p sure i could remember where it is if you ever want to know.

found some of the ads. yay! http://www.flickr.com/photos/vasta/tags/runto/

did you mean me, for vintage shops? paris is a bit far, but I appreciate it! (my main gripe is I am 6'1" and a size L/XL, not that I am actually a secret drag queen.)

well no that was a joke, it turned out to actually be a tranny vintage shop (one with a curatorial slant that was v tattered laura ashley and LA throwaway and p desirable at that exact point in time)

hahaha. actually come to think of it - I bought a dress for a wedding once at this small vintage shop just south of yonge and bloor, and the guy told me he mostly sells his stuff to drag queens! FAVOURITE DRESS EVER.

Thanks for the KITH map link! That's great. I knew something like that must exist. There's the actual cemetery I was joking about! And I never thought "STEPS" was some actual steps! In my memory it looks totally like a stage set.

The Toronto Hippo tour looks a lot like our Hot Springs, Arkansas, Duck tour. Except our "Ducks" are WWII-era amphibious jalopies and those Hippos look kinda nice. A Duck took on water and sank in the lake in like 1999. Several drowned.

there was also a julian schnabel retro which was p lol

Ha, I didn't notice this before, but yeah, pretty much this. I actually walked right by Julian Schnabel after seeing that exhibition, too. Actually, I was thinking about that a few days ago actually, specifically about why it didn't occur to me to yell some heckling comment at him from afar.

omg i was so obnoxious at this bc i wanted to like "scoff" at everything. like bits of a car stuck to a canvas. and why is everything so big. let me measure your dick please.

printed out your map r&r!

how's toronto's parks scene?

High Park is our biggest, Trinity-Bellwoods is The Hipster Choice (and if you follow my itinerary, on your way home from Queen and Spadina back to Ossington), and we have little ones sprinkled throughout! Enjoy!

Don't know if you're much for cheap books and/or DVDs, but I'd recommend both the BMV store on Queen (there are a couple of other BMVs that aren't as good) and a fantastic temporary clearout centre at Queen and Spadina. Toronto used to be great for second-hand record stores, but obviously most are long gone by now. Sonic Boom at Bloor and Bathurst is pretty good.

iatee i emailed you my # btw

underrated park is christie pits imo everything is just sorta soggy and dead atm

If you're looking for books/records there's definitely good options, just depends on what you're looking for.

ughhh you know what is a shitty time to lose your wallet? 5 hours before you leave for another country. :( :(

still goin n'all just really gd annoying

can you believe they were gonna build a highway there

yeah I did! I can see how that road could have 'made sense' as a freeway tho it would have really destroyed the heart of the city. a few days ago I walked down queen west til I hit the beach and then walked from there to high park and so I got to see the bleakness near the gardiner.

w/r/t that walk, parkdale is pretty interesting in that the gentrification seems to sorta sandwich a non-gentrified area

Yeah, it's been moving westward incredibly quickly, and in an incredibly homogenous fashion. I've been told, though, that because of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, there's an offsite slot for housing for people who go there that's fixed, or something like that, and hence will keep part of "that" "element" there. (Historically, I'm told, the area became kind of shabby partly because so many people coming off drug addictions or who had mental health issues (i.e. the typically unemployable) would naturally set up shop around CAMH. I probably got most of that wrong, though.

In any case, Queen West gentrification is sort of a whole beast unto itself.

most of south parkdale is still p 'non-gentrified' i guess? at least that seemed to be my impression when i was apt hunting. i think part of that is the community housing keeping rents low but idk.

south parkdale? that's me!

i am ashamed i did not notice this thread until just now.

sorry guys.

and yes - me rent is reddonk cheap - with view of the lake!

yah a friend of mine had an apt in one of the buildings on king just after the bend, you could see the lake from her balcony and it was really cheap but p skeezy

I didn't see the king area of parkdale but it makes sense that it would be sketchier. had lunch w/ clemenza at sneaky dee's and then went to greektown (that whole part of town is very astoria-queens-like. sorry for comparing everything to ny) and st lawrence market. that's prob it for our trip cause of the rain and all. we def had fun and my friend who we're staying w/ wants us to come back for some stuff in 2012 so it's not totally unlikely we'll be back. yay toronto.

sorry i missed you i slept until 1:30 and then just lazed and read and ate leftovers all afternoon but im glad you had a good time.

ya no worries, you should hit me up next time you're in ny