Going to Toronto?

Electrical Apparatus, May 1999 by Black, Gordon

It's big, it's modern, and it's different, with lots for visitors to do

TORONTO-This big, modern city on the shore of Lake Ontario has a thousand moods and faces. In fact, we Canadians say it's difficult for insiders to spot all the differences.

One of the first obvious differences are the bright red streetcars criss-crossing downtown streets. There are 11 routes and some 180 miles of track in all. These often-- crowded vehicles help give the city a lived-in feeling, an impression that is correct because many downtown workers don't desert the central city at night to go home to the suburbs. Instead they head to a nearby condominium or trendy loft. This lifestyle makes for safe, well-lit streets and allows both visitors and residents to enjoy entertainment, summer events, and dining out within walking distance of their hotels and homes.

Toronto's streetcars or "red rockets" point to another city difference. Many routes run through multicultural neighborhoods offering excellent examples of ethnic diversity. A short run out to Little Italy, Greektown, Portugal Village, Koreatown, or the two separate Chinatowns introduce riders (who can also go by tour bus or subway) to exotic dining in small family restaurants, offering a wide choice of imported souvenirs or an occasion to see a colorful street festival.

"Electric city"

The streetcars also offer visitors the opportunity to view Toronto as an "electric city." The municipality spends almost $20 million (US) a year on electric power to run its streetcars and subways. A visit to Casa Loma, Toronto's mid-town fantasy castle, tells more of the city electrical story: how industrialist Sir Henry Pellat, its eccentric builder, first introduced electric light and power in 1903 by generating energy from mighty Niagara Falls, 70 miles across the lake.

While Toronto is no Las Vegas, the big discount store Hones Ed's boasts a 200-foot long electric sign with 23,000 flashing bulbs, the largest retail light display in Canada and perhaps the world. Owner Ed Mirvish should know a thing or two about putting things up in lights. He is the owner of Toronto's two world-class theaters, the Royal Alexandra and the Princess of Wales on King Street West, which features top plays and musicals from London, Broadway, and around the globe.

The theater district is in the heart of downtown Toronto where many of the city's major events and attractions are held. A dining out recommendation: the modest looking Kit Kat restaurant across from the Princess of Wales Theater serves delicious antipasto and in this local resident's opinion the best southern Italian cuisine, served in an intimate interior patio.

Walking around

Strolling the streets calls attention to another Toronto difference: the large amount of film-making in progress. Toronto locales have been featured in such movies as "Good Will Hunting," "Simon Birch," "Prisoner of Love," and many more.

Different, due to its uniqueness, is the monumental CN Tower, situated right beside the distinctive Skydome, home of the American League Toronto Blue Jays. (The Baltimore Orioles will be in town June 29 for a 7:30 p.m. game.) At 1,700 feet, the communications tower, tallest freestanding structure in the world, offers extensive 360 deg panoramic views. One can see right across Lake Ontario to Rochester, N.Y The elegant skypod restaurant, now called the "360," stocks around 360 vintage wines and serves 36-plus gourmet menu items. Boutique and other attractions crowd the main floor.

A half mile walk from the CN Tower's modernity is the 150-year-old St. Lawrence Market, where many Torontonians head at dawn on Saturday mornings to buy the freshest farm produce and exotic foods. The area contains other historic buildings: the beautiful, classical St. Lawrence Hall, the marvelous Gothic-revival Cathedral of St.James, and the remarkable Flatiron Building.

Some older restaurants match the sector's look to the past, but highly recommended is a modern dining spot called The Hot House. Prices are reasonable, the menu pleasantly varied, the decor bright and contemporary. There are jazz brunches every Sunday and a full buffet Wednesdays.

Farther out

The fashionable Bloor Street/Yorkville area can be reached by subway or taxi. Here is a place to shop for fashions, shoes, and home decor items. The area has its own contemporary, not-too-expensive restaurant (in the Manulife Centre) called the Bloor Street Diner.

Bloor Street also has two worthwhile museums: the venerable Royal Ontario Museum, famous for its spectacular dinosaur exhibit and its major Chinese art collections and the arcane Beta Shoe Museum-enough to make Imelda Marcos (remember her?) drool!

Late June is an ideal time to visit Toronto. The weather is warm and sunny without being tropical (daytime temperatures up to 75F). And it's a time for some major summer events: the Du Maurier downtown Jazz Festival; the Benson and Hedges Symphony of Fire, an international fireworks contest held for three weeks over Lake Ontario, and viewed from Ontario Place, a popular film and entertainment spot; and "Caravan," an overview of Toronto's multiculturalism brought downtown to dozens of different sites, each dressed up to represent an international city with its own folk costumes, dances, foods, and hand-crafted souvenirs.