I grew up in downtown Toronto and I will always be exhilarated by its hustle and bustle. I believe the best way to see and experience world culture, renowned works of art, and historic places, all in one afternoon, is on the Queen streetcar in Toronto from the Humber Loop to Neville Park and back.
You can see it all for the price of car fare. Which, incidentally, is a term unique to this special city. I don’t know any other place where a bus ticket or a subway token is called car fare.
In all the cities of Canada or the world that I have traveled through, no where else will you find a wider range of people who represent such extraordinary character. Only in Toronto, can you stand on a street corner and be overwhelmed with the notion that the formality of different countries in our world is so unnecessary. Everybody seems to get on with their lives in one place without blowing each other up or going to war.
That is not to say that all is harmonious. It is not. But everybody seems to move about and move along in a blending symphony of free-form jazz and bumps and grinds.
Toronto is an astounding mix of different people and different life styles. I could show you opulent breathtaking homes in Toronto that are located minutes from mind-numbing, tragic poverty. I could take you to the office of the representative Queen Elizabeth and then go down the street where an aboriginal woman sleeps in an alley. And I could prove to you that both of these women have legitimate historic documents that give them a legal claim to vast amounts of land and the wealth it represents. We could ponder the whole dilemma over a coffee from a host of restaurants in Toronto that would accommodate both of these women and their respective lifestyles with ease, and no one in the place batting an eye at their presence.
People in New York speak in reverent tones about Yankee Stadium but I could show you the very spot in Toronto where Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run. I could show you artifacts that pre-date the pyramids of Egypt for no charge on a Friday afternoon at the Royal Ontario Museum. We could go down the street to Osgoode Hall and I could point out bullet holes that remain in the gallery of a court house from the time a gun was discharged during a legal battle. We could enter the very same doorway that a man from Calgary charged through on his horse at the Royal York Hotel during Grey Cup festivities years ago. We could walk the streets where many famous authors from Lewis Carroll to Stephen Leacock wandered. We could stop at the places where Earnest Hemingway drank during his days as a reporter for the Toronto Star. We could stand at the crossroads where the longest street in the world, Yonge Street, begins its journey across Ontario.
Toronto presents a wild array of neon lights and spans of concrete that spare not even an inch of grass or dirt for miles. But it is also possible to walk through the entire city, top to bottom, right to its core at the shore of Lake Ontario, alongside rivers, wildlife, forests and pathways without once stepping on concrete or ever encountering a traffic light. It is a city of wonderful paradox.
It is a city that can be charming, mean, loving and cruel but it is always full of life, excitement and potential for everyone. No matter who you are, you have a chance, you have a shot in Toronto.
It is at once a vibrant, fresh faced young girl sitting at an expensive restaurant table, and an old tart that gets dolled up for a Saturday night at the beer hall.
Toronto has recently taken a blow from a health scare that we have all read about. We now know that the city is as safe as any other. Toronto is trying harder than ever to make visitors welcome this year. I urge you to give some thought to visiting this wonderful city. Check out a ball game at SkyDome, go see the CN Tower, take in a play at the Princess Diana of Wales Theatre and don’t miss a performance at Roy Thomson Hall.
But if you’re planning a summer vacation in Toronto, may I suggest that you simply walk its streets or ride them on a streetcar. You’ll find exceptional architecture, history, artistry, beauty and incredible humanity.
All for the price of car fare.
Heino Molls is publisher of REM. [email protected]
By: Heino Molls
[email protected]
