City
Does Toronto have any attractions locals don't know of?
I spotted a similar query to the one above in relation to NYC a few days ago, and immediately started to think about it in a Toronto context. But, to be honest, it's not that easy to come up with a long list of possibilities. Perhaps it's because I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I generally assume that the majority of places in Toronto that could rightly be termed "attractions" are already familiar to local residents.
But assuming that it's fair to be a little loose with the term in question -- isn't an attraction by definition already popular? -- it'd be interesting to suggest a few places that should be more popular destinations for locals (and perhaps even tourists) but which, for whatever reason, just haven't caught on. I'm thinking here of anything from lesser-known museums and parks to great views of the city (rather than, say, entire neighbourhoods, restaurants or retail areas). I can think of a few places that might fit this description -- the lower Don recreational trail, the view of the skyline from Polson Street, Wychwood Park, and maybe even those seemingly stupid double decker tourist buses that, despite the predictable commentary from the guide, offer a fantastic opportunity to photograph the city from an elevated vantage point.
While certainly known to some degree, all of these places/trips tend to be under-visited or just under-appreciated. Do you have similar or perhaps better suggestions? Depending on the response, I might be able to put together alternative list of places to explore.
Photo by Jose Miguel Navarrete in the blogTO Flickr pool.
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I think it was near St.Andrews Station, but that doesn't really narrow it down.
the islands are a lot bigger than most people think, and there's a few hidden away spots that never really see a big crowd. Sure Chelsea Beach is always going to be backed, and Hanlon's Beach too, but there's lots of hidden gems.
and no, I'm never giving up the location of my 'secret beach'.
Your 'secret beach' is the clothing-optional beach ain't it? haha
BUT I suppose one could go clothing optional and not be seen if they really wanted to. We've even done beach fires (with buckets of water and sand for safety) during the afternoon and no one even noticed. Just watch out for fire ants! I think the entire Island is one big anthill.
There's also a 'secret ferry' that will let you avoid all the hassles of the main ferry docks too. Technically it's for the Toronto Island Marina, but it's city owned and they will take cash fares (provided there is still space after the marina members are all on board - and there's always space)
(okay, I'll give it up, it's near Gibraltar Point Beach, which is rarely listed on the maps. If you head west from there, you'll find a very private beach, behind an overgrown baseball diamond - FUN! )
My suggestion for hidden gem of attraction is Markham. Yes, thats right, not exactly Toronto, but 20 minutes will take you to Historic Unionville, strawberry farms, Markham Museum, Varley Art Gallery.
Oh and let us not forget the AGO, The ROM, The Distillery District, The Bata Shoe Museum, and the Power Plant at Harbourfront for the Art Buff.
that reminds me of another one!!
There's a 'Railway Museum' in Milton that has a number of antique and retired TTC streetcars, subways and trains.
let me google it - hcry.org
Actually, when I was a kid we used to go to tapings at CBC- they're also free if you phone ahead and request tickets. We used to go to Air Farce but you can go to Strombo's show or a whole bunch of other things like that. Definitely cool if you're bored or have never seen a TV studio before.
The Art Battle's next event will be at the Varley Art Gallery in markham, and Paintlounge will be there.
While you're there, might as well visit Paintlounge ... a cafe with an artistic twist. Visit Bev + I, grab a drink, and have fun painting on canvases!
www.paintlounge.ca
There's a little historical house at Bathurst and Davenport that I frequently walk past but have never been inside of. They give tours. I once glanced inside when it was open. Google gives me this...
http://www.torontohistoricalassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&;task=view&id=58
...which states that the house is Canada's oldest toll house, built in 1835.
I didn't know about it until I moved to the neighbourhood and even then I walked past it a bunch of times before taking a closer look. I suspect that few Torontonians know about it, so it would be a good subject for Derek's follow up.
As for Andy's request for "The place where everyone from out of town has to see that no locals ever end up going to.", I wonder if Casa Loma is on that list - and Spadina House next door. Everyone knows about it. It's not "Times Square" but a tourist destination that locals skip.
This post is a reminder that it's great to be a tourist in your own city.
Allen Gardens is always a nice place to check out on a cold day.
There's also a sweet skating "trail" at Col. Sam Smith Park at Islington and the waterfront.
http://projects.chass.utoronto.ca/utmusi/
Also there is Grant's Museum at UofT in the basement of the Medical Sciences building that has a lot of dissected specimens and stuff floating in glass jars. I kid you not.
Canadian Air & Space Museum at Downsview Park.
Museum of Television, 560 Queen East
Toronto Police Museum and Discovery Centre, 40 College St.
-better behave there :)
Toronto Urban Adventures "Beer Makes History Better" and Kensington Market & Chinatown" walking tours. http://www.torontourbanadventures.com
Cities are meant to be walked, and even locals can learn a lot from a walking tour with a professional guide.
Also, most suburban folk don't know shit about places in the city other than the malls, and mostly it's the same vice-versa.
Problem is, there's nothing in Toronto that you can't find more of, better of, the original of.. a few hours away in New York, Chicago or Montreal.. not to mention the rest of the world. Maybe we should hype some of the unique features of the city:
-Jaunty wooden 'heritage' telegraph poles that have all but disappeared in most other first world cities- Indicate to visitors that we are at the forefront of the 'Messy Urbanism' trend and that when this trend catches on, they'll regret the fact that they rid themselves of their telegraph poles. Tijuana and Hanoi will then try to take credit for for 'Messy Urbanism' while cities around the world will begin to 'Toronto Style' themselves, ordering thousands of wooden telegraph poles, installing them willy-nilly and at jaunty angles along some of their most prominent streets.
-Quaint subway tokens and paper transfers- These will remind visitors of their own cities- 10, 20 years ago and leave them yearning to go back to the old days.
-Easy to negotiate subway- Only 2 lines. Now isn't that easy?
-The world's largest Sears store in our most prominant downtown location- Point out that we've out USA'd the USA!
-The Beer Store- Emphasise that it's somewhat easier to purchase beer here than it is in Teheran, Riyadh or Kirachi.. unless it's a long weekend.
-Canadian Theatre Capital-'Mama Mia', 'Jersey Boys', 'South Pacific', 'Rock of Ages'.. Remind them that If they missed it in London or New York 5-10 years ago, it's here now.
-'We've played you'- Tours of film locations that have stood in for Baltimore, Detroit, New York, Cleveland, Anywhere USA. Remind them that despite the fact that we make no movies of our own, we are 'Hollywood North', Cultural Capital of Canada
-Emphasise to American tourists that 'We're the same as you!' All American fast food, retail, franchise, big box everything available here, and more on the way. American TV, movies, theatre.. that's all we watch. Make it known that while they're In Toronto, they can be in another country without ever realising that they're in another country.
-Sport Tourism- make people aware of the fact that if they come to see their team play the Leafs, Jays, Raptors, TFC, Argos.. they're likely to witness a road victory. Don't mention the Pan Am games, they won't know what you're talking about.
-Toronto History Museum- Not that this potential thriller is likey to ever get off the ground but if it does.. market it to insomniacs. If they don't nod off somewhere between the 'Marilyn Bell Swimteractive' and the 'SARS Isolation Unit' reenactment, they're probably incurable. They can then get whacked by some virtual facist Metro cops, G-20 style.
-St Clair ROW- Make it clear that this is the 'after' and not the 'before' and don't mention how much it cost or how long it took to make it so beautiful.
-Historic Districts- Take them to the 2 block Distillery District (if they can afford it) and explain how the surrounding 30 floor condos were designed to 'blend in'.
Most of all, explain how our numerous anti-fun rules and regulations, mundane modern condotecture, rotting inner suburbs and unaffordable, monoculture downtown make us one of the most fascinating cities in the world.
Don't forget to mention the Multiculturalism!
We usually take in Castle Loma, too, but just for photos outside.
My Toronto includes the suburbs.
I always described Toronto to friends as Manahattan north of 14th Street, while Montreal is like Manhattan south of 14th Street. If you know what I am referring to you will instantly understand the many statements that comparison conveys and why no New Yorker could possibly be interested in visiting Toronto but will fly, drive or train up to Montreal in a heartbeat. When I lived in England there was no tourism marketing for Toronto at all -- the draw of Canada is the mountains and snow of the Rockies or the rocky beaches of the Coast, not some midwestern (to their eyes) steel and glass metropolis north of Cleveland.
Yes, Toronto does have an attractive messy urbansim, though nowhere near as messy and urban as, say, Portland (whose food trucks destroy, utterly destroy, over-regulated Toronto). TTC streetcars are a huge potential attraction - see the city for a token - that has never been capitalized on like, say, the F-Market line in San Francisco or City Circle line in Melbourne. And the PATH underground is a very big attraction that dwarfs similar American complexes and yet goes completely unrecognized - tourists are amazed by the scale of it.
But essentially Toronto's main attraction is that it is a wonderfully livable city that is hyper connected to the rest of the world through population, culture and transport links yet also connected to its own amazing forested environs. Cottage country and the northern hinterlands, though increasingly harder to see through the Wal-Mart parking lot in Bracebridge, are a remarkable thing to have in your own backyard. As Steeplejack points out, the fact that you can point your car north and drive and drive as civilization falls away from you is incredible to many people. In Toronto you can have the world and the edge of the world at the same time, a very neat trick.
*All together now: awwww...*
Of course, with Rob Ford's phobia with streetcars, they might be reluctant to do so.
Toronto is certainly livable...but world class attractions? Not in any way shape or form
You tell me one TO attraction and I'll give you 10 more elsewhere in the world that are better and in a nicer locale.
1. The garden maze on Ward Island
2. Algonquin Island - bike through and feast on beautiful front yard gardens and quaint homes.
3. The Beach Walking Tours (free) - during Doors Open Toronto
4. The Beach Studio Tour. Visit Beach artists in their studios.
5. The house gardens of Spadina Museum, Scarborough Museum, Colborne Lodge; the park gardens - Kew Gardens, High Park,
6. The humble but sobering Memorial Wall for Toronto's Homeless Dead, Church of the Holy Trinity, Trinity Square
7. The Lost Rivers Walks. http://www.lostrivers.ca/
8. The Basilica of St Paul's, Power Street. Site of the first catholic church in Toronto (ceiling frescoes, in the style of the great Sistine Chapel)
9. I write on Multiculturalism and not enough is made of this. Little Italy, Portugal Village, Kensington Market, Greektown, Little India (N America's largest), the 3 Chinatowns (Dundas and Chestnut, Broadview and Gerrard, Spadina Ave)
10. The little Afghanistan-Little Ethiopia stretch on the Danforth, east of Donlands to Coxwell, Little Malta (aka The Junction), Little Jamaica (Eglinton W, just east of Dufferin)
11. Museum of Contemporary Art Queen W, just west of Shaw. http://www.mocca.ca/
12. The Elevated Wetlands sculptures by Noel Harding in Taylor Creek Park. Whoosh past on the DVP or bike right up to them in the park. http://www.toronto.ca/archives/acquisitions_fonds1236_noelharding.htm
13. The Toronto Archives at 255 Spadina Road. (Walk n from Dupont Station).
14. The High Park Zoo
15. Riverdale Farm
16. The Old Cemeteries: St James (toronto's oldest), Necropolis, Mt Pleasant, St John's Norway (in the Beach), St Michael's (s of St Clair and Yonge)
http://toronto.baps.org/info.php
you forgot asphalt patches covering 50% of our sidewalks and the thousands of ratty posters covering every square inch of every pole, utility box, phone booth, parking ticket dispenser etc etc.
http://www.hhof.com/
'nuff said. lol