This video clip was taken on September 1, 2007 during my cycling trip to see the Canadian International Airshow which is always held on Labour Day weekend. I started in Toronto’s east end, cycled in on Gerrard Street through the colourful neighbourhoods of Little India and Toronto’s eastern Chinatown, both of which feature ethnic cuisine, vegetable, fruit and retail stores. Then I crossed the Don Valley Parkway and cycled by Regent Park, a public housing development from the 1950s and 1960s which has experienced significant social problems in the last few decades. A portion of Regent Park has been demolished to make way for a brand-new mixed housing development that will include low-income housing as well as middle-income housing. Right across the street from Regent Park is Cabbagetown, a neighbourhood that was originally settled by Irish immigrants that started to be settled as early as the late 1840s after a wave of poor immigrants left Ireland due to the Irish potato famine. These poor residents grew cabbage in their front yards, hence the name Cabbagetown. In the last few decades Cabbagetown has become increasingly popular and has seen extensive gentrification. I cycled through the relatively poor downtown east side to the intersection of Gerrard and Yonge; Yonge Street is the east-west dividing line in Toronto and used to be the longest street in the world. I then continued west on College Street, past Queen’s Park and the University of Toronto to the intersection of …
Posts Tagged ‘through’
Toronto Travel: Riding through High Park neighbourhood
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011Toronto Travel: A Tour through the Historic Don Jail
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
As ahuge fan of architecture and history, one of Torontos most well-known and infamous landmarks has long caught my attention: the historic Don Jail. After its closing in 1977, this building has long been inaccessible to the public , but this summer its new owner, the Bridgepoint Health Foundation, opened it up for a few public tours before it will permanently transform this historic structure into a research and administration building. On Friday, September 4, 2009 I headed into the Riverdale neighbourhood of Toronto to get ready for my tour of one of Torontos oldest buildings. A friend of mine had organized two tickets to one of the last walking tours ever before the impending transformation of the jail. This weekend would be the last time the tours were offered and I was extremely fortunate to be one of the last people to see the Don Jail in its current condition. Our young tour guide took us into the rotunda, a three-story open area in the centre of the structure. Built between 1862 and 1865, the Old Don Jail is one of Torontos oldest and most interesting buildings, and one of the few remaining structures that pre-date confederation. Two horizontal wings stretch out from here which were designed to originally hold 276 prisoners. In reality, the average prisoner load was 620 people, and even todays new Don Jail (opened next door in 1958) is suffering from severe overcrowding. Judges regularly credit prisoners for double or triple time served while awaiting trial due to …
Toronto Travel: A Walk through Riverdale
Thursday, November 18th, 2010
As a huge fan of architecture and history, one of Torontos most well-known and infamous landmarks has long caught my attention: the historic Don Jail. After its closing in 1977, this building has long been inaccessible to the public, but this summer its new owner, the Bridgepoint Health Foundation, opened it up for a few public tours before it will permanently transform this historic structure into a research and administration building. On Friday, September 4, 2009 I headed into the Riverdale neighbourhood of Toronto to get ready for my tour of one of Torontos oldest buildings. Riverdale is one of Toronto’s most historic neighbourhoods. Located on the east side of the Don Valley, Riverdale offers a charming selection of Victorian and Edwardian-era homes and has become one of Toronto’s most sought-after residential districts. It also holds Chinatown East, an ethnic enclave and shopping district that features a large number of Chinese and Vietnamese retail stores. One of the most important historic landmarks of Riverdale is the historic Don Jail. A friend of mine had organized two tickets to one of the last walking tours ever before the impending transformation of the jail. This weekend would be the last time the tours were offered and I was extremely fortunate to be one of the last people to see the Don Jail in its current condition. Our young tour guide took us into the rotunda, a three-story open area in the centre of the structure. Built between 1862 and 1865, the Old …
Toronto Travel: Air Show Cyling through Little India
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
This video clip was taken on September 1, 2007 during my cycling trip to see the Canadian International Airshow which is always held on Labour Day weekend. I started in Toronto’s east end, cycled in on Gerrard Street through the colourful neighbourhoods of Little India and Toronto’s eastern Chinatown, both of which feature ethnic cuisine, vegetable, fruit and retail stores. Then I crossed the Don Valley Parkway and cycled by Regent Park, a public housing development from the 1950s and 1960s which has experienced significant social problems in the last few decades. A portion of Regent Park has been demolished to make way for a brand-new mixed housing development that will include low-income housing as well as middle-income housing. Right across the street from Regent Park is Cabbagetown, a neighbourhood that was originally settled by Irish immigrants that started to be settled as early as the late 1840s after a wave of poor immigrants left Ireland due to the Irish potato famine. These poor residents grew cabbage in their front yards, hence the name Cabbagetown. In the last few decades Cabbagetown has become increasingly popular and has seen extensive gentrification. I cycled through the relatively poor downtown east side to the intersection of Gerrard and Yonge; Yonge Street is the east-west dividing line in Toronto and used to be the longest street in the world. I then continued west on College Street, past Queen’s Park and the University of Toronto to the intersection of …