Toronto Travel: Toronto walking tour: Mary Pickford story at Spadina & Queen

These video clips were taken during my walking tour with famous Toronto historian and tour guide Bruce Bell on July 16, 2007. After meeting at the famous and eclectic OCAD Building (I call it the "gift box on stilts") just south of the University of Toronto, Bruce took us past the Grange, Toronto's oldest building, past the Art Gallery of Toronto to some of the mansions along Beverley and Baldwin Streets. Along the way Bruce explained to us the early history of Toronto, and the family compact -- a group of extremely wealthy and powerful English families that used to rule Toronto in the early days.

We then walked westwards to Chinatown and the ethnic mix of the Kensington Market area which started as a Scottish market, then became a popular Jewish residential area in the 1910s and 1920s (evidenced by two local synagogues) and morphed into the diverse, multicultural and hip neighbourhood that it is today. Vendors sell fruits, vegetables, cheeses, dry goods, meat, fish, vintage clothing and all sorts of other unique items in this Bohemian neighbourhood. A great variety of different ethnic restaurants caters to eclectic tastes. We then visited Denison Square and admired a statue of one of Toronto's popular actors, Al Waxman, the "King of Kensington". We then continued on our walk through busy Chinatown to Toronto's Garment district along Spadina and Queen Avenues and then headed east along a variety of restaurants and bars on Queen Street West to end in front of the Italianate palace occupied by City TV. Along the way we got informed and entertained about Toronto's history from a small English enclave that started in 1793, to the exciting, vibrant and multicultural metropolis that it is today. You can read the full story at http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/chinatown_kensington.htm.

The clips from this walking tour are part of my "Toronto Favourites" series and many more of these discoveries are to come. I am actually a travel writer, and whenever I am not out of town, I write about the city that I live in: Toronto, a city that has many cool places. I love to get out and explore the city and discover some new cool spots, and now you can enjoy them with me. Feel free to check out some of my 700+ articles and interviews on http//www.travelandtransitions.com. My personal travel stories are located at http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos.htm.

Also, my FREE travel ebooks containing stories from my trips to destinations such as Sicily, Havana, Mexico City, New York City, Chicago, Florida, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax and many others are going up right now at http://www.travelandtransitions.com/ebooks.html

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Toronto
• Kensington
• China
• Town
• Canada
• Bruce
• Bell

[sousater2]

Ho God! I miss thats corner so much.. I walked everyday for long time.. now i cant be there anymore...

[Intransitman]

I've been in that McDonald's, love the streetcars!

[Bugstomper2]

Yeah! Well I don't own anything! AND have lived in Toronto 43 years! So there!

[bramptonraised]

Mary Pickford's father (John Charles Smith, son of Joseph Smith and Sarah Key)died when she was quite young. Mary Pickford's parents did not own a vaudeville theatre. She was born and named Gladys Louise Marie Smith, daughter of an Irish Roman Catholic mother and Canadian Methodist father of British descent.

[Stamp987a]

Sorry, Mr. Tourguide, Mary Pickford was nothing like Nicole Kidman! Mary P. was a spunky sweetheart type--like Reese Witherspoon or Renee Zelweger.