Toronto the Great
With Toronto gearing up to host the upcoming G20 Summit on June 26 and 27, Canada Watch decided it was time for a “City Spotlight” refresher course on the city and all it has to offer.
In recent years, “Toronto the Good,” a nickname that arose from the Ontario city’s early status as a bastion of Victorian morality, has managed to get even better. Thanks largely to a concentrated infusion of high-profile cultural happenings, including the establishment of a new annual international performing arts festival, the opening of the city’s long-awaited new opera house, and the execution of three defining architectural projects on three different museums, it’s time to upgrade the epithet to “Toronto the Great.”
The first of these three happenings, the Luminato Festival, had its inaugural moment in June 2007, and next month heads into its fourth year with a full head of steam and an incredible line-up of performing artists from around the world. As for the opera house, the stunning and long-awaited Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, which opened exactly four years ago to rave reviews from, among other publications, The New York Times, is now home to the city’s Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet of Canada, two companies long-deserving of such a venue. And, finally, three distinct architectural renewals of three Toronto museums – the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art – have re-defined the “look” of the city.
Of the three museum expansions, the Gardiner’s was the first to be completed, having closed its doors in 2003 for an expansion that was led by the award-winning Toronto firm of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg. It re-opened to widespread critical acclaim in 2006. Then, right across the street from the Gardiner, the Royal Ontario Museum completed its expansion in 2007, re-opening with its spectacular Daniel Libeskind-designed Lee-Chin Crystal (named for Michael Lee-Chin, Chairman of Portland Holdings Inc., whose $30-million gift to the museum enabled the expansion). And, not to be outdone, the Art Gallery of Ontario’s expansion – led by iconic architect Frank Gehry (although born in Toronto, this is his first Toronto building) – was re-opened in November 2008. It would be well worth the trip to Toronto if only to take in these three dramatic architectural gems.
Visiting sports fans have four professional franchises to choose from, depending on the season: baseball’s Blue Jays and the Canadian Football League’s Argonauts play in the roof-retractable Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome); basketball’s Raptors and hockey’s Maple Leafs play in the Air Canada Centre. Both buildings are situated downtown, within steps from each other. For hockey fans – there are a few of those in Toronto! – there is also the Hockey Hall of Fame, a spectacular monument to Canada’s game that is situated in a magisterial former bank building and contains interactive exhibitions, memorabilia, even a re-creation of the Montreal Canadiens’ locker room!
And if after your tour through town, you’re feeling a little land-locked, you can always stroll (or, better yet, take one of the city’s famous electric street cars) down to Toronto’s beautiful Lake Ontario waterfront. Lining the lake, there’s shops and performing arts – even a world-class authors festival – at Harbourfront Centre. Toronto also has three public beaches, as well as Toronto Island, accessible by ferry and offering tranquil on-the-water views of the city’s dramatic skyline – a skyline that’s notable for the CN Tower, another popular tourist attraction that also happens to be the world’s tallest building (at 1,815 ft., 5 inches). The Tower offers heart-stopping views of the city (“on a clear day, you can see forever” takes on new meaning): it’s a must-visit.
Left: The Distillery District survived Toronto’s urban-renewal boom in the 1960s because it was an active working distillery until 1990; Center: The city’s old-style streetcars are an important public-transit convenience for Torontonians; Right: The CN Tower (the Rogers Centre, formerly the SkyDome, is lower left).
The city’s performing arts options go well beyond what’s already been mentioned here and includes a thriving live-music club scene, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, several dance and not-for-profit theater companies, and a commercial-theater scene that has allowed Toronto to lay claim to status as the third-busiest theater city in the English-speaking world (after London and New York). And, just to indicate what an embarrassment of riches this theater scene really is, two of the most acclaimed repertory companies in North America – the Shaw Festival (in Niagara-on-the-Lake) and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (in Stratford) – are within driving distance of Toronto.
One of the city’s most successful theater companies, Soulpepper (an exciting troupe known for its bracing revivals of classics), is housed in the city’s historic Distillery District, an 18th-century waterfront wonder that has been re-drawn as a cultural and historic center that includes Soulpepper’s multiple performance venues, as well as restaurants, live-music venues, specialty shops, even a day spa. This former home of the Gooderham and Worts Distillery makes for yet another not-to-be-missed Toronto attraction.
And, finally, wherever there’s a thriving urban environment as exciting as Toronto’s, you’ll usually find an equally thriving shopping and restaurant scene. “T.O.,” as the city is often called (“T-Dot” for the hip set), is no exception.
“Toronto the Good” is no longer just a nickname: it’s an egregious understatement.
For more information on Toronto the Great, please visit Where Toronto.
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