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Kensington Market

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080712.BIKE12/TPStory/TPEntertainment/Ontario/

We want bike posts with A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E.
JOHN LORINC
Special to The Globe and Mail
July 12, 2008

You could say that Kensington Market is friendly toward bicycling, but not exactly bike-friendly.

With its car-free Sundays and urbanista vibe, the historic market is arguably ground zero for Toronto's cycling renaissance, but the area has remained annoyingly short of bike posts in comparison with other busy downtown areas, such as the universities and many main streets.

Later this month, however, the Kensington Market Action Committee will begin to address the problem when the group unveils the first of what it hopes will be several high-concept bike racks situated at the "gateways" to the congested warren of streets off Spadina Avenue.

The iconic structure will be made of metre-high block letters spelling "KENSINGTON" and is designed to accommodate about 25 bikes, which can be locked to posts supporting each letter. Fabricated from stainless steel by A.N.Y. Metal & Garden, the installation will be sited on Augusta Avenue just south of College Street.

Yvonne Bambrick, Toronto Cyclist Union spokeswoman and a Kensington activist, blames the dearth of posts on the market's narrow sidewalks, its legendary congestion and changes in the city's street-furniture design. That Kensington's side streets are lined with iron bollards - installed to prevent sidewalk parking - means there's scant curb space available for bike posts. "It's mostly about space," Ms. Bambrick says. "We're still looking for other nooks and crannies."

"The problem is that Kensington has too many cyclists," area councillor Adam Vaughan says, half-jokingly. The city's top street-furniture priority for the market is to find spaces for new garbage bins.

Kensington's eponymous bike rack will be the latest stylized metal sculpture to grace city sidewalks while serving its outspoken riders. The Royal Ontario Museum installed several posts on Avenue Road, designed to evoke objects in its collection, this summer.

The ROM's posts were created by Phil Sarazen and Jack Gibney, the same Toronto artists who designed the whimsical bike stands that have popped up in midtown and Parkdale.

In May, the Yonge Lawrence Village Business Improvement Association began installing the first of 16 of the pair's steel racks on Yonge, north of Lawrence. Mr. Sarazen and Mr. Gibney also guided the clients of a Queen Street drop-in centre as they welded the quirky bike posts for Parkdale.
 
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/456687

Model Citizen adds to rising Market

Known for local designs, the shop joins unique retailers' march to Kensington
Jul 12, 2008 04:30 AM
.
DERICK CHETTY
STAR STYLIST

Designated a historic district, Kensington Market continues to stay true to its independent spirit, luring not big-name retailers, but small unique shops, which seem to be flocking to the area.

The bookstore This Ain't the Rosedale Library left its Church St. digs last month, the delicious café Wanda's Pie in the Sky departed Yorkville and now the ultrahip boutique Model Citizen closed its shop on Dundas St. W. and has reopened on Augusta Ave.

But despite the hub of commercial activity, the area still seems to retain its grassroots heritage, one of the reasons that Model Citizen's owner Julian Finkel decided to move his shop here. "I love the multicultural aspect and the activist aspect," he says.

Which seems to fit in perfectly with his agenda for his store: pushing local design talent.

While Kensington Market is renowned for its cheap and cheerful vintage stores, Model Citizen has built a reputation for stocking cool local labels.

And by local, some are local even to the immediate area, such as menswear designer Philip Sparks, whose studio is around the block. Or another menswear label, Burnt Offering, whose studio is also in the market.

And, of course, there is the line of T-shirts designed by Finkel, who also dabbles as an artist. He silk screens his artwork on the T-shirts in the basement of the shop.

It's not just menswear; hipster chicks will love the slinky drop-crotch jumpers from Katya Revenko or the airbrushed silk tops from Veronique Miljkovitch.

What elevates this store from others in the area is the sophistication of the designs they stock. It goes beyond most of the kind of crafty-type fashions you would find in the market.

But the boutique also retains some of the vintage and eco-spirit of the area with a few lines made of recycled materials, such as the quirky jewellery made from vintage cutlery. The ornate handles of sterling silver knives and forks are turned into rings. Another designer makes wide cummerbund belts from leather and suede jackets.

Finkel pushes the made-in-Canada agenda because he believes there is a need for it.

"There really was no one pushing these designers," he says. "We have meetings with them and offer advice on fine-tuning their designs. A lot of people now use us as a sounding board."

"We've developed a name for ourselves so designers seek us out now," Finkel says.

"I'm astounded by the stuff that's created in basements and attics across this city."

Model Citizen, 279 Augusta Ave., Toronto.
 
Alley Kat said:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080712.BIKE12/TPStory/TPEntertainment/Ontario/
The iconic structure will be made of metre-high block letters spelling "KENSINGTON" and is designed to accommodate about 25 bikes, which can be locked to posts supporting each letter. Fabricated from stainless steel by A.N.Y. Metal & Garden, the installation will be sited on Augusta Avenue just south of College Street.
Click to expand...
Very cool. Has anyone seen a rendering/picture yet?
 
http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2008/0724/columns/023.html

A great day trip: Chinatown and Kensington Market

By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD-DANBY Columnist

It may be said of Kensington Market and Chinatown, in and around the Spadina Avenue area of Toronto, that the region is the soul of Toronto.

Spadina Avenue was always the road with the fewest traffic rules, or so it seemed. Making U-turns was common - who ever signalled? Chinese ladies drifted their cars through the traffic as they were ships on canals.

Since those unruly days, the powers that be in Toronto, having removed the streetcar tracks one year, replaced a little later with tremendous divider and special "transit lights". The natural inclination to Spadina's traffic chaos dealt badly with these restrictions for a long time, resulting in one accident after another between automobiles and public transport.

The sidewalks are a joy of foods you recognise and those you do not, spilling over their boxes, tempting you to try something new.

Bizarre fruits, looking more like creatures from the sea than something growing on land, but with succulent fruit within, others that resemble an ancient beast are heaped together while, beside, goods from the ocean that you never knew existed, waited, salted and dried, to be taken home.

Other shops offer multicoloured shirts, dresses and all sorts of clothing; there are jewellery shops filled with precious gems in gold; the cheapest watches you can find in one place - and the most expensive in another.

The windows in some of the restaurants display surprises to a person of limited travel, for there are wholes sides of pigs, ducks, chicken and squid all ready to eat, crisp with roasting and basting. These are for the consumption of the patrons but another - "Lucky Meats" - is ready to put packages of savoury pork and birds together to take home.

Upstairs at the Bright Pearl Restaurant is served undoubtedly Toronto's best dim-sum. It is a wandering buffet of trolleys pushed by ladies up and down the aisles of the restaurants, each one loaded with steaming baskets and dishes of delicious little pieces of savoury edibles. They contain pork, shrimp, beef, and vegetables, wrapped one way or another, some streamed, some fried. There is tofu, dishes of eggplant and baby bok choy - well, it is all good. Except for the feet. The Chinese do not waste anything, but, as I have explained to Chinese waitresses - who were only offering the chicken and duck feet to see what I would say - generally speaking, "Round eyes don't eat feet."

One street north of Dundas Street is St. Andrew's which walks you right into the Kensington Market. It is wonderful to know nowadays that the market area is being promoted by those who live there as a place of music, good restaurants and interesting shops.

The market was originally a Jewish and, really, eastern European enclave. To some extent that is still the case. However, now a myriad of folk has moved into the market from the islands, from Asia and Africa. Of course, it has always been home to the naturalists, beatniks, as it were; health food stores, crusty bread.

The fruit and vege shops exhibit all that you would expect to find in any supermarket but at considerably less cost. The Asian shops stock beautiful flowing garments and exotic sauces; the Jamaicans will sell you jerk chicken, while there faudo music in the Portuguese restaurant down the street.

One of the best cheese shops in the world lives on St. Andrew's. It has been there for at least 50 years. At Global Cheese you can purchase any kind of cheese you can name and a many more that will be new to your taste buds. It is worth the trip on its own.

Some Sundays in the summer, the market streets are closed to traffic to allow pedestrians free wheeling and musicians to play as they will.

On Sundays or any other day, this neck of the woods is a far cry, if a near distance, from the horrors of the CN Tower, the Eaton Centre and Yonge Street. There is a truth and genuine flavour of people in the Kensington Market, a feeling of being a real place.
 
http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1152375

Old game of cricket helping youths find their way in Toronto's 'priority neighbourhoods'

Posted By CHRISTINE BLIZZARD

It was, says Mayor David Miller, one of those quiet moments of perfect multicultural symmetry that could happen only in Toronto.

Tom Mihalik, the iconic Kensington Market clothing retailer, was at City Hall for an announcement about cricket.

He's Tom's Place Tom and he came here from Hungary and knows nothing about sticky wickets and silly mid-on. His contribution was more direct.

Twelve young men paraded smartly in the blue blazers, cream coloured pants, smart shoes and ties that any self-respecting cricket team needs -- all donated by Mihalik.

It was the launch of the mayor's "Cricket across the Pond," program in conjunction with RBC and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

The team, nine of whom are from so-called "priority neighbourhoods" in the city, are heading to the U. K., Aug. 15, for a two-week cricket camp at Chessington Cricket Club in Surrey.

In a recent interview, Miller smiled as he recalled how his young team stood tall.

"The parents all took photos at the press conference here and they were all beaming with pride," he recalled.

"It was all because there's this sport, that brought together people from different backgrounds, that has a value of sportsmanship and leadership.

"That allowed us to use it as a vehicle to give these young people an amazing experience in England," Miller said.

In T. O., cricket is growing fast, played mostly by recent immigrants from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. Miller believes it is the perfect sport to bring together communities. Schools, too, are beginning to value the strong ethics and code of conduct the game brings to young people.

"Young men are the impetuous and it teaches you to control your emotions," says Miller, who played cricket in his native England and at Lakefield College School here.

LEARNING CONTROL

"You have to play under control and be under control and treat your opponents with respect," he said.

Sure, there have been some controversies recently in the game. But it is still a sport that frowns on fist fights and head butts as a way of resolving disputes.

The sport is tactical and cerebral, and relies a great deal on old-fashioned courtesy.

In the recent Test match between England and South Africa, a South African batsman was run out when he was obstructed accidentally by an English fielder.

While the umpire ruled him out, the English captain later agreed the fielder was in the wrong and apologized to the South African captain.

It's that kind of sportsmanship Miller is hoping to foster by encouraging young cricketers to play the game -- especially in the city's most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Funds raised at his recent media cricket tournament will help fund the trip.

"You hear about some of the violence that is happening and that is all about respect -- about people not knowing how to deal with their emotions," Miller said.

Cricket is for everyone -- and it's part of the city's future, the mayor says.

He's trying to find ways to open new facilities for the game and perhaps even finding some artificial turf to play on during the winter.

"These 12 young men are all of different backgrounds: Canada, the Caribbean, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan -- and they are all one team and they all consider themselves Torontonians without losing respect for their heritage," Miller said.

Which brings us back to the news conference, and the 12 young men picking carefully at their unfamiliar new threads. Few of those proud families could afford the fancy new clothes, let alone a trip to the U. K. That's what made Mihalik's gift so special.

VALUE OF HARD WORK

"There was just a piece of magic in seeing them in clothes provided by Tom. He hasn't got any credit for this," Miller said. Mihalik may know nothing about cricket. What he does know is the value of hard work.

And how tough it can be to start life over in a new country.

The wheel has come full circle. Mihalik dreamed the Canadian dream. Canada gave back. So he turned around and gave a helping hand, so another generation of immigrant kids can live that dream.

Class acts all round. Knock 'em for six, kids.
 
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/478703

In sync with heart of Kensington

Market is a beacon for artists, vegans and vintage-clothing seekers
Aug 15, 2008 04:30 AM

EMILY MATHIEU
STAFF REPORTER

When you open a business in the market ..... you have to think about the community,†says Anand Rajaram who’s moved to Kensington last year.

Being smack in the heart of progressive and multicultural community is what Anand Rajaram loves about the four city blocks surrounding his Augusta Ave. home.

Rajaram lives in Kensington Market. The 36-year-old actor and comedian moved to the market in December 2007. But the area's collection of used clothing shops and specialty foods has been his stomping ground for more than 10 years.

"This is an incredible neighbourhood. I think it's one of the most progressive in the city if not the most," he says.

"You can get in this small area probably more varieties of food than you can get in any other area of the city."

We start on Augusta Ave. and move north.

Are there any hot-button issues in the market right now?

Gentrification. As an example of one threat facing the market, Rajaram points to the two Zimmerman stores on opposite sides of Augusta Ave. The stores are run by distant cousins, and one became Zimmerman's Freshmart, a 5,000-square-foot Loblaw chain store in 2004. Allowing what was perceived as a big-box store come into the area kicked up some dust in a community constantly fighting to retain its unique feel.

"That, for me, in a nutshell, is what the struggle is in the market right now," says Rajaram.

There are a lot of great little places that are in danger of being forced out, he says.

Give me an example.

Little Tokyo, 199 Augusta Ave. "When it first moved in, I thought, how is a store that strictly sells Japanese products going to survive?" But it thrived until a spike in the rent forced it to close, he says.

Show me a great place or two to grab food.

In Kensington there are several great shops dedicated to cheese, but Rajaram, a vegan, does not eat any animal products, including dairy. "If you go to the market and you say vegan, in most stores people know what it is."

Rajaram says for vegans there are an amazing number of places to eat – like King's Café and the Hibiscus café on Augusta Ave., the Urban Herbivore on Oxford St. and Miss Cora's Kitchen on Kensington Ave. "They will do great little vegan pizzas, cupcakes, cookies."

There is also El Trompo restaurant on Augusta Ave. which makes "fantastic Mexican food," and a series of little places to snag empanadas along the street.

Being on the edge of Chinatown means there are also a series of shops selling Asian food. One is Chinese Traditional Bun on Dundas St. W., Rajaram says. But his favourite is E-pan Chinese Cuisine on Spadina Ave. "Especially when you go for late-night Chinese food ... (at) E-pan the quality is always amazing."

Any nice places to grab a drink?

The market is peppered with tiny pubs and patios. On Augusta there is the Embassy: "It's got a patio outside and it's always overflowing with people." Supermarket restaurant and bar is also good for drinks. As well, there is the Teranga African Bar, and across the street is The Boat. "Which is very inconspicuous. It just has the brown awning out front."

Show me something that people new to the market might miss at first glance.

We walk to Kensington Mall on Kensington Ave., just south of Global Cheese. What seems like a nondescript alley reveals a series of vintage shops, art stands and record shops. "Really beautiful artwork," Rajaram says. There is vacant space. "It's funny, considering how expensive rent is, that there is empty space.

"I don't know if this is private property, but no one ever says anything. They just leave it as an open laneway for everyone to walk through."

There is also a place called La Palette on Augusta, which offers surprisingly delicious French cuisine. What is the market known for?

Every kid who ever comes to Toronto from the suburbs knows the market is the place to score vintage clothing. An entire section of the market is stacked with little shops offering unique fashion finds.

One key shop is Courage My Love on Kensington Ave. The owner travels the world buying products for his shop, he says.

Is there anything that needs to change?

The market could use a few more parks, or at the very least a few more trees.

"It's funny, for an area that promotes green living there is very little green space.

How easy is it for new shops to come into the market?

Apparently not that easy, says Rajaram. Residents of the market are protective of their turf and will shut places out if it becomes clear they are only in the market to capitalize on the location.

"When you open a business in the market you can't think about business; you have to think about the community. Because if you come in here and act like someone who is taking, people will see that ... and you won't survive."
 
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...t-and-the-birth-of-multicultural-toronto.aspx

The first game on Aug. 16, 1933, came and went amidst catcalls, pushing, shoving, and a shirt waved around with a swastika sewn into the back.
But it wasn’t until the second game, after St. Peter’s caught the ball for the final out of the game, that local anti-Semitic thugs, part of a group called The Pit Gang, stood up on a small hill behind the field and unfurled a bed sheet painted with a black swastika.

Jewish supporters rushed the toughs holding the sheet. Nazi supporters rushed the Jews. Residents around the park (who, census statistics show, were overwhelmingly WASPs) spilled out of their homes and into the street armed with broom handles. And so began the six-hour riot.
This is where the newspaper reports start to diverge, and urban myth takes over.

Dr. Levitt says the legend goes that trucks were commandeered, and trolled along roads in the traditionally Jewish neighbourhood of Kensington Market as passengers called out that Jews were being attacked in the Pits. People grabbed whatever they could find — a brick, a pipe, brass knuckles, a pool cue — and ran north to become a part of the swarm in the park.
Some say there were hundreds. Or else thousands. Or else tens of thousands there that night.

And the legend, according to Dr. Levitt, says it was the first time Toronto’s Jews stood up for themselves.
 
"Ishpatina"

Speaking of streets

By GERALD LAUZON

Previously here, Ishpatina Ridge was mentioned for its 693m elevation as Ontario's highest point of land.

Noted also was the term "Spadina," in designation of a major north-south roadway in Toronto as a variation of "Ishpatina," an Ojibwa word meaning "rising land."

To trace the history of Spadina Avenue, one has to go back to the building of Fort York in 1793 as commissioned by a British military leader who resettled in Canada after fighting against pro-independence Americans. He became Upper Canada's first lieutenant governor - John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806).

It was common practice then for those who gave notable service to the military to be additionally rewarded with land grants.

In 1797, John McGill, a junior officer with administrative duties at Fort York, acquired one of several narrow-but-long 100 acre tracts of land situated to the north from Queen Street, the town of York's northern boundary road. McGill seems to have had a favourably disposed senior officer called Major Davenport since, as it was customary then to give names to formal residences, McGill dubbed the home built on his grant of land "Davenport House."

A cliff which ran across part of this district was thus named the Davenport escarpment and a later access route thereabouts was called Davenport Road which was built along a pathway used by Ojibwa folk to travel between the Don River in the east and the Humber River in the west.

In 1798, there arrived in York (Toronto) from Ireland the family of Robert Baldwin Sr., his eldest son William then being a 23-year-old University of Edinburgh medical graduate. William went on to prosper as also a lawyer, a member of the legislative council of Upper Canada, and a judge.

In 1818, William Baldwin purchased for his residential estate a 200-acre piece of land north of the Davenport terrain. Baldwin called his mansion "Spadina House," the key term having for him uniqueness of form, pleasantness of sound and, as he understood from the Ojibwa, appropriateness for the elevated site.

A road which ran north from York to the vicinity of Baldwin's estate was then also so named.

As Toronto's commercial centre expanded westward, that road's downtown section became Spadina Avenue with its main occupants evolving from those of British origin (with their Kensington Market) to Jewish Europeans whereby it became a garment trade locality which later yielded to an influx of East Asians to be known as Chinatown.

William's eldest son was the Robert Baldwin who joined forces with Lower Canada's Louis- Hippolyte Lafontaine in the 1829-49 political struggle against royally appointed lieutenant governors for greater self-government.

Central Toronto's elongated commercial route is the north-south Yonge St. named by Lt.-Gov. Simcoe in recognition of Sir George Yonge, Britain's secretary of war from 1782 to 1794.

The lot east of the noted McGill section was given appreciatively to William Jarvis who had fought with Simcoe's Loyalists. As William's descendants subdivided the property for sale, access to the sub-lots became Jarvis Street.

Bloor St. gave recognition to local brewery operator Joseph Bloor while Danforth, as an eastward extension to Bloor, acknowledged that avenue's contracted builder -- Asa Danforth.

Article ID# 1179194

http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1179194
 
urbandreamer said:
Why do Toronto Star articles read like they're targeting A)new Canadians with poor English reading skills and B)grade 5 level English speakers?

Very sad indeed.
Click to expand...

Well here comes part of the answer. According to Stats Canada 2003,

" about 58% of adults aged 16 to 65 possessed skills in the top three literacy levels on the prose scale, indicating that they could meet most everyday reading requirements. "

Stats Canada warns, however, " The challenge to improve literacy performance among Canadians is far from over. "


The other " 42% of adults aged 16 to 65 possessed extremely low literacy skill levels. " In clearer language, " extremely low literacy skills " indicates -- according to Stats Canada " an individual has a reading comprehension level of a 10 - 12 year old child. "

The Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey tested more than 23,000 Canadians in 2003 on their skills proficiency in four scales: prose, document, numeracy and problem-solving.

This goes a long way to explain a lot about our society.

The editors and managers of Toronto Star are aware of the ( low ) sophistication level of their readership. They spend a vast fortune on market research. The Toronto Star is carefully tailored to appeal to the limited conceptual abilities of its readership.

The paper is created to entertain a readership of bewildered children trapped in adult bodies.
 
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