City Living: Toronto facts

We live and learn – some days more than others. Today we uncover some facts about our fair city of Toronto and tell you a few things we’re pretty sure you didn’t know.

• Who makes them? Poppies in Canada used to be manufactured by disabled veterans in Vetcraft shops but today are made by Toronto-based company Dominion Regalia Ltd.

• The nickname “Hogtown” comes from Toronto’s historical roots as a huge pork processor, most notably with the William Davies Company. He died after being butted by a goat.

Image courtesy of blogTO. 

• Yonge Street is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest street in the world, stretching 1,896 kilometres from the lakeshore in Toronto, north to Rainy River, Ontario, near the Minnesota border.

 

Image source.

• Toronto has more than 8,000 restaurants and 35,000 hotel rooms. 

• The Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto (AKA Caribana) parade is the largest single-day parade and largest Caribbean festival in North America.

• Toronto is known to be haunted! The top five haunted buildings are:
  

 

Image source.

1. Old City Hall 

2. The Royal York Hotel  

3. Keg Mansion  

4. The Guild Inn

5. The Old Don Jail  

• One of the University of Toronto’s most successful Second World War inventions came from the botany department: they substituted kapok (a sort of cotton tree found in Central and South America) in life jackets with the fibrous parts of milkweed, making them less expensive and faster to produce. Troops nicknamed life jackets “Mae West’s” for their resemblance to her voluptuous figure.
  
  Image source.

• Most people know Yorkville used to be hippie central, but did you know that it was a burial ground before that? Those who couldn’t afford a church burial would head underground here. The remains were removed in the late 1800s, but some continue to turn up in construction projects.

Leave us a comment and let us know if you have any interesting facts about our city to add to this list.

City Living: Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2011

This weekend, like almost one million other Torontonians, we had a chilly night out on the town for Nuit Blanche 2011. To be discovered that night? More than 134 art projects that were presented and curated throughout several parts of the city including City Hall, Zone A, Zone B and Zone C. Among the many local, national and international artists that we saw, here are a few that definitely caught our eye: 

City Hall

A short walk from the subway station, we found ourselves in a very jam-packed Nathan Philips Square. There were hundreds of people, so many people didn’t realize that the stairs were open to the higher level, which provided a great view for the night’s spectacle: Flightpath Toronto. We were running a bit late, but managed to catch the beginning of the performance. 

Flightpath Toronto. Image via @aimcook.

Laser beams of all colours were being projected into the sky while people were seemingly floating from one two-storey metal structure to the other. After some quick research (did you know the Scotiabank Night Navigator App just launched?) we learned that this was an audience-fueled exhibit. Bystanders were encouraged to soar through the sky, while safely harnessed, and imagine what it’d be like to be able to fly.

Although we are all for trying new things, taking flight through Nathan Philips Square while it was freezing out didn’t sound too appealing. Instead, we were spectators for a while and that was pretty cool on its own. 

Zone A
One of our favourite parts of Nuit Blanche is stumbling across delightful and unexpected installations, such as we did with Limelight: Saturday night. The concept is simple – two streetlights are replaced with theatre spotlights. Like many exhibits this year, Limelight depends upon the interaction of passers-by in order to succeed. As it was quite late at this time, the crowd was relatively sparse. We took a quick twirl under the lights and then continued on our way. 

Limelight: Saturday Night. Image via Blog TO.

We didn’t manage to explore much else of Zone A, but heard great things about the CFC Media Lab up at the Bata Shoe Museum and were intrigued by the concept of The Police Station. 

Zone B
The Heart Machine was an extremely popular exhibit, partly because it was just so warm (a key component to survival this year). Appropriately debuted at Burning Man in 2010, The Heart Machine was made of of 4 “arteries” attached to sensors that when touched, caused flames to shoot up 25 feet in the air. From what we could tell, not all the sensors were connected. Participants were forced to interact with the machine in various ways to make it work. Flame bursts were sporadic and made our heats skip a beat a couple times. 

Lights, camera, action! at 12 Hour Dolly.

We came across a cinematic exhibit off of Church St. called 12 Hour Dolly. Here a circular dolly track surrounds a stage and people are invited one-by-one to sit and become the cinematic spectacle. While we were there, a young guy borrowed someone’s guitar and played “Blackbird” with a cigarette dangling from his lips. The crowd cheered him on and danced. It was one of the most genuine Nuit Blanche moments we’ve ever experienced. 

Zone C 
There were a number of standout projects in Zone C this year. Perennial favourite, the Drake Hotel lit up West Queen West with a larger-than-life balloon clown covering the side of the building. Further west at the corner of Queen and Dufferin was Xxi Collective’s The Athanor and the Stone. We were sold on its interest on magic’s role in art and loved the combination of performance and installation. We don’t know how they did it, but we loved how the air was filled with the scent of lavender!

The Drake Hotel’s creepy facade.

Our favourite exhibit of the night was The Happiness Project: In the House. The studio was transformed by a team of artists who each interpreted a song from Charles Spearin’s album. 

Listening to the inspiration behind the painting at The Happiness Project.

Each space was interactive and unique. Ideas ranged from eating a fresh chocolate-covered marshmallow, dipping your hand into water to increase the intensity of a song and having your face projected onto a wall. The Happiness Project was fun and playful, exactly what Nuit Blanche should be. We had a great night filled with inspiration and fun with friends. Until next year, #snb2011.