On the Move
In 1954, Torontonians lined up to ride the city’s very first subway line, which ran from Union Station to this northern terminus.
What is Eglinton?
Long before Broadway came calling, this historic theatre on King Street hosted everything from vaudeville to British touring productions.
What is the Royal Alexandra Theatre?
Founded by two Toronto friends in 1973, this clothing brand became famous for its beaver logo.
What is Roots?
Once home to Irish immigrants and cabbage gardens, this neighbourhood saw a revival in the 1970s.
Cabbage Town
This chocolate and ice cream company started in Toronto in 1913 and is named after a Canadian heroine.
What is Laura Secord
Before the subway, Toronto’s main public transit relied on these electric vehicles that still clatter along Queen and King Streets today.
What are streetcars?
This Toronto club’s green neon palm tree became an icon of the city’s live music scene in the 1970s and ’80s.
What is The El Mocambo?
Before the Eaton Centre opened, this rival store at Queen and Bay was Eaton’s biggest competitor.
What is Simpsons?
This former industrial area along the waterfront has been transformed into a mixed-use residential and cultural district, home to galleries, condos, and the Toronto Islands ferry.
The Waterfront/Queens Quay
Opened in 1922, this chain became a Toronto institution for gourmet foods and later merged with Sobeys.
What is Loblaws
This elevated expressway, named for a former mayor, opened in the 1960s and remains a source of traffic headaches.
What is the Gardiner Expressway?
In the 1960s, this Yorkville café was a launching pad for Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.
What is The Riverboat?
This beloved bargain emporium at Bloor and Bathurst was famous for its flashing lights and funny signs.
What is Honest Ed's
In the 1960s, this area transformed from a cluster of textile factories to a hub for artists and bohemian culture.
Yorkville
Some of the earliest advertisements for this brand featured the slogan “Made with the goodness of home”, emphasizing quality and tradition.
The opening of this major highway in the 1950s connected Toronto to the rest of southern Ontario and forever changed commuting.
What is Highway 401
The Toronto International Film Festival began in 1976 under this original name.
What is The Festival of Festivals?
Toronto’s first high-end shopping mall in Yorkville, opened in 1979, featuring boutique stores and elegant architecture.
What is Hazelton Lanes
This downtown neighborhood, once an industrial zone, hosted the 2015 Pan Am Games athletes’ village.
The Distillery District
Founded in 1927 in Toronto, this company became one of Canada’s largest producers of packaged meats, bacon, and sausages, and its name evokes the country itself.
What is Maple Leaf Foods
Toronto’s Union Station was completed in 1927, but passenger service didn’t begin until 1930 because of delays caused by this global event.
What was the Great Depression?
In 1977, this domed stadium opened as the home of the Blue Jays.
What is the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre)?
Downtown Toronto shoppers in the early 1960s flocked here to see new imported clothing and youth-focused fashion.
What is Le Château?
Before it became a popular summer escape, this Toronto neighbourhood was home to small lakeside hotels and dance halls where city residents would come to enjoy music, boating, and the lake breeze.
What is the Beaches
Before becoming a national brand, this Toronto-born beverage was first sold in local drugstores and soda fountains in the city.
What is Canada Dry