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Top Attractions in Toronto

Bay Street Corridor

Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Street in that role in the 1970s. Bay Street begins at Queens Quay in the south and ends at Davenport Road in the north. The original section of Bay Street ran only as far north as Queen Street West. Sections north of Queen Street were renamed Bay Street as several other streets were consolidated and several gaps filled in to create a new thoroughfare in the 1920s. The largest of these streets, Terauley Street, ran from Queen Street West to Grenville Street. At these two points, there is a curve in Bay Street. "Bay Street banker," as in the phrase "cold as a Bay Street banker's heart," was a term of opprobrium especially among Prairie farmers who feared that financial interests were hurting them. Within the legal profession, the term Bay Street is also used colloquially to refer to the large, full-service business law firms of Toronto.

Exhibition Place

Exhibition Place is a mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The 197–acre area includes expo, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, parkland, sports facilities, and a number of civic, provincial, and national historic sites. From mid-August through Labour Day each year, the Canadian National Exhibition, from which the name Exhibition Place is derived, is held on the grounds. During the CNE, Exhibition Place encompasses 260 acres, expanding to include nearby parks and parking lots. The CNE features games and a midway, among a host of attractions. The fair is one of the largest and most successful of its kind in North America, and an important part of the culture of Toronto, the province, and the nation itself. The grounds have seen a mix of protection for heritage buildings along with new development. Five buildings on the site, all designed by George Gouinlock, were designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1988.

Church-Yonge Corridor

Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. Until 1999, the Guinness Book of World Records repeated the popular misconception that it was 1,896 km long, and thus the longest street in the world; this was due to a mistaken conflation of Yonge Street with the rest of Ontario's Highway 11. Yonge Street is in actuality 86 kilometres long. The construction of Yonge Street is designated an Event of National Historic Significance in Canada. Yonge Street was fundamental in the original planning and settlement of western Upper Canada in the 1790s, informing the basis of the concession roads in Ontario today. Long the southernmost leg of Highway 11, linking the capital with northern Ontario, Yonge Street has been referred to as "Main Street Ontario". The street was named by Ontario's first colonial administrator, John Graves Simcoe, for his friend Sir George Yonge, an expert on ancient Roman roads. Yonge Street is a commercial main thoroughfare rather than a ceremonial one, with landmarks such as the Eaton Centre, Yonge-Dundas Square and the Hockey Hall of Fame located along its length—and lends its name to the eponymous Downtown Yonge shopping and entertainment district. In Toronto and York Region, Yonge Street is the north-south baseline from which street numbering is reckoned east and west. The eastern branch of Line 1 Yonge-University serves nearly the entire length of the street in Toronto and acts as the spine of the Toronto rapid transit system, linking to suburban commuter systems such as the Viva Blue BRT.

South Riverdale

South Riverdale, as its name suggests, is the southern half of the Riverdale neighbourhood, south of Lower Riverdale. Its approximate boundaries are: the Don Valley Parkway to the west, Jones Ave. to the east, Gerrard Street East to the north, and Lake Shore Boulevard to the south. South Riverdale comprises many smaller neighbourhoods: "Riverside", also known as the "Queen Broadview Village" is a neighbourhood located within the larger neighbourhood of South Riverdale. Definite boundaries according to the Riverside Business Improvement Area defines the borders as the Don River to the west, Gerrard Street East to the north, Empire Avenue to the east and Eastern Avenue to the south. Riverside is a mixed income and multicultural neighbourhood currently experiencing a trend of "gentrification" along Queen St. East and Broadview Ave. It had been home to the Don Destructor, a Toronto garbage incinerator which was demolished in 2004. Don Mount Court, a social housing project was recently redeveloped as a mixed social housing and market value community. The market value portion is being sold under the name Rivertowne. Riverside is known for its many historic buildings and rich cultural heritage. The biggest landmark in the neighbourhood is the Broadview Hotel, a red sandstone commercial block in Romanesque style constructed in 1891-3, that was the tallest structure in South Riverdale for many decades. Other major landmarks include the Ralph Thornton Community Centre,(Queen Saulter branch Toronto Public Library) Broadview Lofts, and The Opera House. Riverside was also the location of Sunlight Park, Toronto's first baseball stadium. The area has a large young population, evident in the cluster of schools just east of Broadview Avenue. Dundas Junior Public School is the resident school for children in kindergarten through to fifth grade, after which they are transferred to Queen Alexandra Sr. Public School which sees students through to eighth grade. It is also home to the First Nations School of Toronto, a cultural survival school that places heavy emphasis on aboriginal values and culture, and SEED Alternative Secondary School, Canada's first public alternative school. Riverside is rapidly emerging as a district of independent design, furniture, and food retailers, as well as restaurants. East Chinatown: Toronto's second largest Chinatown, also known as East Chinatown is found at Broadview & Gerrard. Studio District: The southern part of South Riverdale, just north of the Port Lands, is what's called the "Studio District". Industrial warehouses along Lakeshore Avenue house production studios and many people working in film and television live in the old Victorians found along the area's side streets. Carlaw and Queen has become an arts hub, with many artists choosing to run their studios from the various work-live lofts.

South Parkdale

Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by the CP Rail line where it crosses Queen Street and Dundas Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario. The original village incorporated an area north of Queen Street, east of Roncesvalles from Fermanagh east to the main rail lines, today known as part of the Roncesvalles neighbourhood. The village area was roughly one square kilometer in area. The City of Toronto extends the neighbourhood boundaries to the east, south of the CP Rail lines, east to Atlantic Avenue, as far south as the CN Rail lines north of Exhibition Place, the part south of King Street commonly known as the western half of Liberty Village neighbourhood. Parkdale was founded as an independent settlement within York County in the 1850s. It became an incorporated village in 1879 and later joined Toronto in 1889. It was an upper income residential area for the first half of the 20th Century, with several notable mansions. The area changed dramatically with the building of the Gardiner Expressway in 1955, demolishing the southern section of the neighbourhood together with the Sunnyside Amusement Park, and the creation of a barrier between the neighbourhood and the lake shore. A boom in apartment building construction followed, replacing whole blocks of homes with blocks of apartment buildings. Some of the older large residential buildings remain though many were converted into rooming houses. The demographic composition changed considerably, including a higher proportion of lower incomes and newcomer families. Today, it is a working-class neighbourhood, with a large percentage of low-income households concentrated in South Parkdale, and an entry point for new immigrants, most recently South Asians and Tibetan. The visible minority population in North Parkdale (between Queen and Landsdowne) has changed overall to include less Asian, South Asian and Black residents between the census years 2006-2011 (GNR: 34%). The distribution, of said visible minorities, has changed from being predominantly Black visible minorities to predominantly South Asian (between 2006 and 2011 census). The area has a vibrant storefront commercial strip along Queen Street West that has seen an increase in restaurants and bars in the 2010s, increasing to the point that planning controls were put in place on the opening of new restaurants and bars from 2012.

University

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queens Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as Kings College, the first institution of higher learning in the colony of Upper Canada. Originally controlled by the Church of England, the university assumed the present name in 1850 upon becoming a secular institution. As a collegiate university, it comprises twelve colleges that differ in character and history, each retaining substantial autonomy on financial and institutional affairs. It has two satellite campuses located in Scarborough and Mississauga. Academically, the University of Toronto is noted for influential movements and curricula in literary criticism and communication theory, known collectively as the Toronto School. The university was the birthplace of insulin and stem cell research, and was the site of the first practical electron microscope, the development of multi-touch technology, the identification of Cygnus X-1 as a black hole, and the theory of NP completeness. By a significant margin, it receives the most annual research funding of any Canadian university. It is one of two members of the Association of American Universities located outside the United States. The Varsity Blues are the athletic teams representing the university in intercollegiate league matches, with particularly long and storied ties to gridiron football and ice hockey. The universitys Hart House is an early example of the North American student centre, simultaneously serving cultural, intellectual and recreational interests within its large Gothic-revival complex. The University of Toronto has educated two Governors General and four Prime Ministers of Canada, four foreign leaders, fourteen Justices of the Supreme Court, and has been affiliated with ten Nobel laureates.

Annex

The Annex is a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The traditional boundaries of the neighbourhood are north to Dupont Street, south to Bloor Street, west to Bathurst Street and east to Avenue Road. The City of Toronto recognizes a broader neighbourhood definition that includes the adjacent Seaton Village and Yorkville areas. Bordering the University of Toronto, the Annex has long been a student quarter and is also home to many fraternity housing and members of the university's faculty. Its residents are predominantly English-speaking and well-educated residents. According to the 2006 Canadian census, the neighbourhood has a permanent population of 15,602 with an average income of $63,636, significantly above the average income in the Toronto census metropolitan area.

Ontario Place

Ontario Place is a multiple use entertainment and seasonal waterfront park attraction located in Toronto, Ontario, and owned by the Crown in Right of Ontario. It is administered as an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Located on the shore of Lake Ontario, just south of Exhibition Place, it is approximately 4 km west of Downtown Toronto. It opened on May 22, 1971 and consists of three artificially constructed, landscaped islands. Attractions are spread throughout the park, as well as walking trails and food and drink concessions. Traditionally targeted at a family audience, with emphasis on childrens activities, the park has a seasonal operating schedule and is closed from October through April, with the exception of the Cinesphere IMAX theatre and private event space. Central to the complex is a public marina and a major concert theatre. Historically, Ontario Place, as a publicly subsidized provincial agency, aims to keep costs, especially for families, lower than comparable attractions.

Royal Ontario Museum

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM, French: Musée royal de l'Ontario) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America, the largest in Canada, and attracts more than one million visitors every year, the second most for a Canadian art museum after the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The museum is north of Queen's Park, in the University of Toronto district, with its main entrance on Bloor Street West. The Museum subway station of the Toronto Transit Commission is named after the ROM, and since 2008, it is decorated to resemble the institution's collection. St. George station is close to the museum's new entrance as well. Established on 16 April 1912 and opened on 19 March 1914, the museum has maintained close relations with the University of Toronto throughout its history, often sharing expertise and resources. The museum was under the direct control and management of the University of Toronto until 1968, when it became an independent Crown agency of the government of Ontario. Today, the museum is Canada's largest field-research institution, with research and conservation activities that span the globe. With more than six million items and forty galleries, the museum's diverse collections of world culture and natural history contribute to its international reputation. The museum contains notable collections of dinosaurs, minerals and meteorites, Near Eastern and African art, Art of East Asia, European history, and Canadian history. It houses the world's largest collection of fossils from the Burgess Shale with more than 150,000 specimens. The museum also contains an extensive collection of design and fine arts, including clothing, interior, and product design, especially Art Deco.

Fairmont Royal York

The Fairmont Royal York Hotel, formerly the Royal York Hotel and still often so called, is a large and historic hotel in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at 100 Front Street West. Opened on June 11, 1929, the Royal York was designed by Ross and Macdonald and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway across the street from Union Station. With 28 floors, the Château-style building was the tallest building in Toronto at that time, and the tallest building in the British Empire until the construction of Canadian Bank of Commerce tower on King Street the following year. On October 28, 2014, It was announced The landmark Royal York Hotel in Toronto will undergo another round of renovations following a reorganization of its ownership. A fund managed by the KingSett real estate company will acquire a 60 per cent interest worth an estimated $111.9 million and InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust will pay $37.3 million for a 20 per cent stake in the hotel. The Caisse de depots real estate subsidiary Ivanhoe Cambridge will retain a 20 per cent stake in the 1,363-room hotel as a joint venture partner through a $186.5-million deal announced Tuesday.

CN Tower

The CN Tower is a 553.33 m-high concrete communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976, becoming the worlds tallest free-standing structure and worlds tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of Burj Khalifa and Canton Tower in 2010. It is now the 3rd tallest tower in the world and remains the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere, a signature icon of Torontos skyline, and a symbol of Canada, attracting more than two million international visitors annually. Its name "CN" originally referred to Canadian National, the railway company that built the tower. Following the railways decision to divest non-core freight railway assets, prior to the companys privatization in 1995, it transferred the tower to the Canada Lands Company, a federal Crown corporation responsible for real estate development. Since the name CN Tower became common in daily usage, the abbreviation was eventually expanded to Canadian National Tower or Canadas National Tower. However, neither of these names is commonly used. In 1995, the CN Tower was declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It also belongs to the World Federation of Great Towers, where it holds second-place ranking.

Toronto Zoo

The Toronto Zoo is a zoo located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its original founder was Mr. Hugh A. Crothers, a successful Toronto industrialist who became the first Chairman of the Metro Toronto Zoological Society in 1966. It opened August 15, 1974, as the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo and is owned by the City of Toronto; the word "Metropolitan" was dropped from its name when the cities of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto were amalgamated to form the present-day city of Toronto in 1998. The zoo is located near the Rouge River, along the western border of Rouge Park in citys east end former borough of Scarborough. Encompassing 287 hectares, the Toronto Zoo is the largest zoo in Canada. It is divided into seven zoogeographic regions: Indo-Malaya, Africa, Americas, Tundra Trek, Australasia, Eurasia, and the Canadian Domain. Some animals are displayed indoors in tropical pavilions and outdoors in what would be their naturalistic environments, with viewing at many levels. It also has areas such as the Kids Zoo, Waterside Theatre, and Splash Island. It has one of the most taxonomically diverse collection of animals on display of any zoo, is currently home to over 5,000 animals representing over 450 species. The zoo is open every day of the year except December 25.

Casa Loma

Casa Loma is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, and is named after the famous castle. It is bounded on the north by St. Clair Avenue West, on the east by Spadina Road, on the south by the CP railway tracks, and on the west by Bathurst Street. Transit access is provided by the TTCs St. Clair West station and 512 St. Clair streetcar route. The image of a castle atop the Avenue Road Hill, surrounded by ravines, large old trees, joggers and BMWs is an eclectic mix, considering the neighbourhood is located close to downtown Toronto. Casa Loma was constructed in the early 1900s for over three million dollars and was given to the city by its heavily debt-laden owner only a decade after it was put up. The prominence of the castle led to a huge boom in the area, with many wealthy residents setting up shop and defining the present neighbourhood.

Ryerson University

Ryerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario. Its urban campus surrounds the Yonge-Dundas Square, located at the busiest intersection in downtown Toronto. The university has a focus on applied, career-oriented education. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the Yonge-Dundas Square in Torontos Garden District. Ryersons business school, Ted Rogers School of Management is on the southwest end of the Yonge-Dundas Square, located on Bay Street, slightly north of Torontos Financial District and is attached to the Toronto Eaton Centre. The universitys most recent expansion, the Mattamy Athletic Centre, is located in the historical Maple Leaf Gardens arena, formerly home of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The university is composed of 36,000+ undergraduate students, 2,000+ graduate students, and 70,000 yearly certificate and continuing education registrations. Ryerson is ranked 4th in Ontario and 10th in Canada by student enrollment. Ryerson University is home to Canadas largest undergraduate business school, the Ted Rogers School of Management, and Canadas third largest undergraduate engineering school, the George Vari Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science, as well as the Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Communication Design, Faculty of Community Services, and the Faculty of Science. In addition to offering full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate programs leading to Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees, the university also offers part-time degrees, distance education and certificates through the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education.
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