Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009 - (Page 40)

o ffering everything from beaches and boardwalks, to restaurants and shops, to boating, a drive-in theatre and a driving range, the waterfront is designed to be Toronto’s vacation spot within the city. Future developments, now underway, will see two major parks and miles of walkway added over the next few years. “The plan extends the central waterfront from Bathurst to Parliament streets,” says Michelle Noble, director of communications and marketing for Waterfront Toronto, the organization overseeing the city’s waterfront redevelopment. Hard to believe now, but according to Filey, “there was a time when no one would venture south of Front Street.” In the past, it was “a very utilitarian working harbour,” he says, where immigrants arrived, cargo ships docked and — incidentally — where the Americans landed during the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States. Thanks to ongoing revitalization plans — going back almost 100 years — the Toronto harbour has been transformed from a place of business and industry to a destination for pleasure. The Toronto Harbour Commission, the city’s first harbour commission, established in 1911, began the beautification process by building Sunnyside Park at the west end of the waterfront — a beachside amusement park created by dredging landfill from the lake bottom. (In time, as Filey points out in his book, “the Toronto Harbour Commission, through a series of massive landfilling projects carried out over many years, created new land along the water’s edge that would be equivalent to that portion of Toronto bounded by University Avenue, Dundas, Jarvis and Front streets,” a sizeable chunk of downtown Toronto.) When Sunnyside was completed, the Harbour Commission turned its attention to the east end of the city, creating a stretch of lakefront — now a thriving neighbourhood — known as The Beach. Throughout the decades, the waterfront has continued to be reclaimed and refurbished. In the 1950s, the Toronto Island (a collection of islets across the harbour) was re-established as public parkland, offering visitors quiet stretches of beach and picnic areas a 10-minute ferry ride away. By the early ’70s another island attraction had appeared — Ontario Place, a waterside, water-themed park built on three man-made islands. That same decade, Harbourfront was created. From York Street to Bathurst Street, on waterfront originally home to wharfs and warehouses, a collection of indoor and outdoor venues feature what is described by the Harbourfront Centre as “the cutting edge of all that is current and creative,” from music, dance, theatre and art. 40 | www.SeeTorontoNow.com m ore recently, Toronto’s waterfront has evolved from being solely a place to visit to a place to live. All along the lakeshore, new communities are being established, from condominiums to co-operative housing and seniors’ residences. As Noble points out, revitalizing the waterfront “is about creating a community that’s viable all yearround, where people want to live, play, work and learn.” Like other well-known waterfront communities — including London’s Canary Wharf — the plans for upcoming development of Toronto’s East Bayfront “will be a mixed use of commercial and residential space,” she says, including a medical campus for George Brown College and public green spaces designed by some of the world’s leading landscape architects. Already an impressively sized sweep of lakefront, in the distant future, the developed land by Waterfront Toronto will cover 800 hectares (almost 2,000 acres), an area similar in size to downtown Toronto or the country of Monaco. It’s an expansion plan that will add a considerable amount to Toronto’s shoreline, including the number of attractions to explore. Photo: (top right) City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1244, Item 156a http://www.seetorontonow.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009

Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
Contents

Contributors

Welcome

Cityscapes

Toast of the Town

In the Night Garden

Gooooal!

Take a Moment

Faces of Toronto

Red Rocket

Past Perfection

Water Lust

The Artist’s City

 

Living the Green Dream

York Region and North Toronto

Mississauga Marvels

Vine Country

Discovery Walks

Neighbourhoods of Greater Toronto

Listings

Visitor Resources

2009 Event Calendar

Parting Shot

Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009

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