Last weekend I participated in one of
Toronto's 123 neighrbourhood strolls, in memory of legendary
Jane Jacobs. Since one of my themes of the year is staying local, I didn't want to take the TTC or go far to discover something new about the City. On Sunday afternoon I debated between supporting Sistering, which is across the street from me, or attending a tour of Dovercourt Village, hosted by a resident who happens to be big into architecture, history and planning. This Village is essentially the neighbourhood that I live in, except that I'm on Bloor Street. This time I went with the latter.
Having been an organizer in a Jane's Walk for two years in a row that happened to be in one of Toronto's inner suburbs, I was excited to attend one in my own downtown neighbourhood. We met at
Dovercourt Park at 2pm. There were about 30 people there; couples, seniors, a few toddlers, and a fair amount of 20-30 something stragglers like myself. Most of the crowd seemed to be residents, with the exception of a few folks who who traveled from Scarborough and Ajax just to come to this Jane's Walk! Dovercourt Park was a perfect central meeting point to commence our tour. I'm looking for close green spaces to hang out in and this park actually might do the trick. It's got a baseball diamond, playground and tennis court, but still enough grassy green space and 100-year old trees.
The walk was well-paced, twisty and curvy, full of interesting historical tidbits. We walked up to Hallam street, a main artery of Dovercourt Village and learned about the street's namesake, John Hallam. A literacy advocate, he was responsible for starting Public libraries in Ontario in the late 1800s! We paused in front of Dovercourt Public School, which established in 1911. We reviewed the unique architecture of a Gothic-inspired church, and learned that Dovercourt House, which is now a space shared by various artists and fashion designers, used to be an old Synagogue.
We walked through a distinct Toronto alley and learned that alleys were originally created for the purpose of heating houses with coal (I stopped by the bakery to get a snack when we were at this point in the tour- so I don't understand the logistics in this). It was also neat to note that street cars in Toronto were planned around neighbourhoods and not vice versa. And unlike the Annex, Dovercourt Village's houses are far from Victorian. Instead, you'll even find rows of some small, understated, cottage-like worker homes (near what used to be a coal-mining factory). Bonus tidbit of history: Dovercourt Village's claim to fame happens to be Marilyn Bell, who was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario (and she was only a teenager)!
It was a curious way to spend a Sunday afternoon, in the company of people who at first appear to be no more than strangers, but really, we were all just neighbours...and we bumped into the Sistering Jane's Walk as we were pouring off the sidewalk mid-tour, up on Hallam. They waved to us in walking tour solidarity, and I noticed that they had a fair following...so I didn't feel so bad about my walking tour choice in the end.
S.
