When you’ve lived in a city all your life, you feel as though you must know everything about it. After so many years, you almost feel like you grow with your city, but you’re not exactly discovering anything new. Maybe you’re trying out a hot new restaurant or hitting up the new volleyball nets at the beach – either way, it’s still the same old city you’ve known all your life, right?
I used to think like this, that I knew everything anyone possibly could about Toronto. I’ve lived throughout the GTA, for god’s sake – I could even name you hotspots outside of the city. I was a Toronto connoisseur and Toronto was just “home base“, nothing more.
I was wrong.
We’re so focussed on travelling and seeing the rest of the world, we forget that there’s still so much to appreciate, learn, and discover about the city we’re from. This was the inspiration behind the #PolaroidProject that I embarked on with Bench. Canada.
The initiative is about appreciating where we’re from, becoming more intimate with the city that has nurtured us, and pushing boundaries to find new spots that amaze us. It also falls along with Bench.’s #LoveMyHood campaign – a play on words inspired by the infamous Bench. hood.
Surprisingly, my #PolaroidProject adventure really felt like an adventure. With the mentality that I was discovering new places and finding a new appreciation for the places I loved, made me kind of act like a tourist – awed at the home I grew up in. In cliché terms, Bench. inspired me to relearn how to #LoveMyHood.
So here’s my diary of the day – the places I found a new love for, the angles and perspectives I never thought to look through, and a rediscovery of my love for the #6ix, #Tdot, #TO, Home of Drake and Justin Bieber… all through the lens of a polaroid camera, and naturally, my Bench. city gear.
Coffee First: Rooster Coffee
If you catch me before my good cup of morning joe, you’d hate me immediately. Coffee is not only my drug of choice, but I appreciate it like an art. When I visit other countries, the first thing I do is check out their cafés. I think the coffee of a city says a lot about its people (e.g. when I went to Amsterdam, the coffee was strong, very small, and almost never served with cream). That being said, as many coffees as I’ve had, I still think Toronto is home to some of my favourite cafes (with incredible lattés). Rooster Coffee is where you’ll find me curled up in the back with my laptop, blogging away cheesy antidotes.
Sunday Brunch: Smash Kitchen
Brunch has become incredibly more popular in the last couple years, I feel like. But I’ve been a loyal bruncher since my childhood (when I used to go to brunch with my family right after church). I’m sad that: 1) I don’t go to church with my family anymore (we’re all so busy with our lives), and 2) the brunch place where all my memories were held, Bluestone Bistro, no longer exists. The silver lining is that what replaced Bluestone is a bomb ass brunch place called Smash Kitchen. It’s in the GTA Markham, but their Crab Cake Benedict is worth the drive, plus their location gets my vote automatically.
Romantic Firsts: Distillery District
If you google Toronto tourist areas, the Distillery District will almost always show up at the top of the list. Torontonians normally keep away for this exact reason, unless you’re there for an event or photo shoot. It was, however, one of the spots that hosted one of Dave and my first dates 5 years ago. So for me, it’s a place of romance, memories, and butterflies. It is also home to Toronto’s very own love lock fence and its alleys are reminiscent of 1950 breweries. It’s definitely a spot for first kisses, long conversations, and, if you’re cheesy like me, reading poetry.
Diversity Rules: Kensington Market
If there’s one thing I think Toronto should be known for, it’s our diversity. In all my travels, there is nowhere in the world that embraces diversity (race, gender, beliefs) more than Toronto. I think that Kensington Market represents this diversity perfectly. It’s abundance of cultural experiences (food, knick-knacks, speciality boutiques) really demonstrates our diverse culture. A lot of people see it as just this hippy-hipster-creative-type hideout; but it’s more. It’s honest, it’s real… and it’s got some crazy good eats. If you head over, make sure to selfie in front of its street art and sit on the hippie plant-car for good luck.
Home of Artists: Ossington Theatre
I spent 5 years working in Toronto’s nightlife scene – hosting and promoting parties. It was fun and I met some incredible people. But after that time in my life passed, I embraced newfound entertainment alternatives. Particularly, I found a love for theatre. Watching productions has become a sort of “special date night” sort of thing for Dave and I; and one of our favourites theatres has become Ossington Theatre. It’s not flashy, there aren’t any bright lights, and the theatre literally looks like the stage you had at your high school. The performances though are incredible. They do so much with a little – no fancy lights and fireworks – and the actors are so talented. I think it represents Toronto – subtle, misunderstood, overlooked, but inspiring in every way.
The other thing I have to note about our grand city is that it does live up to its stereotype of being awfully cold. Naturally, my adventure included sporting my new favourite fall/winter Bench. pieces, including my new favourite bomber, the Daysplash jacket. And I will say that us Torontonians also have pretty good style haha
Toronto, you’ve truly recaptured my heart, all over again.
