james t kirk

Interesting stuff.

Myself, I was born and raised in Hamilton. Just 40 miles to the west, but 40 light years away. Growing up, I was bred to despise all things Toronto. Toronto was the land of the tory, the land of fat guys in blue suits who took advantage of us working class heros. It was hogtown to us. (Hogtown because they "hogged" all the government money as it was explained.) We used to go to Argo / Ticat games looking for Argo fans to harass. When we were in high school and feeling even more adventurous, we'd make the drive to CNE stadium to the heart of beast. One thing was clear to us Hamiltonians - Toronto sucked.

Then a funny thing happened whilst in 3'rd year University - I got a job in Toronto for a summer. Live here, nah, I would drive back and forth every day. But it was a begining. My first "neighbourhood" I discovered was Bloor West Village where my then boss invited me and my fellow students to her house for a party one evening. I parked my car at Yorkville and took the subway (for the first time in my life) to the High Park Station. I remember walking along Bloor Street and thinking that it was suprisingly alive with a real sense of feel to it. I tried to compare it to somewhere in Hamilton, but couldn't do it. (There is nowhere in Hamilton like it really.)

That summer, I was hanging around a bunch of Waterloo Students who used to go to "Wat-pubs" or something like that all over the city and as the the only McMaster Student at my office, they dragged along as some sort of mascot or something. I learned that everyone talked this mysterious language of North South East and West and you were really screwed if you didn't know which way that was. I soon figured out that "the lake is south". (Whereas in the real centre of the Universe - Hamilton, the lake is north.) Eventually I began to figure out where Bathurst Street was relative to Younge Street and how to get around to find these mysterious places. (Though dammit, why hadn't these fools in Toronto figured out that Hamilton had all the answers with their one-way streets!)

As a result, I had a very real introduction to the City of Toronto, and the wonders within. There was the Diamond Club one week, and RPM the next. Then there was a little place on Queen West. I met a girl who took me to this mysterious place called "the beaches" and to this really neat hamburger joint I had never heard of called Licks. Who knew there was a beach on Lake Ontario that didn't feature heaps of coal and Iron ore 6 stories high.

My hatred of all things Toronto was beginning to ebb ever so slightly I had to admit.

When I finished University, gasp, there was no jobs in my field in Hamilton. I looked, but couldn't find anything that paid more than 22 grand a year. Then I found a job in the wilds of Mississauga that paid 28 grand. Fine, I will work in Toronto I figured. (Note I said Toronto, not Mississauga, because to me back then, Mississauga was Toronto. As soon as you passed the Ford plant in Oakville, you were pretty much in Toronto as far as I was concerned.)

That job lasted 8 days before an even better one came up in some place called Etobicoke. Where the hell was Etobicoke I wondered? I remember thinking that I didn't want to take the job because it would have meant a further commute from Hamilton to work.

As luck would have it, by accepting that job, it opened my eyes (slowly) to what an amazing city Toronto really is. I began to discover more interesting areas of town like "the Annex" or "Riverdale", and "Parkdale" and "the" Danforth. You can find anything you want here. I really doubt there is a more diverse city in the world. Toronto truly is a big collection of small towns. It's got a real neighbourhood feel to it. I find the people here very friendly. You will often hear outsiders say that Toronto is a cold city to which I reply, you just have to get to know it. Like I did. I often times find myself being greeted by perfect strangers that I pass walking down one of the side streets from my house to the subway. My neighbours are a great lot of people (Mind you of all the houses on my street, only 1 guy is Toronto born and raised. Everyone else is from somewhere else.)

I now live in Bloor West Village myself (Ironic, it was the first neighbourhood I ever visited.) I really couldn't see myself living in any other city now. I have been living in the big smoke for 9 years, and a couple before that in Mississauga (note, Mississauga, not Toronto anymore.)