Around Toronto: Pick #1 Queen Street West

In keeping with my post earlier in the week – and continuing a theme dedicated to my own personal Toronto – I wanted to return to this post of a couple of weeks ago, to talk about some of my favourite things to do in the city.

It’s something of a cliché around here to say it, but Toronto is all about its neighbourhoods. So what better way to spend a spring day than wandering through the city’s various communities. And if you were to catch me on a sunny spring afternoon in the city, an afternoon where I might have a couple of hours to kill and maybe a hankering to window shop (or, you know, to even buy a few trinkets along the way), chances are on this random sunny afternoon that you’ll find me in the Queen Street West neighbourhood.

It’s a bit of a cheat to choose Queen West for my first pick of things to do in Toronto, since it’s close to where I live and a go-to spot when I need to wander. But it’s also legitimately one of my favourite areas in the city and one of the first places I’ll take out-of-town visitors. Especially if what they want to do is shop.

I should state my perimeters, I guess, because Queen is one of Toronto’s busiest downtown streets, and Queen West can actually be split into several different neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood I’m talking about here is the strip between Spadina and Strachan. It starts after the main commercial drag of chain stores ends and before the equally interesting, but quite different strip of art galleries begins.

Whenever I go to a new city, I look for the sections of town where the independents set up shop – the shopkeepers and restaurant owners selling something different. And in Toronto, this is one of those neighbourhoods, filled with one-off boutiques run by their owner/operators, where the merchandise is often made in Toronto, sometimes right on the premises. The wares are unique and varied, the people-watching is always interesting, and the local restaurants offer great places to hang out and relax.

Here are five of my favourite things to do in the neighbourhood:

1. Going for cheap eats at Butler’s Pantry.
2. Meeting friends for drinks and tapas at Coca.
3. Looking through the clothes and jewellery, all made by local artisans, at Fresh Collective.
4. Book browsing at Type.
5. Having one of the famed Cranitinis at the The Cameron House - a great place to people watch, because you never know who’s going to show up or what might happen next.

Photo: Shopping on Queen Street West, Toronto - March 2008 - LV.

Photo by Lisa.

~ by Lisa on April 10, 2008.