Distillery District
A few more images to share from my photowalk with my son last week. We were tourists in downtown Toronto and we really enjoyed our time in the city. I worked in the financial district of Downtown Toronto for about a decade and the experience of working in downtown Toronto was not all that enjoyable. The congestion in the greater Toronto area is insane and I have no idea how I put up with the 3 to 4 hour commutes every workday.
As a tourist?
A very different experience.
Toronto is surprisingly engaging.
I highlighted our photowalk of Graffiti Alley in this post.
In today’s post, we head over to the Distillery District. This area is a Canadian National Historic site and contains the largest collection of Victorian-era industrial architecture in North America. It is a pedestrian-oriented area. Great for walking, browsing the boutique shops and eating at one of the unique restaurants.
Keep in mind that a photo permit might be required. From their website:
The Distillery District offers a unique and beautiful setting for personal photography, commercial photography, and filming. Casual snapshots taken as memories, souvenirs, or for personal use may be taken at any time at no charge, however portraiture, photos for professional or semi-professional blogs or professional or semi-professional social media use, and any pictures taken for any kind of commercial require a permit in advance.
As I receive absolutely no money or any form of payment for this website, I did not require a permit nor do I share the following images in this post for any form of commercial gain.
There.
All nice and legal.
Curious to see what the place looks like?
Let’s start here.
Street art. Isolated though. This was the only wall painting in the district. I am still pondering the meaning of that piece of art. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine?
The most popular section of the district was the Love flower sign. It took a bit of patience to find a moment where the throngs of people wanting to take selfies or portraits left the frame. And, because I was holding what appeared to be a “serious” camera, I was asked repeatedly to take pictures of other people. But I got lucky and found the moment. If you look closely, you can see that there are a lot of padlocks on the flower sign. More padlocks than flowers.
There are other examples of street art like this Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player.
Restaurants abound with abundant outdoor seating.
Boutique shops announce their sales with sidewalk signs.
There are lots of small details to be found like this pot of flowers on the ledge of a storefront.
And a final flower sign bids you farewell as you leave the area.
If you come to visit Toronto, take a few hours to explore the Distillery District and enjoy a meal at one of the restaurants.
Also a great place to visit at Christmas when they set up the Canadian version of a European Christmas market. The tree they put up is always spectacular.
Alas I will not be able to capture the Christmas festivities at the Distillery District.
We will be surrounded by sun and palm trees 😉
We will also be in the sunny south – we’ve decided to try the snowbird lifestyle in Naples Fl this winter.
We are close to Naples as we are staying at Myakka River Motorcoach Resort for the season. We should connect over lunch one day while you are down and celebrate being in the sun and warmth 🙂
That’s a great idea – we will definitely do that.
Great pictures as always Richard. Love the architecture of that area.
Thanks Chris! I had to curate a few spots for Matthew and me to photowalk. This one was at the top of our list.