When he visited Toronto to shoot an episode of The Layover, the late Anthony Bourdain, with characteristic bluntness, kicked things off by bemoaning the state of the downtown core. “It’s not a good-looking city,” he said. He went on to amplify his reservations, declaring (I’m paraphrasing here) that the city had fallen victim to the worst architectural fads of the mid-twentieth century. Then, he made his way to the Saint Lawrence Market for a peameal bacon sandwich.
It may sound ridiculous (it does sound ridiculous), but I took this personally. How dare that lousy New Yorker say such a thing? Not that I knew enough about architecture to say that he was wrong. I still don’t know enough about architecture to say that. In fact, I think there are times when I’ve agreed with him. And – okay, it’s not like Anthony Bourdain is the first person ever to say such a thing. Friends of mine, when visiting from out of town, have made similar observations. Not to mention those of us who actually live here – we’re as ready to criticize as anyone: “Toronto has no respect for its history”; “Toronto just tears everything down”; “Toronto was so much nicer back when …” etc., etc., etc.
True, there have been some interesting casualties over the years. I’d love to go back and get a glimpse of the northwest corner of Queen and Bay circa 1925, when Shea’s Hippodrome (one of the world’s largest vaudeville theatres) occupied the spot where Nathan Philips
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Anthony Salvalaggio is one of the editors of Toronto Journal.