My Toronto Includes Jamie Bradburn
Jamie Bradburn, Editor/wannabe Graphic Designer
At Croft and College.
What is your most favourite place in the city? Picking a favourite anything is torture! The easiest answer is downtown as a whole.
What is it that you like about this location? It’s alive. There’s hardly a street that doesn’t have something interesting to draw you in. I grew up near large urban downtowns that were either dead (Detroit) or comatose if you weren’t a bar crawler (Windsor).
Where is the best place to eat in the city? Tough to choose, since there are so many. For nice dining, I haven’t had a bad meal at Seven Numbers on Danforth. For comfort food (which for me is Asian or Indian), I head to the Korean restaurants along Bloor West, the pho shops along Spadina, Udupi Palace on Gerrard or the lunch spread at Little India on Queen.
What do you like about living in Toronto? Diversity of everything. Food, culture, arts, architecture, celebrations, etc. Hard to be bored here. I also like seeing how neighbourhoods evolve, through things like walks down the entire length of Queen West from Yonge to Roncescvalles.
What do you hate about living in Toronto? The traffic, especially cab drivers. My life has flashed before my eyes so many times, I wonder if I’ll soon start seeing somebody else’s life the next time a cab darts into the middle of traffic or runs a “walk” sign. I also hate the attitude that every grand project in this city must be “world class”, when infrastructure maintenance and other “boring” day-to-day items are more important to keeping Toronto liveable.
Where would I find you on a lazy Sunday afternoon in the city? Downtown, somewhere between Queen/Yonge and Bloor/Bathurst. Most weekends, I go on a “Sunday Constitutional” walk downtown, usually winding my way through Queen West, Kensington Market and the Annex. A chance to get some exercise, soak up some sun, grab a bite, buy goodies for the week and browse stores at a relaxed pace.
Who is your favourite Local Celebrity? Next question!
Car, Bike or Transit? A combination of all three. Depends on the situation. Car for areas outside the old city limits, bike for leisure riding along city trails or the islands, transit for getting around the core.
Favorite personal story or commentary on the city Walking down Yonge St near Wellesley one day, a teenage panhandler asked for change “to neuter my pet goldfish”.
My Toronto includes a piece of the world on every block.
