Kensington Market
Encyclopedia
Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown
Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Robert Fulford wrote in 1999 that "Kensington today is as much a legend as a district. The (partly) outdoor market has probably been photographed more often than any other site in Toronto."
Its approximate borders are College St.
on the north, Spadina Ave.
on the east, Dundas St. W. to the south, and Bellevue Ave. to the west. Most of the neighbourhood's eclectic shops, cafes, and other attractions are located along Augusta Ave. and neighbouring Nassau St., Baldwin St., and Kensington Ave.
George Taylor Denison
, after serving in the British
militia during the War of 1812
, purchased an area of land in 1815 from Queen Street West
to Bloor Street
, roughly between where Augusta and Lippincott Streets now run. Denison used the area now known as Bellevue Square Park as a parade ground for his volunteer cavalry troop, which he commanded during the Upper Canada Rebellion
. This troop later became the Governor General's Horse Guards. The Denison estate was subdivided in the 1850s. During the 1880s, houses were built on small plots for Irish
and Scottish
immigrant labourers coming to Toronto; many of these houses still stand along Wales Avenue and elsewhere, and these inexpensive homes have been inhabited by many waves of immigrants in the decades that followed.
During the early twentieth century, Kensingston become populated by eastern European Jewish immigrants and some Italians, who occupied "The Ward
", an overcrowded immigrant-reception area between Yonge Street
and University Avenue
, in large numbers after around 1910. It became a cluster of densely packed houses, and was one of the poorer areas of the city. It became notable for the items and gifts, reminiscent of those in Europe, that covered the streets of the area. From the beginning, the market sold items imported from the homelands of the various immigrant communities. It became known as "the Jewish Market". Jewish merchants operated small shops as tailors, furriers and bakers. Around 60,000 Jews lived in and around Kensington Market during the 1920s and 1930s, worshipping at over 30 local synagogues.
, fleeing political conflict with the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar
, moved into the area and further west along Dundas Street. The arrival of new waves of immigrants from the Caribbean
and East Asia
changed the community, making it even more diverse as the century wore on. The Vietnam War
brought a number of American
political refugees to the neighbourhood, adding a unique utopian flavour to local politics. As Chinatown
is located just east of Kensington, the Chinese are now the largest ethnic element. During the 1980s and 1990s, identifiable groups of immigrants came from Central America
, Somalia
, Ethiopia
, Sudan
, Iran
, Vietnam
, Chile
and other global trouble spots.
All this movement lead to a rebirth of Augusta Ave. However, there were seedy spots whose patrons scared away the fiercest yuppies. A Nike store tried to open up in the market and the community rejected it very strongly by dumping dozens of running shoes splattered with red paint in protest for the treatment Nike's workers receive around the world. Eventually such businesses (both too seedy and too mainstream) transformed or moved out. The Nike store was a tremendous corporate failure.
Today the neighbourhood is a noted tourist attraction, and a centre of Toronto's cultural life as artists and writers moved into the area. Land prices in the area have increased sharply, but despite its increased appeal to professionals, Kensington still remains a predominantly working class, immigrant community.
In November, 2006, Kensington Market was proclaimed a National Historic Site of Canada.
, and St. Stephen's Community House. Percy Faith, the 1950s composer and band leader, lived as a child at 171 Baldwin Street. His uncle, Louis Roterbergh, a master violinist, taught him the violin, and was reputed to play at the house at Baldwin as crowds gathered below to listen.
The area is filled with a mix of food stores selling an immense variety of meat
s, fish
and produce
. There are also several bakeries
, spice and dry goods stores, and cheese
shops. Stores sell a wide variety of new and used clothing, and there are discount and surplus stores. Some of the more popular shops in Kensington Market include the Blue Banana, Courage my Love and Good Egg. It is also home to many restaurants covering a wide variety of styles and ethnicities. A unique architectural feature of the neighbourhood is the presence of extensions built onto the front of many buildings (which would be against by-laws in other places).
.
In recent years, the neighbourhood has seen a small explosion of upscale cafés, restaurants and clubs, replacing many of the older ethnic businesses. There has been much speculation that Kensington's long history as an immigrant working class neighbourhood is near its end.
are sometimes seen handing out pamphlets at the corner of Baldwin and Kensington. Over the past two decades, several radical bookstores have flourished in Kensington Market, including Who's Emma, the Anarchist Free Space, and Uprising Books.
One of Canada's most famous independent bookstore
s, This Ain't the Rosedale Library
, also moved to Kensington from Church and Wellesley
in 2008. It later closed in June 2010, failing to pay rent.
Since 2004, residents and businesses have organized a series of Pedestrian Sunday events. Parts of Augusta St., Baldwin St. and Kensington Ave. are closed to motorized traffic and the streets become a pedestrian mall. Live music, dancing, street theatre and games are among the special events on the closed streets. Typically taking place on the last Sunday of every month, this type of event has been organized on half a dozen weekends a year since 2005.
The annual Kensington Market Festival of Lights is celebrated on the streets of Kensington Market during the Winter Solstice
in December. This carnival parade of giant puppets, firebreathers, stiltwalkers and samba was created in 1987 as a way of beckoning the return of the sun on the longest night of the year. Artists and groups like the Samba Squad
,Shadowland Theatre, Clay & Paper Theatre
, EagleHeart Drummers and Singers, Spirit Wind, Gaa Dibaatjimat Ngashi, Tumivut Youth Shelter, Maracatu Nunca Antes, Darbazi Choir, Circle-Sing, Richard Underhill
, the Befana Choir and the Kensington Horns participate in this event. For many years, the parade ended in a post-sunset concert and spectacle in Bellevue Square; since 2009, the parade has ended at Alexandra Park to handle the larger crowd.
The Pedestrian Sundays festival is a car-free festival where the streets close to cars in several Sundays in the summer. The festival ran for 5 years, attracting many people to party on the streets of Kensington Market, including bands, street foods, etc.
The Chiaroscuro Reading Series is held the second Tuesday of each month at Augusta House. Prominent science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors offer readings of their works.
and Armed and Hammered
. The Toronto based band Bedouin Soundclash
filmed parts of their video When the Night Feels My Song
in and around the market.
Former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman
and actor Al Waxman
(who starred in the CBC Television
series King of Kensington
) were both born and raised in the Kensington Market neighbourhood. After Waxman's death in 2001, he was honoured with a statue located in the north-west corner of Bellevue Square Park. In addition to King of Kensington, Kensington Market has been the setting for the television series Twitch City
, which was filmed above the record store Paradise Bound, and Katts and Dog
as well as the street riot scenes of the 1984 comedy Police Academy
. Kensington Market was the primary setting for Cory Doctorow
's novel Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
.
Kids' CBC
, the daily children's programming block on CBC Television
, includes some interstitial segments featuring Mamma Yamma, who owns a vegetable stand in Kensington Market. Played by puppeteer Ali Eisner
, Mamma Yamma teaches children about food-related subjects such as nutrition, table manners and basic mathematics, and also often incorporates celebrity and musical guests.
cafés and boutiques, as well as a couple of head shop
s. The Hot Box Cafe and Roach'o'Rama are businesses in Kensington Market where the consumption of cannabis
takes place openly.
The winter solstice festival is an important gathering of Ontario's pagan community.
. There are several stores situated around the Market that sell Rastafarian cultural items, including a small flea-market. The area has also been popular amongst marijuana activists and members of the drug subculture
.
0038.00 of the 2006 Canadian census covers Kensington Market. According to that census, the neighbourhood has 3,740 residents. Average income is $23,335, considerably below the Toronto average. The ten most common language spoken at home, after English, are:
Downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto is the central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately bounded by Bloor Street to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, the Don River to the east, and Bathurst Street to the west...
Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Robert Fulford wrote in 1999 that "Kensington today is as much a legend as a district. The (partly) outdoor market has probably been photographed more often than any other site in Toronto."
Its approximate borders are College St.
College Street (Toronto)
College Street is a principal arterial thoroughfare in downtown Toronto, connecting former streetcar suburbs in the west with the city centre. The street is home to an ethnically diverse population in the western residential reaches, and institutions like the Ontario Legislature and the University...
on the north, Spadina Ave.
Spadina Avenue
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods....
on the east, Dundas St. W. to the south, and Bellevue Ave. to the west. Most of the neighbourhood's eclectic shops, cafes, and other attractions are located along Augusta Ave. and neighbouring Nassau St., Baldwin St., and Kensington Ave.
Early history
George Taylor Denison
Lieutenant-Colonel George Taylor Denison III was a Canadian soldier and publicist.He was born in Toronto, and educated at Upper Canada College. In 1861 he was called to the bar, and was from 1865-1867 a member of the city council...
, after serving in the British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
militia during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, purchased an area of land in 1815 from Queen Street West
Queen Street West
Queen Street West describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west thoroughfare, and a series of neighbourhoods or commercial districts, situated west of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Queen Street begins in the west at the intersection of King Street, The...
to Bloor Street
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, in the Canadian province of Ontario. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct westward into Mississauga, where it ends at Central Parkway. East of the viaduct, Danforth Avenue continues along the same...
, roughly between where Augusta and Lippincott Streets now run. Denison used the area now known as Bellevue Square Park as a parade ground for his volunteer cavalry troop, which he commanded during the Upper Canada Rebellion
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Upper Canada Rebellion was, along with the Lower Canada Rebellion in Lower Canada, a rebellion against the British colonial government in 1837 and 1838. Collectively they are also known as the Rebellions of 1837.-Issues:...
. This troop later became the Governor General's Horse Guards. The Denison estate was subdivided in the 1850s. During the 1880s, houses were built on small plots for Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
immigrant labourers coming to Toronto; many of these houses still stand along Wales Avenue and elsewhere, and these inexpensive homes have been inhabited by many waves of immigrants in the decades that followed.
The "Jewish Market"
The Ward (Toronto)
The Ward was a neighbourhood in central Toronto bound by College Street, Queen Street, Yonge Street, and University Avenue and was centred on the intersection of Terauley and Albert Street...
", an overcrowded immigrant-reception area between Yonge Street
Yonge Street
Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...
and University Avenue
University Avenue (Toronto)
University Avenue is a major north-south road in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At its north end, University Avenue is the site of the Ontario Legislative Building. The eight-lane wide street is the location for several hospitals, numerous office buildings, Osgoode Hall and the Four Seasons...
, in large numbers after around 1910. It became a cluster of densely packed houses, and was one of the poorer areas of the city. It became notable for the items and gifts, reminiscent of those in Europe, that covered the streets of the area. From the beginning, the market sold items imported from the homelands of the various immigrant communities. It became known as "the Jewish Market". Jewish merchants operated small shops as tailors, furriers and bakers. Around 60,000 Jews lived in and around Kensington Market during the 1920s and 1930s, worshipping at over 30 local synagogues.
Post-War
After the Second World War, most of the Jewish population moved north to more prosperous neighbourhoods uptown or in the suburbs. During the 1950s, a large number of immigrants from the AzoresAzores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
, fleeing political conflict with the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...
, moved into the area and further west along Dundas Street. The arrival of new waves of immigrants from the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
changed the community, making it even more diverse as the century wore on. The Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
brought a number of American
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
political refugees to the neighbourhood, adding a unique utopian flavour to local politics. As Chinatown
Chinatown, Toronto
Chinatown is an ethnic enclave in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with a high concentration of ethnic Chinese residents and businesses extending along Dundas Street West and Spadina Avenue. First developed in the late 19th century, it is now one of the largest Chinatowns in North America and...
is located just east of Kensington, the Chinese are now the largest ethnic element. During the 1980s and 1990s, identifiable groups of immigrants came from Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and other global trouble spots.
The 1960s
In the 1960s there were plans to tear down the densely packed small houses and replace them with large, apartment-style housing projects, as was done to neighbouring Alexandra Park. These plans came to an end with the election of David Crombie as Mayor of Toronto. Crombie was strongly opposed to the massive urban restructuring plans that had been in vogue in previous decades.Recent development
The market resisted the recession of the 1980s partially thanks to a floating population of students attending George Brown College, which was situated where the Kensington Lofts are today. George Brown College sold the property in the mid 1990s and without the extra student traffic, many stores were victims of the recession of the mid to late 90s. In addition, many Portuguese store owners were by that time too old to continue working their small shops, which led to abundant vacancy, and invited a new wave of immigrant entrepreneurs. Businesses like La Perola, El Emporio Latino and El Buen Precio took advantage of the growing wave of Latin American immigrants, and opened the door to offering ethnic street foods. Jumbo Empanadas was one of the first ones to spice up the flavors of the market from a cart; later moved into a basement close to Nassau, and then to its current location. All other Latin shops started selling their Pupusas, and by 2000, a young couple of entrepreneurs opened the first taqueria in Canada, calling it "El Trompo".All this movement lead to a rebirth of Augusta Ave. However, there were seedy spots whose patrons scared away the fiercest yuppies. A Nike store tried to open up in the market and the community rejected it very strongly by dumping dozens of running shoes splattered with red paint in protest for the treatment Nike's workers receive around the world. Eventually such businesses (both too seedy and too mainstream) transformed or moved out. The Nike store was a tremendous corporate failure.
Today the neighbourhood is a noted tourist attraction, and a centre of Toronto's cultural life as artists and writers moved into the area. Land prices in the area have increased sharply, but despite its increased appeal to professionals, Kensington still remains a predominantly working class, immigrant community.
In November, 2006, Kensington Market was proclaimed a National Historic Site of Canada.
Landmarks
Some area landmarks are the Number 10 Fire Station, Tom's Place, Bellevue Square Park with a statue of actor Al WaxmanAl Waxman
Albert Samuel Waxman, CM, O.Ont was a Canadian actor and director of over 1000 productions on radio, television, film, and stage...
, and St. Stephen's Community House. Percy Faith, the 1950s composer and band leader, lived as a child at 171 Baldwin Street. His uncle, Louis Roterbergh, a master violinist, taught him the violin, and was reputed to play at the house at Baldwin as crowds gathered below to listen.
Shops
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
s, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and produce
Produce
Produce is a generalized term for a group of farm-produced goods and, not limited to fruits and vegetables . More specifically, the term "produce" often implies that the products are fresh and generally in the same state as where they were harvested. In supermarkets the term is also used to refer...
. There are also several bakeries
Bakery
A bakery is an establishment which produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cakes, pastries and pies. Some retail bakeries are also cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who wish to consume the baked goods on the premises.-See also:*Baker*Cake...
, spice and dry goods stores, and cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
shops. Stores sell a wide variety of new and used clothing, and there are discount and surplus stores. Some of the more popular shops in Kensington Market include the Blue Banana, Courage my Love and Good Egg. It is also home to many restaurants covering a wide variety of styles and ethnicities. A unique architectural feature of the neighbourhood is the presence of extensions built onto the front of many buildings (which would be against by-laws in other places).
.
In recent years, the neighbourhood has seen a small explosion of upscale cafés, restaurants and clubs, replacing many of the older ethnic businesses. There has been much speculation that Kensington's long history as an immigrant working class neighbourhood is near its end.
Counterculture
Businesses such as Manifestudio, a photo gallery and radical eco-politics community space run by GlobalAware Independent Media, help create an environment friendly to radical politics. TrotskyistsTrotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
are sometimes seen handing out pamphlets at the corner of Baldwin and Kensington. Over the past two decades, several radical bookstores have flourished in Kensington Market, including Who's Emma, the Anarchist Free Space, and Uprising Books.
One of Canada's most famous independent bookstore
Independent bookstore
An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned.-Literary and countercultural history:Author events at independent bookstores sometimes take the role of literary salons. The bookstores themselves, "have historically supported and cultivated the work of independent...
s, This Ain't the Rosedale Library
This Ain't the Rosedale Library
This Ain't the Rosedale Library was an independent bookstore located in Kensington Market, Toronto, Ontario. Formerly located in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, the store moved to Kensington Market in May 2008, and closed in June 2010 after failing to pay rent.This Ain't the Rosedale...
, also moved to Kensington from Church and Wellesley
Church and Wellesley
Church and Wellesley is an LGBT-oriented community located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is roughly bounded by Gerrard Street to the south, Yonge Street to the west, Charles Street to the north, and Jarvis Street to the east, with the core commercial strip located along Church Street from...
in 2008. It later closed in June 2010, failing to pay rent.
Commercial gentrification
A small supermarket, Zimmerman's Freshmart, opened in the Market in February 2005, leading to some controversy. Danny Zimmerman, the cousin of Freshmart's owner and the owner of a rival store across the street, expressed concern it would compete with smaller businesses, or would otherwise lead to a more "corporate" market. The arrival of COBS Bread in 2006 continues this potential trend. Also, some Market shops have started selling sweets and bread from Dufflet and Ace Bakery, two Toronto-based bakeries. This has caused consternation amongst some traditionalists.Cars and pedestrians
Narrow streets make the market challenging for those driving and especially parking in the neighbourhood. On Saturdays and some late afternoons, pedestrians walk freely down the middle of the street or between slow-moving cars.Since 2004, residents and businesses have organized a series of Pedestrian Sunday events. Parts of Augusta St., Baldwin St. and Kensington Ave. are closed to motorized traffic and the streets become a pedestrian mall. Live music, dancing, street theatre and games are among the special events on the closed streets. Typically taking place on the last Sunday of every month, this type of event has been organized on half a dozen weekends a year since 2005.
Festivals
Bellevue Square Park hosts many concerts and festivals throughout late spring and summer.The annual Kensington Market Festival of Lights is celebrated on the streets of Kensington Market during the Winter Solstice
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
in December. This carnival parade of giant puppets, firebreathers, stiltwalkers and samba was created in 1987 as a way of beckoning the return of the sun on the longest night of the year. Artists and groups like the Samba Squad
Samba Squad
Samba Squad is a Canadian World Music Fusion group. The Squad was formed in 1999 by percussionist Rick Shadrach Lazar. The band incorporates world rhythms performed on Brazilian Bateria drums and percussion. Their musical style combines Samba with other styles such as Salsa, Soca, Reggae and...
,Shadowland Theatre, Clay & Paper Theatre
Clay & Paper Theatre
Clay & Paper Theatre is a Community Arts Theatre Company in Toronto, Canada that produces narrative theatre using large-scale puppets, masks, stilts, visual imagery, music, and poetry. A fundamental component of Clay & Paper Theatre’s mandate is social inclusion.-Origins:Clay & Paper Theatre was...
, EagleHeart Drummers and Singers, Spirit Wind, Gaa Dibaatjimat Ngashi, Tumivut Youth Shelter, Maracatu Nunca Antes, Darbazi Choir, Circle-Sing, Richard Underhill
Richard Underhill
Richard Underhill is a Canadian jazz saxophonist. A founding member of the jazz fusion group The Shuffle Demons, he has toured Europe and Canada to critical acclaim for over 27 years. Underhill won a 2003 Juno Award for his jazz solo debut Tales from the Blue Lounge, and was nominated for the Prix...
, the Befana Choir and the Kensington Horns participate in this event. For many years, the parade ended in a post-sunset concert and spectacle in Bellevue Square; since 2009, the parade has ended at Alexandra Park to handle the larger crowd.
The Pedestrian Sundays festival is a car-free festival where the streets close to cars in several Sundays in the summer. The festival ran for 5 years, attracting many people to party on the streets of Kensington Market, including bands, street foods, etc.
The Chiaroscuro Reading Series is held the second Tuesday of each month at Augusta House. Prominent science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors offer readings of their works.
Music
Kensington Market has been the home and founding location of many punk and metal bands, including BunchofuckingoofsBunchofuckingoofs
Bunchofuckingoofs, or the BFGs, are an infamous hardcore punk band from Kensington Market in Toronto, Ontario who formed in November 1983 as a response to "a local war with glue huffing nazi skinheads." They ran a 24 hour a day, seven day a week boozecan from July 1983 to July 1988 at their Baldwin...
and Armed and Hammered
Armed and Hammered
Armed and Hammered was a hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario, spawned from the Kensington Market, BFG scene. They played their first show June 7, 1989 and their final show on April 19, 2003...
. The Toronto based band Bedouin Soundclash
Bedouin Soundclash
Bedouin Soundclash is a Canadian band currently based in Toronto. Their sound can be described as reggae and ska.-History:The band's current lineup consists of vocalist and guitarist Jay Malinowski, and bassist Eon Sinclair with Sekou Lumumba on drums. Their debut album, Root Fire, released in 2001...
filmed parts of their video When the Night Feels My Song
When the Night Feels My Song
"When the Night Feels My Song" is the first single from Sounding a Mosaic, the second album from Canadian band Bedouin Soundclash. The song features a reggae/soft rock sound, and is accompanied by a music video that shows the band on various streets during the night, in Toronto, Canada. The song...
in and around the market.
Kensington in popular culture
Mel Lastman
Melvin Douglas "Mel" Lastman , nicknamed "Mayor Mel", is a former businessman and politician. He is the founder of the Bad Boy Furniture chain. He served as the mayor of the former city of North York, Ontario, Canada from 1972 until 1997. At the end of 1997, North York, along with five other...
and actor Al Waxman
Al Waxman
Albert Samuel Waxman, CM, O.Ont was a Canadian actor and director of over 1000 productions on radio, television, film, and stage...
(who starred in the CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
series King of Kensington
King of Kensington
King of Kensington was a Canadian television sitcom which aired on CBC Television from 1975 to 1980.The show starred Al Waxman as Larry King, a convenience store owner in Toronto's Kensington Market who was known for helping friends and neighbours solve problems. His multicultural group of friends...
) were both born and raised in the Kensington Market neighbourhood. After Waxman's death in 2001, he was honoured with a statue located in the north-west corner of Bellevue Square Park. In addition to King of Kensington, Kensington Market has been the setting for the television series Twitch City
Twitch City
Twitch City is a Canadian sitcom produced by CBC Television. The series aired as two short runs in 1998 and 2000. The series also aired in the United States on Bravo, and in Australia....
, which was filmed above the record store Paradise Bound, and Katts and Dog
Katts and Dog
Katts and Dog is a French and Canadian-produced television series which ran from 1988 to 1993. It was known as Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop in the United States where it originally aired on CBN Cable/The Family Channel and Rintintin Junior in France...
as well as the street riot scenes of the 1984 comedy Police Academy
Police Academy
Police Academy is a series of American comedy films, the first six of which were made in the 1980s. The seventh and to date last installment, Mission to Moscow, was released in 1994. The series opened with Police Academy which started with the premise that a new mayor had announced a policy...
. Kensington Market was the primary setting for Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
's novel Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town is a contemporary fantasy novel by Canadian author Cory Doctorow. It was published in June, 2005, concurrently released on the Internet under a Creative Commons license, free for download in several formats including ASCII and PDF...
.
Kids' CBC
Kids' CBC
Kids' CBC is a preschool commercial-free programming block aired weekday mornings on CBC Television.Currently, the hosts of the block are Patty Sullivan and Sid Bobb.-History:...
, the daily children's programming block on CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
, includes some interstitial segments featuring Mamma Yamma, who owns a vegetable stand in Kensington Market. Played by puppeteer Ali Eisner
Ali Eisner
Ali Eisner is a puppeteer, writer, musician and composer on/for Children's Television. She can currently be seen on Kids' CBC as "Mamma Yamma" , on TVO Kids as "Jay" the Blue Jay, and as "Banjo" on PBS's The Let's Go Show.-External links:...
, Mamma Yamma teaches children about food-related subjects such as nutrition, table manners and basic mathematics, and also often incorporates celebrity and musical guests.
Marijuana culture
The market is also home to one of Canada's few cannabisCannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
cafés and boutiques, as well as a couple of head shop
Head shop
A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in drug paraphernalia used for consumption of cannabis, other recreational drugs, legal highs, legal party powders and New Age herbs, as well as counterculture art, magazines, music, clothing, and home decor; some head shops also sell oddities, such as...
s. The Hot Box Cafe and Roach'o'Rama are businesses in Kensington Market where the consumption of cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
takes place openly.
Religion
Two synagogues remain in the Market, from the early 20th-century period when the area was the centre of the Jewish community in Toronto.The winter solstice festival is an important gathering of Ontario's pagan community.
Rastafarian Culture
In recent years Kensington Market has been associated with the Rastafari MovementRastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
. There are several stores situated around the Market that sell Rastafarian cultural items, including a small flea-market. The area has also been popular amongst marijuana activists and members of the drug subculture
Drug subculture
Drug subcultures are examples of countercultures, which are primarily defined by recreational drug use.Drug subcultures are groups of people united by a common understanding of the meaning and value of the incorporation into one's life of the drug in question...
.
Demographics
Census tractCensus tract
A census tract, census area, or census district is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Usually these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exist within a county...
0038.00 of the 2006 Canadian census covers Kensington Market. According to that census, the neighbourhood has 3,740 residents. Average income is $23,335, considerably below the Toronto average. The ten most common language spoken at home, after English, are:
- Cantonese - 14.3%
- Unspecified Chinese - 13.4%
- Mandarin - 9.4%
- Portuguese - 4.8%
- Vietnamese - 2.7%
- Spanish - 1.5%
- Korean - 0.7%
- Urdu - 0.3%
- Polish - 0.3%
- Serbian - 0.3%
Nearby streets of note
- Spadina AvenueSpadina AvenueSpadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods....
- Dundas Street
- College StreetCollege Street (Toronto)College Street is a principal arterial thoroughfare in downtown Toronto, connecting former streetcar suburbs in the west with the city centre. The street is home to an ethnically diverse population in the western residential reaches, and institutions like the Ontario Legislature and the University...
- Bathurst Street
See also
- List of neighbourhoods in Toronto
- No. 8 Hose StationNo. 8 Hose StationThe No. 8 Hose Station is a small fire hall that is a Toronto landmark. It is located on College Street at Bellevue and marks the northern end of Kensington Market.-History:...
- St. Lawrence MarketSt. Lawrence MarketSt. Lawrence Market is one of two major markets in Toronto, the other being Kensington Market.It features two buildings, both on the west side of Front St. East and Jarvis St. Each building holds different purposes:...