In
downtown Toronto Canada there is a place
that has been saved from the ravages of
time and progress. The Distillery District,
near Parliament and Front Street, has
been revitalized as a shopping dining
destination. What makes this place different
is that the owners and organizers of this
location have fought hard to control the
mix of tenants so to prevent franchises
and mass marketers; this prevents the
homogenized feeling that comes hand in
hand with so much of the places that are
constructed in the “cookie cutter
retail era”.
Originally known as “The Godderham
and Worts Complex”, the area seems
positively ancient in contrast with the
rest of Toronto. Dating back to 1832,
it was originally a 19th century industrial
campus. To entire the Distillery District
is to enter a place where there were no
complex machines and defiantly no computers.
The cobblestones still bear the marks
of iron shod horse hooves and the scratches
of wagon wheels. This goes excellently
with the originally masonry of the surrounding
buildings, many of which display architecture
and manufacturing techniques that have
not been produced for over on hundred
years.
In
late 2001 it was decided that the area
would be transformed, and a private company
who wished to reform the site and preserve
its ambiance bought it up. They did so
with the idea of creating a unique place
where people could sell arts and crafts,
adventurers could while away the summer
evening drinking coffee, or interested
buyers and browsers could look thought
several of the local art galleries that
house amazing feats of talent immortalized
in glass, steel, and other materials.
So, if you are ever in Toronto and you
wish to take a look at what the city has
to offer besides the CN Tower and The
Art Gallery of Ontario, then you can head
over to the Distillery District and perhaps
pick up a one-of-a-kind artefact from
what is defiantly a one-of-a-kind place.
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