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The T.O. You Don’t Know

See your city differently

The T.O. You Don’t Know

Discover the Weird and Wonderful Layers of the City

The T.O. You Don’t Know project is a city-wide storytelling experience that invites you to peel back the layers of the city and discover over 25 historic sites, forgotten events, and fascinating stories. It’s a tribute to our city’s past and a reminder that the places you pass by every day have surprising tales to tell.

Plan Your Visit

Toronto You Don’t Know: A City-Wide Storytelling Experience

Discover untold stories across Toronto, in real places, layered with meaning.

Site Stories

This place hides a fully intact bridge buried beneath the park, a piece of lost infrastructure most Torontonians walk over without ever knowing it’s there.

In Little Portugal, tiled house façades tell stories. A dove often meant the resident was from the Azores, while Saint Anthony signaled mainland roots.

This place was one of Toronto’s earliest EDM clubs, a hidden landmark in the city’s nightlife history that helped shape the underground rave scene before disappearing from view.

Once a safe haven for lesbian women and Chinese men, the Continental Hotel housed quiet arrangements that helped both communities survive and thrive.

This was home court for the Toronto Huskies, Canada’s first NBA team. They lost their debut game by 2 points and folded within a year.

This place was one of several targeted during the 1981 bathhouse raids, known as Operation Soap, a turning point that sparked widespread outrage and galvanized queer activism in Toronto.

This mosque was once an Orange Lodge, a part of a powerful anti-Catholic network. By 1969, the Lodge declined and the building found new life as a place of worship.

This place sits above Lower Bay Station, a short-lived subway stop closed just months after it opened. It’s been seen in movies more than it’s been used by commuters.

Once home to Cup Cakes Cassidy and the Bazoom Girl, this spot was raided in the 1960s by the Morality Squad, all over a lowered G-string. Scandal then, city lore now.

Bob Marley once stopped by the Harriet Tubman Centre and played soccer in the parking lot. The photographer who snapped him? Didn’t even recognize him.

This stretch of Davenport follows Gete-Onigaming, an ancient Ojibwe trail, over 10,000 years old. It once traced the shoreline of Glacial Lake Iroquois, long before Toronto took shape.

This hotel room at the Westin was where Keith Richards was arrested in 1977. Room 2233 became a flashpoint in Toronto’s brush with rock ’n’ roll infamy. A year later, he was clean, more or less.

This isn’t Boston. It’s 85 George Street, the stand-in for MIT in Good Will Hunting. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won their first Oscars off scenes filmed right here.

This corner once belonged to Charles Vance Millar, the lawyer behind Toronto’s bizarre Stork Derby. Four women, nine babies each, and $125,000 at stake.

In 1977, this basement housed Crash ‘n’ Burn, Toronto’s first punk club. It was loud, chaotic, and short-lived. The neighbours, including the Liberal Party, weren’t fans. It closed after just two months.

This was the site of the 1837 Toronto Rebellion. A former mayor led a failed uprising here at Montgomery’s Tavern. The tavern burned, rebels were hanged or exiled to Australia and Toronto got a little less “Good.”

In 1947, Christie Pits hosted Toronto’s chocolate bar protest. Kids rallied against prices jumping from 5¢ to 8¢, until they were accused of being communist pawns. The movement melted fast.

In 1985, Kensington Market became ground zero for the Patty Wars. The government tried to rename Jamaican patties. Locals refused. The Jamaican consulate stepped in. The name stayed and February 23 is still known as Patty Day.

This corner was once part of The Ward, Toronto’s first truly multicultural neighbourhood. By the 1960s, it was gone. But its legacy lives on in the city it helped shape.

This was the site of the Mercer Reformatory, opened in 1880 to confine “wretched” women. Sex workers, single mothers, and rebellious girls were locked up, often for years. It finally closed in 1969.

In the 1970s, Yonge and Bloor was home to strip clubs, body rub parlours, and adult cinemas. Summers brought a pedestrian-only experiment and with it, crowds, clashes, and controversy. The press called it “Sin City.” By 1977, the car-free days and most of the nightlife were over.

In 1855, clowns got into a brawl with firefighters at a Toronto brothel. The next day, a mob wrecked the circus. Tents down, makeup smeared. The mayor showed up. The clowns fled and never looked back.

This corner was once a farmer’s field and the site of a deadly duel. In 1817, student John Ridout faced off against Samuel Jarvis. Ridout missed. Jarvis didn’t.

In the 1980s, Kensington Avenue was home to two iconic reggae shops, Record Corner and Roots Records. Owned by legends Ronnie ‘Bop’ Williams and Stranger Cole, their pounding sound systems turned the street into the “Wobble Zone.”

In the 1960s, Yorkville was Toronto’s counterculture hub famous for its coffee houses, clubs, and “happenings.” Icons like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and even John Lennon were part of the scene. But the era was short-lived, as the counterculture faded and many embraced more conventional lives.

This was once the site of a brothel owned by Mayor William Henry Boulton. When it was raided, Boulton wasn’t charged. Instead, manager Daniel Bloxom was prosecuted by Boulton’s uncle, with Boulton at his side. A striking case of Victorian-era injustice. Boulton was re-elected mayor years later.

Read

The Ward: Toronto’s First Immigrant Neighbourhood

A historic downtown district that became home to generations of newcomers, shaping Toronto’s identity through its rich cultural diversity and community resilience.

Article • 6 min read

More Articles

The Buried Bridge

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Charles Vance Millar: Creator of the Stork Derby

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Candy Bar Protest

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Clown Riots

Heritage Toronto

Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women

Heritage Toronto

Toronto Bathhouse Raids

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Women from The Ward

The Wobble Zone: Kensington Market

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Orange Order in Canada

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Rebellion in Upper Canada

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Lost Subway Station

The Canadian Encyclopedia

The NBA Started Here

The Canadian Encyclopedia

More About the Project

Toronto You Don’t Know is part of the Museum of Toronto’s mission to connect the past to the present. By surfacing the overlooked, the hyperlocal, and the quietly radical, we’re reminding Torontonians that history is never fixed, it’s layered, and still unfolding.

We want to thank the individuals who generously shared their knowledge and time to help bring this campaign to life, including: Faye Blum, Adam Bunch, Lanrick Bennett Jr, Ysh Cabana, Arlene Chan, Jonny Dovercourt, Gilberto Fernandes, Cecil Foster, Amy Lavender Harris, Sarah Hood, Perry King, Jon Lorinc, Dr. Duke Redbird, Diana Roldan, Rebecka Sheffield, Rad Simonpillai, Howard Tam, Beryl Tsang, and Greg Wong.

Special thanks to Berners Bowie and Lee (BBL) for their partnership on this campaign.

Learn More About our Artifacts

Featuring archival photos, oral histories, maps, and site-based details — from the loud to the nearly lost.