The T.O. You Don’t Know
See your city differently
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.
- Crawford & Dundas
In Little Portugal, tiled house façades tell stories. A dove often meant the resident was from the Azores, while Saint Anthony signaled mainland roots.
- Lisgar & Dundas
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.
- 185 Richmond St W
Once a safe haven for lesbian women and Chinese men, the Continental Hotel housed quiet arrangements that helped both communities survive and thrive.
- 150 Dundas St W
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.
- 60 Carlton St
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.
- 260 Richmond St E
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.
- 182 Rhodes Ave
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.
- 1240 Bay St
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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.
- 287 Spadina
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.
- 15 Robina Avenue
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.
- Davenport Rd
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.
- 1 Harbour Sq.
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.
- 85 St. George St
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.
- 55 Yonge St
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.
- 15 Duncan St
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.”
- Yonge St & Broadway Avenue
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.
- Bloor St W & Christie St
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.
- 172 Baldwin St
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.
- Bay & Dundas St
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.
- 1155 King St
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.
- Yonge & Dundonald St
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.
- SW Corner Front & Berkeley
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.
- NW corner of Bay & Grosvenor
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.”
- 61 Kensington Ave
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.
- Yorkville
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.
- Jarvis & King Intersection
Video
Playlist
Watch the Stories Come to Life
Short, surprising videos that reveal the Toronto you didn’t know was there, until now.
The T.O. You Don't Know
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
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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.