July 2025

TOURS

Journey through the heart of Toronto's midtown with Yonge & St. Clair: Diners, Drinks, and Delis

NEW FOR 2025

$9.85 FEE

Start: 1 St. Clair Avenue East

Summer celebrations and get togethers often feature food. This season, let us tempt you with a new satiating experience that explores the changing flavours of the Yonge + St. Clair neighbourhood. We'll discover how cozy taverns, family delis, local grocers, and bustling eateries have nourished this community for generations. Feed your curiosity and come uncover stories about food and community we're serving up on this tour.

This experience is part of a special collaboration with the Yonge + St. Clair BIA. The work of three young emerging historians, this partnership focuses on local interviews and highlights the stories of the people, then and now, who lived, worked and played here. Join us as we walk this vibrant neighbourhood in transition, rooted in over 120 years of history.

Yonge & St. Clair: Reflections of Beauty

NEW FOR 2025

$9.85 FEE

Start: David Balfour Park Trail Entrance (20 Avoca Avenue)

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? On this walk, trace how ideas of beauty, self-care, and leisure have connected and evolved over time in the Yonge and St. Clair neighbourhood. We'll delve deep into the uniqueness of this vibrant midtown community, through stops focused on its built environment, cultural practices, and natural spaces.

Yonge & St. Clair: From the Ground Up

NEW FOR 2025

$9.85 FEE

Start: David Balfour Park Trail Entrance (20 Avoca Avenue)

Discover how the Yonge and St. Clair neighbourhood has transformed—from underground reservoirs, now covered by park space, to high-rise towers and modern developments. On this walk, we’ll explore this neighbourhood's recent changes and reflect on the history that remains within this community in transition.

Big Stories in Little India

COMMUNITY EVENT

FREE (Registrations encouraged)

Location: Leslieville Farmers' Market (150 Greenwood Avenue)

Explore Gerrard Street East with us, where the iconic "Little India" is located! Once an industrial brickyard, this area became a hub of colour, flavour, and celebration after housing Toronto's South Asian community in the 1970s and 1980s. Join us at our tent at the Leslieville Farmers' Market for free walking tours, and discover the impact of Bollywood cinemas, spice shops, and cultural pride on this area.

Creating Toronto

$9.85 FEE

Start: 149 King Street East

While American bluster might have resulted in more profile for New York Flatiron building, did you know that Toronto’s Gooderham Building (1892) predates it by a decade? Join us on this walk as we connect present-day streetscapes with stories of early settlers, commerce, and governance, and discover how a small colonial settlement developed into one of the world's top cities.

Rivers, Cabbages, and Doctors

NEW FOR 2025

$9.85 FEE

Start: Riverdale Park West

Named Cabbagetown, a derogatory reference by Toronto's established residents at the time to Irish immigrants' use of front gardens to grow cabbages and other vegetables, this neighbourhood has a rich history that tells a broader story of immigration, public health, and civic life in Toronto. Join us as we discover early institutions, stories of newcomers drawn to the area, and Cabbagetown's contributions to Toronto's evolution.

Ghost Signs of Toronto

NEW FOR 2025



$9.85 FEE

Start: Sorauren Avenue Fieldhouse (50 Wabash Avenue)

Become a ghost sign hunter! Join us for a guided adventure where you'll spot signs like those at 128 Sterling Road, where T.A. Lytle's vinegar, pickles, and jams once turned a rogue entrepreneur into a houshold name. Learn how to spot these fading relics, many of which are tucked in alleys or slowly disappearing under layers of development.

Hidden Histories at University of Toronto

$9.85 FEE

Start: St. George Subway entrance

Take a stroll through the University of Toronto campus and explore the fascinating architecture within! Explore how architectural choices have shaped the campus over time and reflect on the surprising ways that form has driven function.

Firsts on Front Street

COMMUNITY EVENT

FREE (Registrations encouraged)

Start: 149 King Street East

Did you know that the St. Lawrence Market was Toronto's first City Hall? Meet us at the market for free walking tours to explore the historic downtown area of Toronto and discover the people, places, and events that helped build Canada's largest city.

Festival of South Asia

FREE

Start: Ulster Arms Tavern (1345 Gerrard Street East)

Join us for free tours at the 23rd TD Festival of South Asia, celebrating the rich heritage of Toronto’s South Asian communities. As we take in the tastes, sounds, and sights of the festivities, we'll also learn about the origins, businesses, and cultural roots that have shaped this South Asia cultural hotspot.

Visualizing the Junction Triangle: Our Corner of the World

$18.37 FEE

Start: Perth Square Park (350 Perth Avenue)

Join us as we walk through the Junction Triangle—where industrial roots, rapid gentrification, and rich local histories collide. Learn about the area's churches, boxing legends, and infamous infrastructure. Afterwards, step into the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto for a guided tour of Margaux Williamson’s Shoes, books, hands, buildings, and cars, an exhibit influenced by Toronto’s scenery and city life.

Being Black on King

$9.85 FEE

Start: Inglenook Community School (19 Sackville Street)

To mark Emancipation Day, commemorating the end of slavery in the British Empire, join us to discover the Black history that spans King Street East. We'll visit the location of the first archaeological dig of an Underground Railroad site in Canada - the former home of Lucie and Thornton Blackburn who escaped slavery in the US and settled in Toronto. In 1837, they founded Toronto's first taxi service. Its red and yellow colours would later be adopted by the TTC. Learn more about the Blackburns and other community leaders who risked everything in the pursuit of freedom.

Pedalling the Parks

$9.85 FEE

Start: Marilyn Bell Tennis Courts (1275 Lake Shore Blvd W)

Did you know Toronto’s shoreline has been reshaped by industry, railways, and parks for over two centuries? Bring your bike (and helmet!) and ride with us along the Martin Goodman Trail to trace how Lake Ontario’s edge has evolved through industry, development, and restoration. Discover how today’s green spaces reconnect us with the lake and explore the lasting ties between nature and city life.

Making Change at Honest Ed's

$9.85 FEE

Start: Honest Ed's original location (581 Bloor Street West)

Long before the neon lights came down, Honest Ed’s stood at the heart of Mirvish Village — a landing pad for waves of newcomers who built community and culture here. On this walk, discover how the eccentric bargain store, a pioneering art gallery, and a thriving strip of Black-owned businesses turned Bloor and Bathurst into a crossroads of community, activism, and culture. Come trace the ordinary places that hold extraordinary stories and see how this corner of Toronto keeps reinventing itself while remembering what came before.

This year's tours are made possible by the generous support of our event sponsors and partners:

PLAQUES

Discover a new plaque—at Guild Park

On June 7, we joined Friends of Guild Park to unveil a plaque commemorating the Guild Park Greek Theatre, one of Toronto’s landmark outdoor stages built from the marble columns and arches of a historic downtown bank.

Opened in 1913, the Bank of Toronto headquarters once stood at King and Bay until its demolition in the 1960s. Philanthropists Rosa and Spencer Clark rescued its elegant marble façade and transformed it into this performance stage in 1982.

Since then, this stage has hosted arts festivals, live events, weddings, and film shoots, becoming a treasured piece of Toronto's cultural landscape.

Missed the unveiling? Next time you visit Guild Park, take a moment to read the new plaque and reflect on the stories this stage keeps alive.

HERITAGE TORONTO AWARDS

Final call for nominations!

DEADLINE: Sunday, July 13 | 11:59 PM

Don't miss your last chance to help recognize the remarkable contributions of individuals and organizations to our city's heritage. Submit your outstanding project for the 50th Annual Heritage Toronto Awards!

Nominations are open for three categories: Book, Built Heritage, and Public History.

Image Credits

Stage at Celebrate Toronto Street Festival, 2003. Courtesy of City of Toronto Archives.  

Rosehill Reservoir Rehabilitation at David Balfour Park, 2018. Image by Harold Gomez. Courtesy of City of Toronto Archives. 

Modern Scenes on St. Clair II tour, May 30, 2024. 

Tour participants at Chandan Fashion, Big Stories in Little India, May 19, 2024. Image by Hammad Khalil.

The Gooderham "Flatiron" Building, Creating Toronto tour, June 15, 2024. Image by Rachna Shah.

Participants at on Cabbagetown tour, July 6, 2017. Image by Emily Macrae. 

Former T. A. Lytle & Co. / Scythes and Co. Ltd. factory building, built 1908, March 20, 2021.  

Hidden Histories at U of T tour, Bedford Road, May 23, 2024. 

Tour participants, Creating Toronto, June 15, 2024. Image by Rachna Shah.

2023 TD Festival of South Asia hosted in the Gerrard India Bazaar. Courtesy of the Gerrard India Bazaar BIA.  

Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, Junction Triangle tour, August 12, 2021. Image by Herman Custodio. 

Tour participants at the Blackburn House site, Being Black on King, June 13, 2025. Image by Jesse McDougall. 

Tour participants on the Pedalling the Parks tour, Coronation Park, August 7, 2022. 

Tour participants, Making Change at Honest Ed's, July 20, 2024. Image by Hammad Khalil.

Guild Park Greek Theatre plaque unveiling, June 7, 2025. Image by Oscar Akamine.

Julian Chehirian and Lilia Topouzova (project leads) accepting the People's Choice Award for The Neighbours: Forms of Trauma, October 28, 2024. Image by Herman Custodio.