Yorkville in Toronto is no doubt a most stylish district in Toronto, earning a special status. Today, home of unique boutiques, where you can shop and buy uniqueness of haute couture, dine in upscale restaurants, enjoy many of professional services designed to enhanced you health and well being. You can live Yorkville day or night, when you purchase an upscale condo or rent a high-end apartment there. The old Yorkville Village is the area based on today’s boundaries, north of Charles Street to the rail track. The track that is seen crossing Yonge Street, at the famous LCBO store. It is west of Yonge Street to the Avenue Road. The district has gone through fundamental transformation since it has made its name in late sixties, as a home to hippies and their culture, famous Minah Bar, where many of big names in Canadian music had their start. Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchel and Neil Young. Discos and cheap coffee houses lined the district in sixties. The famous Canadian submarine sandwich chain had its start in Yorkville Avenue, in 1968. $1.25 for an assorted submarine sandwich with a Coke was a staple of the day for casual watcher and many visitors on a tight budget. Sixties Yorkville was a Canadian counterpart to Greenwich Village. Margaret Atwood had her literally debut in the famous Bohemian Embassy. The Embassy name was representing bohemian lifestyle and counterculture prevailing among youth then. Mount Sinai Hospital that opened on the main avenue in 1923. After the move of the hospital to the University Avenue, the building became a retirement residence. I recall vividly visible generation gap on the streets in 1969. Seniors sitting on the patio chairs on the front lawn of the building and watching hippies and curiosity seekers like me, walking the Yorkville Avenue endlessly, until the middle of the night in hot summer nights of 1969. Area was the attraction for all American draft dodgers, hippies from all over continent, students and those with plenty of time to come and watch it all. The transformation of the area to more fashionable district became in seventies, by boutique stores and restaurants moving in, new real estate redevelopment taking place. In the seventies, The Hazelton Lanes shopping centre with its unique skating ring in the middle, modeled after The Rockefeller Centre in New York City, became the new landmark development and model for transformation. Hazelton lanes do not have its skating ring anymore, but house an array of stylish and unique boutique stores. Yorkville Shopping name has been coined, but with huge turnover and many transformation taking place since sixties, until 2011. Today, there is only one business that I recall from the days of early seventies. It is a French restaurant in Yorkville that has survived and became its oldest icon, being there since 1974.

New condominium building at 80 Yorkville Avenue that is also a shopping place retained its root in past and incorporated historical facade of old Mount Sinai Hospital

as it front. Construction project, detaching the wall, moving it and incorporating with a new structure was a sight to watch. Other condo projects are under way. With condo marketing, the developers have introduced a new phase to describe life there It is has been called Yorkvillism, officially, meaning description for state of mind. It is a desire for affluence, and the best that money can buy in goods and lifestyle. In sixties, the brand would stand for blue jeans and anti-establishment attitude. Today it is conformity with value of money. When you coin a dogma, there are some questions that we should ask. Are we describing fairy tale or achievable reality? Above all, it is a celebrities place during an annual Toronto International Film Festival. For ten days in September, it becomes a fairy-tale town and Torontonians like visitors come to watch. I spend few days there and have found an excellent place to hang out and watch, just like in 1969. This time, my base is the Courtyard Restaurant at the corner of Yorkville and Hazelton. I admire the owner who is half-a-celebrity himself. During his past career, he had been a circus performer in Europe and in London Palladium Theatre performed many icon singers of sixties and seventies. My favorite Cliff Richard or later performer Sammy Davis Jr. The restaurant has an excellent patio, where I can sit, refresh myself with food and drink and come and go, Ii I want. I can sit conveniently just across the five star hotel. Many movie stars stay in that hotel or in Four Seasons hotel. I am in the middle of the action. Sitting there always brings my memories of sixties back. I do not eat submarines there anymore, but settle for reasonably priced food from the restaurant’s menu.

Yorkville is being branded to cater to most demanding and affluent class, but I am afraid that there are not so many of them around, to keep the fairy-tale living year-round. Unlike New York City, or Los Angeles, we have a long way to catch up. People who are patronizing it most of the year are not true rich and famous or with celebrities status, but their wannabes or ordinary folks living in Toronto. There is a fine Italian dining restaurant that is frequented by celebrities during Toronto International Film Festival. It is impossible to get in, during that week; however, they appreciate anybody’s patronage during the year and provide the same level of attention, just like for movie stars. Run-of-the-mill visitors and shoppers to this area are very careful with their money and respond to tempting offers. Restaurants in the area are also compelled to participate in promotional programs like Winterlicious or Summerlicious to attract new patrons. Boutiques also advertise specials and in spite of marketing programs, many just can’t survive. Many restaurants have closed the door and “For rent,” signs are not uncommon in Yorkville, defying the image of success and affluence.

It is a watching place, including people, automobiles and motorcycles. You can see many sports and expensive cars with displaying Wheelchair Stickers behind their windshield. Do all the handicapped people buy these cars, but where do they keep the wheelchairs? Most likely, it is an attempt to avoid paying expensive parking fines. Parking Control Officers are relentless day or night, issuing expensive fines in droves on all major arteries and parking spots are scare. District is not only retail centre, but a place to obtain many professional services. Yorkvillism as a lifestyle demand well being for your mind and body. You will find many cosmetic dental clinics offering rejuvenation of your smile, plastic surgery clinics, hairstylists, spas and therapists of all kinds, just to name few. Family and Cosmetic Dentistry in Scollard Street is one recommended by a long time local resident. They cater to the young and professional crowd and keep in touch with them with mobile dental website. Older crowd has different needs of dental care, and the Yorkville dentistry provides them all. Chiropractic clinics and massage therapist are also wellness providers. Another local residents and friend of mine visits once a week local chiropractor for affluent and ordinary folks with an office located on the Street, just across the library and fire station. My local friend is a good example of Yorkvillism. He lives in the heart of the district in a condo on Bellair Avenue, just next to the subway entrance. His office is also located on Downtown subway station. We had many discussions on this topic of downtown traffic gridlocks, unnecessary costs for gas, avoiding many unnecessary parking tickets and making environmentally friendly choices. He always agrees that those are right arguments, but not right choices for him! In spite of convenience and economy of using TTC, he continues to drive his car to work and back home every day. He considers it lifestyle choice and status symbol. By his confession, affluent district residents can’t afford to be seen on TTC, or carrying their groceries through the front lobby of their building. Is this belief part of teh affluent area’s dogma?

Should we be bullish or bearish on Yorkvillism? As a casual observer and a friend of many business owners there, I have some basis for creating a qualified opinion. Many condo units purchased in the district are bought by investors and speculators, rather than people who would like to make them home and live the lifestyle supposedly prescribed by the place. Many boutique store owners or restaurateurs would not survive in business, if it were not for casual visitors and patrons to their restaurants and businesses. People, who do not live the lifestyle, but see it as a causal treat and source of excitement.

Yorkville For Top Restaurants Courtyard Restaurant, Le Trou Normand and Vaticano with fine dining at its best.