The History of Kensington Market

Old Toronto Series & ACO Toronto(Architectural Conservancy of Ontario: Toronto Chapter) Present: The History of Kensington Market
Hosted, Researched, Filmed, Edited by: Morgan Cameron Ross

[ahappyhippy]

As a child, every Saturday we headed to Spadina and Kensington Market for our Europe Foods. Great memories, people and food.

[lucybecker]

Lived on Kensington Ave in the ear.y 1970's and worked up the street at the ElMocambo. We painted the two pillars outside our front door in bright swirling colours so they looked like two barber shop poles, seeing as my friends and I were young hippies. The neighbours next door hated it. We called our house the Kensington Palace. We thought we were clever. Up the street was Daiters dairy and Perlmutters bakery. Good times. Good memories.

[govegan]

As a Portugese immigrant in the early 1970s, I remember fondly shopping there with my mother.

[kennymik]

How, oh how do you do this. You surely make your parents proud. Thank you.

[maximarabies]

Thank you for portraying T.O. in such a beautiful way. What a wonderful "walk down memory lane".

[alexeonsarjoo]

My family moved from Guyana to Canada in the early 70's and lived with a beautifully generous Polish family... surrounded by many other ethnic groups... I grew up hearing amazing stories of how everyone mostly got along in this new world and alot of this open mindedness way of living has stayed with me onto my children... it still vibrates with it's beautiful bohemian vibes to this day as I still go back and visit...
I hope it remains the vibrant, artistic, multicultural community this city, and world for that matter, needs!!

[marksousa]

Thank you for this!! My parents came to Toronto in the 70s from Azores, Portugal I spent so much time in the market as a kid in the 80s.

[StefanCampagna]

I will never forget... or maybe never remember... those countless hot summer afternoons spent at Hot Box Cafe in the Kensington Market.

[bombasticbushkin]

Wonderful piece. Enjoyed every bit of it and, as a Torontonian, learned a lot too. The flavor of the neighbourhood is something special. A big family, a people place. The beautiful song says it all too -- "He finds his fortune in the faces that surround him. His wife says helping other people brings him luck. But then his mother tells a slightly different story. He's the only king around without a buck (laughs)." ...Beautiful memories.

[omarkhan]

Thanks for this video! As a native Torontonion, this is super spectacular and more people should recognize the service you are providing to this historical city. Just showed this to my uni class and they all found it mesmerizing.

[queenofscrolls]

I live 7 mins away and grew up shopping here. Has changed so much but so much the same

[gigi]

I also searched King Of Kensington and found an episode with Mike Myers from 1976. He was around 13 years old but you can tell it's him.

[uneeqgem]

Thank you for making this video. Brought back many family memories.

[multipass]

One of the first places my parents shopped, other than Roncesvalles, when we first came to Canada in 1980. My dad knew the owner of the cheese shop, and my 8 yr old self remembers the overwhelming smell and the gigantic barrels of delicious cheese!

[maarkaus]

I enjoyed kensington market a great deal. I used to live on Walmer road, just north of Bloor, and would walk down Spadina, and then go to Kensington Market to get foods and see/hear interesting things. So much was going on there.
Good memories.

[grantchow]

Grew up in area and went to George Brown College in the early 80’s. Lunch was a beef patty in coconut bun with a ginger beer ! $2.00
Zimmermans was like the Honest Ed’s in a “supermarket space” then.

[MrBwingram]

Thanks very much for all the content in videos. Well done 👍👍

[JustFrank-tn]

best video I've seen of K-Market. Only thing missed was a reference to all the vintage stores

[lwest]

Really enjoyed this. The history gives a better dimension to what now exists. It was a thing to go down to Kensington market ... my family did it in the 60's and probably before that but that's when my memory of it started. Walking along those store front businesses/homes was something else. A butcher would step out with a weiner to sample and it was never declined. The aromas floating in the air is an ingrained memory. Clothes made by women of a family (usually Jewish), sold out of suitcases by the father, are another memory. Thank you for such a good account.

[coolaunt]

Visited Toronto a few years back and Kensington was my favorite district.