Toronto is Home in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Toronto is experiencing a massive growth in condominiums and a desire to reach for the skies. I want to be able to capture the ever shifting landscape as best as I can. I want to showcase the growth of old Victorian and Gothic architecture into massive glass and steel behemoths, and the interplay between the old and new.
Place you live? Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Location of your video? Toronto
Can you sum up Toronto? Toronto is a city that is forging a Canadian identity that is vastly different from the rest of it’s enormous country. More newborns arrive from outside Toronto than are actually born here, which presents an exciting time for how Toronto’s identity will be defined, especially in contrast to the rest of Canada. Toronto is a collection of neighbourhoods that is rich in its immigrant history as well as a reflection of past and current endeavours of its residents. Whether you want delicious Jerk Chicken or a warm bowl of pho, both are just a short bus ride away.
Occupation: Government
Preoccupation: Photographer and Videographer
A perfect day in Toronto? A perfect day is a foggy spring or autumn day, watching as the clouds dance and swim through our city.
What is the best thing about your spot? My favourite spot is on any roof I can find. To behold the city in a place few ever get to see, in a place experiencing massive growth. It’s humbling that I can be a spectator to see my city rise higher and higher.
What is the worst? When you have to chip freezing rain off your car for 20 minutes just so you can see through the front and rear windshield.
What would be surprising about this place to an outsider? That we don’t live in igloos, and we love the Quebec national dish known as poutine. Fries drizzled in gravy and cheese curds. It looks like an abomination, but tastes like the comfort food that you’ve never had as a child.
If your city was a person or character who would it be? It most certainly is not Rob Ford. It could possibly be Batman, but in a cleaner and newer city.
Name:Javin Lau
City:Toronto
Best place to eat?
Bitondo’s Pizzeria. Their panzerotti is absolute gut busting goodness.
Best place to drink?
I’m a big coffee drinker, and I prefer Dark Horse Espresso Bar, specifically the one on Spadina Ave. on the south end of Chinatown.
Best place to shop?
I’m a Levi’s man. That should pretty much sum it up.
Local Tip?
Be nice. It goes a long way.
If someone was visiting what must they do?
Get out of the downtown core and explore all the other neighbourhoods that Toronto has to offer such as Ossington Ave., Little Italy, Kensington Market, etc. Do not get caught in the tourist trap!