For Sunday, January 26, meet at 10 AM in the Food Court at the Hudson's Bay Centre, 2 Bloor St. East. The Hudson's Bay Centre is located on the north-east corner of Yonge and Bloor, at the Bloor-Yonge subway station. The Food Court is on the lower level, on the east side of the building, near Park Rd. On Bloor St, there is an entrance which says "Matisse", just west of the Marriot entrance, which leads to the Food Court (to the right).
At the start there is a Starbucks that opens at 7 AM, a Tim Hortons that opens at 10 AM, and there are washrooms. The weather forecast is indicating little wind, and temperatures around freezing, so we will walk in a westerly direction, ending at either High Park or Runnymede Station (depending on where we go for lunch).
Andrew Carnegie, a highly influential philanthropist and businessman, dedicated much of his life and self-made fortune to educational causes. His strongest philanthropic initiative, driven by his strong belief in and passion for free education, was the creation of 2,509 free public libraries around the world, including the construction of 111 libraries in Ontario. We will walk past five buildings that housed or currently house Carnegie Libraries in Toronto.
Early exits and other points of interest along the way include:
- 0.0 Km – Hudson’s Bay Food Court (coffee, bathrooms)
- 0.3 Km – TPL - Yorkville Branch
- 1.2 Km – Birge-Carnegie Library
- 2.5 Km – Koffler Student Centre (formerly Central Reference Library)
- 3.7 to 5.3 Km – early exit to Dundas streetcar
- 5.2 Km – early exit to Ossington bus
- 5.3 Km – Caldense Bakery (coffee/bathrooms)
- 6.3 Km – The Theatre Centre (former Parkdale Branch)
- 6.3 to 7.2 Km – early exit to Queen streetcar
- 6.7 Km – early exit to Dufferin bus
- 7.4 Km – early exit to Lansdowne bus
- 8.5 to 9.0 Km – early exit to Roncesvalles streetcar
- 8.9 Km – TPL - High Park Branch
- 10.7 Km – early exit to Keele Subway Station
- 11.5 Km – Mackenzie’s High Park Pub
- 12.0 Km – The Swan or Fox & John Pub
The route is available on Ride with GPS at: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31799874
Note that there will be no subway service on Line 1 between Sheppard-Yonge and St Clair stations on Saturday and Sunday, as this may affect your travel plans. Please check https://www.ttc.ca/Service_Advisories/Subway_closures/index.jsp in case there are any further changes.
Non-members are welcome. They will be asked to sign the waiver form but will not be charged the non-member fee.
For more information check the TBN website under PROGRAMS - FALL/WINTER - CITY WALKS (https://tbn.ca/programs/fallwinter/citywalks) for a description of the Winter Walk program. If you have any questions, email me at citywalks@tbn.ca.
John Burdett - City Walk Coordinator
