The Toronto Islands are such a popular destination in the summer. – it’s a no brainer to go hop on the ferry and head over to the island on a warm, sunny day. But what about in the winter? With a community of people living there year round, the islands don’t close up during the winter. Ferries still operate and there’s plenty to do across the lake in the winter!
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Toronto has become really good at two things: celebrating our artistic talents and celebrating our waterfront. In its second year, the Winter Stations Design Competition aims to combine the those things once again while also attempting to make our cold winters a bit more bearable. Continue reading
If you frequent the Toronto waterfront like we do, you’ll know the Martin Goodman Trail well. The trail is over 50 kilometres, spans the majority of our city’s waterfront, and provides a dedicated cycling and pedestrian trail for Torontonians to enjoy. You’d think a trail like this would only be useful in the summer months, but because of the awesome waterfront revitalization that’s just not true! The Martin Goodman Trail is in full force during the winter and we spoke to our friends at Waterfront Toronto to learn more about it.
Since this is the first winter that the new portion of the Martin Goodman Trail has been open, Waterfront Toronto is still waiting to see what usage will look like during the snowy months. However, during its peak months the trail became the most-used piece of cycling infrastructure in Toronto (in only its first summer), so it’s clearly a popular commuting and recreational route. This past summer they saw about 600 cyclists per hour using the trail, which is amazing!
The Martin Goodman Trail has always been maintained to “bare pavement” standard during the winter and the new stretch of the trail will be the same. That means it has first priority to be cleared and salted after a snowfall of 5 centimetres or more. Since it gets darker earlier during the winter, the new signature light poles installed as part of the Queen’s Quay revitalization will help light your way if you’re using the trail in the evening too.
What’s most important to remember when cycling during the winter is to use your best judgement when getting out on the road. Trail etiquette is more important than ever in icy winter conditions, so always ride with caution and courtesy. The City of Toronto actually has some great winter riding tips you can check out too.
If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that Torontonians love their craft beer. We believe that the recent spike in craft beer popularity is all thanks to the wonderful people at Amsterdam Brewery… but we may be biased! The folks at Amsterdam Brewery have been making craft beer in Toronto since the 80s, long before it was a big trend here, and we were ecstatic when they opened up with harbourfront location back in 2013. The Amsterdam BrewHouse is now a neighbourhood staple for good food and drink.
It has been a crazy journey for them to get to where they are today. Their first location was on John Street, which they opened in 1986 and finally had a big space to brew their own beer. This was back when it was called the Amsterdam Brasserie and Brewpub. During this time their Nut Brown Ale became extremely popular, which is now known as the Downtown Brown. In 1988 they sold the John Street location, moved to King Street and was renamed the Amsterdam Brewing Company. Just under 20 years later, they outgrew this location and moved to a spot on Bathurst Street, and seven years later outgrew that outpost which sent them to their current location in Leaside. The Leaside location is where all of your favourite Amsterdam Brewery beers are currently made, in addition to a small on-site brewery at the Amsterdam BrewHouse on the Lake.
It’s such a fantastic restaurant and bar to have nearby because not only does it have tons of drink and food options, but it’s huge, has lots of indoor and outdoor seating, has a retail beer store (which means you may never have to go to the regular Beer Store again!), and is located in a beautiful, historical building. The BrewHouse building is actually a big old boathouse on Pier 4, which means it is literally right on the water! The space, of course, hasn’t been a boathouse for a while now and used to be home to the Toronto Maritime Museum before it made its way into the hands of our friends at Amsterdam.
Check out these photos which compare the building in the 1980s to today:
![Harbourfront. - [between 1977 and 1998]](http://pier27tower.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/s1465_fl0145_id0005.jpg)
Photo via City of Toronto Archives
If you feel like making a trip to the BrewHouse to see what all the hype is about, we recommend you go on one of their free brewery tours (Monday to Friday) and then sit down for a tasting flight, or two.
Enjoy!
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: we’re so lucky to live on the waterfront!
It’s been a long process to revitalize it, but with the help of Waterfront Toronto and everyone in our neighbourhood we’re really starting to get there. There are so many great places and spaces to hang out – from digging your toes in the sand at Sugar Beach, to catching a show at the Sound Academy, or skating at the Harbourfront Centre – and it’s so important to make the most of your own neighbourhood.
This map is a pretty good overview of all the places we like to explore on the waterfront, and you should too! Why not go for a bike ride along the Martin Goodman Trail and check them all out? Continue reading
Polson Pier is a venue with a view, plus so much more. Many Torontonians would also argue that it’s the best spot in the city to snap a shot of our beautiful skyline. It’s one of our favourite spots to hang out on the waterfront and there is a constant buzz thanks to Cabana Pool Bar in the summer, Sound Academy, the massive Solarium event space, and everything else on the 23-acre property. Needless to say, there’s lots to do down on this pier. Continue reading
With the Toronto waterfront’s massive revitalization well underway, it has quickly become one of the most sought after locations to live in the city. Who wouldn’t want to be right on Lake Ontario with so many great amenities and public spaces nearby? That being said, our waterfront didn’t always look how it does now, which as you can guess is one of the major reasons a revitalization was needed for its success. Continue reading
If you’re not really interested in swimming in Lake Ontario, the pool in our tower is a fantastic alternative and we guarantee it will be much warmer! It doesn’t get any closer to the lake than this.
It’s such a blessing to have the Billy Bishop Airport so close to home. Sure, we’d love to make use of the beautiful new Union Pearson Express, but with the Island airport so close to come, why would we head all the way to Pearson?
The Billy Bishop Airport has seen some major upgrades over the past few years, which complements the expansion of popularity of Porter Airlines – the main airline that flies out of there. Did you know that it’s the ninth busiest airport in Canada? Right now they offer service from Toronto to 50 cities, including Montreal, New York, Aruba, and San Juan. A pretty great selection of spots if you ask us! Continue reading
Unless you’ve been living under one of the Claude Cormier-designed rocks at Sugar Beach, you probably know that the new Queen’s Quay is now up and running! The revitalized area officially opened in June and has been met with outstanding positivity ever since. Our waterfront really needed something like this, and it’s now a world-class street. Continue reading
