Thursday Doors

Linking up at Norm's Thursday Doors.

May 2018 - Toronto ON

Until 1999, the Guinness Book of World Records repeated the popular misconception that Yonge St. was 1,896 km (1,178 mi) long, and thus the longest street in the world; this was due to a conflation of Yonge Street with the rest of Ontario's Highway 11. Yonge Street (including the Bradford-to-Barrie extension) is actually 86 kilometres long.

These doors are found along the section from Queen St. West to Elm St. and include a couple of detours.

This is just a taste, I need to get more photos.

Elm St. 

I think I need to dine here...

Barberian's Steak House is a downtown Toronto restaurant located at 7 Elm Street, close to Yonge-Dundas Square. It was founded in 1959 by Harry Barberian (1930-2001) and is now owned by his son, Arron Barberian. The restaurant includes two main dining rooms, two private dining rooms, and a two-storey underground wine cellar housing over 30,000 bottles in 30 foot tall racks, with antique chandeliers, and a dining table for exclusive parties.

Harry Barberian was the youngest of four children born to Armenian refugee parents. After working as manager-chef at Le Baron steakhouse, Barberian bought a cottage at 7 Elm Street for $6,000 and founded his own restaurant.

Patrons over the years have included Robert Morley, James Beard, Rudolf Nureyev, Veronica Tennant, Mick Jagger, Denzel Washington, Eminem and every Canadian prime minister since John Diefenbaker. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were engaged at the restaurant in 1964.

The restaurant houses a collection of rare Canadiana including original paintings by the Group of Seven.

The main entrance.

Another door

 Across the street is St. George's Hall annual membership is about $1,300.


The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto (usually just called The Arts and Letters Club) is a private club located here which brings together writers, architects, musicians, painters, graphic artists, actors, and others working in or with a love of the arts.

The club was founded in 1908 by journalist Augustus Bridle, "Member # 1"! In 1920 it moved to its present quarters at St. George's Hall, which has a lounge, meeting rooms, a library, and a two-story Great Hall where meals are served and performances and lunch time and evening talks take place.
The club has been an important part of Canadian cultural life since its founding. The Group of Seven were all members and regularly met for lunch at the Club, as did composers Healey Willan and Sir Ernest MacMillan. The annual Boar's Head Dinner is believed to be the oldest event of its kind in North America, and the Club's constitution is unique in that every year it is sung at the annual general meeting to music specially composed by Willan.

Yonge St.

I must attend one of their tours - Thursdays 5 PM in June.


Elgin & Winter Garden Theatres, 189 Yonge Street These two theatres are the last remaining Edwardian stacked theatres in the world. They were opened in 1913, showing mainly Vaudeville acts. After the decline of Vaudeville, the upper level Winter Garden closed and the lower level Elgin was converted into a cinema. By the 1970s the Elgin was showing a mixture of B-movies and pornography, but in the 1980s the Ontario Heritage Foundation bought both theatres and restored them to their original glory. They now show mainly Broadway plays and musicals and serve as venues for the Toronto International Film Festival.

And for something totally different.

The Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) exists for the research, teaching and exhibition of photography and related media.