Ashbridges to Little India
Neighbourhood: Little India
Meeting Location: Applegrove Community Complex, 60 Woodfield Road (just north of Queen, east of Greenwood)
Start Time: 4:00pm
Susan Fletcher
“If you drive east along Gerrard Street on a weekend night, past Chinatown II at Broadview, past quiet Leslieville, past Greenwood, the mundane view suddenly erupts in a metaphorical masala of fairy lights and Hindu gods, tandoor smoke and cumin, ads for international phone cards, Bollywood movie posters, tabla beats and ululating voices singing ghazals and bhangra...Filmmaker Deepa Mehta set parts of her spoof, Bollywood Hollywood, in the clothing and jewellery stores on this stretch. ‘It reminds me of the India I knew 40 years ago,’ she says.” --from “Indian Summer” by Cynthia Brouse, Toronto Life, September 2005
Join our walk to take in the colours, smells and sounds of Little India, ending with a complimentary chai tea.(Why not stay around for dinner at one of the many South Asian restaurants along Gerrard?) You’ll also see and hear about historic Ashbridge House on Queen Street East and the Gerrard-Ashdale Public Library.
Your hosts will include:
- Applegrove Community Complex Executive Director Susan Fletcher
- Beaches historian Gene Domagala
- Gerrard-India Bazaar BIA manager Subbu Chintaluri