Defined by Spadina Avenue on the East, Dundas on the South, College on the North and Bathurst on the West, Kensington Market has developed into a lively destination. The Market is an old neighborhood and has become one of the city’s most well-known attractions. Located along Augusta Avenue, it features many shops, cafes, and as well historic Victorian homes. While the spring has come, it is the time to learn the history and take a look of today’s life in Kensington Market.
Labeled as a National Historic Site of Canada in 2006, Kensington Market is a strategic area in the neighborhood. People come to meet, interact, and celebrate numerous events throughout the year. The shops and its residents are diverse and will assure that there is never a boring moment inside its boundary. Kensington Market is unique physically and historically.
In the 1880s, houses in Kensington Market area were built on small space for immigrant laborers who came to Toronto. Much of the housing were using the moderate style of Victorian architecture row houses. Many of these houses are still standing and have been inhabited by many immigrants in the following decades. The front of the houses that is closer to the Market area was used as a shop today.
In the early 20th century, Eastern Jewish immigrants became the major resident of the Kensington Market. The Jewish families opened stalls in front of their houses and sold goods to each other, later on the area known as Jewish Market. Although, the area became overcrowded and was one of the poorer areas in Toronto, the Jewish Market was the beginning of an old marketplace of the Kensington neighborhood. From the start, the Market sold items imported from the homelands of the diverse immigrant populations. As today, the area still filled with a mix of stores selling a variety of harvest, meats, and homeland’s goodies.
Not long after the Second World War, the Jewish population moved to more thriving neighborhoods uptown. By 1950s, a huge number of immigrants from Portugal moved into the area. However, the arrival of new waves of immigrants from East Asian and Caribbean transformed the community, making it more diverse as the century carried on. During the 1980s and 1990s, more groups of immigrants came and resided in the Kensington Market area. As today, Kensington Market becomes home to many restaurants with a various style and ethnicities.
“ It is a very community feeling area. It is very local and vibrant. There are interesting cafes. There are vintage stores, crystal stores, alternative health stores, it is a very exciting area, and its one of the area in Toronto that does not dictate by cars. It is a very pedestrian friendly,” said Laura Thompson, a Kensington Market visitor.
Kensington Market is unique in the sense that this neighborhood is very pedestrian friendly. It has wide sidewalks, spots where visitors can park their vehicles, but most important is the friendly multicultural shop owners. On some late afternoons, pedestrians can walk freely down the middle of the street. To expose the Market’s diverse cultures, Kensington Market gives the visitors the vibe from vintage shops, a dozen of different cafes and restaurants and as well as independent groceries.
Kensington Market holds different meaning for each person; a unique shopping experience, a community, an artistic area, and also a place worth living in. Though, there has been much assumption that Kensington’s story as an immigrant neighborhood is near its end. As in recent years, upscale cafes and restaurants replaced many of the older ethnic businesses.
As most of the shops in other districts close no more than 6PM on Sunday, some of the stores in Kensington Market are open until late night. Providing late snacks for the night adventurous people in the city. Kensington Market also hosts various street festivals such as Pedestrian Sunday in the summer months and also annual Festival of Lights in December.
”Kensington Market is crazy, sometimes. I’ve been working here for three years, pretty much. I’m having good and bad things, actually. I like it though. It is a really good neighborhood. It is a mixed area. There are a lot of Latinos, Portuguese, and Jamaican as well. It’s beautiful. We know each other little by little. But the market in some days is crazy. Really. You should come. If not, you are going to miss so much. We have a pub there, playing different kind of music. Traffic jam is everywhere. It’s just crazy, because people in here are awesome. It is so much fun. Its crazy here and I love it. It’s like one of our market in Mexico. It’s similar to here. That’s why I like it. I feel like in Mexico,” said Jose Troncoso, an employee at Churros store Kensington market.
As making visitor’s favorite snack, Churros, Jose Troncoso say that he is always exciting to work in Kensington Market. He met different type of people every each day. From normal people that came to his store during the day, to the night where drunk or high people that came only to ask for a free Churros. “Life in Kensington always excite me,” he said.
Today, Kensington Market continues to be the most multicultural community in Toronto. The Market offers a warm atmosphere where everyone is welcome. It is also known as Canada’s open-air and mixed-use market.
Today, Kensington Market continues to be the most multicultural community in Toronto. The Market offers a warm atmosphere where everyone is welcome. It is also known as Canada’s open-air and mixed-use market.
