How architect Bruce Kuwabara would spend a perfect Saturday in the Annex
“I’ve been an Annex man for decades, ever since I was a student at U of T. I’ve lived on Lowther, Huron, Elgin, Boswell and Admiral. Right now, I live on the 17th floor of One Bedford, a building I designed. When I look at the area, I see diversity: the neighbourhood is full of fascinating personalities. I love revisiting my favourite Annex locations with my daughter, Vita, who’s eight, and my son, Thomas, who’s nine. After a pancake breakfast at the Intercontinental Hotel (220 Bloor St. W., 416-960-5200), we’ll stroll along Philosopher’s Walk and head to the ROM (100 Queen’s Park, 416-586-8000). They flip for the bat cave and the dinosaurs, and I like the art in the Institute for Contemporary Culture—it’s a trade-off. I love the food at L’Espresso Bar Mercurio (321 Bloor St. W., 416-585-2233). I usually order the salade niçoise and the kids will get burgers with sweet potato fries. For dessert, ice cream at Greg’s (750 Spadina Ave., 416-961-4734) is a treat. Thomas is a chocolate guy all the way, Vita likes the dulce de leche and I get the pistachio. Later, we might attend a concert at The Royal Conservatory (273 Bloor St. W., 416-408-0208). For dinner, we’ll order butter chicken at The Host (14 Prince Arthur Ave., 416-962-4678). It’s not the trendiest, but it’s a good place to take the kids.”
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/bruce-kuwabara-my-perfect-saturday/&title=How architect Bruce Kuwabara would spend a perfect Saturday in the Annex&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/bruce-kuwabara-my-perfect-saturday-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_253930" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Illustration by Adam Cruft)[/caption]
“I’ve been an Annex man for decades, ever since I was a student at U of T. I’ve lived on Lowther, Huron, Elgin, Boswell and Admiral. Right now, I live on the 17th floor of One Bedford, a building I designed. When I look at the area, I see diversity: the neighbourhood is full of fascinating personalities. I love revisiting my favourite Annex locations with my daughter, Vita, who’s eight, and my son, Thomas, who’s nine. After a pancake breakfast at the Intercontinental Hotel (220 Bloor St. W., 416-960-5200), we’ll stroll along Philosopher’s Walk and head to the ROM (100 Queen’s Park, 416-586-8000). They flip for the bat cave and the dinosaurs, and I like the art in the Institute for Contemporary Culture—it’s a trade-off. I love the food at L’Espresso Bar Mercurio (321 Bloor St. W., 416-585-2233). I usually order the salade niçoise and the kids will get burgers with sweet potato fries. For dessert, ice cream at Greg’s (750 Spadina Ave., 416-961-4734) is a treat. Thomas is a chocolate guy all the way, Vita likes the dulce de leche and I get the pistachio. Later, we might attend a concert at The Royal Conservatory (273 Bloor St. W., 416-408-0208). For dinner, we’ll order butter chicken at The Host (14 Prince Arthur Ave., 416-962-4678). It’s not the trendiest, but it’s a good place to take the kids.”){kind=link}
This list shows how boring and passe the Annex has become.
He seems to enjoy it. Not everyone needs the hottest new trends constantly.
This route only features the eastmost part of the Annex (only Greg’s is west of Spadina, and by a few paces) and doesn’t stray from Bloor except for dinner. It also only features child-friendly establishments.
The Annex supports a very strong diversity of residents and lifestyles. A great neighbourhood to live in offers a wide variety of uses and caters to many different interests and needs.
Interesting that despite his professed love of the Annex, his One Bedford condo has been instrumental to the destruction of it. Where once there was a strip of funky shops and restaurants in old Victorian buildings, now his ultra-boring condo stands, housing a Shoppers Drug Mart and a Royal Bank.
And once One Bedford made a beach head on Bloor, the rest of the east end of the Bloor Annex strip started to fall like dominos, driving up the retail rents, and driving out diversity of the retail tenants. This cancer on the fabric of the Annex is slowly spreading west. Soon Honest Ed’s will be gone and another ultra-boring condo will stand there, housing a bank, a dentist’s office, and a copy shop.
Yes, Kuwabara’s Saturday sounds ultra-boring. He made it so.
Basically he avoids the Annex, and goes to establishment up scale coffee shops, and name institutions skirting the Bay Street shopping district, with a stroll through U of T, None of which is really in “the Annex”.