Participated in what I thought was the ultimate in this year's Jane's Walk offerings - a tour of the annex where Jane Jacobs lived. Since I grew up in the annex, it was a bit of a homecoming for me too. Started in 2007 as the perfect tribute to this iconic woman, Jane's walks are led by local tour guides through neighbourhoods across Toronto and other Canadian, US and international cities.
We learned to look out for buildings of red brick from the Don Valley Brickworks and turrets that are scattered through the Annex. We were shown beautiful churches which have now been re-purposed into other uses such as theatres, schools and multi-dwelling units. And the grand finale of the walk took us to view a small, hidden and extremely innocuous plaque in tribute of Jane, and then finally her house. Along the way, we were given some insight into this amazing woman, her passionate personality, and her fight to stop the Spadina expressway.
