Friday night Jake, Isabelle and I roamed the downtown core of Toronto for our youth-at-risk class.
We checked out some drop-in centers (Sketch, The Gateway, Seaton House, Sanctuary), Gay bars (Woody's, Sailor's, Churchmouse & Firkin), Other hang outs like Bovine Sex Club, Allan Gardens, The Falls, Hooker-Harveys, Boys town, and other nooks and crannies.
These are some pics I found off the web of a few of the places we checked out. I would've brought my own camera but didn't want to look like a tourist.
From Graffiti Alley (Some good sets here and here)
Woody's - Isabelle forgot her id and couldn't get in. We found out that by going through Sailor, which was way more sketchy, the establishments were connected at the back. No ID checks at Sailors!
Sailor's
A guy came up to us and said Isabelle was cute. Then he turned to me and said "you're cuter". My wife's a lucky gal!
Bovine Sex Club - It was really dark on the streets, but when we passed by this place it seemed to be even darker. Like it just sucked every bit of light that was once there. Doesn't look so bad in the day.
Billboards throughout the downtown core remind us of everything we need and all that is beautiful for those moments we forget
Hooker Harvey's on Jarvis - Jake and I doubled back to 'check out' the response we'd get from a prostitute. She was clearly underage. Immediately after, I felt like we degraded her just as much as anyone else that night would.
Filmore's strip joint and 'hotel' upstairs - supposedly they're celebrating their 25th anniversary right now and returning to 1981 prices.
Street chalk drawings are always a great part of downtown
The condom shack - this place has been around for ages. Has anyone in Toronto not been in here just out of shear curiosity? It's crazy how many people looking underage were in there - they did kick one guy out though. Sex hops have sprung up everywhere now, it's amazing how sexuality, as important as it is, has been brought to the very center of our culture.
I lost track of how many hemp and drug paraphernalia shops we saw
I don't think a picture could have captured the atmosphere late at night at the Seaton House (Hostel for men) . It was the only moment I think any of us felt a bit panicky. 30-40 guys were loitering around like inmates. One guy started bolting for directly towards me. I had no idea what was going on. Sad thing is, I was relieved when I discovered it was because someone else was chasing after him. A real bloody fight was about to break out, and we just kept walking totally unsure of how to respond.
I wish I could share more, like the coked up gal up almost got hit by a car, the dude from the church of satan, the huge goth youth culture, the density of the gay district, the desperation at drop-in centers, the hope and beautiful places that were seen, but i'm still processing it all. We thought our prof asking us to go to the gay strip joint (remington's) was a bit too far for us.
Anyhow, definitely an interesting night. Right now, this is my city, and I'm learning to love it.
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3 comments:
awesome post.
The street walk sounds similar to the one we did in urban min class... but you guys went all out.
We should definitely do more of this exegesis of the city.
Also saw your tyndale article about church planting. I'm still excited about the idea. Maybe we should try for something next term?
Hope you finish well. I'm praying all blessings for you and your growing family.
I agree great post, and good tyndale article!
Say, have you ordered your free book from Gospel for Asia? Go to https://www.gfa.org/freebook?motiv=WA6A-GQB1 to pick one up. It's written specifically for Asian Christians and touches off on some provocative issues such as racism directed at Asian Christians by Caucasian Christians. Alarming stuff, but very, very eye opening.
Hey Dragon Girl, you saw my article? do you go to Tyndale?
I've got the gospel for asia book though, thanks for the tip!
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