Two and a half kilometres of Queen Street running west from Spadina, plus the four-block Ossington strip that hangs off it — the part of Toronto that decided what the city was going to look like. Graffiti Alley behind the eastern blocks, Trinity Bellwoods Park as the west end's living room, and between them the densest run of independent restaurants, bars, record shops and vintage dealers in the country. Music venues that have been booking since 1947 sit beside a national top-20 restaurant that opened last year.
Who it's for: Eaters and drinkers, because the concentration here is unmatched in Toronto: a Michelin Bib Gourmand behind a coffee bar, two restaurants in Canada's national top 50, a nationally ranked cocktail bar and a twenty-year-old dive bar within four blocks. Live-music people, thanks to the Horseshoe, the Cameron House and the Drake Underground. Shoppers who want independents rather than chains — vinyl, luxury vintage resale, books. Anyone who wants a park to sit in with something bought from a butcher two minutes away. And photographers, for Graffiti Alley.