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Railway Lands

Harbourfront, TorontoNeighbourhoods in TorontoRail infrastructure in TorontoRail yards in OntarioRailway Lands
Redevelopment projects in CanadaUse Canadian English from January 2023
Into the sunset
Into the sunset

Railway Lands is an area in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally a large railway switching yard near the Toronto waterfront, including the CNR Spadina Roundhouse and the CPR John Roundhouse, it has since been redeveloped and today is home to mostly mixed-used development, including the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre. The lands were owned and maintained by the Canadian National Railway and later transferred to the federal crown corporation Canada Lands Company. The area is bounded by Front Street, Yonge Street, Gardiner Expressway and Bathurst Street. The western portion of the Railway Lands is now part of the CityPlace neighbourhood and the eastern portion is now called South Core.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Railway Lands (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Railway Lands
Bay Street, Old Toronto

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Latitude Longitude
N 43.644662 ° E -79.38077 °
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Union Station

Bay Street 140
M5J 2L5 Old Toronto
Ontario, Canada
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Union Station (Toronto)
Union Station (Toronto)

Union Station is a major railway station and intermodal transportation hub in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Front Street West, on the south side of the block bounded by Bay Street and York Street in downtown Toronto. The municipal government of Toronto owns the station building while the provincial transit agency Metrolinx owns the train shed and trackage. Union Station has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1975, and a Heritage Railway Station since 1989. It is operated by the Toronto Terminals Railway, a joint venture of the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway that directs and controls train movement along the Union Station Rail Corridor, the largest and busiest rail corridor in Canada. Its central position in Canada's busiest inter-city rail service area, "The Corridor", as well as being the central hub of GO Transit's commuter rail service, makes Union Station Canada's busiest transportation facility and the second-busiest railway station in North America (behind New York Penn Station), serving over 72 million passengers each year. More than half of all Canadian inter-city passengers and 91 percent of Toronto commuter train passengers travel through Union Station.Via Rail and Amtrak provide inter-city train services while GO Transit operates regional rail services. The station is also connected to the subway and streetcar system of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) at its adjacent namesake subway station. GO Transit's Union Station Bus Terminal, located in CIBC Square, is connected to Union Station by a 40-metre (130 ft) enclosed walkway above Bay Street. The Union Pearson Express, which provides train service to Toronto Pearson International Airport, has a platform a short walk west of the main station building, accessible by the SkyWalk.

Union station (TTC)
Union station (TTC)

Union is a subway station on Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1954 as one of twelve original stations on the first phase of the Yonge line, the first rapid transit line in Canada. It was the southern terminus of the line until the opening of the University line in 1963, and is today the inflection point of the U-shaped line. Along with Spadina station, it is one of two stations open overnight to support late-night streetcar routes.Union station is located on Front Street between the Yonge Street and University Avenue sections of the line. It is named for and directly connects to the railway station and regional bus terminal of the same name, serving all GO Transit train lines and train-bus services as well as Via Rail intercity routes (including Amtrak's Maple Leaf service to New York City). It connects to the Union Pearson Express (UPX), a dedicated rail link to Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is the only subway station with a direct connection to Via services. Based on Toronto's street grid, Union is the southernmost subway station and the closest to Lake Ontario; however, using standard compass directions, Kipling and Islington stations are further south. It serves approximately 100,000 people a day, ranking it as the fourth-busiest station in the system, after Bloor–Yonge, St. George, and Sheppard–Yonge, and the busiest served by only one line. Adjacent to the subway station is an underground terminal loop for the 509 Harbourfront and 510 Spadina streetcar. In 2007, Union subway station became the first location on the TTC where Presto cards could be used, as part of a trial. Wi-Fi service has been available at this station since 2014.

Imperial Room

The 500-seat Imperial Room is a major events venue at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The hall is located on the lobby level of the hotel and has hosted major events, such as addresses to the Empire Club of Canada, but was more important historically a famous nightclub-dinner club. It became famous due to Canadian impresario and orchestra leader, Moxie Whitney. The Moxie Whitney Orchestra played in the Imperial Room continuously from 1948 to 1972, with the exception of 12 months during a Royal York Hotel strike, in 1960/61, when he and his orchestra played the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu. Moxie Whitney also booked all talent for Canadian Pacific Hotels during most of that period. Welsh bandleader and pianist Allan Singleton-Wood, who had in the late 1960s moved to Canada and joined Whitney’s orchestra, took over in 1971 the contract for the provision of music at the hotel including the Black Knight and Imperial Rooms. In the following years, the Allan Singleton-Wood Orchestra would become one of the best-known dance orchestras in Canada.Gino Empry took over the booking of acts in the room in 1972. Vegas style shows were brought in by Tibor Rudas, a famous Vegas producer, along with Broadway-style musicals, and attendance declined. Eventually the Imperial Room closed as a showroom, and today it is used for functions and has been restored to its former glory. Prior to renovations in the 1990s, and from its opening date, the Imperial Room was a famous nightclub in Canada. Situated on a north-south axis, visitors were welcomed into the room by showbusiness maitre'd Louis Jannetta, famous for refusing Bob Dylan entrance because he wasn't wearing a tie; and booking agent, Gino Empry, manager of Tony Bennett for 12 years. Descending a small flight of stairs into a large rectangular sunken area, round tables were waited upon by dozens of waiters and serving staff. Behind brass rails tables viewed the shows. An overly small rectangular stage to the north, with scarce elevation, hosted the grandest international and Hollywood stars, as well as big bands before a tiny pine-wood dancefloor. Famous legendary performances by popular entertainers included: Marlene Dietrich on her farewell tour, the last performances of Johnny Hodges with the Duke Ellington Orchestra...Count Basie, Woody Herman, Pearl Bailey, Eartha Kitt, Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald, and the first appearances doing comedic impressions in 1982 of future Canadian star, Jim Carrey. The circuit of grand nightclubs in Canada also included those at railway hotels such as: Chateau Lake Louise, Hotel Saskatchewan, Banff Springs, the Brant Inn in Burlington, Ont., the Savarin Tavern, and the Elmwood Casino in Windsor Ontario. The Imperial Room was always seen as the premiere of these.

Scotiabank Arena
Scotiabank Arena

Scotiabank Arena (French: Aréna Scotiabank), formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). In addition, the minor league Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Raptors 905 of the NBA G League play occasional games at the arena. The arena was previously home to the Toronto Phantoms of the Arena Football League (AFL) and the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League. Scotiabank Arena also hosts other events, such as concerts, political conventions and video game competitions. The arena is 61,780.5 square metres (665,000 sq ft) in size. It is owned and operated by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE), which also owns the Leafs and the Raptors, as well as their respective development teams. The building was constructed in 1941 as the Toronto Postal Delivery Building for postal deliveries and was temporarily used by the Department of National Defence during World War II. After the war, the building was transferred to Canada Post in 1946 where it functioned as the main postal terminal for Metropolitan Toronto until 1989 when Canada Post moved its services to the Eastern Avenue facility. The Postal Building was sold to a consortium of developers but was reverted to Canada Post ownership in 1993 due to financial woes, but the new ownership of the soon-to-be Toronto Raptors basketball team acquired the building in December 1994 to construct the new arena. However, the Raptors were acquired by Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd., the owners of the Maple Leafs hockey team in 1998 during construction that began a year prior, to replace their outdated Maple Leaf Gardens arena. The arena was opened on February 19, 1999, at the cost of $288 million ($499 million as of 2022), with the Leafs playing the Montreal Canadiens the following night, and the Raptors playing the Vancouver Grizzlies the night after that.In 2018, Scotiabank Arena was the 13th busiest arena in the world and the busiest in Canada. It is also the most photographed location in Canada on Instagram according to BuzzFeed. Scotiabank Arena is connected to Union Station's railway, subway and regional bus services and is connected to the Path.