The Pasture

The Financial District is the central business district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was originally planned as New Town in 1796 as an extension of the Town of York (later the St. Lawrence Ward). It is the main financial district in Toronto and is considered the heart of Canada's finance industry. It is bounded roughly by Queen Street West to the north, Yonge Street to the east, Front Street to the south, and University Avenue to the west, though many office towers in the downtown core have been and are being constructed outside this area, which will extend the general boundaries. Examples of this trend are the Telus Harbour, RBC Centre, and CIBC Square. It is the most densely built-up area of Toronto, home to banking companies, corporate headquarters, high-powered legal and accounting firms, insurance companies and stockbrokers. In turn, the presence of so many decision-makers has brought advertising agencies and marketing companies. The banks have built large office towers, much of whose space is leased to these companies. The bank towers and much else in Toronto's core are connected by a system of underground walkways, known as PATH, which is lined with retail establishments making the area one of Toronto's most important shopping districts. The vast majority of these stores are only open during weekdays during the business day when the financial district is populated. During the evenings and weekends, the walkways remain open but the area is almost deserted and most of the stores are closed. It is estimated 100,000 commuters enter and leave the financial district each working day. Transport links are centred on Union Station at the south end of the financial district, which is the hub of the GO Transit system that provides commuter rail and bus links to Toronto's suburbs.

Megaptera is a 1993 granite sculpture of a humpback whale with her calf by Georg Schmerholz, installed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Rossin House Hotel was a mid-19th century hotel located at the southeast corner of King Street and York Street in Toronto, Canada. The original structure was built in 1856 and was destroyed by a fire and re-built in 1863. It was one of the city's pre-eminent hotels, with one 1866 guide claiming, "What the Fifth Avenue Hotel is to New York, and the Windsor is to Montreal, so the celebrated Rossin House is to Toronto."The five-storey hotel was renamed the Prince George Hotel in 1909 after the future monarch, George V. It was demolished in 1969 to make way for the architect Mies van der Rohe's Toronto-Dominion Centre, with the corner being further developed in 1984 for The Standard Life Centre.

The Chewitt Building was a former multi-use commercial building located on the southeast corner of King and York Streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was designed by Toronto-based architect John G. Howard, who moved his offices to the building after its completion in 1833. It was demolished in 1857 as part of the building of the Rossin House Hotel. The site is currently the location of the Standard Life Center. The building was a major commercial center, housing a wide variety of business offices. The ground floor held the British Coffee House, which mirrored the commercial coffee houses of London, providing a meeting placed for new business ventures. It was here on 29 July 1834 that the first meeting was held to discuss the building of what became the Northern Railway of Canada, the first railway in Upper Canada. The House was forced to close in 1837 as it was believed to be a major meeting point for members of the Upper Canada Rebellion.

Ken Lee, a 59-year-old man, was fatally stabbed outside the Strathcona Hotel, on York Street, Toronto, at 12:17 am on December 18, 2022. Eight teenage girls were charged with his murder. The alleged perpetrators are suspected of two prior violent incidents also in downtown Toronto the same evening and are understood by police to have associated via social media, but to have not met in person prior to the evening of the attack.

The Great Fire of Toronto of 1904 destroyed a large section of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 19, 1904. It was the second such fire for the city in its history.

First Canadian Place (originally First Bank Building) is a skyscraper in the Financial District of Toronto, Ontario, at the northwest corner of King and Bay streets, and serves as the global operational executive office of the Bank of Montreal. At 298 m (978 ft), it is the tallest building in Canada, the 31st tallest building in North America, and the 105th tallest in the world. It is also the third tallest free-standing structure in Canada, after the CN Tower (also in Toronto) and the Inco Superstack chimney (projected to be demolished) in Sudbury, Ontario. The building is owned by Manulife Financial Corporation (50 per cent) in addition to a private consortium of investors including CPP Investments. The building is managed by Brookfield Properties.

CFXJ-FM (93.5 FM, 93.5 Today Radio) is a commercial radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned by the Stingray Group, it broadcasts an adult hits format. Its studios are located on Yonge Street at St. Clair Avenue in Toronto's Deer Park neighbourhood. CFXJ was Canada's first Black-owned radio station. From its launch through 2022, the station aired various urban and rhythmic formats. CFXJ has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 1,058 watts (3,706 watts peak). The main transmitter is located atop First Canadian Place in Toronto's Financial District. There are plans for booster stations in Mississauga and in Toronto's North York neighborhood, also on 93.5 MHz.

Exchange Tower is a 36 storey 146 m (479 ft) tower in the First Canadian Place complex of Toronto, Ontario, Canada completed in 1981. The International style building is named for the Toronto Stock Exchange, which is the building's highest-profile tenant. The building was built on the site of the William H. Wright Building.Located in the heart of Toronto’s Financial District at the corner of King and York Streets, the Exchange Tower is also home to National Bank Financial, offices of the federal Department of Justice, and the Toronto campus of the University of Western Ontario's Ivey Business School. In April 2018, Restaurant Brands International announced that they would be moving their head office into the Exchange Tower.

The Fairmont Royal York, formerly and still commonly known as the Royal York, is a large historic luxury hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located along Front Street West, the hotel is situated at the southern end of the Financial District, in Downtown Toronto. The Royal York was designed by Ross and Macdonald, in association with Sproatt and Rolph, and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company. The hotel is currently managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Opened on 11 June 1929, the Châteauesque-styled building is 124 metres (407 ft) tall, and contains 28 floors. It is considered one of Canada's grand railway hotels. After its completion, the building was briefly the tallest building in Toronto, as well as the tallest building in the country, and the British Empire, until the nearby Canadian Bank of Commerce Tower was built the following year. The building has undergone several extensive renovations since it first opened, with its first major renovation in 1972. An underground walkway linking the hotel with the Royal Bank Plaza and Union Station form part of Toronto's PATH underground city system.

The Queen's Hotel was a large hotel, in Toronto, Ontario, located on the north side of Front Street, between Bay and York streets - the current site of the Royal York Hotel. In 1927 Canadian Pacific Railways acquired the Queen's Hotel, across the street from the newly opened Union Station, so it could demolish it, and build a larger hotel.

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.