Kensington Market
An Incubator of Indie Culture
A tropical juice bar. The bar owner was smoking a cigar near the portable kitchen sink in the back, a cubano one I guess. He had some charisma as his portrait tells on the wall even though he was selling fresh but humble juice in the street. :p
These lovely chandliers were from Turkey which I have never seen before. Gorgeous!
Kensington market was used to my favorite place to visit in the weekend for live concerts at various pubs, vintage clothing, or just a couple of beers. But it is a story of 12 years old. Time flies and flies faster as time goes on..
For last 3 years after I got back to Toronto from Saskatchewan, I had no chance to visit this area without any specific reason. Maybe because it is little bit far from where I am living in now. I came here this afternoon on Sunday finally. And what I found was that only some of the shops I knew were still running under the same business name but most of the others were totally new to me. Yes.. 12 years..
I liked these devilly graffiti or logos drawn with chalks on the asphalt. It is one of the infinitely different ways of artistic expression or representation, or voice of the indie culture, underground culture or sub-culture, or whatever in Toronto.
We need more artists like this one making a tiny corner of our city as shiny as a saphire. Bravo!
Ethnic diversity, varities of merchandise, exotic food and beverages, different music, different graffiti, different color combinations, different smells, different people, different indie artists etc. mesmerized me while I walked around the street and some back alleys. The area of the market had been transformed to a totally different new place. And the point is that I liked the changes a lot.
Strangely, or perhaps miraculously, all these diverse pieces of art found in every corner—on walls, houses, traffic signs, and even the sides of garbage containers—harmonize beautifully with one another. This place is not a melting pot, where mixed colors mechanically produces a dull grey. Instead, the market presents a vibrant spectrum of the colors, showcasing the vivid characteristics of each individual color. It’s truly amazing.
Yes, we need some macho men as well of course.
A blue-striped Porsche cabriolet selling hats. Cute!
And this place had also become a place of incubating independent or street artists as well. Good for them!
She gave me such a perfect smile. A typical Canadian Smile what I like to name it.
A bottle of Modelo with a typical Mexican finger food, Guacamole Vegan I ordered.
Now I feel like I am sitting somewhere in Mexico. I visited border town of Mexico once long long time ago when Mexico wasn't spoiled by drug thing like today. Only bad thing in the town was quality of water. Even ice cream was bad at that time. But there were full of good, kind, and innocent people there. It was a safe & pleasant place to visit for tourists.
Right next to the bar where I was sitting on the patio, a group of DJs was spinning reggae and hip-hop music, and people were dancing all around. It was cool! This place is brimming with underground cultures, just waiting for their moment to break into the mainstream someday.
I liked his hat. He said he is originally from Chile.
I love Toronto.
Bye for now.
