A DRINK WITH . . . Gary Miedema, city historian, urban raconteur
To learn what someone really thinks, you take them for a drink. This week: Gary Miedema, chief historian and associate director of Heritage Toronto.
Where: The Oxley Public House, 121 Yorkville Ave.
The drinks: For Gary, the Gentleman’s Portion — 12-year-old scotch, maple amaro, akvavit, tarragon pine bitters. Honouring Etienne Brulé and other French settlers, I chose the classic Vieux Carré, with rye, cognac, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Peychaud and Angostura bitters.
Mixologist: Joshua Prout Q: On my way over, I noticed the Heritage Toronto plaque for the Riverboat Café.
A: We’re sitting on ground zero for 1960s culture. It’s funny, the Toronto that we live in today you only begin to recognize in the late 1960s and ’70s, in terms of the café culture, the cultural landmarks like TIFF and even the physical landmarks of the downtown core.
Q: More recently, we’ve seen a broader interest in the city’s history and heritage advocacy. What has raised that awareness?
A: It could be as simple as the Internet and accessibility to images. But the truth is that the young urbanist in the city is taking the lens once applied to Paris — the sense of mystery and intrigue that you would apply to other cities — and they’re turning that onto Toronto. Simple things like noticing the different street-lights in the city, those of old Toronto . . . or sewer grates, road widenings — why does the road curve here? Digging at the story.
Q: So there’s an emphasis on the minutiae?
A: Yes, but they’re also asking very different questions than had been asked before. An earlier generation of historians wouldn’t have asked about sewer grates. They were interested in architecture, buildings and events.
Q: What about you, when you consider the little details?
A: I’m like a kid in a candy store sometimes. Little things: What was the earliest pizza shop in the city? Pizza is such an assumed part of our culture today, but this was an exotic food in Toronto in the ’50s and ’60s. I remember my dad — the first time a pizza was put in front of him — saying, “What is this?” Those stories all inform, they line up and you begin to see that evolution.
Q: Vesuvio’s, in the Junction, has been around since 1957. Is that it?
A: If not the first, then definitely one of them. I was surprised it was in the Junction, and not in a stereotypical place like Little Italy. Those are the things you learn.
Q: You also direct the historic plaques program for Heritage Toronto. How does it work?
A: We count on individuals, property owners, local historical societies and corporations to come to us and say: “We think this is an important story that should be told.”