TEST YOUR CITY KNOWLEDGE
Jamie Bradburn, quizmaster and Toronto obsessive, throws down the trickiest local trivia. May the force be with you
1. What staple of Toronto sushi menus was introduced in the 1990s by Nami Japanese Restaurant on Adelaide Street?
a) Agedashi tofu
b) Dynamite roll
c) Sushi pizza
d) Philadelphia roll
2. Which trendy neighbourhood did city councillor (and former mayor) Allan Lamport propose a youth curfew be implemented in 1967 because he believed the area was “a haven for criminals and undesirables”?
a) Baldwin Village
b) Mirvish Village
c) Queen West
d) Yorkville
3. Which defunct Toronto-based supermarket chain, whose black baskets are still a staple of many homes, called its stores “food terminals”?
a) Dominion
b) Food City
c) Knob Hill Farms
d) Miracle Food Mart
4. The Toronto Carrying Place was a trail used by Indigenous and colonial traders as a connection between Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe. Which waterway did the trail follow into present-day Toronto?
a) Don River
b) Etobicoke Creek
c) Humber River
d) Rouge River
5. Actor Al Waxman is honoured with a statue in Bellevue Square Park, located in which neighbourhood that Waxman was “king” of in a 1970s sitcom?
a) The Annex
b) Kensington Market
c) Chinatown
d) Little Italy
6. Dufferin Park racetrack, also known as “Little Saratoga,” was one of several horse racing venues in the city until it closed in the mid-1950s. What is its site currently used for?
a) Dufferin Mall
b) Fairbank Park
c) Galleria Mall
d) Medieval Times
7. What is the historical name of the iconic “flatiron” building near St. Lawrence Market?
a) Gooderham Building
b) Hutchinson Building
c) St. Lawrence Hall
d) Temple Building
8. In exchange for a pension, architect John Howard gave the city the deed to his property in 1873 so that it could be used for which public park?
a) Kew Gardens
b) High Park
c) Queen’s Park
d) Sunnybrook Park
9. Victorian-era Toronto newspaper columnist Kit Coleman was, in 1898, the first woman to be accredited as a war correspondent by the United States government. Which conflict did she cover for the Mail and Empire?
a) Boer War
b) First World War
c) Mexican Revolution
d) Spanish-American War
10. The spinning neon discs of which giant Yonge Street record store now look down on Yonge-Dundas Square?
a) A&A Records
b) Cheapies
c) Sam the Record Man
d) HMV