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Liberty Village • King West • King West Central • Entertainment District • St. Lawrence Market Area • Queen Richmond East

4WORLD VIEWCONTACT’s 10th year offersImages of a Global Culture

Queen East GalleryFeatures FamedSkatepark Photos

Plus:• Totum Running Tips • Picturing the Past – Liberty St.• King West CONTACT map

Downtown Kids: Big and Bright Daycare

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Hammam SpaSteams Things Up

Japanese Goldsmith Apprentice, Roppongi Hills, 2003 by Marco Bohr

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Partners’ Sweat Equity Builds Steam Bath King West’s Hammam spa infuses old world treatments with new age services

Community Chronicle • Spring 2006

In the dimly lit confines of a grotto’sthermal bath on the Italian island ofIschia, Zark Fatah and four friends

were tackling notions of life and changewhen they hatched an idea for a spa.

“It was just five guys talking aboutlife. It could have been any century, anycountry, any culture. But we all thought:Where can we have an experience likethis in Toronto?” says the co-founder ofHammam Spa, a holistic urban spa onKing Street West that infuses traditionaltreatments with modern-day services, asmuch for men as for women.

But don’t be fooled by the large manicure-pedicure area, the restful tealounge and the dozen treatment rooms,this is no ordinary spa. The heart of thematter here is a 600-square-foot co-edsteam room.

A “hammam” is a Turkish variant on a steam bath, and for the Ottomanculture, these played an important role,serving as places of social gathering, ritual cleansing and as architecturalstructures and institutions.

To some degree, Fatah, and his business partner, designer Antonio

Tadrissi, hope to tap into the spirit of the traditional hammam for the8,000-square-foot space they have builton the lower level of 602 King StreetWest, making it a place where local professionals and residents can drop infor a brief steam, or a prolonged hotstone massage.

Fatah, an entertainment and lifestyleentrepreneur who parlayed a stint as abartender in South Beach Miami into a successful career that has spawnednightspots like the Century Room andBlowfish Restaurant, says the city lackshigh-end spas.

“There’s also a lack of daytime retailon King West between Spadina andBathurst and with all these people livingand working in this area, they will need services. So Antonio and I startedtalking about spas,” he says.

The friends had long sought to collaborate on a business project butwith Tadrissi developing a successfulinterior design studio and Fatah moving ahead with his projects, theywere headed in opposite directions.

So, the duo formed Umbrella, a

concept development company that specializes in creating niche products andservices. The firm operates businessesin design/build, marketing, food andbeverage, health and wellness, andfinancial services industries.

As part of Umbrella, Tadrissi’s designfirm, TDG, was charged with creatingthe spa’s visual character - somethingthat would appeal as much to men as to women.

It chose some darker woods and blackmarble tiles mixed with steel accents togive Hammam a masculine character,but infused it with softer details like the lobby’s water feature that can bedecorated with petals and flowers.

Besides ten single treatment rooms,there are also two uniquely appointedspa suites for an exclusive experience for a guest or couple. There’s also a tealounge.

“It gives clients a place to kick backrelax and enjoy an environment wherethey can just be,” he says, harkeningback to his experience in Italy.

www.hammamspa.ca

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In his 12 years in the art gallery business, Dennis O’Connor has seen the popularity of photography

grow incrementally. “Back in 1995 around when I first

started, I carried photography. But Icouldn’t sell it. And it was dirt cheap,”he recalls. But today, in the shadow ofCONTACT’s 10th anniversary, he seesa real awakening as the public’s interestin this form of art reaches a new peak.

Now, his 4,000-square-foot gallery,which recently relocated to the QueenStreet East area at 145 Berkeley Street,has six photo shows scheduled for thiscoming year. And the latest is part ofCONTACT, for which O’Connor man-aged to net the only showing outside theU.S. of famed Californian photographerArthur Tress’s Wheels on Waves.

“One thing that we gain from beingone of the city’s first gay and lesbianfocussed galleries is that we can choosefrom artists around the world,” saysO’Connor. As the largest and oldest gaygallery in Canada, it has shown art fromthe likes of Judy Chicago, who is bestknown for her installation The DinnerParty, and Edward Lucie-Smith, a

photographer and arguably the most prolific art critic/writer in theworld today.

O’Connor books 11 exhibitions ayear showing work from a number of different mediums, including sculpture, oil painting, watercolours and photography. Both regional andinternational artists are shown, including,Tom Bianchi, Carlos Quiroz, JamesHuctwith, Daniel Barkley, Mark Reid,

John Borg, Lynette Richards, KimDouglas Harrison, Sven Hennze, andMary Dykstra.

The main space is on the ground floor,but the lower level also holds exhibitionspace, a framing shop (archival framingis available through co-owner John C.Fletcher, a master framer), and storagefor as much as 600 pieces.

www.oconnorgallery.com

TRESS’ WORLD OF WHEELS AND WAVES A visit to Mexican pyramid complex, Teotihuacan, inspires California artist to capture skatepark ethos.

Arthur Tress's sepia-toned prints document Californiaskateparks’ landscapes and riders. Intended as a glimpseof the socio-economic cross-section of America’s innercities as seen through the skateboarding subculture, Tress came to the idea after a trip to Mexico visiting thepyramids at Teotihuacan. The skatepark, he writes, heldthe same sense of ritual. “The park’s challenging rampsand deep bowls of flowing concrete seemed to becomesimilar sites for the archetypal dramas of adolescent self initiation.” Tress’s work has ranged from landscapephotography of Appalachia, People and Places, to theintricately staged photographs of the Teapot Opera, to the nudes of his Male of the Species.

Queen East Gallery Features ArthurTress’ Celebrated Skatepark Photos

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Community Chronicle • Spring 2006

Part of CONTACT 2006, Tress’ images capture the speed and grace of skateboarding.

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Community Chronicle • Spring 2006

CONTACT-ing in King West CentralCity-wide May photo fest offers 18 shows at King and Spadina

While Toronto’s annual celebration

of the photographic image is a

citywide affair with 187 venues

showing work from as many as

500 participants, King Street West

remains the festival’s headquarters

with 18 shows in a two-block radius.

Here’s a look at what’s on nearby.

For more venues and info, grab a

program or a pocket-sized passport/

map or check www.contactphoto.com

Queen Street West

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HP GalleryCONTACT invites photographers from acrossCanada to submit photos based on this year’s Imaginga Global Culture theme. A selection of these are printed during the festival and hung in the temporarygallery space, with old work coming down as newwork arrives. At the end of May, an expert panel willjudge images and distribute over $10,000 in prizes towinners. Submit photos in person at 510 King StreetWest or online at www.hp.ca.

King Street West

Condé + Beveridge’s Street Banners Exploring the lives and roles of working women from 1908 to 1979, the six banners from Work inProgress represent various decades using a differentwoman posed in a kitchen where the props changewith every period.

Work In Progress, 2006 (Iraq), 1980-2006

Carole Condé & Karl Beveridge

510 King Street West510

461 King Street West401 Richmond

451 King Street West80 Spadina Ave.

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This venue hosts five shows, including…Urban Fiction, an exhibition at Gallery TPW whereChinese artist Xing Danwen transports viewers to her homeland, uses images of architectural structures,photographed from real estate development maquettes.Xing creates spaces in which she appears playing

imaginary roles such as a white-collaroffice worker, or material girlenjoying her life of pleasure.

Urban Fiction Image4 from the series,2004-2005Xing Danwen

The Entire City ProjectToronto artist andarchitect MichaelAwad’s The EntireCity Project at theNicholas MetiverGallery, examines therichness of the urbanlandscape. Commonexperiences such as a cab ride or a visitto a shopping mallyield the samedynamic energy as aparade or carnival.

Boxing Day, Eaton Centre, Toronto, 2005Michael Awad

This venue hosts eight shows, including…The son of Holocaust survivors, Montreal’s MateiGlass attempts to redefine the other side in his

photographic traveljournal The Otherin Palestine atGallery 44.

Untitled, from TheOther in Palestine,1997-2003Matei Glass

At the Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Diane Bos mediates the complexities of traveling between cultures withher pinhole box, capturing the essence of places from thefoothills ofthe Rockiesto the banksof the riverSeine.

Château deGudanes,France, 2004Diane Bos

Brassaii (Interior)

First Light: HumankindThese images, from some of Canada's most talentedphotographers, were gathered from all corners of the globe, highlighting their visions of global culture

by focusing on the personal interactions all of us have in common. Each image speaks of aunique and personal reaction toencounters with world culture.

Paris 2005Huy Lam/First Light

Brassaii Courtyard

The Exactitudes This large-scale photo seriesspeaks to the contradiction of“exact” and “attitudes” and isinspired by the multiculturalstreet scenes found in urbancenters around the world.The Rotterdam-based duophotographed subjects identical in attire, pose and even hairstyle.

Exactitudes, 25. Grannies – Rotterdam 1998Ari Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek

Community Chronicle • Spring 2006

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Community Chronicle • Spring 2006

Daycare a “Stop-Drop ‘n’ Hop” CentreKids Academy ideally located for westend professionals

Big, bright space. That’s the firstthing you notice when you walkinto Downtown Kids Academy,

a professional childcare centre thatopened less than half a year ago in the3,000-square-foot space on the groundfloor of 905 King Street West.

An office building in the King andStrachan area might not be the firstplace one imagines a daycare to be, but this center, which encompasses twolarge open rooms with ceiling-heightwindows that cover close to half thespace’s perimeter and an outdoor courtyard (a Ministry requirement for daycares), is located strategically tomeet the needs of growing downtownfamilies.

“We call it the stop, drop and hopconcept,” says Downtown Kids co-founder, Libby Lund-Pedersen of the building, which also houses theoffices of online dating service Lavalife.

She says parents who work downtownoften have to seek daycare that isn’t onthe way to work, or anywhere alongtheir regular TTC route. But with the

Dufferin bus around the corner and theKing streetcar trundling past the daycare’sfront door every few minutes, the centeris ideally placed for professionals wholive nearby and work downtown.

Downtown Kids Academy, recentlytouted in the National Post as one ofthe city’s best daycares, is the result ofcollaboration between two parents,Libby Lund-Pedersen (a former PR person with a psychology and theatrebackground) and her sister-in-law TracyLund-Pedersen (a former teacher withthe Toronto board).

Rather than cramming the space withtoys and play areas, the centre’s sea ofblue carpet and cheerful red walls givethe centre’s current mix of toddlers andpre-schoolers what they want, space torun and play.

“Our aim is to provide school readiness in a fun environment,” shesays. “But it’sabout giving themchoices withinthat routine to becreative and allow

expression,” says Libby, adding that pre-schoolers might, for example, puton a puppet show for the younger kids.Martial arts, dance, yoga and theatre arealso part of the curriculum.

All Downtown Kids’ staff membershold early childhood education certificates and each brings a special talent or interest to the environment,one has a visual art background, anotheris a graduate of the Royal Conservatoryof Music, and all speak more than onelanguage (French, Spanish, Ukrainianand Greek are all spoken here).

While the space may have once beenan ideal location for a restaurant andpatio, it now serves clientele of a differentsort. Of course snacks and lunch arestill available here, but you can only getthese at designated times, after which,you have to take a nap.

www.downtownkids.com

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As sure as April showers and May flowers, Spring alsoyields the most running injuries, says Totum Life Science’sRegistered Physiotherapist Zenia Martynkiw, explainingthat many injuries are the result of doing too muchmileage too soon or simply from running with old shoes.

“Running injury-free,” she says, “is a balance of stretch-ing, strengthening and moderating your progress.”

HERE ARE TWO COMMON INJURIES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM.

1 Runner’s Knee, a.k.a. Illiotibial band syndrome,Patella femoral or Mal-tracking of the knee, ofteninvolves pain around the kneecap or on its insideedge, explains Martynkiw.

You can avoid it by:

Strengthening your gluteals (butt muscles): with stepdowns (balance one foot on a step and the other footforward. Use your stance leg to control squatting toabout 45 degrees) or with bridging (lay on your back andraise your hips to the ceiling while squeezing yourglutes.)

Stretching quads (thigh muscles) and hip flexors:To do quad stretches, stand on one leg pulling your freeankle back against your butt. For hip flexor stretches,

kneel on the floor with one knee bent and one legbehind you. Position your forward knee over your foot. Keep your other knee on the floor and push yourhips forward until you feel the stretch in the upperthigh of the rear leg.

2 Shin Splints, a dull ache in the lower legwith tender areas in the front of the shin,comes from running too far too soon,wearing the wrong type of shoe, using an oldshoe with less shock absorption, or runningtoo often on hard surfaces, says Martynkiw.

You can avoid it by:

Varying your route to include running on tracks,through golf courses or on a boardwalk.

Changing your shoes every six months (keep thereceipt so you know when you bought the pair and cancalculate mileage – shoes should last 500 - 800km).

Stretching your calves: To do this stretch, stand threefeet from a wall and step toward it with one foot, bendingthat leg at the knee. Keeping the heel of the hind legdown on the ground, straighten your rear knee until youfeel mild tension. Now bend the knee of this same rearleg to stretch the area near the Achilles tendon.

Call Totum’s King St. Studio at (416) 979-2449 to learn about their running group, or if you would likeinformation on an injury you have. www.totum.ca

T O T U M T I P S

HOW TO AVOID THE TOP TWO RUNNING INJURIES

ODDLY ENOUGH,THIS CAN MAKE

YOUR 2 YEAR OLD

WELL ADJUSTED.

Be a Positive Parent.Comfort, play with and teach

your child every day.www.investinkids.ca

Community Chronicle • Spring 2006

Community Chronicle • Spring 2006 www.alliedpropertiesreit.com

Published four times a year by:

Allied Properties REIT602 King Street West, Main floorToronto, ON M5V 1M6

Editor: Yvan Marstonyvan@gravitydesign.ca

Design/Layout: Gravity Design Inc.scott@gravitydesign.ca

Picturing the Past and PresentLiberty Village served the war effort, but was also the site of Canada’s largest prison.

Liberty Street, April 2006.

Liberty Street in 1915,east of Dufferin andsouth of King West.

Bombshells lined Liberty Street in 1915 when Toronto’sindustrial sector kicked into high gear to support thewar effort. “The Castle”, so named for its rampart-like

roof edge, at 135 Liberty Street, can be seen just behind the water tower. It was built in 1912 by the E.W. GilletteCompany for the manufacture of Magic Baking Powder.With companies like Sunbeam Incandescent Lamps,Toronto Bedding and Canada Metal, this was an importantpart of industrial Toronto, but it also holds a dark past.

The brutal Central Prison for Men was at the very end of Liberty Street and operated from 1874 to 1915, afterwhich it came to be used by the military as training andbarracks facilities during the First World War. On the north side of Liberty Street, where Lamport Stadium nowstands, was another grim structure, the Andrew MercerReformatory for Women, where harsh conditions wereendured by inmates whose only crime, in some cases, wasbeing pregnant and unwed.

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