Saturday in Toronto

After a long day of travel and a night of straight edge hardcore mayhem in Toronto I was woken bright and early the next morning by my skateboarding buddy Jacqui who had recently relocated from Winnipeg. She was gracious enough to offer up her couch during my overnight stay.

Shortly after she left for work I passed right back out. Living the life of "never sleep" catches up to you sooner or later. When I awoke I documented some of the awesomeness and art in the place she calls home.

Despite having a mini art gallery on our own walls back at home, I was jealous and inspired while looking around her crib.

This is only a small glimpse of what was on display.

I found a stack of motivation for the days Jacqui's in the mood to shred.

When I finally did hit the streets, the first order of business was meeting up with Big Jerm. He's my East Side connection from the days when I lived and breathed lowriding on a daily basis. He's been at it non stop since the day we met and he's reppin' Rollerz Only Car Club 24/7

For the reader's of my blog that may be thinking "here he goes again rambling about lowriders, give me some skateboarding!"... Here's something for you. The lowrider meets skateboarding crossover collaboration. The Etnies Rollerz Only shoe model.

Legit.

Now that the non-paid Etnies endorsement is over we can get on to some subliminal endorsements. Eat lunch here...

I imagine all of the food is equally delicious. I love "all vegan" restaurants...they make the simple act of ordering lunch that much easier. I had the burrito bowl!

Since it was a nice enough November day in the market for the fruit to be outside...

...it was a perfect day for a bro-mantic walk around the neighborhood to check out some art. Like this. I can dig it.

There's always the argument of what is art and what is graffiti, what is good and what is bad. Let me break it down for you. This vandalized store front... bad.

The piece on this garage... good.

Toronto is well known for it's Graffiti Expo in designated areas. If you take a stroll off the beaten path, your eyes will thank you for it.

This was my favourite.

When the stroll was finished we jumped in Jeremy's ride and I started on a little project I've been talking about doing for quite some time, but I'm usually the one driving. So here you have it: DRIVE BY SHOOTING -The Toronto Edition

Of course after snapping the first picture in the series I spied something with my little eye.

Taking a photo of someone else taking a photo while passers by also notice someone else is taking a photo so they ham it up! That's a lot to take in at 30km/hr

Take a load off...

...THE END.

I've been to Toronto a good handful of times and I have yet to take the time to take THIS photo. It was Jeremy's idea. Thanks Jeremy!

The bro-mance ended, Big Jerm headed back to the burbs and it was time to meet the big city friends for supper. If there's another "all vegan" option in town for dinner, well of course that's where I'm gonna be! Hogtown Vegan's Chicken and waffles with fries. Tastes as good as it looks!

In a city of 2.5 million people I bumped in to my own roommate TWICE in a twelve hour period of being in the city. Meeting for dinner was fully intentional. A Big thanks to Youth of Sarde (left) for loving Youth of Today, Greg (right) for booking Youth of Today to play in your fine city and to xbeepsx (the roommate) for helping me navigate all the deliciousness abound.

Toronto...in the past I've written you off as a mere hub on my way to some hardcore show, car show or some other destination all together. When I actually slowed down and gave you a chance to impress me you did just that. With a city full of culture, art, cyclists, yummy food, beautiful women in the subway and on the streets, markets packed with people armed with genuine smiles...I can only say I'll be back sooner than later next time!