Where to park?

There actually was a time, when Toronto had such an abundance of parking spots, one wondered why?.. and the next question would be why not?

This era in Toronto's history wasn't all that long ago.  If you go back to the early 80's, for every building that occupied a spot, there was at least two plots of equal size land only quarter full with cars.  The growth and boom of Toronto really took off in the mid 80's. After coming out of a recession in 1984, Toronto was just reaching its teen age years. Companies needed office space, people needed culture and entertainment, and the city needed to fill all these parking lots with what we now know as poor urban planning.  Toronto grew so quickly that we didn't know what to do with the demand to fill these gaps in the landscape.  Parks weren't the priority, having a downtown core rich with life after the 5:00 crowd finished work was definitely not on the radar, and congestion combined with road rage was nothing our generation thought we would face.  As is so clear in the photo above, The O'Keefe Centre was built in an area that was rich in history, and had lots of potential for smart urban growth.  It was built close to the King subway, had plenty of parking for people traveling into the city core, and also had the potential to be a world class facility.  

The growth continued around it. The parking lots became only memories and the congestion in the area became unbearable.  For a city that was once so free to grow without worry, buildings are now being placed on top of existing buildings to ensure that every nook and cranny is utilized to the point of suffocation.  The O'Keefe became the Hummingbird Centre, which then transformed into the Sony Centre.  Like Toronto, This landmark has evolved over time, and Like Toronto, is now undergoing a major renovation.  Hopefully when this theatre reopens, it can charm the crowds like it did in the 70's with its rooftop addition the "L" condo.

It will always be the O'Keefe centre to me, as I'm sure it will be for many other native Torontonians... Now if only we could solve the parking problem.