Hi, folks. I usually post on the Caribbean board, but I have a friend who is on her way to Toronto next week for a business conference. She'd like to know if there any places in town where she could meet other women for drinks or hear some music. This will be her first time in Toronto, so she doesn't know the layout of the city. She'll be staying at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel at 123 Queen Street West. Can anybody out there help me with information?

I don't think she'll be renting a car and neither one of us knows anything about Toronto's public transport--is it a good system? SHould she plan to take taxis instead? Would there be anything within walking distance of her hotel?

Thank in advance to any help you can send our way.

She doesn't need a car if she's staying in downtown Toronto. Her hotel is connected to the subway system and beside the Queen Streetcar. There are lots of interesting neighbourhoods, cafes, friendly bars and shops within walking distance, a short hop on the safe public transit system or a short cab ride (for convenience sake).

I can't provide any specific advice on the lesbian community in Toronto; she might want to look at the online newspapers www.xtra.ca (a biweekly magazine for the gay and lesbian community), as well as the website www.pridetoronto.com (which, although if focuses on the annual pride parade, also includes a visitors guide). There is also something called the Pink Pages, with listings. Interestingly, there's also a good page with lots of useful links on the U of T's webpage for faculty and relocations: http://www.library.utoronto.ca/facul...iversity.htm#b

The area around Chursh and Wellesley (about a 5 minute walk from the city) is the traditional home of the gay community in Toronto; I'm not sure how much it has to offer for the lesbian community. A neighbourhood called Leslieville, branching off from Queen Street East (about a 20 minute streetcar ride away), is sometimes identified as a mixed residential/commercial neighbourhood that is popular with lesbians in the city. There is a strip of low-key restaurants along Queen St East, near Leslie.

The restaurant George (open to the public), attached to a relatively new women's club called Verity, is getting great reviews and is near her hotel.

If she likes swing music, a very comfortable venue with great bands is the Reservoir Lounge (on Wellington Street East). This isn't a club specifically for women; it's just a place with great bands where a woman would feel comfortable going alone. Try and catch either Tyler Yarema (Tues) or his partner Janice Hagan (Thurs).

Kate W,
I'm always so impressed with the amount of information you have about Toronto and how generous you are in answering people's questions!

You can tell your friend that chances are really good she will feel generally comfortable in downtown Toronto.

While there's a gay area (Church and Wellesley, already mentioned) there certainly does not appear, to me at least, any non-gay area.

Public transit is excellent; there's a U-shaped subway with stations a block east and a block west of her hotel, and she can take this to a cross-town subway.

I know lots of women who move around the city freely and without worry, even up to midnight.

She can ask at the concierge desk for directions to lesbian bars; the people there will give her good info, I'm sure.

There's no need for a car, unless her meetings are in the suburbs.

BAK

Wow, thanks for all of the info, y'all. I will copy and paste this for her to take along on her trip. She leaves on Monday morning, so if anybody has additional tips that they think of over the weekend, please post more info.

We can tell her lots of non-G&L stuff, of course.

BAK