THE GREEK COMMUNITY

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Toronto’s “Greek Town” sprang up in the sixties, bringing the tastes and sounds of the Mediterranean through shish kebab houses, tavernas, kafenions, and bouzouki music. Although many Greeks moved out of Toronto to suburbs in Etobicoke, York, North York, Mississauga, and Scarborough, the Greek business district has flourished for the last three decades. Today, along the Danforth strip between Chester and Jones Avenues, restaurants serve traditional Greek food and mezes to a new clientele.

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Toronto’s Greek community numbers around 130,000, a striking contrast to the 20 Greek names that appeared in the 1907 Might’s Directory. Many of the first Greek immigrants in Canada were young men, most of them refugees, who came in the 1890s to work in agriculture or in Northern Ontario’s mines, forests, and railways. The exception to these working-class settlers was Dr. Petros Constantinides, an eminent scholar and surgeon who arrived in Toronto in 1864. Today, the community is proud of its more than 15,000 professionals.

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In 1909, members of the community established the St. George Greek Orthodox congregation and a year later opened a church in a former warehouse on Jarvis Street. One of the earliest organizations was the Ladies Philoptochos (Friends to the Poor) Benevolent Society which set up a school in the church building and provided social services for newcomers.

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During the next decade, the Greek presence became more evident as businessmen opened restaurants, fruit stores, ice-cream parlours, shoe-shine shops, and billiard halls along Yonge, College, and Queen Streets. The Greek Community of Toronto was founded in 1911. Greeks were often victims of discrimination during the early years of the 20th century. This discrimination peaked in August of 1918 when veterans of the First World War, frustrated with Greece’s late entry into the conflict, led a riot which resulted in the destruction of many Greek businesses.

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In the early 1930s, the first cultural organizations and regional clubs were established to preserve Greek language and traditions. One of the first was the Helleno-Macedonian Brotherhood of Ion Dragoumis, which was established in 1936. Youth groups and the Greek Orthodox parish schools became instrumental in teaching the language and heritage of the Hellenes to the children of early immigrants. Large communal efforts during the Second World War and beyond included the Greek War Relief Fund, set up to assist the homeland.

 

Following the Second World War, another wave of Greek settlers, most from Northern Greece—Epirus, Macedonia, and Thrace—came to Canada, many to Toronto. In the 1950s, the Greek community moved into the Danforth area—originally a neighbourhood for the Anglo-Saxon proletariat and later an Italian enclave.

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Today, numerous restaurants and businesses, Greek street signs and other buildings bearing the names of Hellenic associations such as the Pan-Arcadian Federation, the Pan-Macedonian Association, the Pontion Brotherhood, the political party offices of the PASOK and the Democracy signify the neighbourhood’s most prevalent and flourishing culture.

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Prominent Greek Torontonians have included the internationally-renowned soprano Teresa Stratas, who began her career singing for nickels at her father’s Cabbage town restaurant and now Greek Canadian soprano Ariana Chris (Christopoulos) who has sang the Canadian and Greek national anthems during the winter Olympics in Vancouver. Andreas Papandreou, the late Prime Minister of Greece, and many other Cabinet Ministers have been members of Toronto’s Greek community.

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Places to Go

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The line-ups for Toronto’s shish kebab houses never seem to fade, and the selling of souvlaki (tender chunks of pork, chicken or lamb laced with a garlic sauce) is a multi-million dollar business. One of the first restaurants to introduce Toronto to the shish kebab was the Astoria Shish Kebob House, (Tel. 416-463-2838, 390 Danforth Ave). Elias Bonos and George Sciouris have expanded the Astoria House into a 300-seat establishment occupying a corner of Chester and Danforth Avenues. Other souvlaki and mediterranean food chains are “Mr. Greek” and “Jimmy the Greek”. On weekends, line-ups stretch past both the hustling waiters and the sizzling shish kebab in the storefront kitchen, where roast potatoes, Greek salad, and tzatziki sauce (yogurt, olive oil, garlic, and herbs) are added to the souvlaki platter. A glass of ouzo (anise-flavoured aperitif) completes the Greek culinary experience.

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Restaurants specializing in shish kebab, gyro and Greek foods are: Messini, Christina’s, Soula’s, Mezes, Athens, Greek Grill, Omonia, Florida Shishkebob House, Friendly Greek (a chain) and others . In the last few years Danforth Ave. has become the home also of many other ethnic foods establishments.

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While souvlaki is a popular dish, staples in Greek cooking are roast lamb, fish, feta (goat’s milk cheese), and olives. Appetizers include tara-mosalata (pink caviar), warm bean salad, and octopus, while main dishes are moussaka (baked eggplant casserole), gyro (minced lamb, chicken or pork eaten with pita bread), and dolmades (vine leaves stuffed with ground meat and rice). Desserts and snacks are often made with filo pastry (strudel dough), and filled with cheese, spinach, or ground nuts and honey (baklava) or custard (galactomboureko). Popular drinks include Greek coffee, mountain sage tea, Metaxa (Greek brandy), ouzo, tsipouro (from grape stem) and retsina (aromatic wine flavoured with pine resin). Famous Greek bakeries include Serano, Select, Kostas bakery, Elite, Menalon Bakery and Caffe Demetre.

 

For more than 50 years, Carman’s Club, at 26 Alexander St), owned by Arthur Carman, and recommended by various magazines and newspapers to be one of the three best restaurants in Downtown Toronto, has closed after Mr. Carma’s death. The Palace, an iconic Greek restaurant opposite Pape Subway station has also closed after the retirement of owner Peter and Stella Hadjis. Also Patris restaurant has permanently closed.

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However, the favoured new Greek restaurants which combine traditional Greek cuisine with upscale city living are: Christina’s on the Danforth, (Tel. 416-463-4418, 492 Danforth Ave), a chic restaurant where Bay Street conversations can be heard through windows opened onto a small summer patio, Acropolis Restaurant, (Tel. 416-465-8175, 708 Danforth Ave); Athens Restaurant & Tavern, (Tel. 416-465-4441, 707 Danforth Ave); Flamingo Restaurant, (Tel. 416-422-3710, 2104 Danforth Ave); Nikos Place, (1419 Danforth Ave., Tel. 416-469-8155); and Megas at Chester and Danforth. Another popular restaurant is Petros on Adelaide W east of Spadina.

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The ingredients to whip up an authentic Greek dinner can be bought at a number of specialty stores, including Greek House Food Market, (Tel. 416-469-1466, 565 Danforth Ave); Mister Greek Meat Market, (Tel. 416-469-0733, 801 Danforth Ave).

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• THE GREEK COMMUNITY OF TORONTO

 

(Tel. 416-425-2485, 30 Thorncliffe Park Dr). Established in 1911, as an umbrella organization for three of the city’s 12 Greek churches (St. Dimitrios, St. John and St. Irene). The Hellenic Cultural Centre houses the organization’s central offices along with a Greek history and language school, dance, theatre, and music departments. The centre maintains a museum with books, copies of classic sculptures, and the remnants of an authentic Mycaenean-era mosaic. President: Betty Skoutakis. This organization is the most important and official civic body representing all Greek Canadians in Toronto and GTA. Its members consist of every Greek Canadian irrespective of their religious affiliation, although the vast majority are followers of the Greek Orthodox faith. For decades the Greek Community of Toronto provides Greek education and its many schools in several areas are accredited by the Ontario Ministry of Education. It also organizes and runs the National Greek parades on Danforth Avenue. In the north of Toronto (York Region) the predominant Greek Canadian civic with similar functions is the Hellenic Canadian Community of York Region.

 

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Religious Centres, Schools and Other Institutions

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The large white buildings, gilded domed roofs, and rounded crosses seen over the neighbourhoods of east Toronto are the most visible signs of their Greek residents. Every so often, the black robes and headpieces of a Greek Orthodox priest can be spotted in the shopping malls around Thorncliffe Park or in one of the Greek cafes.

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The Orthodox Church is one of the most important links among Greek Canadians, since recognition by the Church community is the first step towards social advancement. Common faith also makes Greeks of the diaspora realize and maintain their national identity and heritage.

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