Honest Ed’s was the reason I moved to downtown Toronto.

As a sophomore at U of T, my goal was to explore one new neighbourhood beyond campus each week. This task I set myself was the reason one day after morning classes I decided to take the streetcar from Bathurst station, not ride the subway, to have lunch with my father at the St. Lawrence Market.

Emerging from the bakery-scented air of the station I waited for the 511 streetcar. It trundled to a stop and I took a seat by the window. Honest Ed’s appeared on my right, bold, brazen and strikingly out of place against the clear March sky. It passed in an instant, the scene outside shifting to weathered rowhouses and students.

Youthful College turned to trendy Queen to sophisticated King. I had only seen Honest Ed’s for a moment, but its image was as clear in my mind as if I’d seen its neon lights blazing at midnight. It was then that I knew I wanted to move to the Annex.

Weeks passed and my East York apartment’s lease was set to end. I posted on Facebook asking if anyone I knew needed a roommate. A friend replied five minutes later, saying she had an empty room in her rowhouse on Bathurst street. I saw the place once and made an offer on the spot. I signed the rental agreement that afternoon.

I lived in that apartment for a year. I quickly got used to my bed shaking from the passing  511 streetcar outside the house as I slept at night, and looked forward each morning to eating breakfasts at the kitchen table looking out onto the street I had discovered first by streetcar. I walked past Honest Ed’s on Saturdays on my way to the Annex Metro for groceries each week.

I live in Etobicoke now, but still miss living downtown so close to Honest Ed’s, the institution many say is the city’s heart. I hope to move back one day soon. Until then, I visit as often as I can.