The PORT LANDS are unloved territory for most Torontonians. But once the Luminato Festival/2016 ensconsed itself inside the Hearn Generating Plant the curious amongst us drove, walked and biked the roadways, wooded trails and backwaters of this (ripe for development) industrial patch bordering TORONTO Harbour.

Named after engineer EDWARD HENRY KEATING (1844-1912), the waterway is a 1,000-metre-long connecfion between Ashbridges Bay, the Don River, the inner harbour and Lake Ontario.

I found the Keating Channel and its pub a picturesque stopping place. The beer was great, the food OK and the shaded water-side patio uncrowded.

<The Keating Channel looking east, Toronto Public Libraries, 1914>

Early on, the banks of the Channel were lined with industry, including the Toronto Shipyard Company, which built World War I vessels and freighters.

The elevated Gardiner Expressway, the Cherry Street drawbridge and the condo towers of the Distillery District add some urban ambience.