TORONTO

Toronto empezó a florecer en los años sesenta. Hasta entonces habia sido una ciudad gris y puritana. A raiz de la invasion rusa a Hungria en el '56, la crème de la crème intelectual de ese país emigró a Canada y muchos recalaron en Toronto. Recuerdo a muchos niños húngaros en mi clase que tampoco hablaban nada de inglés y probablemente jamás lo habían oido hablar como me habia pasado a mi un año antes. Todos nosotros en los sesenta ya eramos adolescentes y de hecho nos conocian como la generación de los "New Canadians". Empezaron a proliferar cafés al aire libre, restaurantes de todas las nacionalidades. Recuerdo la apertura de "Lothian Mews" en la calle Bloor donde estuve presente representando a España vestida de faralaes (!) el dia de su inauguracion (la oficina de turismo española me llamaba para toda clase de eventos para que representara al país. Creo que era porque era la única española joven de la ciudad en aquella época!). Lothian Mews (una especie de callejón sin salida, como existen en Londres) estaba repleto de boutiques y cafés europeos. La ciudad empezaba a vibrar y a coger otro aire, mas cosmopolita y mundano. Se empezaba a ver buen cine en version original. Recuerdo "Viridiana" de Buñuel que por entonces estaba prohibida en España. Había conciertos fabulosos y grandes musicales. Vi la famosa "West Side Story" antes de que la estrenaran en Broadway. Ya se empezaban a ver gente de otras razas. En fin que Toronto era una gozada.

Toronto flourished in the sixties, until then it had been a grey and puritan city but after Russia's invasion of Hungary in 1956, many Hungarian intellectuals emigrated to Canada and quite a few settled in Toronto. I remember all the Hungarian children in my class who didn't speak a word of English and probably hadn't heard the language in their life as it had happened to me the previous year. In the sixties we were all adolescent and, in fact, we were known as "The New Canadian" generation. Open-air cafés started opening all over the city as well as ethnic restaurants which gave the city a different atmosphere. I remember the opening of "Lothian Mews" in Bloor Street where I went dressed as a flamenco dancer representing Spain (the Spanish National Tourist Office always called me to represent the country at different happenings, I suppose it was because I was the only young Spanish woman living in Toronto at the time!). Lothian Mews was full of boutiques and European cafés. The city was becoming more cosmopolitan and beautiful. There were movies in their original version, I remember seeing "Viridiana" by Buñuel which at the time was prohibited in Spain. There were fabulous concerts and musicals. I also saw "West Side Story" at the O'Keefe Centre before its Broadway opening. One began to see people of other colours. Toronto was great!