Meet Katrina Cline, the owner and the lead artist at Underdog Tattoo! Located right at the entrance to Old East Village at 613 Dundas, this black owned, female led shop prides itself on its art, the trade, and their roots. “[Underdog] sounds like a pretty generic name, but it just seems like something that encompasses a lot of people's experiences here,” Cline says. “Whether you're a tattoo artist or just whatever you're doing, there's always an underdog in every situation.”

Meet Jo Rivas, the owner of True Taco and one of our Associate Participants! Located at the Market at Western Fair District, True Taco is an authentic comedor latino, specializing in authentic Mexican and Salvadorian foods. “Comedor is literally a dining table and Latino is all Latin America,” Rivas says. “We want to bring those kinds of flavors to the people, these authentic flavors, things that you don't typically see.” True Taco’s very first spot was at the Trails End Mark

Meet Lucy Ndlovu , the owner of Umkulu Kitchen and one of our Associate Participants! Located at the Market at Western Fair District, Umkulu Kitchen specializes in South African street food and other African dishes. Ndlovu started the business herself, and it stems from her love for cooking. “It started with my mom and my grandmother, one came from South Africa, one from Botswana, and my grandfather came from Zambia,” she says. “I have this huge love for Southern African foo

Meet Michaelanne Hathaway, the owner of Stache Fabrics & Notions and one of our Associate Participants! Located at the Market at Western Fair District, Stache Fabric and Notions is a community focused quilt shop focused on high quality and fun fabrics. “We’re also focused on helping people in the community be as creative as they possibly can with the fabric,” Hathaway says. Stache Fabrics has been located in the market for the past two years, but is coming up on its ninth ann

Meet The London Cross-Cultural Learner Centre, London’s leading newcomer agency, one of our associate partners, and the agency behind one of the most exciting developments in Old East Village! Created in 1967, the CCLC’s mission is “Supporting newcomers, strengthening communities.” The CCLC provides integration services and support to newcomers and to promote intercultural awareness and understanding for others. “We provide temporary accommodation and find permanent accommoda

Meet Sam Donaldson, the owner of Retro Redhead Salon and one of our Neighbourhood Partners! Located at 635 Central Avenue, Retro Redhead is London’s first hair studio designed for neurodiverse, sensory-sensitive, and any other outliers. Donaldson opened the salon in 2022 after several years in boutique salons. “I opened here because I have health issues, so it’s catered to my illness, and I just kept attracting neurodiverse people,” she says. “It’s kind of evolved into it, I

Meet Grant Maltman, the curator of Banting House and one of the Old East Village BIA’s Associate Members! Located at 442 Adelaide Street North, Banting House almost needs no introduction. It’s the “Birthplace of Insulin”; a national historic site chronicling the life of Sir Frederick Banting and his major contribution to science that saved countless lives. Maltman has been the curator of Banting House for more than 30 years, but he says time hasn’t taken away any job satisfac

Meet John Kudelka, one of the co-owners of Junction Climbing Centre and one of the Old East Village BIA’s Neighbourhood Partners! Located at 1030 Elias Street, this is a full service climbing gym, featuring top rope climbs, auto belays, lead climbs, bouldering, and a fitness centre! With a background in climbing and outdoor recreation, Kudelka saw that London was lacking in a proper climbing gym “Growing up in London, there's a strong perception that if it's in London, the ve

Meet Hutton House and the PATCH! Hutton House is a non-profit that supports adults with disabilities through programming that develops valuable skills, and they’re one of the Old East Village BIA’s Associate Partners! Hutton House began life in 1952 as the Association for Handicapped Adults, and over the past 70 years has been providing a safe and comfortable environment where people can learn and achieve whatever goal they set their mind to. The PATCH was started as a subset

Meet LIFE*SPIN, a non-profit organization focused on helping low-income families throughout the year and one of the Old East Village BIA’s Associate Partners! LIFE*SPIN started out in 1989 as a group of sole-support mothers trying to do what they could to help alleviate poverty within the community. “They found pooling resources really helped each other get ahead,” says Meagen Ciufo, co-executive director of LIFE*SPIN. “One person had a car, they could car share. One person h

Meet Tristan Squire-Smith & Johnny Hewerdine, the co-owner’s of Coldwell Banker Beaver Realty! Located at 992 Dundas Street, this brokerage wants to lighten up the world of real estate. Both have worked at real estate brokerages in the past, but found the culture norm a bit too "stifling.” So, Squire-Smith and Hewerdine opened their own brokerage in June of 2023. “We don't want to be like them, and it made it very difficult for us to operate. So having our own brokerage now,

Meet Vince Ianni, the president and general manager for Tony’s Pizza! Located at 980 Dundas Street, this family-owned business has been serving up classic Italian food for over 60 years. With a focus on good food at reasonable prices, Tony has become an Old East Village staple. “Really, it is about personal experience for our customers,” Ianni says. “Our customers, especially our long term customers, they actually end up becoming friends.” Tony’s was opened by Ianni’s father,