Explore the real-world places that appear in Scott Pilgrim, Vol 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Bryan Lee O'Malley. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Lee's Palace, Sneaky Dee's, Wallace Wells's Apartment, Honest Ed's (Mirvish Village), Bathurst Station and 4 more.
529 Bloor St W — Toronto's rock venue and the series' band-scene backdrop
Lee's Palace is the real club that inspires the live-music world Scott Pilgrim and his band Sex Bob-omb move through. In this volume, Scott, 23 and still drifting between jobs, tries to keep the band, his teenage girlfriend Knives Chau, and his growing relationship with Ramona Flowers in balance. The stage-and-gig world of Sex Bob-omb, with Stephen Stills, Kim Pine and Scott's rivalries, is anchored by clubs like this one.
Lee's Palace opened in 1985 in a former theatre building on Bloor Street in the Annex. Its facade is covered in a colorful mural, and it has hosted many major alternative and indie acts. It has long been a cornerstone of Toronto's rock scene.
Lee's Palace is still an operating live-music venue with a famed Dance Cave upstairs. It is a popular pilgrimage site for fans of the Scott Pilgrim series.
Visit: Lee's Palace (theater)
431 College St — Nachos, gigs, and Scott's social circle
Sneaky Dee's is the Tex-Mex bar and music spot at College and Bathurst that the series uses as a hangout for Scott, Kim Pine, Stephen Stills and friends. It reflects the cheap-food, loud-music lifestyle of Scott's slacker Toronto. Scenes of the gang gathering, bickering over love lives and band business fit the place's role in the story.
Sneaky Dee's opened in the 1980s and became famous for its nachos and for hosting punk and indie bands upstairs. Its graffiti-covered exterior is a recognizable Toronto landmark.
The restaurant and bar still operates at College and Bathurst, with food and live events. Its connection to Scott Pilgrim draws fans of the comics and the film.
Visit: Sneaky Dee's (restaurant)
Near Bathurst & Bloor — Scott's cramped home base
Scott shares a tiny one-bedroom apartment with his roommate Wallace Wells, who is openly gay, sharp-tongued and unimpressed by Scott's inability to get a job. Scott sleeps in Wallace's bed, a running gag, while his life with Ramona Flowers, Knives Chau and his band swirls around him. The apartment is the place from which Scott's slacker routine launches and where he repeatedly comes home to face his messes.
The apartment is fictional, but the series places it in the Annex and Bloor-West neighborhood near Bathurst Station. This area has long been home to students, musicians and artists in older walk-up buildings.
No specific building is marked, and the area is a residential and commercial neighborhood. Visiting means respecting private homes, so this is best appreciated from the street.
581 Bloor St W — The legendary discount store
Honest Ed's is the neon-lit discount store that dominates the Bloor and Bathurst corner where Scott's world unfolds. Its bright signage provides the backdrop for Scott's wanderings across the neighbourhood as he balances Ramona, Knives and the looming threat of Ramona's evil exes. It captures the cheap, quirky city that surrounds Scott's daily life.
Ed Mirvish opened Honest Ed's in 1948, and it became famous for its cluttered bargain shopping and enormous signage. The store closed in December 2016 after the property was sold for redevelopment.
The building was demolished and replaced by the Mirvish Village development, which retains some of the old signage as public art. The adjacent Markham Street block has preserved heritage houses.
Visit: Mirvish Village (landmark)
Bathurst & Bloor — Subway hub for Scott's neighborhood
Scott's routes around Toronto regularly run through the Bathurst subway stop near his home. The station anchors his everyday travel between gigs, Wallace's apartment and the rest of the city. It reflects the grounded, ordinary urban setting where Scott's extraordinary video-game-style battles break out.
Bathurst Station opened in 1966 as part of the Bloor-Danforth subway line. It sits at the heart of the Annex and Koreatown neighbourhoods.
The station is an active TTC subway stop on Line 2. It is surrounded by shops, restaurants and Korean businesses.
Visit: Bathurst Station (landmark)
512 Bloor St W — Independent music shop in the Annex
Record shops like Sonic Boom reflect the indie-music culture that surrounds Sex Bob-omb and its fans. Scott and his friends move through this part of Bloor Street while he fumbles through jobs, relationships and band life. The shop stands for the music-obsessed Toronto the comic celebrates.
Sonic Boom opened in 2007 as an independent record store and grew into one of Canada's largest. It relocated to a larger Bloor Street space in the Annex neighborhood.
The store is an active independent music retailer selling vinyl, CDs and merchandise. It hosts in-store performances and remains a hub for local music fans.
Visit: Sonic Boom Records (landmark)
Christie St & Bloor St W — Open green space west of the Annex
Christie Pits is the kind of neighbourhood park where Scott and his friends idle between gigs and romantic crises. The wide bowl and ball diamonds provide a casual place to hang out and talk about life, jobs and love. It is part of the everyday geography Scott moves through with Ramona.
Christie Pits is a public park created from former gravel pits in the early 20th century. It is known for the 1933 Christie Pits riot and for its baseball diamonds and hill used for winter tobogganing.
The park is a popular public space with sports fields, a pool and a hill for sledding. It hosts community events and outdoor gatherings year-round.
Visit: Christie Pits Park (park)
Augusta Ave & Baldwin St — Bohemian shopping district
Kensington Market's eclectic streets reflect the offbeat Toronto lifestyle Scott and his friends inhabit. The neighbourhood's vintage shops and cafes suit the characters' tastes as they drift between music and romance. It forms part of the creative landscape that surrounds Scott's story.
Kensington Market grew from a Jewish market area in the early 1900s into a multicultural neighbourhood of Portuguese, Caribbean and Latin American immigrants. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2006.
The market is a bustling district of vintage shops, produce stalls, cafes and murals. Pedestrian Sundays close the streets to cars for the community.
Visit: Kensington Market (landmark)
1 Austin Terrace — Toronto's hilltop castle
Casa Loma towers over the city to the north of Scott's neighbourhood and represents the dramatic, larger-than-life Toronto that frames the series. Its castle silhouette fits the comic's blend of ordinary life with epic video-game-style battles. It stands as a symbol of the city's grander side beyond Scott's cramped apartment.
Casa Loma was built between 1911 and 1914 as the home of financier Sir Henry Pellatt. It later became a hotel, nightclub and city-run tourist attraction.
Casa Loma is open as a museum and event venue with period rooms, towers and gardens. It is one of Toronto's most visited landmarks.
Visit: Casa Loma (museum)
More by Bryan Lee O'Malley: All Bryan Lee O'Malley books
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