Sticky Step One: ***UPDATED*** The Cookery & The Dizzy Gastro Sports Pub & Catering, 303-305 Roncesvalles Ave.

Kicking off the chronological Pitiful Human-Lizard Toronto locale hunt is a real deep cut: The setting of the Made In Chinatown mini-comic #0. The first panel defeat of the "Roncie Punker" firmly establishes that the fruit market where Lucas and Yasmeen, the future writer first meet is located on Roncesvalles Avenue.
 

The "Roncie Punker" taking a lemon to the melon and the shopfront of Ko Fruit Market, 143 Roncesvalles Ave.

No surprise really, since the legion of fruit markets stretched all up the east side of the street are commonly referred to as "Produce Row." Try to find the one fruit market on all of Roncie that matched the one shown on panel? Sure, no problem!

Pearson Fruit Market, 95 Roncesvalles Ave.

This really was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. At first, I thought the shopfront might have been Pearson Fruit Market a few blocks further south, but the market in TPHL MIC #0 isn't on a corner and the sidewalk in front definitely isn't a match. So, after checking the street again, now I'm pretty sure the storefront in question is Ko Fruit Market at 143 Roncesvalles Ave.

Looking south on Roncey in front of Roncesvalles Fruit Village and Ko Fruit Market

Of course, I could have gotten the wrong shopfront entirely, so if anyone out in the internets ever sees what they think is a glaring error here on Sticky Footprints, don't keep it to yourself! Leave a comment and if it turns out you're right, I'll be sure to update the entry and credit the source.

The 504 Broadview Station via King TTC Streetcar heading south on Roncesvalles Ave.

***UPDATE***: As I'd suspected, I was wrong about the location of the Human Lizard's debut and the Roncie Punker's first, last and only defeat being Ko Fruit Market.

Streetcar across from The Cookery and The Dizzy at 303 & 305 Roncesvalles Ave.

As (ever so gently) pointed out by the TPHL creator himself, Jason Loo, during Big B Comics Niagara Falls' 75th Anniversary Celebration of Canadian Comics (which was an incredible who's who of Canadian comic creators and one of the high points of the entire NFCC for me this year), I was looking a bit too far south on Roncie.

The Fruit Market from TPHL MIC #0 & The Cookery at 303 Roncesvalles Ave.

So, my very first Sticky Step was a little off the mark, but I didn't let Jason tell me the exact spot the correct location was, though.

Looking south in front of The Dizzy at 305 Roncesvalles Ave.

 

On my next excursion into the city, I headed further north on Roncesvalles Ave. and before long, I knew I had found the place for real this time!

Seeing the changes that were made to the store, I don't feel so bad for missing it.

My undoing had been searching for a fruit market on Roncie when, in fact, it had actually closed down since and been replaced with The Cookery.

Without the Fruit Market's awning, baskets & shelves, the storefront looks very different!

This was easy to confirm from the geography of the street along with The Dizzy's Heineken sign, which perfectly matched the sign featured in the first Made In Chinatown mini-comic.

The trees are a little bigger, but not much else is different besides The Cookery's shopfront.

So the Fruit Market at 303 Roncesvalles Ave. is now gone, but if you've already got your groceries and want to learn how to get your cook on, The Cookery holds regular cooking classes. For more information, including their own blog and a calendar of upcoming classes, visit The Cookery's website here.

The Dizzy & The Cookery at 305 & 303 Roncesvalles Ave.

Don't feel like cooking? No problem! Swing next door to The Dizzy Gastro Sports Pub & Catering at 305 Roncesvalles Ave., grab a drink and let them take care of it for you!



Next up: The opening scene of The Pitiful Human-Lizard #1!

-DE