Bridge nice idea, but will it fly?

The lifeguard station is weathered tatty, the public washrooms sunblistered, a single food truck dispensing greasy edibles. Winds coming in off the water carry a funky smell that reminds me of Emerald Lake, the massive water treatment facility on the edge of the Canadian military base in Kandahar that emitted a constant malodorous stench.

- ROSE DIMANO

But this is Cherry Beach, as sentimental a childhood memory for many of us as the outraged hordes who’ve risen in defence of the doomed, now shuttered, Ontario Science Centre. All the inner-city kids from blue-collar families who never enjoyed the pleasures of a summer cottage. That was an alien world.

Always an urban refuge amidst the industrial swath along the eastern waterfront, these days getting to Cherry Beach is a trek — navigating around construction of the sweeping $1.35-billion Port Lands redevelopment project that will link downtown Toronto to the new Villiers Island. Old bridge at the bottom of Cherry Street is closed, south of the four gleaming new white bridges that have been constructed.

Some 250 metres away, via the Eastern Gap, is the outer flank of the Toronto Islands.

Can’t get to them from here, of course. Have to hump it all the way to the ferry docks at the foot of Bay Street or take a water taxi. This Canada Day long weekend, thousands will flock to the ferries to make the short journey, although, with two of those ancient vessels currently out of service, the city has been gently discouraging an island pilgrimage.