Source: Toronto Star
On August 1, 2004 the Toronto Star reported, "The Toronto school chums stroll through the historic Jewish quarter of this port city, pondering its turbulent past — and fathoming its future...All around is the crumbling architectural legacy of wartime Shanghai — a unique mix of styles ranging from art deco to Bauhaus. Renowned as a sanctuary for about 30,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, the neighbourhood is now blighted by commercialization and neglect. Today, architect Clifford Korman and commercial artist Ian Leventhal are scrutinizing every nook and cranny as they escort a visiting Canadian reporter on a tour of its teeming streets...'The Jewish community disappeared in 1949, when everyone got on a boat and it literally ceased to exist,' says Leventhal, 52, citing the founding of the Communist state that made atheism the law of the land. 'There are no Jews here any more, but at least the buildings remain.' Refugees from Poland, Austria, Germany and the Baltic countries were among those who flocked to the only port that would take them in a storm, bringing the mix of styles that grace the district. Now, these two impassioned Toronto Jews are engineering a $1.3 billion redevelopment plan to save the neighbourhood — and its unparalleled multicultural history — from the wrecker's ball and developer's sledgehammer."