What Choir! Choir! Choir! co-founder Nobu Adilman loves about the Annex

Born and raised in the Annex, Nobu Adilman is the creative tornado behind the beloved singalong phenomenon Choir! Choir! Choir! He’s currently on a North American tour—the group’s most expansive yet. Running through the fall, it includes shows all over the States. “Many folks are avoiding America right now, but I prefer to face it my way,” he says. “In peace.” Adilman’s childhood memories of the Annex still charge him up. “As a kid, I could feel the warmth from the lights at Honest Ed’s,” he says. “My mom still lives there too, and my house is just a few blocks away from her.” Here, he takes us on a tour of the neighbourhood that shaped him.

Related: What Blue Jays pitcher Kevin Gausman loves about midtown

Annex Billiards Club

“This was a seminal place for me. As a teen, I’d spend three hours a day playing old-school eight-ball or snooker. There were no cellphones, so whenever my brother, Mio, wasn’t around to hang out, I just went to ABC, and I’d usually find him there. The club still gives me joy. I hope it lives forever. It makes my heart sing.” 507 Bloor St. W.

PAT

“PAT carries tons of things that bring me back. I’m half-Japanese, and I grew up going to Japan a lot. Being able to grab a snack—dried squid, onigiri, gyoza, pre-marinated bulgogi—is heaven. I just love the diversity of the people shopping at PAT. The idea of buying some hilarious Korean beauty products in the same place as a rice cooker is a shortcut to happiness in my books.” 675 Bloor St. W., patmart.ca

Lee’s Palace

“The place is legendary. I saw Yoko Ono perform there in 1998—and then partied with her and Sean Lennon afterward. To me, Lee’s represents a Toronto that keeps chugging along.” 529 Bloor St. W., leespalace.com

Pizza Gigi

“How many pizza places in your neighbourhood have been featured on SNL? Gigi became infamous in 2011, when $1 million worth of cannabis was seized from the premises. To me, it represents old-school Italian. Whether it’s late at night or a quick lunch, I’ll get a pepperoni-and-mushroom slice and have unfiltered conversations with the weirdos behind the counter. It’s not the best pizza in the world, but it’s the pizza I love.’’ 189 Harbord St., pizzagigi.ca

Wiener’s Home Hardware

“Wiener’s still has that mom-and-pop charm I remember from the Annex of the ’80s, like walking into a sitcom. It’s a tiny store crawling with employees who let their freak flags fly. They all know where everything is and love striking up a conversation. I will lose hours of my day at Wiener’s. Toronto needs more of this.” 432 Bloor St. W., wienershomehardware.ca

Hot Docs Cinema

“I have a hard time calling it Hot Docs. Its former incarnation, the Bloor Cinema, was something special. It’s where I saw some of my first movies without my parents. For a stretch of my teens, I went every weekend. I remember seeing Time Bandits there with my friend Rob Lantz, who’s now the premier of Prince Edward Island. I worked TIFF’s Midnight Madness at the Bloor for years. That place is soaked in memories for me, and somehow, it keeps making more of them.” 506 Bloor St. W., hotdocs.ca