How Scarborough Spots, described as a community ‘love letter,’ rallies east-enders
Posted December 22, 2022 3:05 pm.
Last Updated December 22, 2022 7:50 pm.
For far too long, Scarborough has been a punchline in certain circles, but a local man’s efforts to highlight the best of the community and build a product line paying tribute to Toronto’s east end has amassed an impressive audience that misinformed critics probably couldn’t have even imagined.
Jesse Asido is the community-focused force behind Scarborough Spots, billed on its Instagram account with more than 42,000 followers as “the real guide to the east side.”
“For me, the priority is just be authentic. Let’s be truthful to Scarborough. Everything that I’m putting out there, it really comes from my heart to everyone,” he said.
“Someone the other day said it’s kind of like my love letter to Scarborough, and I just wanted to give it true representation instead of the bad Scarborough, the scary Scarborough, the dangerous Scarborough when Scarborough people actually know that that’s far from the truth.”
The account and company have been in existence since mid-2020, but Asido has mostly lived behind the scenes. His name isn’t on the company’s website or on his social media channels, selfies or videos featuring Asido are rare, as are interviews with him, and he said this was done by design.
Asido, who only began working full-time at the business in the summer, said he wanted the community to be at the forefront. CityNews recently caught up with Asido at Scarborough Town Centre, where he was one of the vendors at a pop-up market, something full-circle in his east-end-based life and at a place where he grew up.
“Every day is surreal that I get to wake up and do Scarborough stuff for a living. I would have never dreamed that — never dreamed it,” he said.
Scarborough’s place as a family ‘headquarters’
Asido and his two brothers were born and raised in the community after their parents immigrated to Canada from The Philippines. Their story is not unique, and because it’s not, that’s why he said he loves the area.
“Growing up in that diversity is unique to probably everyone else, but for us this was completely normal and I feel super blessed to have grown up in this type of diversity,” he said, referring to how he had school friends whose families came from across the world.
“Our grandparents were in Scarborough and that was kind of like the headquarters. So we always felt at home, we never felt out of place. My parents didn’t consider anywhere else.”
With so many immigrants settling in Scarborough, it meant many parents spent a lot of time away in order to support the household.
“A lot of them had to work at night, a lot of them had to work extra jobs, which meant that myself and all these other teenagers and all the kids, we’re all running around throughout Scarborough on our bikes. When we got our licences, we’re just really exploring Scarborough,” he said.
“For some of us, our parents weren’t home because they’re working, and that’s just kind of the culture we were brought into, and I think why a lot of us work really, really work hard.
“Our parents did a lot for us just to get by, so I think a lot of kids from Scarborough like myself really are just putting as much effort as we can to pay back our parents for getting us here.”
The long journey to finding his dream job
Asido attended Neil McNeil High School, and while he called it a “great experience” in hindsight, he’s candid about it being his last stop in terms of education.
“To be truthful, I didn’t even complete high school. It was pretty tough and if I can go back in time, I definitely would have because that set me up for the next 10 years that was pretty tough on me and that was my fault,” he said.
After high school, he said he worked a number of minimum-wage customer service jobs. Asido said through hard work, he eventually ended up in a corporate office doing executive sales — something that only happened in recent years.
However, entrepreneurship mixed with community building on the side has also been central to Asido.
“Since I was a little kid, I loved bringing people together. That’s just kind of my thing,” he said, referring to things like getting fellow kids together to play at the building where he grew up or organizing games during recess at school.
When he was in his twenties, he said he co-founded Megacity Basketball — growing it to more than 1,000 youth from the initial 40 or so participants. He sold his stake in that business after around 10 years.
“When I let that go, I was looking for something else, and I felt like Scarborough might be that thing, and I began an Instagram account that grew into a business, and the community has embraced, and I’m just all about celebrating our people, our history and our culture so … it’s been a fun ride,” Asido said.
The launch of Scarborough Spots
Asido said in the early stage of the pandemic, he began noticing local restaurants closing down and with a couple of extra hours in his day in the absence of commuting while working from home, he created Scarborough Spots as a means for promoting businesses and institutions.
“It quickly grew because there wasn’t really anyone else doing that, and it turned into something I was just doing for fun and trying to help out the community and it just kind of blew up right in front of me,” he said.
“That was a good thing that came out of 2020 for me because if not for that, I don’t think I would have started.”
When asked if there were any particular posts that helped boost his following, he cited one where he reminisced about the balloons that once hung inside Scarborough Town Centre. Asido said he got around 1,000 likes, something he hadn’t seen on his account at that time.
“Every kid from Scarborough misses those balloons. If they ever come back, you will see almost a reunion of people. It will be like a concert here to see those balloons. We love ‘em. It was the meeting spot,” he said.
The second was the time Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, shared a post.
“All Scarborough kids love The Weeknd. I mean, he represents the ultimate underdog and making it. I say Scarborough to the world all the time, and he’s Scarborough to the world,” Asido said.
RELATED: How pride for Scarborough grew stronger in 2021, and looking ahead to 2022 and beyond
“He’s a kid from Scarborough that showed you can come from nothing and turn yourself into who is a worldwide icon. We all look up to him, we love him, and he really represents everything that we’re about.”
With thousands of followers now, Asido said he’s tapped into a base of supporters that are proud of their east-end roots. But he noted it comes after a prolonged period of the community getting “slighted” by neglect or misperceptions.
“I truly believe whether you were in Scarborough in the ‘70s or ‘80s, or the Scarborough of today, we’ve always felt that we’ve been misled and kind of pushed to the side whether that be politics or… transportation with the TTC, everything,” he said.
“When The Weeknd or Mike Myers is on TV, they’ll say, ‘Oh, that’s Toronto’s Weeknd, that’s Toronto’s Mike Myers,’ but when there’s a crime, ‘Oh, it happened in Scarborough.’”
Asido reflected on terms bandied about like “Scarberia,” “Scareborough” or “Scarlem” while also remembering what he and others heard while travelling for sports games.
“Is it dangerous out there? Do you need a gun? Do you need a weapon? Do you need a bulletproof vest to walk around? So the conception is that it’s a warzone, and still today, people believe that’s the case because there was a crime or something happened,” he said.
“All Scarborough kids have heard this growing up, and we just know that’s so far from the truth. Scarborough is such a beautiful place, the people, I challenge you to find a more diverse place in North America than right here.”
Scarborough as a brand, as a collectable, and the staples that are meme-worthy
Armed with a growing base of supporters, Asido decided to tap into his design and marketing skills to come up with a shirt to see if he could translate that online support into a viable business that he could work at full-time.
It said, “A kid from Scarborough,” and it was set against an outline of the community. After making 100 shirts, he said those sold within three days. The same happened when he created a hoodie.
The product line has greatly expanded since those early days. In addition to the “kid from Scarborough” clothing line (which even includes a baby-sized onesie) and other apparel items, there are maps, keychains, coasters, maps, mugs, pennants, bags and stickers.
Part of it is Scarborough generically (even items with connections to the pre-amalgamation City of Scarborough), but the other part can get very specific, such as items paying tribute to Agincourt, Bamburgh Circle, Eglinton East, Malvern, Port Union and Wexford.
He said she has shipped all across Canada except for Yukon and Nunavut. Asido has even shipped Scarborough-related merchandise to 30 states in the United States of America.
“Scarborough kids are everywhere,” he said.
“The data doesn’t lie. They want to represent Scarborough.”
On a day-to-day basis, Asido regularly shares social media posts about well-known food businesses as he said Scarborough’s culinary offerings are second-to-none. One of those restaurants is The Real McCoy. He partnered with owner George Mihail to create a line of shirts, and a portion of those sales are being donated to charity.
“The Real McCoy… brings me great sadness to know that they’re closing down,” Asido said.
“George and the whole family, they’re the nicest people that you can meet. They really reflect Scarborough and their work ethic. They’ve built something so iconic from 1969, thousands and thousands of Scarborough kids are really going to miss it.”
RELATED: The Real McCoy, beloved Scarborough restaurant, forced to close after 53 years
Federick Restaurant, which specializes in Hakka food, is also one of Asido’s favourites.
“Best fusion that I know of. If you don’t like spice, you should probably skip Federick’s. But Hakka food… I think we’re probably the Hakka food capital of North America,” he said.
Mixed in his feed are memes about notable Scarborough destinations, such as Warden and Kennedy subway stations.
“Warden station famous for the Jamaican beef patties. Multi-purpose snack, fills you, it was a buck, buck 25 back in the day, buck 50, and in the winter, I’m telling you that thing… I mean, thousands of Scarborough kids are so grateful for those patties because they kept us warm and held us over until we got home,” he said before jokingly slagging Kennedy station.
“Kennedy is very different … It’s incredibly inconvenient. You’ve got the subway here, the buses here, and the RT there. Every one of us has made that run all the way up, we all have big leg muscles because of it, and the Kennedy station bathroom is legendary for all the wrong reasons.”
Midland station doesn’t escape the occasional ribbing either.
“You’ve got to experience it first hand. Midland Station is famous for its smell. One day I’ll bottle it and make it into a cologne,” Asido said, referring to a sulphur-like smell that can be found there.
“Everyone who has taken the RT… you know, has experienced it.”
Malvern mall, as referred to by local residents, also gets the occasional shoutout too. He fondly remembered going to the Taco Bell there.
“Technically, it is Malvern Town Centre, but everyone from Malvern either calls it Malvern Mall or obviously just the mall. The brings so many memories. Malvern gets a bad rap. I got dinged because I was from Malvern, and then I got dinged because I was from Scarborough,” Asido said, adding he enjoyed biking through the various forests with his brothers or friends.
Clips from older CityNews broadcasts even find a way onto the Instagram account.
“Citytv, that’s the TV we grew up with. I’d sit with my grandparents, and we’d watch it every day. Harold Hussein told us the weather,” he said.
“Citytv was our station, Speakers Corner was like our favourite, and if we stayed up late, then you know Ed the Sock and Late Great Movies with Mark Dailey. Citytv was, I would say, very integral in many Toronto kids and Scarborough kids growing up. That was the station for sure.”
RELATED: Scarborough Health Network launches $100M hospital fundraising campaign
Amid all he’s got going on, Asido said supporting Scarborough Health Network has been important for him. He came up with a line of “Love, Scarborough” apparel (which coincides with a fundraising campaign under the same name).
Asido said he’s donating all the proceeds to the Scarborough Health Network Foundation, and has a fundraising target of $20,000.
“Love Scarborough, probably, is the most important thing we’ve done,” Asido said.
“I’ll probably never find a charity that makes more sense for us and is more meaningful than giving back to the hospitals that are going to take care of me, take care of neighbour, take care of my family, my children.”
Ryan Baillie, a vice-president with the foundation, praised Asido during an interview.
“He’s been great to deal with. He’s stepped up a number of initiatives we’ve done in the community and you can just tell when you’re working with him his heart is in the right place,” he said.
“The work that’s done at a grassroots level, the work that’s done at the local level through campaigns like Jesse’s and through Scarborough Spots, are as meaningful … Every dollar literally does count.”
Baillie said the clothing items have helped with hospital marketing and branding, especially given the harder time securing the needed funds.
“Scarborough represents 25 per cent of the Toronto population and we have not got the donation support that is reflective of the size of our community,” he said.
The campaign has raised around $142 million, $42 million more than the original goal and $58 million shy of the revised goal. Baillie said the campaign will fund the first phase of a plan to “transform” kidney care and expand dialysis, create a state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging department all in one sport, expand emergency rooms at Centenary and Birchmount hospitals, and expand mental health programs.
Back at Scarborough Town Centre, Asido said he doesn’t know what exactly the future holds for him and Scarborough Spots but added he’s just happy to be doing what he’s doing.
“We’re not a huge company by any means, I’m the only full-time employee, but this work is very fulfilling,” Asido said.
“I will continue this for the rest of my life.”
