Drake Hotel

Class: Comfort

Style: Arts

Rooms: 19

At the far end of Toronto’s Queen Street West, at the frontier where the newly hip Parkdale district meets the unkempt edge of the grittier neighborhoods beyond, the Drake is not in the ideal location for visitors looking to “do” the city in the traditional touristy sense. It is, however, perfectly located for anyone interested in Toronto’s art scene, and everything that goes along with it — at the risk of straining the point, Queen West isn’t worlds apart from London neighborhoods like Clerkenwell or Hoxton, or Brooklyn’s flourishing arts districts.

Despite its classic-sounding name, the Drake is not at all a traditional hotel. The rooms take second billing, sold as “crash pads” for visitors to the Drake’s exhibition and performance spaces. That’s selling the rooms a bit short, to be honest: though smallish, they’re exquisitely stylish, leaving shopworn boutique minimalism decades behind. Here the interiors are more a sort of reclaimed retro, with references that effortlessly span decades without ever bordering on kitsch.

It’s not all style over comfort, happily — all rooms feature hardwood floors, plush queen beds, exquisite glass-walled bathrooms and smart yet modestly-sized LCD televisions with DVD and CD players. Downstairs the Dining Room, the Raw Bar and the Lounge serve cocktails and eclectic dishes in a fashionably lived-in atmosphere, and the Corner Cafe is a neighborhood institution, serving brunch, juices and traditional café fare. The Underground is the performance space, playing host to all manner of acts, musical and otherwise. And Queen Street is a worthy alternative to the city center, the galleries and funky boutiques giving way to big-brand shops and swanky restaurants as you travel farther east.