“In the latter half of the 19th century, Toronto was frequently referred to as the Belfast of Canada. More than a third of the city’s residents were Irish (both Protestant and Catholic), and most of them middle class. But the residents of Corktown were an altogether rowdier bunch – tough working-class immigrants from County Cork (of Blarney Stone fame) in the southwest. Local cops – a beefy corps who, according to one historical report, “could hold their own in a rough-and-tumble mix-up” – referred to the Corktown beat as the city’s “liveliest.” (Toronto Life)