Toronto/West End

The West End of Toronto is bounded roughly by Bathurst St to the east, St Clair Avenue to the north, the Humber River to the west and Lake Ontario to the south. The West End covers a vast swath of Toronto and includes ethnic enclaves and quiet, residential neighbourhoods inhabited largely by recent immigrants to Canada. The West End has undergone explosive growth and gentrification, and is quickly becoming one of the hottest areas in the city in which to live.

Understand
The neighbourhoods of the West End are some of the most diverse in the city, owing to its significant immigrant population and also to the gentrification of former industrial areas and formerly rundown neighbourhoods.

From the early 1900s, Italian immigrants who worked in railway and road construction began buying up affordable Edwardian-style homes and opening up shops along College Street, in the area now known as Little Italy. The neighbourhood has become popular with young professionals because of its great restaurants and cafes, vibrant nightlife, and proximity to the downtown core. More recent Italian immigrants have chosen to settle a little farther north, along St. Clair Avenue, in an area known as Corso Italia.

Little Italy also has a strong Portuguese presence. However, that presence is more visible along Dundas Street with neighbourhoods marked as Little Portugal and Rua dos Açores (street of the Azores) on the local street name signs. You can find authentic churrasqueiras (Portuguese BBQ restaurants) in these areas.

Ossington Village is an area of shops and restaurants between Queen Street and Dundas Street. Prior to gentrification, this was a semi-industrial area with a number of automotive servicing shops of which the only one is still in business; another has been converted into a restaurant with the dining room in the former service bays. Some Portuguese businesses are found towards the north end of the area.

High Park is a huge park on the west side of the district having gardens as well as naturally wild landscapes. There is also a pond big enough to be considered a small lake. The 506 streetcar ends just inside the park in a rustic setting.

Just east of High Park lies Roncesvalles Village, named after a valley in northern Spain, which, oddly enough, is the heart of the city's Polish community where you will find Polish restaurants and pastry shops.

North of High Park, centred on the corner of Dundas Street and Keele Street, you'll find The Junction, so named because of the railway lines that meet in this neighbourhood.

Along Queen Street west of Bathurst Street, formerly run-down neighbourhoods have been gentrified becoming very trendy locales. East of Dufferin Street is the ultra-hip West Queen West neighbourhood, an area home to many of the city's hottest bars, lounges and cafes, including the ever-popular Drake and Gladstone Hotels. Going west of Dufferin Street, we pass through Parkdale, the new "it" neighbourhood, with its antique shops and quaint Victorian-style homes.

South-east of King Street and Dufferin Street is Liberty Village, a former industrial area that used to be crisscrossed with railway tracks that served the many factories in the area. With gentrification, the factories in the eastern part of Liberty Village were demolished and replaced by condominiums. The central portion of the area became a small shopping area. On the western side, the factories have largely been preserved but converted to house numerous small businesses.

Adjacent to Mirvish Village is Koreatown between Bathurst Street and Christie Streets (just west of The Annex and north of Little Italy). The neighbourhood is home to dozens of Korean (and Japanese-Korean) restaurants and bars, as well as Korean grocery, clothing and bookstores.

Much further west, past High Park, lies Bloor West Village, an area with quaint shops, lovely grocery stores with fruits and flowers piled high outside and a wide variety of restaurants line Bloor Street from Jane Street to Runnymede Road, while older houses, many in the American Craftsman style, line the area's side streets. The area has a Ukrainian presence with its Annual Ukrainian Festival in September.

By subway
The West End is served by Bloor-Danforth subway line 2. Dundas West station is a major transit hub for the area, providing connections to streetcar lines, buses, and GO Transit commuter trains at the Bloor GO station.

By streetcar
Streetcars run across much of the West End, making it easy to get around.

The 501 Queen route runs along Queen Street from The Beach, through the downtown core, the West Queen West and Parkdale neighbourhoods, and out to Etobicoke and the Mississauga border in the west.

The 504A King route runs along King Street, through Parkdale's southern edge, and north through Roncesvalles Village to the Dundas West subway station. (Route 504B King terminates on Dufferin Street at Exhibition Place.)

The 505 Dundas route serves Little Portugal and connects to the Dundas West subway station.

The 506 College route runs along College Street and passes through Little Italy on its way to High Park. It has connections to Main Street in the East End, and the College and Queens Park subway stations.

By car
Bloor St, Dundas St and Queen St provide east-west transit across the breadth of the West End and connect it to Etobicoke in the west and downtown and the East End to the east. From the 401, heading south on Dufferin St or Jane St (via the 400) will bring you to the West End. From the Gardiner Expressway, the Jameson Ave exit will put you in Parkdale.

By bus
Bus 63 runs along Ossington Ave and Bus 29 runs along Dufferin St.

Bus route 47 runs from Yorkdale Mall to Parkdale along Lansdowne Ave, also serving Lansdowne station on Bloor-Danforth subway line 2.

By train
Some GO Transit trains stop at the Bloor GO station, adjacent to the Dundas West subway station. UP Express, the train that operates between Toronto Pearson Airport and Union Station in downtown Toronto, makes a stop at the Bloor GO Station as well.

By bicycle
College St has bicycle-only lanes on either side of the street, one of the only major streets with bicycle lanes downtown. There are numerous poles to which you can lock your bike all along College St. The bike lanes run next to parked cars, therefore it is important to watch for drivers opening doors.

There are dedicated bicycle lanes along Bloor Street starting at Runnymede into downtown.

See

 * just south of the
 * just south of the
 * just south of the
 * just south of the

Bloor Street West

 * Koreatown (the Bloor-Bathurst and Bloor-Christie area) has a heavy concentration of karaoke lounges.
 * Koreatown (the Bloor-Bathurst and Bloor-Christie area) has a heavy concentration of karaoke lounges.
 * Koreatown (the Bloor-Bathurst and Bloor-Christie area) has a heavy concentration of karaoke lounges.
 * Koreatown (the Bloor-Bathurst and Bloor-Christie area) has a heavy concentration of karaoke lounges.

The Junction
The Junction is the area around Dundas Street West and Keele Street north of Bloor Street. Dundas Street itself is a typical Toronto main street with local bars and restaurants sharing the street with shops and apartments. The north and east parts of the Junction are the old industrial areas lining the two railways. Many industries have now left the area in favour of more modern facilities in the suburbs, and it is now a hub for local beer (luckily for this new beer scene, prohibition was repealed in the year 2000 - the last community in Southern Ontario to do so).

Go next
Here is a list of adjacent districts:
 * Entertainment and Financial Districts: CN Tower, Ripley's Aquarium, Roy Thomson Hall, Union Station.
 * Etobicoke: Islington Village
 * Kensington-Chinatown: Kensington Market, Chinatown, Art Gallery of Ontario.
 * Midtown: Casa Loma, Corso Italia
 * Yorkville and the Annex: Royal Ontario Museum, University of Toronto, Yorkville.