Bloordale Village

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Facing west (towards Lansdowne) on Bloor St.

Bloordale Village is a Business Improvement Area (BIA)[1][2] located along Bloor Street from Dufferin Street to Lansdowne Avenue, west of downtown in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It sits on the southern border of the Wallace Emerson neighbourhood and the northern border of the Brockton Village neighbourhood. The district is home to various and unique shops including restaurants, bars, vintage and thrift stores.

Bloordale Village should not be confused to a similarly named neighbourhood Bloordale Garden, located in the former city of Etobicoke, Ontario, west of Highway 427, and bounded roughly by Rathburn Road, the Elmcrest Creek, and Dundas St.

Character[]

Bloordale Village (commonly known as Bloordale) has undergone significant change since 2010, and was once considered one of Toronto's 'up and coming' art districts.[3][4] The surrounding area is a highly diverse, mixed-income community.[5] A mix of Portuguese, Caribbean, Italian, Bangladeshi, Latin American, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Burmese, Chinese, and Vietnamese populations are found in the neighbourhood. At one point in time, at a local primary school, 81 per cent of students speak a native language other than English.[6] The area has been gentrifying since the late 2000s, so since then, this mix of ethnicities has changed.

The Bloordale BIA was founded in 1976 and celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2016. The former head of the BIA was the owner of House of Lancaster, a strip club in the area.[7] On October 23, 2013 the Bloordale Community Improvement Association was formed. They've organized neighbourhood clean-ups and garage sales.

Bloordale Beach [8][9] officially opened on May 25, 2020, on the site of the now-demolished Brockton High School. On June 16, 2020 the beach was declared to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bloordale Beach was temporarily closed on Nov 4, 2020, with 24 hour security guards posted to prevent reopening of the entrances to the beach, all of which were reopened within a month while the security guards were on duty. The security guards persisted in watching over a now-reopened beach until early January, 2021. Since then the beach had reopened and has become a prime spot for sunbathing and surfing, just a stone's throw from Dufferin subway station. It finally closed on September 23, 2021.

The area is the location of Mercer Union Centre for Contemporary Art. The other galleries have relocated due to increased rent, though a few galleries are located on St. Helens Avenue now, just west of Lansdowne.

West of Dufferin Street, the south side of the street is used by Bloor Collegiate Institute but will be demolished soon to make way for condo development.

References[]

  1. ^ "BIA". Archived from the original on July 25, 2017.
  2. ^ "Discover Bloordale". Archived from the original on August 14, 2017.
  3. ^ "West-End Pearls". National Post. November 22, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2009.[dead link]
  4. ^ Whyte, Murray (October 5, 2008). "Bloordale Gentrified: West Queen West's art moves north". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
  5. ^ Mathieu, Emily (June 5, 2008). "An unpretentious, friendly spirit". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
  6. ^ "globeandmail.com: Bloordale Village". The Globe and Mail.
  7. ^ "Strip club owner spawns rivals as Bloordale tidies up on his watch | Toronto Star". thestar.com. September 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  8. ^ [url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/08/09/watch-for-sharks-torontos-newest-beach-at-bloor-and-dufferin-has-everything-except-water.html]
  9. ^ [url=https://uncultured.substack.com/p/can-a-waterless-beach-survive-the?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxODkxOTQxMCwicG9zdF9pZCI6MTU4ODgwNjAsImlhdCI6MTYwNDE0OTUwNywiaXNzIjoicHViLTQ0MjIwIiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.OUjosf8fEJLjRJIxJ7Ry1ttcYfLm5mPjXmmYZnin4jY]

External links[]

Coordinates: 43°39′32″N 79°26′20″W / 43.659°N 79.439°W / 43.659; -79.439

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