CENTRAL

The ANNEX was subdivided in the 1870s and 1880s. It immediately became one of Toronto's elite neighbourhoods, whose first residents included the likes of Timothy Eaton and George Gooderham, president of the Gooderham and Worts Distillery. The Annex's Golden Era lasted until the 1920s, when the upper classes began to migrate northward to newer, more fashionable suburbs in Forest Hill and Lawrence Park.

Those who stayed behind helped form the Annex Residents Association, a powerful lobby group that saved the Annex from the proposed Spadina Expressway which would have divided the neighbourhood in half, had it been built. The Annex has endured and is now over 100 years old. It remains one of Toronto's premier neighbourhoods, drawing its energy from the University of Toronto and its strength from diversity. It has its own community newspaper, the Annex Guardian. Its residents include prominent artists and writers such as Margaret Atwood, politicians, community leaders and successful business people, academics, media personalities, University of Toronto students and faculty, and people from all walks of life. 

Local acclaimed public schools include:

Huron St. Jr. School
Palmerston Ave. Jr. School
Jesse Ketchum Jr. & Sr. School
Lord Lansdowne Jr. & Sr. School
King Edward Jr. & Sr. School
Hawthorne Bilingual School
Clinton St. Jr. School
Central Technical School
Rosedale Heights School of the Arts
Harbord Collegiate Institute

Many of the rooming houses and multi-unit homes in the Annex have been converted back to single family houses, reflecting the return to prominence of this historic Toronto neighbourhood. The Annex houses, built between 1880 and 1910 are fine examples of Victorian, Queen Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque architectural styles. Plum and pink colored Credit River sandstone, rich red brick, and terra cotta clay tiles, make up the exterior facades of many of these homes. The architectural detail is among the finest in the city, ranging from pyramidal roofs and turrets to recessed grand archways and wooden spindled porches. A second wave of less elaborate Annex homes built in the English Cottage, Georgian and Tudor styles, dates from 1910 to 1930.

The Annex's main shopping district is on Bloor Street. This stretch of stores from Bathurst to Avenue Road includes a shopper's dream mix of clothing boutiques, major-league bookstores, food markets, home furnishings & decor, restaurants, and outdoor cafes. The health-conscious will love the great variety of stores and restaurants featuring organic and health foods and supplements (Juice for Life, Eternal Abundance). There is a plethora of acclaimed ethnic restaurants (The Indian Rice Factory, Bangkok Express, Aida's Falafel) and plenty of delightful shops and boutiques where everything from the latest fashions (Risque, Secrets from your Sister) to whimsical gifts (SWAK, Annex Books, The Outer Layer) are on display.

The following lovely neighbourhood parks & recreation offer a breath of fresh air and activity to local residents:

Jean Sibelius Square
Christie Pitts Park
Vermont Square
University of Toronto

To the north, Dupont St. offers large chain stores such as the LCBO and a huge Shopper's Drug Mart, as well as professional services such as the landmark Creeds, which now offers such diverse things as cooking classes and home furnishings. The Mirvish Village shopping district on Markham Street, south of Bloor Street, is a quaint collection of great restaurants such as True Grit and Bordello, bookstores, art galleries, antique stores, and one-of-a-kind specialty stores. The Annex really comes alive at night when people from all over the city converge upon its restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

Fitness enthusiasts can get in shape at either the University of Toronto's Athletic Centre, or the Miles J. Nadal Jewish Community Centre at Bloor and Spadina. The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto located in the Annex at 16 Spadina Road, offers a variety of programs and services for Toronto's Native community as well as the general public. 

Other nearby community centres include:

Trinity St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor St. West
Lighthouse Community Centre, 1008 Bathurst
Scadding Court Community Centre, 707 Dundas St. West
Alexandra Park Community Centre, 105 Grange Crt

The Spadina Road Public Library at 10 Spadina Road, offers a wide variety of programming for neighbourhood residents, and the huge Toronto Reference Library is a short distance away at Yonge & Bloor (789 Yonge St). The Palmerston Library at 560 Palmerston Avenue, the Yorkville Library at 22 Yorkville and the College/Shaw branch at 766 College Street also serve the area. Casa Loma and Spadina House are nearby, offering acres of cultivated land, historical tours and demonstrations, and lavish architecture to be explored.

The Annex is well served by public transit. There are subway stations both at Spadina and at Bathurst on the Bloor-Danforth line, and at Dupont Street (at Spadina), on the Yonge-University-Spadina line. Motorists are within minutes of Toronto's business and entertainment districts and are approximately twenty five minutes from the commuter highways.

CABBAGETOWN's history began in the 1840s when thousands of Irish immigrants settled here after fleeing the potato famine in their homeland. To put food on the table they grew cabbages on their front lawns, which is how this district came to be known as Cabbagetown. The neighbourhood flag, a green cabbage on a white background, can be seen flying, usually bestowed on a home or shop owner for architectural or design excellence.

Cabbagetown was revitalized in the 1970s and 1980s by new home buyers, who restored much of the neighbourhood's fine collection of Victorian homes. Cabbagetown is now considered one of Toronto's most gentrified and popular neighbourhoods. Its residents come from a wide variety of backgrounds, however they all share a strong sense of community spirit and pride in their neighbourhood, which is evident during such events as the Cabbagetown Fall Festival that runs for an entire week in September and features a parade, concerts, a film festival, a great dog show, community-wide yard sale and tours of the area's fabulous homes.

Cabbagetown's public schools include:

Winchester Jr. & Sr. School
Sprucecourt Jr. School
Lord Dufferin Jr. & Sr. School
Rose Ave. Jr. School
Regent Park/Duke of York Jr. School
Nelson Mandela Park Jr. & Sr. School
Jarvis Collegiate Institute
Eastdale Collegiate Institute

The Cabbagetown neighbourhood was once described by the New York Times as "containing the largest collection of Victorian homes in North America.” Cabbagetown's houses were built between 1860 and 1895. Most of them have been lovingly restored to their original beauty, with delicate iron fencing, carefully manicured lawns and fragrant gardens, and whimsical architectural detailing, under the watchful eye of the Cabbagetown Preservation Association. Made up of local residents, the Association helps ensure that all Cabbagetown renovations and new developments are in keeping with this historical neighbourhood.

The 'Old Cabbagetown' shopping district on Parliament Street features many one-of-a-kind shops and a vast array of restaurants. Examples of great shops are Planet Aid at 480 Parliament and Posterity Graphics at 523 Parliament, and Mi Casa (238 Carlton, close to Parliament). Experience fine food at Daniel et Daniel on Carlton, slum it at the Ben Wicks pub on Parliament, and party late at Pope Joan, Toronto's ladies' hangout, at 547 Parliament. The Carlton Street shopping district is similar in tone to Parliament Street, but on a smaller scale. Cabbagetown also has retail pockets on Gerrard Street, Sherbourne Street, and Wellesley Street East, and Yorkville is within walking distance.

Cabbagetown's recreational centre is Riverdale Park, at the corner of Winchester and Sumach. This park is the home of Riverdale Farm, once the site of Toronto's first zoo and now an actual working farm in the heart of the city used to expose city children to agricultural concepts and experiences. The Farm offers pathways through wooded areas, ponds, and butterfly-herb-vegetable-flower gardens. Cows, horses, donkey, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, rabbits, and cats may be seen along the way in barns and outdoor paddocks. As well as demonstrations of daily chores including animal feedings, egg collection, cow milking, goat milking, and horse grooming, there are also many annual events, day camps, programs for toddlers & children. Riverdale Park also contains sports fields and serves as an access point to the Lower Don Recreation Trail.

The Cabbagetown Community Arts Centre at 454 Parliament Street has music, drama and dance programs for children. The Cabbagetown Youth Centre at 2 Lancaster Avenue offers sports, and arts and crafts programs. 

Additional community centres serving the area include:

Central Neighbourhood House, 349 Ontario St.
Dixon Hall, 58 Sumach St.

Cabbagetown's Public Library is located at the corner of Gerrard Street and Parliament. For adults, the Phoenix Concert Theatre at 410 Sherbourne Street rocks with a different party every night.

Allan Gardens, at the corner of Carlton & Jarvis, offers outdoor gardens, greenhouses and a glassed-in botanical garden providing a tranquil setting year round in which wedding photographs are commonly staged. It is especially lovely over the Christmas holidays, when the tropical gardens feature a holiday flower show.

Other nearby green spaces include:

David A. Balfour Park
Todmorden Mills Park

The Sherbourne bus and Parliament streetcar connect passengers to stations on the Bloor-Danforth subway line. The Wellesley bus and Carlton streetcar connect commuters to the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line. For motorists, the Don Valley Parkway is approximately five minutes away, while Toronto's downtown business and entertainment districts are less than ten minutes from Cabbagetown.

Cabbagetown is located close to Toronto's Gay Village centred around the intersection of Church & Wellesley Streets, which is home to Canada's largest gay community and offers a full slate of entertaining things to see and do year-round. The area is packed with cafes, restaurants, gay-oriented shops and a vast array of bars and hot nightspots that cater to an irresistibly seductive mosaic of orientations, cultures, ages, shapes and sizes. Toronto filmed Showtime's series Queer as Folk in the Village.

King West Village is a dynamic community of townhouses, eclectic shops, fashionable restaurants and artist studios minutes from downtown Toronto by the TTC. In recent years, King West has undergone a fantastic transformation that now epitomizes urban living in the city. What makes it one of the hottest areas in Toronto to live and work in?

King West Street Sign

Where there were once huge industrial operations and factories like Macgregor Socks, now sit modern Victorian-style townhomes. Where streets named Massey and Battery Road evoke the manufacturing plants that built the city, now rise spectacular lofts and condominiums served by retail and big box stores such as Dominion, offering nearby cafes, art galleries, trendy bars and restaurants, and parks that provide places to walk, bicycle, rollerblade and entertain friends.

The area roughly bordered by Spadina, Front, Adelaide and Bathurst is suddenly alive with construction and demolition, renovations and renewals. Developers are grabbing every available lot in the King West area, driving out long-time fixtures and pushing up values. Six recent land sales in the will see 1000 new condominium units, some of them very deluxe indeed, constructed.

Contributing to the appeal of the neighbourhood is its rich history: the old factory buildings and warehouses along King & Wellington streets, the famous Wheat Sheaf Tavern which has been a Bathurst & King fixture for more than 150 years, and Victoria Memorial Park, which is actually a cemetery for some of the dead of the war of 1812 and is currently undergoing a $1 million restoration. While King West Village has already lost some of its unique mixed use appeal due to all the changes, the majority of the historical King West buildings are protected, and it is hoped this preservation will prevent the loss of its lively, pedestrian-friendly feel.

The flavour of King West is found not only in its historical roots, but in the modern conveniences of great shops, independent galleries, restaurants and clubs. King West is also parks, carwashes, fitness centres and health food shops and yoga classes. 

The Scadding Court Community Centre offers great recreational programming, and the local parks include:

Trinity Bellwoods
Coronation Park
Marilyn Bell Park

Have a morning coffee and then hop the streetcar for a five-minute ride to Bay Street or the subway station. Or drive to the Gardiner Expressway – it's less than five minutes away.

But what really makes King West is the genuine sense of community – residents say that they actually know their neighbours, and see the same people jogging down the street, shopping and having espresso. It's this ambience of community that pervades King West and allows the people here to be at home with urban living.

The location provides residents very easy access to Toronto's business and financial districts – minutes by car or streetcar, while the frequent Bathurst streetcar connects to the Bloor Line in minutes. Famous destinations such as the Skydome, Exhibition Place, Harbourfront, Fort York and the Toronto Islands are also all very accessible. 

Though King West/Liberty Village has a mostly adult vibe, its local public schools include:

Givins-Shaw Jr. & Sr. School
Niagara Street Jr. School
Alexander Muir and Gladstone School
Hillcrest Jr. P.S.
Parkdale C.I.
West Toronto C.I.

There is also a selection of alternative secondary schools

The Sanderson Branch of the Toronto Pulic Library, at 327 Bathurst St., and the Parkdale Branch at 1303 Queen St. West are convenient to students living in the area.

King Street itself offers shops, professional services and restaurants that serve the area's day-to-day needs. In terms of local recreation, Stanley Park is a favourite neighbourhood meeting place, offering baseball diamonds, tennis courts, an outdoor pool, and a soccer field. The community centre located on its grounds is used for residents' meetings, community-based programs and social functions.

With close proximity to another uber-trendy neighbourhood, Queen Street West, King West Village offers few bargains; however one advantage to those wishing to purchase in this rapidly emerging area is that properties are fairly large by downtown standards, offering big underground garages and elevations up to 20 storeys.