Hanging in the 'hood: The Junction
September 4, 2008
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Sherryll Sobie
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
What makes a house (or condo) a home is not just what's inside its four walls, but also the neighbourhood in which it resides.
In this occasional series, the Star joins local residents from across the GTA on personalized tours, as they explain why they've chosen to call their neighbourhoods home.
For this installment, we join Gib Goodfellow on a tour of the Junction. Goodfellow is a retired teacher, lifelong Junction resident, Heritage Toronto Walk leader and president of the West Toronto Junction Historic Society.
Boundaries: According to the City of Toronto website, the Junction stretches from the CNR/CPR rail line in the east, Runnymede Rd. in the west, Glen Scarlet Rd. (north of St. Clair) in the north, and Humberside Ave. in the south. Predominate languages are English, followed closely by Portuguese, then Chinese; Vietnamese and Spanish tie for fourth.
Getting there: Take the subway to Dundas West station then jump on the Junction 40 bus and and get off at Keele and Dundas Sts. If travelling by car, the Junction has plenty of street parking and several municipal lots.
History: One of the most distinguishing footnotes of the Junction's history is the alcohol ban that was in effect from 1904 to 1996. The city of West Toronto Junction, as it was called, voted to go dry because of an ongoing problem with drunks, many of whom were transient workers and travellers.
The rowdies explain why the town went dry in the first place, but it begs the question: Why continue the dry spell for so long?
"Junctionites have an independent spirit and saw no reason to change it," Goodfellow answers. "Plus, there were lots of other places just outside the town limits where you could get a drink."
One unique example was the Wedgewood Restaurant, at Bloor and Jane (today it is Billy Bob's Bistro). Because the building straddled both the City of West Toronto Junction and the old City of York, the Wedgewood was dry in the front, with a stocked bar in the back.
The name, Junction, refers to the intersecting of two railways, the Canadian Pacific and the Canadian National, both of which had a huge economic impact on the area.
"In the 1880s the Junction was a hub of shopping, industry and travel," Goodfellow says. As proof of its prominent standing, the Junction was outfitted with a customs house to clear imports arriving from the U.S.
Goodfellow points to the four corners of Dundas St. W. and Keele St., where four 100-year-old buildings rise out of the ground.
"There was a bank on every corner, which speaks to the significance of the area," he says.
But then the Junction was sucker-punched by the advent of the automobile and then the subway. The automobile decreased dependence on rail service and forever changed goods distribution. In 1969 the subway was extended from St. George, along Bloor St., to Keele St. It was just far enough south that visitors bypassed the Junction in favour of High Park and Bloor West Village.
Only in the last 10 years has the area started to experience a revival. Goodfellow says it began with cutting loose the tangle of hydro, streetcar and telephone wires that hung over the area.
"It was a mess," he says.
Then came the Cost-Sharing Capital Project between the city and the Junction BIA (Business Improvement Area), which beautified the streetscape with trees and lighting. The Commercial Façade and Improvement Program, a matching grant offered through the city to commercial property owners, helped offset costs associated with revitalizing their storefronts.
While this was going on, artists moved in, adding a zest of originality to the neighbourhood. Says Goodfellow, "People started to realize that we are well-serviced by parks, libraries, schools, and we began to see a lot of young families."
In the news: In 1908, the Junction became an independent city until it was annexed by the City of Toronto the following year. This year, the Junction has been celebrating its centennial with concerts and events, including free walking tours, which will be offered through the West Toronto Junction Historical Society (wtjhs.ca) at the upcoming Junction Arts Festival
Junction Arts Festival: The 16th annual street festival, which starts tomorrow and runs through to Sunday, will be a smorgasbord of music, art exhibits and installations, a kids zone, street performances, movies under the stars, a green village, and a historic city exhibit celebrating the Junction's 100th anniversary.
Festival director Michael Menegon says about 65 per cent of the contributing artists are from the Junction.
"Historically, the Junction has always been a liberal arts community. We have a huge pool of artists to pull from," he says. The festival will span one kilometre along Dundas St. W. between Keele St. and Quebec Ave. See junctionartsfest.com for details.
Green Space: Train travel left a legacy of trade and commerce, while the tracks grafted an indelible mark on the landscape where they were laid. After CNR and CPR discontinued service in the 1960s, the grounds were abandoned.
Fast-forward almost 50 years: The Friends of West Toronto Railpath, in conjunction with Evergreen, the city, the community Bicycle Network, resident associations, and a few key individuals, have reinvented the defunct rail lines into the West Toronto Railpath, a linear park with a recreation trail that will connect the Junction and several other neighbourhoods.
Landscape Architect Scott Torrance, in collaboration with Brown + Storey Architects, was awarded the opportunity to design the first two kilometres of the Railpath.
"What struck me when I first walked the site in 2006 was the feeling of being in the country because of all the wild native plants," Torrance recalls.
That fall, Torrance, with the help of volunteers, collected seeds of existing plants including Virginia creeper (a fairly common variety) and sedge grass (relatively uncommon). The seedlings are currently being tended by an off-site nursery specializing in native plant propagation, and will be planted along the Railpath in the spring of 2009.
When completed, the Railpath will run 6.5 kilometres south from the Junction (beginning at Cariboo Ave., near Dupont St. and Dundas St. W.) diagonally through to King St. West and Strachan Ave. in the downtown.
Railside gardens: Maintained by an informal group of volunteers, including Junction resident Hilary Bell, the native roadside plantings on the west side of the tracks grow along Dundas St. between Glenlake Ave. and Humberside Ave.
Shopping: "I have a hard time finding fat and sugar in the neighbourhood," Junction BIA co-ordinator Maddie Whitfield jokes. Whitfield is referring to the recent proliferation of organic and fair trade-minded food stores, restaurants and cafés.
For groceries there's The Sweet Potato and The Beet, which also has a little café. Eateries include Rawlicious (raw, vegan food), Cool Hand Of A Girl, Agora, Rebas and Foundation, opening in September. Four Seasons Natural Foods and Health Products has been a fixture in the Junction for about 30 years.
Art scene: In addition to the Junction Arts Festival, the neighbourhood has resident artists and galleries including Urbanscape and Latitude 44. It's also home to the Academy of Realism Art School, which 20-year resident Pat Schnurr, owner of local framing store Picture It Framed, says is "a school like no other."
Developments: The Victoria Lofts, built by Triumphal Developments Inc. and designed by architect Paul Oberst, is a former Presbyterian Church with red brick facade and a majestic copper spire. The 123-year-old historic building has been converted into a 38-unit loft that blends modern appointments with original architectural detail (victorialofts.ca).
Davenport Village, although not technically inside the boundaries of the Junction, is in the former City of West Toronto as defined by the West Toronto Junction Historic Society. Being built by Tom Falus and his Brownstones Group of Companies, the new release of stacked townhouses are 855 to 1,145 square feet and are priced from $245,000 to $300,000
The Toronto Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, the worldwide, non-profit organization known for building homes for people in need, took on a project in the Junction that was a first in its 20-year history. Typically, Habitat member families consist of two or more people. In this case, the "family'' was a family of one: a wheelchair-bound woman who was unable to get outside without assistance. The woman was relocated within her existing building while Habitat built her an accessible unit. She now lives independently in a barrier-free home. For more information on Habitat For Humanity Toronto see torontohabitat.ca.
Toronto Star