Map of the Week: The Star's neighbourhood map, version 3.0

TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR

Link to the map

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We went out of our way to ask you what you had to say about the neighbourhood map Kenneth Kidd wrote about on Sunday, and you responded - on top of scores of e-mails Ken received, there were 36 comments on the article and at last count 95 on this blog.

Ken distilled these into 29 specific changes, which now appear on the map:

1. Added Wellington Place, bounded by King, Spadina, Front and Bathurst.

2. Added Wynford-Concorde, a high-rise community bounded by Eglinton, Don Mills Rd., the Don Valley and the railway tracks to the north.

4. Added Keelesdale, bounded by Rogers Rd., Keele, Black Creek and the little ravine just to the north of Gulliver Rd.

5. Changed name of South Riverdale to Riverside-South Riverdale.

6. Changed name of Rouge Hill to West Rouge and extended the western boundary to Port Union Rd.

7. Altered name of Port Union neighbourhood to read Centennial-Port Union.

8. Added The Pocket, bounded by the Greenwood Yards, the train tracks to the south, the Danforth to the north and Jones to the west.

9. Added Bridlewood, bounded by Sheppard, Finch, Pharmacy and Ward.

10. Added Wishing Well, bounded by Sheppard, the 401, Warden and VP.

11. Included the little area north of the tracks in The Junction.

12. Adjusted Rosedale boundary so that it’s Rosedale Valley Rd. in the south.

13. Adjusted Yorkville boundary so it extends no further north than Davenport. Area north of that is nameless.

14. Extended Milliken boundary further west so that it includes Milliken GO station and a few remaining buildings from the original village as well as the industrial area.

15. Altered name of Humber Heights to read Humber Heights-Westmount

16. Made the western border of Corktown Parliament.

17. East of Parliament, created Old Town, and extended it to Church.

18. Added Tritown, to cover the area bounded by Bloor to the north, Sherbourne to the east, Jarvis to the west and Carlton to the south.

19. Adjust Bayview Village so that the eastern boundary is the river, and the southern boundary is Sheppard.

20. Added Chestnut Hills, bounded by Islington, Dundas and Angelsey.

21. Added Brimwood, bounded by McNicoll, Brimley, Finch and McCowan.

22. Called area at northern end of Morningside Heights, across the hydro corridor, Brookside.

23. Added Treverton Park, area north of Eglinton between Kennedy and the railway tracks until the park.

24. Make the northeast boundary of Mount Dennis the railway tracks.

25. Fix polygon to Parkview Hills to include Doris, Alder and Northline, streets on the periphery.

26. Humber Bay Shores created from part of Humber Bay. This is the condo development on the Etobicoke side of the mouth of the Humber.

27. Stonegate created from parts of Humber Bay and Sunnylea

28. Humberwood created in the Hwy. 427 and Rexdale Blvd. area.

29. Junction Triangle created, near Bloor St. W. and Perth Ave.

Comments

[Benj Hellie]

Hi! I want you to know that residents of the area east of B'view, between Dundas and Gerrard, refer to the area as "Moeville" after a beloved long-time resident. So much so that many local houses have 'Moeville' address plates!

[Robert Allen]

I lived on Clementine Square, southeast of Markham Rd. and Ellesmere Rd., in Scarborough, from 1959 to 1965. My neighbourhood was known as Churchill Heights. The area around Markham Rd. and Lawrence Ave. E. was known as Cedarbrae.

I lived on Portsdown Rd., northwest of Kennedy Rd. and Lawrenec Ave. E., from 1954 to 1959. The area south of Lawrence was known as MrGregor Park; it was not a part of Dorset Park.

The area along Eglinton Ave. E., from Victoria Park to about Birchmount, was the Golden Mile.

[S. Fitzsimons]

What happened to Little Portugal? My daughter lives there at
Dundas and Dufferin, and I thought it was on the road signs.

[east yorker]

I may be quibbling here but I have a bit of a beef with the area you call 'The Danforth,'specifically the area east of Jones Ave.

As someone who has lived on a street off Danforth most of my life, in my experience, when you say you live on 'The Danforth,' people automatically associate it with Greektown. Try it? Ask anyone what they think of when you say 'The Danforth.'

I've always lived around Main, just far enough north to be in East York so I always say I live in East York. I stopped saying Main & Danforth years ago because invariably someone would always says, "I love the danforth, the food, the shops, etc. You must get to eat Greek food all the time.' It's then that I would have to explain where Main St was. This was often followed by an 'oh'. :)

Geographically, I may live on a street off Danforth Ave. but I definitely do not live on 'The Danforth' as it's defined by most people in the city. Has anyone else experienced this? How do other non-greektown danforth-ites describe where they live?

Maybe the area east of Jones, needs it's own name. East Danforth? Or maybe it has a name that I'm not aware of.

Living north of the Danforth, I've found most of my friends and neighbours identify themselves as East Yorkers. What do people who live south of the Danforth call their neighbourhood?

And now that I think of it, as kids we rarely associated with people who lived on the other side of the Danforth, mainly because that was one of our boundaries. This was from back in the day when kids were allowed to run around free as long as they were home before dark.:)

[Carol Hepburn (nee Hopkins)]

Hi,

I grew up in the Cedarbrae area of Scarborough which is around the Markham and Lawrence intersection. It includes Cedarbrae Park, Cedarbrae Collegiate, Cedarbrae Plaza,(now a mall), Cedar Heights plaza, Cedarbrae Library and all the housing developments around them. Our family moved there when the houses were built and in all the years I lived there the word 'Woburn' never passed the lips of myself or anyone I knew.

[S. Ackerman]

The area of Scarborough known as Woburn on your map can be subdivided into a smaller area that is between Ellesmere and Lawrence Avenue on either side of Orton Park which is called CURRAN HALL. This community extends to the Highland Creek ravine to the east and Scarborough Golf Club ravine to the west.

[Glenn Svarich]

Another area you may wish to consider naming is the area south of Eglinton Ave., west of Birchmount Rd. and east of Warden ave. with a southern boundary of the Pine Hills cemetary.
As a kid I knew the area as "The Tunnels". This referred to the tunnels connecting all the industrial buildings in that area which were built in 1941. This was the site of one of the largest munitions plants - GECO - in the Second world war. My mother worked for GECO and always refered to the place as "the War Plant". I know little else as it was all very secretive ("Loose lips sink ships" you know). I liked calling it the "bomb factory" but it was commonly known by locals the "The Tunnels" in the 60'and 70's.
The tunnels were used to move material for building the bomb fuses and for moving the completed fuses from building to building. Parts of some tunnels still exist to this day.
Hope this is helpful
%)Glenn

[Chris Webster]

Growing up in the Kipling Ave Dixon Rd. area of Etobicoke we always refered to the area bounded by Dixon, north, The Westway south, Kipling east, and Martingrove west, as The Westway Village within the Weston postal zone

[Gunther Moller]

Thanks for adding Chestnut Hills.

[Chris]

Tri-town? (bloor to carlton, jarvis to sherbourne) - where the heck did THAT name come from? I've lived in this area for ten years, and I've never heard it. What are the three towns we're talking about here?

Google 'tritown', and nothing to do with Toronto shows up that I can see. The first hit is something up near Temiskaming. Is it realestate agent speak?

[Jelani Laws]

A little edit... That little pocket in Scarborough east of Morningside, west of Rouge Park, and south of the tracks that sit a few blocks north of Finch is included in Malvern. It is on the street signs (as many Scarborough neighbourhoods are) and it is completely disconnected from Morningside Heights to the north.

[Mike Ip]

Navy Wharf Court and Mariner Terrace should be included with Cityplace neighbourhood. Unless you want to call it Harbourview Estates...but Harbourview Estates is part of the Cityplace development.

[kris in toronto]

Hi, I would like to add to East Yorker's comments.

I have recently moved to a house on Luttrell Ave, south of Danforth, north of the railway line, between Main St. and Victoria Park. This is a cluster of three small streets (Luttrell, Kelvin and Trent) that became a part of Toronto in c. 1905. Many houses are older than that and were built in 1890s. Ever since moving in I've been trying to find the name of my neighbourhood, but it is very confusing. I am sure it is not East York, because the Danforth was the border between Toronto and East York. According to some maps the three streets are a part of the Upper Beach(es), even though most people think the railway line is the natural border. It is not "the Danforth" for sure. The local BIA uses the term "Danforth Village" but I have also encountered "East End Danforth", yet according to the East End Danforth . So, where do I live? Help!

[Eric]

Isn't the Golden Mile in Scarborough a Neighbourhood. Its not really residential but a commercial strip that runs along Eglinton from Victoria Park Ave to Kennedy Rd.

[east yorker]

the Danforth is not 'The Danforth' cont'd...
I took a small, very unscientific survey of my co-workers. Out of the five people I asked about the Danforth, all immediately thought of Greektown so I rest my case, anything East of Jones is not 'The Danforth'. :)

To kris in toronto... I remember a time when Upper Beach meant north of Kingston, south of Queen. The border has been moving north but I think there's a certain feel to the beaches area (if that makes any sense) and I think some streets north of the railway could/should be Upper Beach especially the further east you go.

I really wish we could hear from more people in these parts, maybe it really doesn't have a name.

LOL... I wonder if the Star is sorry yet that they took on this project. Everybody weighing in on their corner of the city, not wanting to be left out. It's probably the only time they've ever encountered so many people who don't want to remain anonymous.

[Denise Moore]

I see the controversy about the Danforth continues. I agree most people think of the Danforth being west of Jones, but the area east of Jones IS also called the Danforth by other people. I agree that happens less the farther east one goes.

Anyway, I would still note that the area you show as Sunnylea should be bounded on the west by Mimico Creek. The area west of Mimico Creek, to Islington, and a little farther west, never had a neighbourhood name when I was growing up there.

[kris in toronto]

So, perhaps East End Danforth is not such a bad choice after all?
Do you have any other suggestions?

[east yorker]

I think East End Danforth is good. Or I've seen the signs for Danforth Village around, can't remember where. I guess it's a take on Bloor West Village? What about just Danforth East or East Danforth. I guess we can't really decide for the whole neighbourhood, can we? :)

And Denise, it is called the Danforth by others but I think that's simply because it's the name of the street. When I'm going grocery shopping, I'll say, "I'm going down to the Danforth" but as the name of a neighbourhood, The Danforth is still West of Jones. IMHO, anyway. There's a totally different vibe as soon as you start walking east, especially once you get past Donlands.

[kris in toronto]

Yes, that's true, we have "Welcome to Danforth Village" signs all over the place. The problem is, many people think (correct me if I am wrong) the Danforth Village is THE Greek Danforth. Even the Toronto Life Real Estate section treats this part of town somewhat strangely. Not to mention that somehow they never heard of Upper Beach(es), it is an empty space on their neighbourhood map...
http://www.torontolife.com/guide/real-estate/east/

[Old timer]

I was one of the first residents of the northeast quadrant of new residential housing at Bayview and Finch in 1963 and lived there until the mid-90s. We always referred to our neighbourhood as Willowdale. We knew we weren't part of Bayview Village south of Finch. Bayview Woods was the developer's name for the subdivision and never really caught on except in real estate listings.

[Shawn Tracy]

Love the map! Great tool for the urban explorer in all of us.

I see that there is a significant gap in the map downtown. The area bounded by Charles Street to the north, College Street to the south, Queen's Park Crescent to the west, and Yonge Street to the east is known as the "Bay Corridor". Visit the website of the local ratepayer group, the Bay Corridor Community Association [www.baycorridor.ca].

Two other suggested edits:

Yorkville actually extends south of Bloor Street, generally down to Charles Street (though its southern boundary jogs somewhat).

And the University of Toronto has sold the parcel of land along Bay Street between St. Joseph Street and St. Mary Street so its eastern boundary no longer extends to Bay Street. Watch for 2 new condo towers to spring up here, as well as new public park.

Happy to help build the Toronto neighbourhood map.

[east yorker]

Kris, The bottom line is the Star got it wrong.

You're right about 'Danforth Village', 'The Danforth' and really any reference to Danforth Ave. Most people in the city think of approx. Pape to Broadview. The summer festival,'Taste of the Danforth', which runs between Jones and Broadview, just reinforces this idea. The Danforth BIA, encompasses the same area, www.thedanforth.ca.

Contrary to the Toronto Life map, the City of Toronto calls only the very eastern portion - Westlake to Vic. Park -- Danforth Village, http://www.toronto.ca./bia/danforth_village.htm. The area between the two ends is called Danforth Mosaic(??), http://www.toronto.ca/bia/danforth_mosaic.htm, which I've never heard of before now -- very awkward.

I don't think either of these terms are widely used outside of City Hall. The truth is I don't think this area has a name.

I can't believe the Star got it so wrong. Who did they talk to?! At least the City of Toronto and Toronto Life know 'The Danforth' is a very specific neighbourhood and only a small part of Danforth Ave.

[Lauren Mitchell ~ Toronto Real Estate]

Patrick,

Another amazing map! Thanks so much for taking on this project. And the comments are great.

[Tim Payne]

Thank you for adding in "Keelesdale" to the map. I propose that the district name of "North Park" be added to the area around the intersection of Keele St. and Lawrence Ave. West. The North Park Plaza resides on the southeast corner (includes North Park Bowl). The northeast quandrant from this corner includes the large park, North Park, and a street called North Park St.. Actually, in the 1950's and 1960's, we called this park "Cinder Path" because of the long black cinder pathways in and out of the park. Thanks.

[Craig]

"Added Tritown, to cover the area bounded by Bloor to the north, Sherbourne to the east, Jarvis to the west and Carlton to the south."

Who made up that piece of fiction? I live in that area, and it's most certainly not called that by anybody I've ever met.