City
What the Junction used to look like in Toronto
The Junction might just be one of the most interesting neighbourhoods in Toronto. At once a place that's undergone profound change (a.k.a. gentrification) over the last decade or so, the former character of the area, particularly north of Dundas West has yet to fade completely. The pocket of streets just north of the sprawling Heinztman Place Condo project (where the eponymous piano manufacturer took root) — Junction Road, Mulock and Cawthra avenues, Old Weston Road — retain a messy measure of industry that's all but been eradicated elsewhere.
That said, even these streets show off the steady transformation of the neighbourhood. While the northern stretch of Mulock might still feel like it's perched on the edge of the world somehow, budding businesses like Junction Craft Brewing and Posterjack already call Cawthra Avenue home.
The presence of the former of these two companies offers up a sweet bit of historical irony given that the area was Toronto's last standing booze-free zone as late as 1997. We've already delved into this anachronistic manifestation of Toronto the Good (thanks, Ben!), but given that the Indie Alehouse has also recently opened near Dundas and Keele, it's worth considering, once again, just how different a place this has become in such a short span of time.
If you go back far enough, what we refer to today as merely the Junction was known as the city of West Toronto Junction, which was also its own federal electoral district. Post-amalgamation with Toronto in 1909, the West Toronto prefix of the former moniker (very) slowly faded into disuse, though it's not entirely uncommon to hear older residents refer to the area in such a manner.
Once the site of a confluence of Native trails — Indian Road, Indian Grove, Indian Trail — the history of the area as a transportation hub has continued through the 20th century and beyond with the presence of what's sometimes referred to as the West Toronto Diamond, the junction of multiple railway lines near the neighbourhood's main intersection.
Although West Toronto was subsumed by a rapidly growing city more than a century ago, standing at the crossroads of these two streets today, it takes little imagination to picture this stretch of Dundas West as the main thoroughfare of a town unto itself. As is the case with Roncesvalles to the south, there's an unmistakable drag-like quality that has stubbornly resisted the forces of redevelopment that chug away more rapidly than ever.
PHOTOS
Dundas and Keele looking east, 1912
Weston Road Bridge, 1919
Dundas West looking north from Glenlake, 1922
Dundas West and Edna, 1922
Dundas West looking south from Jerome, 1922
Southwest corner Dundas and Pacific, 1922
Dundas looking west from Clendenan, 1923
St. Clair looking east from Mulock, 1923
Keele St. looking south from Junction Rd., 1923
Keele looking south from St. Clair, 1923
Keele south from Dundas, 1923
Riding the bus on High Park Avenue, 1925
Weston Road Bridge, 1929
Runnymede bus stop, 1929
St. Clair and Mulock, 1931
Lloyd and Mulock, 1931
Maple Leaf Bacon plant
Southeast corner Keele and Annette, 1946
Northeast corner St. Clair and Keele
79 Talbot, 1938
Symes Road Incinerator, 1934
St. Clair and Laughton (date?)
420 Quebec Ave, 1946
119-121 Annette, 1952
Dundas looking west from Indian Grove, 1932
Dundas West track work, 1923
Keele subway, 1932
FURTHER READING
- For then and now views, check out this set of photos from Toronto History on Flickr
- The West Toronto Junction Historical Society has a variety of interesting resources
Photos from the Toronto Archives
Discussion
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The street sign on the corner of the house at Lloyd and Mulock is still there.
'79 Talbot' should probably be 7-9.
Really those, these photos are great.
http://www.blogto.com/city/2011/11/where_to_buy_vintage_photographs_of_toronto/
Are you scared of old Portuguese grandmothers?
It was always a working class area, but I can see how someone "cultured" could mistake them for crackheads since they don't own MEC backpacks or eat local.
If you lived in our neighbourhood you would know the same group of transients still exist, still hang out at Crossroads for cheap brews and dirty women, and still pay for their room by the week at the "hotel" where the crosswalk is on Dundas.
Also, try paying $825 per month for a 700+ sq. ft 1 bdrm. steps away from Dundas & Keele. I do!
And yes, here's to a GREAT local microbrew... several of them actually
What's great about the junction, and why it will not turn into queen west, is that there's no streetcar or subway running through it, and it scares away a lot of dense development, thankfully. It's one of the only neighbourhoods I know of that still has landlords (actual people, not corporations) who don't mind renting apartments to people on ODSP and OW.
I love living here because it's so much less crowded. Whatever shops open up on dundas is just a bonus.
@Hermano I agree, however I'm waiting to see how the old McBride's cycle lot (or more recently the Junction Flea location) gets developed. I've seen drawings of the condo proposal and as is it doesn't blend well with the low rise heritage buildings around here that Thomas mentioned above.
I agree that the area has cleaned up a lot since I first moved in. I agree too that it can be a little rough from dundas/keele to dundas/Annette/Dupont. Crackheads screaming and fighting and prostitutes, drug dealers, etc. Strung out crazies having sex and doing drugs in my old laneway at Indian rd and Annette st. I found used condoms and drugs on many occasions! Would call the cops to come pick up baggies of coke and who knows what else....lol. Because of these bizarre occurrences we ended up moving to the west side of Keele and it is much different...you really don't see much of this stuff- @Rob-maybe this is why you didn't notice it??? I still walk my dog through this psuedo-sketchy section now, but I notice less and less going on, especially since the Heintzman buildings went up. Maybe also because it is winter...summer brings them back out onto the street....Lol. Call me an asshole but the more these troubled individuals relocate to other neighbourhoods, the happier i am.
Love live The Junction!!
I would also like to say that I think it's hilar that the Junction is now some cool hipster/rockabilly hang out....people are funny with there styles and materialism!!
Do you get it??
Fairly put, I believe that like myself most of the residents of the junction that have moved in over the last decade are working class people...we aren't all hipsters that drink only craft beer and want the neighbourhood to become the next Dundas and Ossington. We don't!
Like some of the others have mentioned their families have sewn roots here...I think some of the rest of us would like to be able to do the same! We are grateful for the positivity in the neighbourhood in the recent years, including new businesses that seem to be doing well- ie new restaurants, clothing stores, and yes James also craft breweries..lol. Yes it is nice to be able to stay in your own neighbourhood and have a drink...be it craft beer or Budweiser.
Get real.
Please do not import this disgusting American trend of "bigging up" your neighbourhood as being some kind of warzone that you were able to survive because of your perseverance. It's always the urban pioneers that do this too... irritating, boring, overeducated white people with no sense of anything outside of Apple products and craft beer.
That's seriously what you sound like.
Shame on you, hipsters. For all your 100 mile diet/craft beer consumption, up cycling and and vintage bike infatuations, I would hope you'd do a little more research.
I actually moved into the Junction initially because I could afford to buy something here...wtf are you talking about Rawness???" I thought that the area was quaint and had potential. And I was right! I love it here!
I was giving examples of some sketchiness that I have personally encountered. Not saying that the area is war torn? Or trying to turn it into some movie! Or saying fear for your life!
I'm saying that it is fucking annoying to have junkies and dead beats...hanging around and acting crude.
You are another poster who is a turd of magnificent proportions!!!
Doubt you live in this neighbourhood either!!!!
Nope, probably not. Better head back to your carob muffin.
John is correct - the area was Little Malta and I went to school with Schwerbs and Micallefs. A neighbourhood phenomenon was hearing Maltese mothers purse their lips and pitch high whistles to call their kids in for supper - we were told Malta was very rocky and whistles would echo and and carry a long way. The mothers would lean out into the alleys between the houses and use them stone sound tunnels to amplify their whistling. interesting because there is a whistling language on a rocky Spanish island west of Malta.
More Junction/West Toronto railway history can be found here:
http://trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR_Toronto/LAMBTON.htm