Bloor West Village

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Looking east on Bloor Street, the main commercial drag of Bloor West Village

Bloor West Village is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that is bounded by Bloor Street West to the South, Runnymede Road to the East, Jane Street to the West, and Annette Street to the North. The centrepiece of the community is the shopping district on Bloor Street that runs the length of the neighbourhood. It is located directly North of the Swansea Village neighbourhood.

Bloor West Village's first residents were immigrants of Eastern European origin.^[1] These residents helped found the Bloor West Village Business Improvement Area, the first of its kind in Canada and an idea that would soon be copied in other neighbourhoods across the city and country.

Homes in this neighbourhood are generally characterized by deep porches and wood trim on the façades. Streets in this streetcar suburb, which was annexed by the city of Toronto in 1909 make this a popular residential neighbourhood. Much of its development is owed to the creation of a streetcar line along Bloor Street, which the TTC later replaced by the Bloor-Danforth subway line, built in the 1960s with stations at Runnymede and Jane Streets.

Bloor West Village is the world's first business improvement area (BIA), established in 1970. It now consists of more than 400 shops, restaurants and services. The organization promotes business activity in the area by holding several annual events and festivals. It also puts efforts into the beautification of the area. Recently, housing prices in the area have jumped significantly, and have led to the area's middle-class decline towards a more upper middle- class establishment.

The Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, which celebrates the prominent Ukrainian influence in the community, takes place in August of each year and is one of the city's most popular events. It draws tens of thousands of people per year.

The entire neighbourhood participates in an annual garage sale called the Village Pillage, billed as the largest sale in Toronto.

One of the most prominent buildings in the neighborhood, Buduchnist Credit Union, is a cultural foundation for the Ukrainian community, from its financial and moral support of nearly all major Ukrainian functions, to its ability to serve the people it has dedicated its work to - the Ukrainian Canadians.

A great furor accompanied the arrival of a Chapters-Indigo bookstore in the late 1990s. Aside from discontent about the effect of a large bookstore undermining older local businesses, many residents were upset that the local historic movie theatre was going to be gutted to make room for the new store. However, the arrival of Chapters allowed restoration of the historical Runnymede Theatre. At the time Chapters was the only company willing to make the $5 million investment to restore the building.