Bloor West Village - Toronto

Unlike Roncesvalles Village, this area is generally on the subway line. The area is bookended by the following subway stations: Jane subway to the west and Runnymede towards the east. No trundling streetcars here. Who said they were ever romantic….Here we’re talking about everything north of Bloor Street West and south of Annette between Glendonwynne Avenue all the way to Jane Street.  The portion of BWV that is north of Annette and stretches up to Dundas Street West is interestingly referred to as "Bloor West Village North" by some.

BWV  boasts the country's first formally organized BIA (Business Improvement Area). Many a neighbourhood have followed BWV’s format since. The Green P situation here is bar none, the P’s are all located on the north portions of Bloor West. Starting from the east, you have the P between Kennedy Avenue and Glendonwyne, the P between Beresford and Durie Street, followed by the P between Windermere Avenue and Willard Avenue. Finally, the last P is located between Willard and Armadale Avenue. Wow, that’s a lot of P’s…..not to mention street parking. Tough to beat.

Bloor West Village is like the west-end version of Leaside with the exception that Leaside as of the last 10 years boasts a more impressive retail mix. Hey, that’s just my opinion. It’s certainly not a statement of fact. Judge this on your own when you’re doing a drive-by on the weekend. The neighbourhood is made up of mostly young families that have slowly edged their way in during the early 2000’s. In addition, you have your well-healed boomers here too that do a nice job of maintaining and/ or renovating their homes to decent standards. As far as housing stock goes you have a bevy of solid detached homes as well as semis sprinkled with some condos as referenced above. As far as parking, most homes have pad parking in addition to street parking.  

There’s a small but nevertheless handy LCBO at the corner of Glendonwynne and Bloor, opposite the Runnymede Public Library. There are some decent pubs along the strip that can cater to most crowds as well as an abundance of bakeries, flower shops, coffee shops as well as clothing retailers and restos.  The retail mix has drastically changed since the BWV's heyday in the 80's. Among the remaining hotspots, The Coffee Tree never disappoints. Queen's Pasta has been a perennial favorite forever, it's the like the west-end version of Grazie.  If you're looking for a decent hair salon along the strip, you've got plenty. Among them you'll find JC Salon, Capucci's and Vescada that have been giving people good hair for yonks. As far as pet stores, you have Global Pet Store, Pet Valu towards Armadale further west and Mipupico west of Jane.. The institution better known to many as the Groom Pet Store is no longer.

As far as recreation, try a 399 acre park for size. No, that's not a typo. It's really that big, rivalled only by Central Park in Manhattan. High Park not only boasts many picnic areas but a huge off-leash dog area, tennis courts, public pool, skating rink, baseball diamond, mini zoo, the Grenadier restaurant, adventure playground, large pond and outdoor amphitheatre. For further amusement, one can turn to the Annette Recreation Centre that's connected to the Annette Street Public School. One can also find several libraries, namely the Runnymede Library, Annette Street Public Library and Jane Street Library. There once was a movie theatre (I watched E.T there for the first time, quite a big deal back in the day) located on Bloor, west of Jane. Sadly the Humber Cinema has made way for another condo.