Bloor Street

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Bloor Street is a major east-west commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

1 History
2 Neighbourhoods
3 Buildings/Parks
4 Shopping
5 See also
6 References

[edit] History

The street is named after Joseph Bloor (or Bloore), a developer of this area in the 19th Century and founded the Village of Yorkville in 1830. He is buried at Necropolis Cemetery on Bayview Avenue and Rosedale Valley Road.

Bloor Street in Toronto runs from the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) in Toronto's east-end into the west-end and into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East of the DVP, Bloor Street becomes Danforth Avenue. In downtown, especially around the intersection with Bay Street, it is one of the most exclusive stretches of real estate in Toronto.

Bustling intersection of Bloor and Bay Streets in April, 2006.

The approximately 25 kilometre street contains a significant cross-sample of Toronto's ethnic communities. Beginning at Danforth and continuing west, one will pass through Toronto's Greek, Somali, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Polish, Korean and Croatian communities.

Bloor Street serves as the northern-most edge of the campus of the University of Toronto, and is host to several of Toronto's historic sites including the Bata Shoe Museum, The Royal Conservatory, the Annex, and the southern edge of Yorkville.

The Bloor-Danforth subway line runs along the Toronto portion of the roadway between Kipling and the start of Danforth Avenue.

Rents on the upscale Bloor Street has doubled in 4 years, ranking as the 22nd most expensive retail location in the world in 2006, up two sports from 2005. Nationally, Vancouver's upscale Robson Street tied with Bloor Street West as the most expensive street in Canada, with an annual average rental price of $208 per square foot.^[1]

[edit] Neighbourhoods

Neighbourhoods along Bloor, from west to east, include:

Markland Wood (4200-4300 blocks Bloor West)
Islington (3500-4100 West)
The Kingsway (2700-3400 West)
Old Mill (2400-2600 West)
Bloor West Village (2200-2400 West)
High Park (1800-2200 West)
The Junction (1500-1700 West)
Bloordale Village (1100-1300 West)
Palmerston (800-1000 West)
Koreatown (600-800 West)
Mirvish Village (500 West)
The Annex (200-500 West)
Yorkville (200 East-200 West)
Rosedale (600-200 East)
St James Town (600-400 East)

[edit] Buildings/Parks

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Bloor Street, Toronto

[edit] Shopping

The Bloor and Yonge intersection is one of the most popular and trendy shopping areas in Toronto, housing several large, well-known fashion and jewellery companies such as Gucci, Christian Dior, Chanel, Tiffany & Co., MAC Cosmetics, Lacoste, Louis Vuitton, and Prada. It also has several small Canadian designers and shops popular amongst Canadians and Torontonians, such as Over the Rainbow, Aritzia and Lululemon.