Bloordale Village is a Business Improvement Area (BIA) located along

Bloor Street Bloor Street is a major east–west residential and commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Park ...

from

Dufferin Street Dufferin Street is a major north–south street in Toronto, Vaughan and King, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, two concessions (4 km) west of Yonge Street. The street starts at Exhibition Place, continues north to Toronto's northe ...

Lansdowne Avenue Lansdowne Avenue is an arterial road in Toronto, Ontario. It runs north–south and starts at Queen Street West and proceeds north to St. Clair Avenue West. Lansdowne Avenue is primarily a four-lane arterial road, with two lanes regularly used fo ...

, west of downtown in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. It sits on the southern border of the

Wallace Emerson Wallace Emerson is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada situated north of Bloor Street between Dufferin Street to the east, the CPR railway lines to the north and the CPR railway lines to the west. The neighbourhood derives its name from ...

neighbourhood and the northern border of the Brockton Village neighbourhood. The district is home to various and unique shops including restaurants, bars, vintage and thrift stores. Bloordale Village should not be confused to a similarly named neighbourhood ''Bloordale Garden'', located in the former city of

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

, west of Highway 427, and bounded roughly by Rathburn Road, the Elmcrest Creek, and Dundas St.

Character

Bloordale Village (commonly known as Bloordale) has undergone significant change since 2010, and was once considered one of Toronto's 'up and coming' art districts. The surrounding area is a highly diverse, mixed-income community. A mix of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, Caribbean,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

i, Sri Lankan, Burmese, Chinese, and Vietnamese populations are found in the neighbourhood. At one point in time, at a local primary school, 81 per cent of students speak a

native language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

other than English. The area has been gentrifying since the late 2000s, so since then, this mix of ethnicities has changed.

Bloordale Improvement Area and Associations

The Bloordale BIA was founded in 1976 and celebrated its 40th Anniversary in 2016. The former head of the BIA was the owner of House of Lancaster, a strip club in the area. On October 23, 2013 th
Bloordale Community Improvement Association
was formed. They've organized neighbourhood clean-ups and garage sales.

Bloordale Beach

Between May 2020 and September 2021, the unused grounds of

Brockton High School Brockton High School, established in 1870, is a high school located in Brockton, Massachusetts. It is a part of Brockton Public Schools. As of 2016 Brockton High School, with 4,029 students, is one of the largest high schools in the United States ...

was taken over by local artist Shari Kasman and an anonymous collaborator and turned into a combination guerrilla art installation and informal community hub that was known as Bloordale Beach.

References

External links

The Bloordale Village BIA (Business Improvement Area)
{{Coord, 43.659, N, 79.439, W, region:CA-ON_type:city_scale:12500, display=title Neighbourhoods in Toronto