by Amy West

The phrase “Queen West” describes both the western branch of Queen Street, a major east-west downtown Toronto thoroughfare, and the series of neighbourhoods and commercial districts situated along it. The western end of Queen Street begins at the intersection of King Street, The Queensway, and Roncesvalles Avenue. It extends eastward in a straight line to Yonge, where it becomes Queen Street East.

Since 1793, when Sir Alexander Aitkin surveyed the area, Queen Street has had many names. For its first 60 years, many sections were referred to as Lot Street, but in 1851 the name was changed in honour of Queen Victoria.

Over the past 25 years, Queen West has become an international arts centre and a major tourist attraction. The area is one of Toronto’s most popular shopping districts and features trendy restaurants, cutting-edge fashion, galleries, antique shops, and dance clubs.

The area gained in trendiness when in 1980 the ornately decorated building at 299 Queen West was transformed into the CHUM-City Building – headquarters of Citytv, MuchMusic, Bravo!, and many other cable television and radio stations – and is now best known as a centre for Canadian broadcasting, music, performance, fashion, and the visual arts. Further east, Queen is dominated by institutional and cultural buildings such as old City Hall, Toronto City Hall, Osgoode Hall, and the Four Seasons Centre.

For decades Queen Street West was the home of the city’s artistic community. One of its popular events is the Queen West Art Crawl, an annual weekend-long festival celebrating the arts. For three days each September, the artists, organizations, and businesses of Queen Street West throw open their doors to the city and showcase their work.

Queen Street West and shopping have always gone hand in hand. Since the 19th century, Queen West at Yonge has been one of Toronto’s primary shopping destinations. Back then the Eaton’s and Simpson’s department stores faced each other, with the rivalry between them being as central to Canadian retailing as the Macy’s/Gimbel’s competition was to New York City’s retail history. The pedestrian crosswalk just west of the intersection of Queen and Yonge was one of the busiest in Canada, as thousands of shoppers comparison shopped everyday.

Today Eaton’s is gone, but the Eaton Centre, one of Canada’s most successful office and shopping complexes, remains at the same location. Simpson’s is also gone, but the historic building still stands and is now occupied by The Hudson’s Bay Company.

In the 1960s and early ’70s, the stretch of Queen between University and Spadina was an aging commercial strip known for greasy spoon restaurants and inexpensive housing. In the late 1970s and ’80s, students from the Ontario College of Art & Design transformed the area into an active music scene that largely defined Canadian music of its era.

The vibrant arts culture soon attracted other artists, audiences, and wealthier people to the area. Since then, the name Queen Street has become synonymous with the words trendy, cool, and, ultimately, expensive. Luckily a few of the older and hipper bars, such as the Cameron House, the Horseshoe Tavern, and The Rivoli, haven’t changed much, and top

Canadian musical and comedy acts are often still found performing in the area.

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Contact Laurin Jeffrey for more information