The Ongoing Evolution of Bloor & Yonge

Writing and photo by guest contributor Louis Papa.

I used to go the Uptown Theatre a lot when I was young. I loved it. It was a big, old-style theatre, and just a short walk outside to one busy intersection. To me, there was nothing better than coming out of a good movie and walking up to Yonge & Bloor and feeling like I was part of a big city. Of course, that was me, when I was just 12 years old. Now, most Torontonians, including myself, would laugh at the thought of Yonge & Bloor representing them and this city.

But that's about to change for quite a few people.

Already under construction on Balmuto, just behind Yonge St. and south of Bloor, are both the Uptown Residences Condominium and the Crystal Blu. Both are huge, with plenty of units, and are very expensive. Also, just down the street on Charles, two more Condos are going up: Casa and the Bloor Street Neighbourhood. But all of that is just a warm-up and a sideshow for what will eventually hit the famed intersection of Yonge & Bloor - 1 Bloor East.

Most of us by now have seen the news clips, watching them skeptically as people waited (and even slept) in line, to buy a unit (for the brokers that were paying them, of course). And by now we've all walked by the Harvey's and the City Optical and the Ritz Caribbean Foods and seen them emptied and gutted.

But on May 29th, Bazis International, alongside councilor Kyle Rae, will take another step forward in the process of making the monster rise by demolishing everything on the block.

More interestingly though, they're going to raise a huge plasma screen (10 feet tall by 6 feet wide) on the corner and show a hundred years worth of history in pictures about the intersection.

And so it is. In a few short years, Yonge & Bloor is going to be home to hundreds of more people. Possibly even thousands. Things are going to change. And if you're at all interested in what the intersection looked like in the past and what it looks like now, head on down there on the 29th and catch a glimpse of it all while you can. Before it becomes somebody's backyard.