Queen Street West is a street and a series of districts in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It begins at the intersection of King Street, The Queensway, and Roncesvalles Avenue. It extends eastward in a straight line to Yonge Street where it becomes Queen Street East and at Victoria Park and Queen streetcars stopping at a loop at Neville Park Boulevard. Queen Street was used as the cartographical baseline for establishing the orientation of the east-west avenues of Toronto's grid pattern of streets. }|135px|City of Toronto, Ontario Official Flag]]|Coat Image=[[Image:{{{Coat Image}}}|135px|City of Toronto, Ontario Coat of Arms]]}} {{Canadian City/Disable Field={{{Disable Motto Link}}}}} Motto: Diversity Our Strength {{Canadian City/Location Image is:{{{Location Image Type}}}|[[Image:{{{Location Image}}}|thumbnail|250px|City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Location. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Area 1,076,395 km² (4th)  - Land 917,741 km²  - Water 158,654 km² (14. ... King Street is a major road in Alexandria, Virginia, and the heart of Old Town Alexandria. ... Yonge Street in Toronto before a marathon Yonge Street (pronounced young), located in Ontario, Canada, is a major arterial street in Toronto and a provincial highway. ... Queen Street can refer to: Queen Street in Brisbane, Australia Queen Street in Auckland, New Zealand Queen Street in Ottawa, Canada Queen Street in Toronto, Ontario. ... East is most commonly a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. ... Several places are named Victoria Park: Victoria Park, Aberdeen, Scotland Victoria Park, Bath Victoria Park, Auckland, New Zealand Victoria Park, Christchurch, New Zealand Victoria Park, East London, England Victoria Park, Glasgow Victoria Park, Hong Kong Victoria Park, Inverness Victoria Park, Leicester Victoria Park, London, Ontario Victoria Park, Plymouth, England Victoria...

Evolution of the area

Since its original survey in 1793 by Sir Alexander Aitkin, commissioned by John Graves Simcoe, Queen Street has had many names. For its first sixty years, many sections were referred to as "Lot Street", but in 1851 it was rechristened "Queen Street" after Queen Victoria of England. 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... John Graves Simcoe (February 25, 1752 - October 26, 1806) was the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada (modern-day southern Ontario plus the shoreline of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior) from 1791-1796. ... Victoria of the United Kingdom - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ...

"Queen West" is local vernacular that refers vaguely to the collection of neighbourhoods that have coalesced around the thoroughfare. At one time, these were ethnically-based neighbourhoods, but gentrification over the past twenty years has forced immigrant populations to move to more affordable areas of the city. This once impoverished part of Jersey Citys historic downtown is quickly becoming gentrified. ...

The area between University and Spadina Avenues was home to a cultural nexus in the 1980s. This area was once home to "greasy spoon" restaurants, decrepit bars and inexpensive housing, but was transformed by local students of the Ontario College of Art & Design, and an active music scene that included key figures such as Martha and the Muffins, Jane Siberry, Blue Rodeo, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Parachute Club, Spoons, Blue Peter, The Viletones, The Pursuit of Happiness and Dalbello. Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Canada. ... Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... The Ontario College of Art & Design is Ontarios premier school devoted entirely to art and design. ... Martha and the Muffins were a Canadian new wave synth pop band in the 1970s and 1980s. ... Jane Siberry (born October 12, 1955 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. ... Blue Rodeo is a six-man Canadian country rock band formed in 1984 in Toronto . ... Mary Margaret OHara is a Canadian singer-songwriter, who has been hailed as one of the greatest cult heroines in rock music despite having released very few of her own recordings. ... Parachute Club was a Canadian band formed in Toronto in 1983. ... Blue Peter were a Canadian new wave synthpop band in the early 1980s. ... The Pursuit of Happiness are a Canadian rock group, who were one of Canadas most successful independent bands in the 1980s. ... Lisa Dalbello (born 1958 in Woodbridge, Ontario) is a Canadian recording artist. ...

The pedigree of their activities attracted wealthier and wealthier people to the area. Since then, the name "Queen Street" has become synonymous with the words "trendy", "hip", "cool" and ultimately, "expensive". This is usually what Torontonians now refer to as "Queen West" when they speak the name.

A movement by local citizens to rename the area "Soho" after a side-street in the area has never been taken seriously by the municipal government. Some people compare the "Queen West" experience with that of New York's SoHo or London's Soho. State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th)  - Land 122,409 km²  - Water 18,795 km² (13. ... This article is about the district of Greater London. ... Greater London and the Regions of England. ... This article is about the district of Greater London. ...

As rents rose, most artists began moving westward along the five kilometer thoroughfare. In the early 1990s, the new vogue area became "West Queen West". This area was associated with the Goth revival that hit Toronto during the same timespan. Night clubs such as Sanctuary, Catacombs, Freak Show, Savage Garden, The Bovine Sex Club and The Velvet Underground catered to this group of individuals. Occupying the same area, between Spadina Avenue and Trinity Bellwoods Park, is Toronto's Fashion District. Many individuals of the Goth subculture took advantage of the cheap textiles to make their own distinct style of clothing that was unavailable on the Toronto market. In the later 1990s, high-priced clothing stores opened in the same area to capitalize on this clientel. Events and trends Technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft Windows operating system becomes virtually ubiquitous on IBM... This article is about the contemporary goth subculture. ... Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Canada. ... Trinity Bellwoods Park is located on the west side of downtown Toronto, Ontario Canada, bordered by Queen Street West on the south and Dundas Street on the north. ... In biology, a subculture in a population of a microorganism is when one microbe colony in such a population is transferred onto blank growth medium and allowed to freely reproduce. ...

"West Queen West" has since stopped serving its mid-1990s Goth clientele and now caters mostly to urbanites. "Wallpaper*"-styled fashion businesses, such as Coupe Bizzarre (http://www.coupebizzarre.com/,), Parallel, and EQ3 serve newly moneyed, fashionable young adults.

Between Trinity Bellwoods Park and Dufferin Street is the Gallery District. For this one kilometre stretch, nearly every storefront is a gallery. Major players in the development of this phenomenon include Katherine Mulherin and DeLeon White. One of the causes of this gallery conglomeration was the conversion of an old building into Gallery 1313, with extensive financial assistance by the city. This excess of gallery space allows Toronto artists of all ability to show their work at a low cost. Trinity Bellwoods Park is located on the west side of downtown Toronto, Ontario Canada, bordered by Queen Street West on the south and Dundas Street on the north. ... Dufferin Street is a north-south route in Toronto. ...

Unlike the boutique-oriented storefronts of the eastern portion of the street, the Gallery District contains an abundance of space available for special events. The lack of retail in the area, however, creates a void of weekday traffic.

The Gladstone Hotel is one of few pre-existing fixtures in the area that has been able to capitalize on this boon. The grand, old railroad-era hotel has over the years fallen into disrepair and barely maintained itself renting boarding-house style accommodation. The tavern on the first floor is now home to a weekly "Art Bar", where locals from the art community converge to socialize. The Drake Hotel, a high-class hotspot in the '20s turned flophouse in the '80s, has also been recently restored to its former glory with $6 million in funds. In 2004, the Gladstone began undergoing renovations in hopes of achieving the same level of success.

Past the Queen Street Subway (a railway underpass) in the 1100 block, Queen Street West makes its way through what is called Parkdale Village. This still remains one of Toronto's poorest neighbourhoods, with an abundance of social housing on the south side of Queen Street, as well as soup kitchens and day centres toward Sorauren Avenue. For the federal electoral district see Parkdale (electoral district) Parkdale, which was annexed by Toronto in 1889, was once an elite residential suburb home to large Victorian mansions and views of Lake Ontario. ...

The viability of the housing stock on the north side, however, has made it possible for young professionals to raise property values. Nevertheless, one can still find ethnically-oriented businesses in this part of the city, which stay in business as a result of the constant influx of immigrants, which inhabit residential areas on the south side.

Recently, local taverns have been hired by members of Toronto's art community to hold their social events.

Like many other gentrified areas of Toronto, the original "Queen West" is now home to expensive boutiques, GAP stores and hair salons, as well as the CHUM-City Building. This article is about the clothing retailer. ... The CHUM-City Building The CHUM-City Building is the headquarters of CHUM Limited, a Canadian media corporation. ...

Lower Queen TTC line

Under Queen Street is a little-known urban artifact. In the 1940s, the Toronto Transit Commission proposed to construct, in addition to a rapid-transit subway under Yonge Street, a second tunnel under Queen Street that would allow the PCC streetcars from certain routes to avoid other traffic as they ran through central areas. The Queen subway would run from Trinity Bellwoods Park in the west to Broadview Avenue in the east. This two-line plan was approved by referendum in 1946, but when hoped-for funding from the Government of Canada did not materialize, the Queen line was postponed. In the 1960s, the TTC decided that a subway to replace the crowded Bloor Street streetcars would be more valuable, as after the construction of the Yonge line most of the passenger traffic had moved north with the subway. While the Queen line remained on the list of proposals into the 1970s, it was never a priority again. Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the V1 flying bomb and the first ballistic missile, the... The Toronto Transit Commission, or TTC, is a public transportation authority that operates buses, streetcars, and rapid transit lines in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... This page refers to urban rail mass transit systems. ... Yonge Street in Toronto before a marathon Yonge Street (pronounced young), located in Ontario, Canada, is a major arterial street in Toronto and a provincial highway. ... A Twin Cities Rapid Transit PCC streetcar in museum operation. ... a historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888 A streetcar is a railway vehicle designed to carry passengers on tracks, usually laid in city streets. ... A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around the world. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution...

However, when the Yonge subway was being constructed in the early 1950s, the shell of an east-west station for the Queen line was built under its Queen station, and passenger flows within the station were laid out on the assumption that it would eventually be an interchange. In the 1990s, some of the space was reused for a pedestrian passage when the subway station was being made wheelchair-accessible, but the rest of the empty station shell remains to this day. More information and pictures of "Lower Queen" and other secret subway stops can be found at Transit Toronto (http://transit.toronto.on.ca/transit.cfm?tt=subway&id=5006). Queen Street West is also served by Osgoode station. The Yonge-University-Spadina Line is the oldest subway line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. ... Millennia: 1st millennium - 2nd millennium - 3rd millennium Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. ... Queen is a station on the Yonge-University Spadina line of the Toronto subway. ... Events and trends Technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology Reduction in size and cost of mobile phones leads to a massive surge in their popularity Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K) Microsoft Windows operating system becomes virtually ubiquitous on IBM... Wheelchair seating A wheelchair is a device used for mobility by people for whom walking is difficult or impossible, due to illness or disability. ... Accessibility is a general term used to describe how easy it is for people to get to, use, and understand things. ...

Even without the subway, the 501 Queen streetcar remains one of the TTC's busiest and longest streetcar routes; it runs every six minutes in each direction (traffic permitting) and is one of only two lines to use the articulated double-length ALRV streetcars.

See also

• List of neighbourhoods in Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada is called the city of neighbourhoods because of the strength and vitality of its many communities. ...

External Links

• A line on a map: Queen Street History (http://www.rbebout.com/queen/2pline.htm)