The Annex
Located south of Dupont Street to Bloor Street, west to Bathurst and east to Avenue Road, this heterogeneous community is made up of successful business people, prominent artists and lots of University of Toronto students and faculty. Going shopping? The most upscale boutiques in the country are on Bloor Street or nearby Yorkville. Something to eat? Try one of the hundreds of restaurants, pubs, or fast food joints in the area. Everyone in Toronto needs to cross Yonge and Bloor at some point. This neighbourhood IS the heart of Toronto.
The Annex was first subdivided in 1879 and was once a very elite neighbourhood of Toronto’s most affluent people before they migrated to newer more fashionable suburbs. The Annex’s first residents included the likes of Timothy Eaton of Eaton’s department store, and George Gooderham, the founder of Gooderham and Worts Distillery.
Today, The Annex remains one of Toronto’s premier neighbourhoods. The main shopping and social district on Bloor Street is lively and colourful day and night, and is teeming with independent boutiques, bookstores, food markets, travel agencies, trendy restaurants and bars and cafes. Includes international communities like Koreatown, which is a stretch of Bloor Street West between Christie and Bathurst Streets, known for its Korean restaurants, grocers and retailers (as well as an abundance of sushi bars). Although many people of Korean descent work in the area, in fact very few Koreans live in Koreatown. The area is also very popular with University of Toronto students.
Yorkville
It was a Bohemian paradise in the 60s, but today Yorkville is Canada’s pre-eminent shopping district. A dynamic, eclectic mix of luxury condos and apartments, commercial office towers and four-star hotels, theatres, gourmet restaurants, and prestigious shopping, Yorkville is where the moneyed go to spend. Many specialty stores, fashion boutiques, jewellery, antique and art galleries are all great destinations for tourists, locals, and Torontonians alike. Yorkville Public library is great for the local community meeting the literary needs of both children and adults alike. The Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library is close by.