Roncesvalles Avenue is one of my favourite areas of Toronto. I lived just west of there on Parkside Drive in the mid-1990s. The street is named after the Battle of Roncesvalles, which took place in the Roncesvalles Pass in Spain in 1813. (In Spanish the name ‘Roncesvalles’ means ‘valley of thorns’.)
Culturally, the area is known as the centre of the Polish community in Toronto with prominent Polish institutions, businesses and St Casimir’s Catholic Church. When I lived there in the 1990s there were lots of Polish restaurants and bakeries, as well as two second-run movie theatres–The Revue, and The Brighton. It was a really vibrant place, and probably still is.
This photo was taken diptych-style, a technique I still use to highlight juxtaposition. It appears in the photo book: Toronto Hi-Fi.