Toronto Gone – my days in The Junction

Dundas West and Mavety, Toronto, 1984 – © Avard Woolaver

The Junction is a neighborhood in west Toronto with the main intersection being Dundas and Keele. When I lived there in the 1980s, it was gritty and somewhat run down. It was still a dry area then–no alcohol could be sold or served. That meant there were no good restaurants, no bars, and practically no night life. It didn’t seem dangerous, though; just a working class neighborhood with lots of small Mom&Pop shops. It was known as Little Malta because of the large Maltese-Canadian community.

I used to walk around the neighborhood sometimes with my camera. It had a lot of character, a lot of tarnished charm. Living there for four years gave me the opportunity to feel at home, and relaxed. I remember the characters who hung out at Crazy Joe’s Flea Market and Poor Boy Restaurant, the tasty toasted western sandwiches at Mimmo’s Place, Vesuvio’s Pizzeria, the pungent smell from the stockyards when the wind blew the wrong way, and numerous parties and gallery openings at our studio. All of these are gone now.

The Junction has been completely revitalized. It’s no longer down at the heels. The elimination of prohibition in 2001 has been a positive change; there are now lots of cool bars and pubs along Dundas Street West. The Stock Yards is now a huge area of box stores. And the electric lines have all been buried, giving the streets a neater, cleaner look.

It’s been almost forty years since I lived there; time has a way of smoothing out the bad times and magnifying the good ones in a tide of nostalgia. And memories are notoriously fickle. The photos, however, do not change. They are documents, and tell a story of what it was like to live there.

Dundas West and Keele, Toronto, 1982 – © Avard Woolaver

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Dundas West and Medland, Toronto, 1985 – © Avard Woolaver

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Mimmo’s Place Restaurant, Toronto, 1983 – © Avard Woolaver

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Crazy Joe’s Flea Market, Toronto, 1983 – © Avard Woolaver

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Dundas Street West, Toronto, 1982 – © Avard Woolaver

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Ralph’s Barbershop, Toronto, 1983 – © Avard Woolaver

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View from New Image Gallery, Dundas St. West, Toronto, 1982 – © Avard Woolaver

4 Comments

  1. Always a pleasure to look at your photos, Avard.

    August 28, 2020
    • avardw said:

      Thanks so much, Robert. Stay safe in the pandemic.

      August 28, 2020
  2. Really like the junction images. Would love to see more!

    September 14, 2020
    • avardw said:

      Thanks so much. Lots of memories there for me.

      September 15, 2020

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