junctionist
Senior Member
Dundas and Keele, of course, is the best starting point. If you go west, you'll see the more gentrified and vibrant part of the Junction currently, with many great businesses, restaurants, and cafes. Some have become icons, like Vesuvio's or Crema. There's a Little Malta towards Runnymede. Going east of that intersection is like the west in built form, but more up and coming and with its share of struggling people. Some social services are provided along this stretch up to Dupont, but it's diverse, with a sports bar, a few cafes and restaurants, lawyers, a bike shop, and many different businesses overall.
If you go north from that intersection, you'll find the railway and industrial lands. Mulock Avenue is an distinctive several hundred metres of houses and factories right beside each other, with mature oak trees. There are still some very industrial places in the north end, gritty like they're almost out of Victorian times like on Cawthra or Glen Scarlett Avenue, though recent redevelopment is smoothing this over. If you like urban geography, you can walk up Junction Road to West Toronto Diamond, the busy railway junction from which the neighbourhood's name is derived. There's a massive silo that's the remnant of a large milling operation with its own abandoned street still shown on Google maps: Monarch Road, and a mound that offers a view of it all, framed by one of the diamond's curving interchange tracks.
If you go south from my recommended starting point, you find Annette, the Junction's church street with an impressively large collection of churches, almost one on every block. There's also a Carnegie library.
It's up to what you want to see. The Junction has been a diverse and urban place for most of its history. When starting at Keele and Dundas, be sure to note the stone building on the northeast corner. It's the work of celebrated New York firm Carrere and Hastings.
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