Church-Wellesley Village

[dt_toronto_geek]

I think adding more bars and clubs would give Church St. the improvements it craves. The condo explosion has actually taken away from the street life there and rather having people walking around for a good time at all hours you have quiet streets and homeless or shady people (and it feels 10x more dangerous than it did even 10 years ago). More restos and supermarkets and coffee shops are great for daytime use but I find the life has been sucked out of the street at night because of bad planning. Prostitution has taken care of itself (because of the internet) but every time I'm on Church I get the feeling I'm just on Yonge St. East.

Only one condo has gone up on Church Street in the past 20 years (The Alexus) and it's done more good than bad in terms of animating the street than the parking garage/office building that used to be there with 2 or 3 retail stalls. A few bars have come and gone but all the old standby's remain plus a few more have opened along with food establishments that stay open later. A few more bars/clubs might be good but I think that Church Street between Alexander & Gloucester is better than it was even 10 years ago. The worry is what the future will bring to the neighbourhood if it over-develops as there is one proposal that concerns many and three other prime sites that are rumoured to be developed. I do agree that crime and a general feeling of "unease" has increased substantially in the past decade or so, especially late at night/early morning. Crack has become a real problem here. It's even worse from about May to September when homeless kids come from who-knows-where to panhandle, take and distribute drugs, cause havoc in the park at night and such.

 

[marathe]

@CanadianNational: Great mock-ups! One can only dream.

Just tear down that 'Zeldas' shack and rebuild somethin proper! Ughh.

That's crazy talk. There's an Acme Burger in there now. Give it a shot before you tear the mother down.

 

[DTowner]

Cool rendering! Before I had I ever been to 'the gayrea' (oh so long ago; sigh) that is very close to what I thought it would look like. I was very disappointed when I first saw it. Lol. Some trees would be nice. That could probably be done without having to get rid of any traffic lanes. It's not that difficult to zhush up a place and it needn't involve excessive bureaucracy, red tape and money (see Bloor St revamp).

If there isn't going to be a patio at the former Zelda's — sorry, but it would be a terrible waste. The patio brought life to that area in the summer. Now it'll just be a slab of concrete with burger wrappers strewn on the ground and panhandlers panhandling as people exit. Hopefully they pull something out of their hats and surprise us. x

 

[TwoDogs_39]

Cool rendering! Before I had I ever been to 'the gayrea' (oh so long ago; sigh) that is very close to what I thought it would look like....
x

Hah! Never heard of "gayrea" before. It's neat. But it sounds like an STD. =S

 

[adma]

"Gay Rea" is a Japanese brand of dairy products. Hey, there's always a place for racist ethnic humour

 

[marathe]

Great! Feed Me More is selling kittens and puppies again!

That means that the humane society and Toronto Animal Services are completely out of cats and dogs for adoption and aren't having to euthanize any of them.

No, wait. That's not it, its just an opportunity for a puppy/cat mill to vend its poorly born and ill socialized animals! Yay!

 

[Loozrboy]

Only one condo has gone up on Church Street in the past 20 years (The Alexus) and it's done more good than bad in terms of animating the street than the parking garage/office building that used to be there with 2 or 3 retail stalls.

It's been consistently (well, occasionally) bugging me for ages that can't remember what used to be on that corner, even though I'm pretty sure whatever it was was still there when I lived sort of nearby. I heard somewhere that it was an amenity / rec centre for the Village Green apartments?

I've looked for "before" pictures of the corner, but the only thing I've come up with is a little one here that's not much help. I don't suppose anybody here happens to have such a photo lying around to satisfy my curiosity?

(BTW that site hasn't been updated in about 15 years, so it does make kind of an interesting time capsule of the village as it was then... pity the pictures are so tiny).

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

It's been consistently (well, occasionally) bugging me for ages that can't remember what used to be on that corner, even though I'm pretty sure whatever it was was still there when I lived sort of nearby. I heard somewhere that it was an amenity / rec centre for the Village Green apartments?

I've looked for "before" pictures of the corner, but the only thing I've come up with is a little one here that's not much help. I don't suppose anybody here happens to have such a photo lying around to satisfy my curiosity?

(BTW that site hasn't been updated in about 15 years, so it does make kind of an interesting time capsule of the village as it was then... pity the pictures are so tiny).

I'll have to dig through my photographs to see if I have any pre-Alexus pictures of that corner.
I was never in there but I heard there was a gym in there that Village Green residents could get a discount in, around the '90's - not sure about before that. The street level had two or three retail outlets, in the end there was a small pet supply store, a dirty variety store that was a "Mac's Milk" at one time and perhaps something else. It had a lot of field-stone on the walls if memory serves. Above that were offices including some for CBC at some point, then there were two or three levels of parking. The whole place was pretty rundown. There were a few benches in front on Alexander Street under a couple of big, mature trees that got taken out. That was the only redeeming thing I recall about that whole complex.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Great! Feed Me More is selling kittens and puppies again!

That means that the humane society and Toronto Animal Services are completely out of cats and dogs for adoption and aren't having to euthanize any of them.

No, wait. That's not it, its just an opportunity for a puppy/cat mill to vend its poorly born and ill socialized animals! Yay!

I stopped buying in there for that very reason, along with the fact that the animals are corralled into small areas that are not cleaned nearly enough and the place reeks of urine and feces. I like to support local, independent businesses but Pet Smart wins over this place since they started with selling animals a couple of years ago.

 

[Loozrboy]

Thanks for the info, dt_toronto_geek. I find I have a really short memory for things like that... for the life of me I couldn't remember what they tore down to make that big rocky vacant lot by Wellesley station either, but I eventually found a picture of that (er, possibly in this very thread actually). I guess there's just so much of the city I don't really pay attention to or notice until it suddenly changes or disappears :-].

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Acme Burger is now open in the former Zelda's location. It was doing brisk business when I walked by around 2:15-2:30am and the patio (they're using half of it) was packed. There's still a "for lease" sign on the other half of the building and nothing has been done since I last looked in there a few weeks back, it looks like Tim Hortons isn't happening unfortunately.

 

[marathe]

I stopped buying in there for that very reason, along with the fact that the animals are corralled into small areas that are not cleaned nearly enough and the place reeks of urine and feces. I like to support local, independent businesses but Pet Smart wins over this place since they started with selling animals a couple of years ago.

There's a few decent pet stores in the vicinity - one up the street and one over on parliament.

I sincerely hope the scum that runs Feed Me More catch cancer and die screaming in a fire. I'm really irrational about animals at times: there's absolutely no reason to be selling pets in this city. None whatsoever.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

"Crepe it Up" will soon become "Cafe by Crepe it Up & Pavillion Pastries" in it's former spot combined with the adjoining space which used to be occupied by Yefseis.

 

[Loozrboy]

I'm kind of sad about Yefsies, because I discovered they made a pretty decent donair about one week before they closed for good.

 

[Peepers]

I'm kind of sad about Yefsies, because I discovered they made a pretty decent donair about one week before they closed for good.

Actually they added the Donair to their menu at my suggestion. I tried their Gyro when they opened which wasn't bad and suggested they could easily expand their menu and business by offering sweet Donair sauce. The last time I was in there they tried to serve it to me on a thin pita and charged extra when I asked for the authentic Greek pita. They were inept at business.

You should try out "Greek in the Village" just down the street. They have IMO the best Gyro downtown. Authentic Greek Pita PACKED with Gyro meat, $5.49 + tax (be sure to ask for extra tzatziki sauce). I mentioned to the owner that he should expand his menu by offering sweet Donair sauce in place of tzatziki sauce. Will see if he does.