Little India | |
---|---|
Neighbourhood, BIA | |
Gerrard India Bazaar BIA | |
Coordinates: 43°40′18″N79°19′28″W / 43.67153°N 79.32441°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Ontario |
City | Toronto |
Gerrard India Bazaar, also known as Little India, is a commercial South Asian ethnic enclave in the Leslieville neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Known as the city's prime Little India and Little Pakistan, it consists of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali and Sri Lankan restaurants, cafés, grocery stores, and clothing stores catering to Toronto's Desi community.
The area of the bazaar has never housed a significant South Asian population, but it has historically served as a commercial centre for South Asians living in Greater Toronto and eventually established itself as one of the city's top cultural landmarks. It celebrates the annual Festival of South Asia in late August. [1]
The Gerrard India Bazaar Business Improvement Area (BIA) [2] sponsors events that appeal to the different South Asian groups that shop in the area: in 2004, Diwali, the Hindu and Sikh festival of lights, and Eid ul-Fitr, the Islamic feast day that marks the end of Ramadan, occurred around the same time in November. The BIA held a joint Diwali-Eid festival. [3]
Each July, the BIA holds its annual two-day Festival of South Asia, one of the largest South Asian festivals in North America. [4]
The neighbourhood is serviced by the 506 Carlton streetcar.
Toronto's Little India started in 1972 when businessman Gian Naaz rented (and later purchased) the Eastwood Theatre on Gerrard Street, which he named the Naaz Theatre, and began to screen Bollywood and Pakistani films, reputedly the first cinema in North America to exclusively screen South Asian films. [5] This attracted large numbers of Indo-Canadian visitors from across the Greater Toronto Area, leading to a number of new businesses opening to cater the South Asian community. The area expanded rapidly and to nearly 100 stores and restaurants spreading over a large stretch of the street between Greenwood Avenue to Coxwell Avenue. Despite there being few South Asians residents in that part of the city, Naz opened his theatre in the economically depressed, largely British-Canadian area because it was the cheapest venue he could find. [5]
The success of the theatre resulted in South Asian restaurants and retailers opening in previously empty storefronts as the area became a gathering point for South Asians in the 1970s and the Gerrard Indian Bazaar developed and thrived with daily visitors. [6] [7] The first of these restaurants was MotiMahal, which was opened by Gurjit Chadha and his wife in 1975, with the encouragement of friends. [8] By the 1980s, “Little India” was firmly established. The area contained approximately 100 South Asian shops and restaurants and received an estimated 100,000 tourists in 1984, including visitors from as far as Detroit. [6]
The growth of Little India was met with resistance from some in the largely British-Canadian adjacent neighbourhood with incidents of vandalism and racist violence in the 1970s. [5] With incidents escalating and shop owners feeling the police ignoring the crimes, in 1977 the South Asian community started an anti-racist taskforce to report racist attacks. [8] The Gerrard India Bazaar BIA was formed in 1982 to promote the area's businesses and coordinate events. [8]
The Naaz Theatre eventually closed in 1985 when introduction of VHS tape and Bollywood videos became more widespread. The theatre was revival in the 1990s but eventually closed and the lower levels were converted into a small mall, The India Centre. [8] In 2015 it was converted into a mix use building known as the Multani Village, with rental apartments and street level stores. [8]
While South Asian businesses continue to thrive along Gerrard Street, it lost its central position of South Asian commerce since the late 2000s as an increasing number of South Asian businesses opened in other parts of Greater Toronto to support the growing South Asian immigrant population in the region. Within Toronto, multiple neighbourhoods in Scarborough and Etobicoke contain high concentrations of South Asian businesses. Other developed or emerging South Asian neighbourhoods are also located in the surrounding cities of Mississauga, Brampton, Milton, Markham, Pickering, and Ajax.
Toronto Chinatowns are ethnic enclaves in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with a high concentration of ethnic Chinese residents and businesses. These neighbourhoods are major cultural, social and economic hubs for the Chinese-Canadian communities of the region. In addition to Toronto, several areas in the Greater Toronto Area also hold a high concentration of Chinese residents and businesses.
Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue, on the north by the CP Rail line where it crosses Queen Street and Dundas Street. It is bounded on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south, and on the south by Lake Ontario. The original village incorporated an area north of Queen Street, east of Roncesvalles from Fermanagh east to the main rail lines, today known as part of the Roncesvalles neighbourhood. The village area was roughly one square kilometre in area. The City of Toronto government extends the neighbourhood boundaries to the east, south of the CP Rail lines, east to Atlantic Avenue, as far south as the CN Rail lines north of Exhibition Place, the part south of King Street commonly known as the western half of Liberty Village neighbourhood.
Queen Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east–west avenues of Toronto's and York County's grid pattern of major roads. The western section of Queen is a centre for Canadian broadcasting, music, fashion, performance, and the visual arts. Over the past twenty-five years, Queen West has become an international arts centre and a tourist attraction in Toronto.
Gerrard Street is a street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It consists of two separate parts, historically referred to as Lower Gerrard and Upper Gerrard. The former stretches between University Avenue and Coxwell Avenue for 6 km, across Old Toronto. The latter portion starts 300 m north of Lower Gerrard's eastern terminus and runs between Coxwell Avenue and Clonmore Drive, between Victoria Park Avenue and Warden Avenue, in Scarborough for another 4 km.
Liberty Village is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered to the north by King Street West, to the west by Dufferin Street, to the south by the Gardiner Expressway, to the east by Strachan Avenue, and to the northeast by railway tracks.
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The Punjabi Market, also known as Little India, is a commercial district and ethnic enclave in Vancouver, British Columbia. Officially recognized by the city as being primarily a major South Asian, Indo-Canadian and Punjabi population business community and cultural area, the Punjabi District is roughly a six block section of Main Street around 49th Avenue in the Sunset neighbourhood.
Little India is an Indian or South Asian sociocultural environment outside India or the Indian subcontinent. It especially refers to an area with Indian residences and a diverse collection of Indian businesses. Frequently, Little Indias have Hindu temples, mosques, and gurdwaras. They may also host celebrations of national and religious festivals and serve as gathering places for South Asians. As such, they are microcosms of India. Little Indias are often tourist attractions and are frequented by fans of Indian cuisine, Indian culture, Indian clothing, Indian music, and Indian cinema.
Bloordale Village is a Business Improvement Area (BIA) located along Bloor Street from Dufferin Street to Lansdowne Avenue, west of downtown in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It sits on the southern border of the Wallace Emerson neighbourhood and the northern border of the Brockton Village neighbourhood. The district is home to various and unique shops including restaurants, bars, vintage and thrift stores.
The cuisine of Toronto reflects Toronto's size and multicultural diversity. Ethnic neighbourhoods throughout the city focus on specific cuisines, such as authentic Chinese and Vietnamese found in the city's Chinatowns, Korean in Koreatown, Greek on The Danforth, Italian cuisine in Little Italy and Corso Italia, Bangladeshi cuisine in southwest Scarborough and East York, and Indian/Pakistani in Little India. Other world cuisines available in the city include Portuguese, Hungarian, Japanese, and Caribbean. Toronto's large Jewish population has given rise to many Jewish restaurants and delis, with varying adherence to kosher rules.
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Downtown Yonge is a retail and entertainment district centred on Yonge Street in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Downtown Yonge district is bounded by Richmond Street to the south; Grosvenor and Alexander Streets to the north; Bay Street to the west; and portions of Church Street, Victoria Street, and Bond Street to the east. All property owners and commercial tenants within these boundaries are members of the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area association, founded in 2001.
Bloor West Village is a residential neighbourhood and shopping district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bordered on the south by Bloor Street, it encompasses all businesses along Bloor Street between South Kingsway and Ellis Park Road, consisting of more than 400 shops, restaurants and services, plus the residential neighbourhood to the north. The official City of Toronto name of the neighbourhood is Runneymede-Bloor West Village.
Little Portugal is a neighbourhood and ethnic enclave in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located west of downtown in the "Old" City of Toronto. It is bound on the west by Lansdowne Avenue, on the north by College Street, on the east by Ossington Avenue and on the south by the Go Transit and Union Pearson Express railway tracks. The area is mainly residential, with Portuguese businesses along Dundas Street West and College Street. The area west of Dufferin Street was a part of the former Town of Brockton. The area to the east of Dufferin and south of Dundas Street is also known as "Beaconsfield Village" dating back to the days of the sub-division of lots in the area around Beaconsfield Avenue.
Runnymede is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada located north of Bloor Street West between Jane Street and Runnymede Road north to Dundas Street West. It is located directly north of the former village of Swansea and west of the High Park North neighbourhood. The immediate area around Bloor Street is commonly known as Bloor West Village after the shopping area along Bloor Street, whereas the area to the north is considered the Runnymede neighbourhood.
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