Finch at nearly the top
Dublin Core
Title
Finch at nearly the top
Description
The following is an excerpt from Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto, Coach House Press, 2010
The condo towers begin to thin out at Finch, and the remainder of Yonge and North York is low-rise-and-bungalow-heavy. Though there are many buses running up Yonge at this point, the subway ending at Finch gives this bit a cut-off and farther-away feeling. All this is – or was – Newtonbrook, an early nineteenth-century village. Most traces of this historic village disappeared when the area was subdivided in the 1950s into a huge residential development. Lost, too, was the Methodist manse at the corner of Yonge and Hendon Avenue, where Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was born. His term as Prime Minister is partly responsible for Newtonbrook's contemporary multiculturalism. Today his intersection is home to the Finch subway station's Kiss-n-Ride depot, certainly a fitting memorial to the Nobel Prize–winning peacemaker.
At the end – or beginning – of Toronto, there is a store called Bidet4U. It welcomes travellers coming south along Yonge from Richmond Hill to the big city, where anything is possible and all manner of foreign toilet experience is easily available. Standing at the Steeles Avenue curb, where Yonge Street continues into the clutches of the rest of Ontario, we might be tempted to call this place the crossroads of nowhere, but it's as busy as Yonge and Bloor. Buses from York's Rapid Transit service, Viva, and standing-room-only TTC caravans pass by constantly. Even Brampton and Bramalea transit make their way through here.
The condo towers begin to thin out at Finch, and the remainder of Yonge and North York is low-rise-and-bungalow-heavy. Though there are many buses running up Yonge at this point, the subway ending at Finch gives this bit a cut-off and farther-away feeling. All this is – or was – Newtonbrook, an early nineteenth-century village. Most traces of this historic village disappeared when the area was subdivided in the 1950s into a huge residential development. Lost, too, was the Methodist manse at the corner of Yonge and Hendon Avenue, where Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was born. His term as Prime Minister is partly responsible for Newtonbrook's contemporary multiculturalism. Today his intersection is home to the Finch subway station's Kiss-n-Ride depot, certainly a fitting memorial to the Nobel Prize–winning peacemaker.
At the end – or beginning – of Toronto, there is a store called Bidet4U. It welcomes travellers coming south along Yonge from Richmond Hill to the big city, where anything is possible and all manner of foreign toilet experience is easily available. Standing at the Steeles Avenue curb, where Yonge Street continues into the clutches of the rest of Ontario, we might be tempted to call this place the crossroads of nowhere, but it's as busy as Yonge and Bloor. Buses from York's Rapid Transit service, Viva, and standing-room-only TTC caravans pass by constantly. Even Brampton and Bramalea transit make their way through here.
Creator
Shawn Micallef
Date
Dec 3/13
Files
Collection
Citation
Shawn Micallef, “Finch at nearly the top,” TPL Virtual Exhibits - Contribution site, accessed May 10, 2024, http://omeka.tplcs.ca/virtual-exhibits-contribute/items/show/99.