THE BEACHESUrban pleasures, natural beauty MAP ONE N Kenilworth Ave Lee Avenue Coxw Dixon Ave Bell Brookmount Rd Wheeler Ave Wheeler Waverley Rd Waverley Ashland Ave Herbert Ave Boardwalk Dr Lockwood Rd Elmer Ave efair Ave efair O r c h ell A ell a r d Lark St Park Blvd Penny Ln venu Battenberg Ave 8 ingston Road K e 1 6 9 Queen Street East Queen Street East Woodbine Avenue 11 Kenilworth Ave Lee Avenue Kippendavie Ave Kippendavie Ave Waverley Rd Waverley Sarah Ashbridge Ave Northen Dancer Blvd Eastern Avenue Joseph Duggan Rd 7 Boardwalk Dr Winners Cir 10 2 Buller Ave V 12 Boardwalk Dr Kew Beach Ave Al 5 Lake Shore Blvd East W 4 3 Lake Ontario S .com _ gd Legend n: www.ns Beach Front Municipal Parking Corpus Christi Beaches Park/Balmy Bellefair United Church g 1 5 9 Catholic Church Beach Park 10 Kew Gardens . Desi Boardwalk One-way Street d 2 Woodbine Park 6 No. 17 Firehall her 11 The Beaches Library p Bus, Streetcar Architectural/ he Ashbridge’s Bay Park Beach Hebrew Institute S 3 7 Route Historical Interest 12 Kew Williams Cottage 4 Woodbine Beach 8 Waverley Road : Diana Greenspace Recreation & Leisure g Baptist Church Writin Paved Pathway BEACH_0106 THE BEACHESUrban pleasures, natural beauty MAP TWO N H W Victoria Park Avenue Nevi a S ineva m Spruc ca Lee Avenue Kin b Wheeler Ave Wheeler Balsam Ave ly ll rbo Beech Ave Willow Ave Av Ave e P e Crown Park Rd gs Gle e Hill e r Isleworth Ave w o ark ark ug n Manor Dr o o d R d h R h Rd Apricot Ln Ed Evans Ln Blvd Duart Park Rd d d d 15 16 18 Queen Street East 11 19 Balsam Ave Beech Ave Willow Ave Leuty Ave Nevi Hammersmith Ave Hammersmith Ave Scarboro Beach Blvd Maclean Ave N Lee Avenue Wineva Ave Glen Manor Dr Silver Birch Ave Munro Park Ave u Avion Ave Hazel Ave r sew ll Fernwood Park Ave Balmy Ave e P 20 ood R ark ark Bonfield Ave Blvd d 0 Park Ave Glenfern Ave Violet Ave Selwood Ave Fir Ave 17 12 Hubbard Blvd Silver Birch Ave Alfresco Lawn 14 13 E Lake Ontario S .com _ gd Legend n: www.ns Beach Front Municipal Parking g 13 Leuty Lifesaving Station 17 Balmy Beach Club . Desi Boardwalk One-way Street 14 Kew Beach Park Boathouse 18 The Fox Cinema d her p Bus, Streetcar Architectural/ 15 Kew Beach United Church 19 Church of St. Aidan he S Route Historical Interest 16 The Glen Stewart Ravine 20 R.C. Harris Filtration Plant : Diana Greenspace Recreation & Leisure g Writin BEACH_0106 THE BEACHES Urban pleasures, natural beauty How to get there Points of interest By TTC: Take the 501 streetcar west from Corpus Christi Catholic Church. “Blue Flag” program: an the Queen Street subway station to any 1 Built in 1926, this church international award for stop between Coxwell and Neville Park. possesses a very large indoor maintaining high standards for By Car: Depending on the time of year as mural painted by noted water quality, safety, beach well as the time of day, parking can be tricky. Canadian painter (and onetime maintenance, and environmental There’s street parking (with ticket purchase) Beaches resident) William education and outreach. except for certain hours, and there are several Kurelek (1927-1977). 5 Beaches Park/Balmy Beach small “Green P” parking lots dotted along Park. The City began acquiring Queen St. E., such as: 2 Woodbine Park. The Woodbine Racetrack operated at this privately-owned land and water • Lee Ave. south of Queen E.; location from 1874 to 1993, lots in 1921, demolishing more than 200 houses and a number • Hammersmith Ave. north of Queen; and the prestigious Queen’s Plate was run there from 1883 of private boathouses to make • three small parking lots 1/2 block south of to 1955. Over the years, the way for Beaches Park, which Queen just west of Woodbine; Park has hosted a great variety opened in 1932. Balmy Beach • Eastern Ave. between Coxwell and Queen. of events—including “Buffalo Park was created in 1903, and Bill’s Wild West Show” in 1885. has enjoyed a close relationship The racetrack was renamed with the Balmy Beach Club (see “Greenwood Raceway” when Point 17) since the very Woodbine opened in its current beginning. location in Toronto’s 6 No. 17 Firehall. After the Great northwestern suburbs in 1956, Toronto Fire destroyed much of and the old track closed in the downtown core in 1904, the 1993; the area was Toronto Fire Department began subsequently redeveloped as to evolve from groups of residential housing and volunteers into today’s parkland. professional organization. No. 17 was built in 1905, taking 3 Ashbridge’s Bay Park. This park is named after Sarah Ashbridge, over from the volunteer fire a United Empire Loyalist brigade that had been operating There are also two fairly large parking lots south originally from Philadelphia, at Queen and Lee since 1891. of Lakeshore Blvd. E.; both of these provide who settled here in 1793. A 7 Beach Hebrew Institute. easy access to the parkland by the lake. In the Quaker widow with two sons, Commonly known as “The summer, however, you’ll need to get there early she obtained a Crown land grant Beaches Shul”, the Institute to find a spot. for a farm in 1799; the family purchased a small brick-and- lived there until the last son continued on next page timber structure (built in 1895) died in 1861. The waterfront from Kenilworth Baptist Church park you see today officially in 1920 (see Point 8 for the opened in 1977. early history of this building). Several years after the purchase, 4 Woodbine Beach. In 2005, Woodbine Beach became one of the façade was rebuilt in the the first beaches in North traditional “Shtibel” style, America to be recognized by the adding the arched entrance, g windows, and parapet. continued on next page See Map 1 for points 1-12. See Map 2 for points 13-20 Photo: © Bill Kin BEACH_0106 Urban pleasures, natural beauty THE BEACHES Why you should go The Beaches offers all the best features of More points of interest a small resort town just 15 minutes from downtown Toronto. With more than 400 unique boutiques, spas, restaurants, cafés, 8 Waverley Road Baptist Church. After 12 Kew Williams Cottage. Built in 1902 and pubs between Lockwood and Neville the congregation outgrew their by Kew Williams, the youngest son Park, you’ll find everything from building on Queen at Kenilworth, of landowner Joseph Williams (see homemade ice cream to fine dining, from they commissioned a new, grander Point 10), the stone cottage was antiques to one-of-a-kind gifts, from spa building on nearby Waverley, which sold along with Kew Gardens to the services to homemade pet-treats. But what opened in 1908. The old building City in 1907. Used by the park truly sets The Beaches apart from every (see Point 7) was used at various superintendent for many decades, other neighbourhood in Toronto is the times as a warehouse and the cottage is now used for special proximity to the parks along Lake Ontario: community centre for more than a events such as art exhibitions. decade. As land along Queen St. with kilometres of sandy beaches, a 13 Leuty Lifesaving Station. One of the became more valuable, the building boardwalk, biking/rollerblading paths, and most photographed landmarks in was raised off its foundations on landscaped gardens, this is a lovely place The Beaches, Leuty Station has Queen, moved several hundred feet to visit at any time of year. The Beaches been the scene of more than 6,000 south on Kenilworth, and rotated to also offers quiet, tree-lined streets with successful rescues. In response to face east; the old church then gracious Victorian mansions and charming the changing shoreline, the Station found new life as the Beach 19th century beach-houses and cottages. has been moved four times since it Hebrew Institute. Whether you’re looking for a unique gift, a was built in 1920. In the 1990s, it mouthwatering pastry, an energetic 9 Bellefair United Church. Originally was a run-down structure facing workout, or a peaceful stroll along the built in 1906 as the “Beach demolition; local residents refused beach, this area has it all. Methodist Church”, work on the to let it go without a fight, and current Neo-Gothic structure began formed S.O.S. (Save Our Station), What to do in 1914. You have to go inside to which raised the money to restore see the most unusual and lovely this important historic building. Shopping, dining, and outdoor recreation feature of this church: three huge are the main attractions of this “resort 14 Kew Beach Park Boathouse. stained-glass skylights in the town” inside Toronto. There’s so much to Constructed in 1932, this once- sanctuary. see and do in The Beaches that you pretty structure originally stood should expect to spend at least four 10 Kew Gardens. In 1853, Joseph right on the water; in 1954, hours here; if the weather is good, you Williams opened Kew Farms in the however, Hurricane Hazel smashed can easily spend a whole day browsing Queen/Lee area; in 1879, he into Toronto—and the Boathouse. through boutiques, enjoying a delicious transformed part of his property What Hazel left behind (not much meal, and strolling along the Boardwalk into “The Canadian Kew Gardens”, more than the roof and walls at and picturesque sidestreets.