Jesse in Neighbourhood Explorer, Neighbourhoods
Lawrence West and Glencairn subway stations are located almost centrally in the neighbourhood. Thanks to five dependable bus routes that intertwine, travelling without a car is absolutely possible. The Lawrence Avenue exit off of Allen Road makes itself known well before it is actually seen. Bumper-to-bumper traffic is visible during the five o’clock rush hour from as far away as the bridge that extends over Highway 401, making underground and surface route transit seem easy as pie, and equally tempting.
Although Italian families make up the bulk of residents throughout the neighbourhood, it’s the Chinese
Bungalows form the backbone of Glen Park. However, on each street, and in all directions, renovation projects are underway. Remodelling season always aligns with the warmer months, generally April through September. You should not be surprised to find eager Glen Parkians tearing down roofs and rebuilding entire front walls in the middle of winter, so that their updated home will be ready for garden-party season. Deeper into the neighbourhood, approaching Lawrence, ranch-styled bungalows and back-spit homes ease into the style scheme as easily as do new two-storey, all-brick homes, which make an appearance, almost undetected, where bungalows used to sit. Open backyards and chain-link fencing allow dainty grape trellises and staked vegetable gardens to be seen from the quiet, slow streets they adjoin.
Spread across major streets in all directions and minutes from downtown, Glen Park caters to all. Ten schools, including two high schools and a Hebrew day school, are spread throughout residential pockets. Glen Long and Viewmount Community Centres are set far enough apart to allow an entire community access, yet close enough to allow ambitious children to brag about swimming in two pools within the same afternoon.
Glen Park is one of five neighbourhoods that make up Eglinton West Village. Each area contributes special and diverse characteristics to a unitary whole while elaborating on each of their unique attributes. Glen Park is the suburban slice within the menagerie.
Jesse Fleming is a freelance writer specializing in Toronto neighbourhoods.