AT THE CORNER OF THEN AND NOW

What if Toronto took the #10yearchallenge? With the help of Google Images, we reveal a city ‘reinventing itself,’

Ten years ago, the southwest corner of Bloor and Yonge Sts. had Stollerys, where thousands of Torontonians strolled in to buy things on the cheap. Honest Ed’s was still standing at Bathurst and Bloor Sts. and, while the iconic Sam The Record Man sign had come down, the Ryerson community didn’t yet have the state-of-the-art student centre at the corner of Yonge and Gould Sts.

As the #10YearChallenge sweeps over the social media world, a quick look at Toronto’s own history shows the city has seen much transformation over the past decade.

“Not only is the city getting denser and more diverse simultaneously, but it is changing in nature,” said veteran urban planner Ken Greenberg, whose upcoming book Toronto Reborn is about the city’s growth — vertically and socially, such as more people biking and using public spaces in innovative ways.

“The city essentially is reinventing itself,” he said. “This is our moment.”

Chief city planner Gregg Lintern said his pick for Toronto’s #10YearChallenge would be Regent Park.

“The revitalization means a more livable community where people are better connected to the city and to each other. At the most basic level, people needed better housing and access to services,” he wrote in an email to the Star.

But that gentrification also affects the character of neighbourhoods, said urban planner Cheryll Case, who grew up in Etobicoke and currently lives in the Junction.

She specifically remembers a Food Basics store that used to employ dozens of residents near Dixon Rd. and Kipling Ave. that has since closed, along with a Dollar Store, and coffee shop where she and other kids used to hang out.

“I really actually worry about what’s going to happen in the next 10 years,” Case said.

GOOGLE NOW A more recent photo from the same vantage point shows the scope of development in the area.

THEN Looking south on Beverley St., toward Queen St. W., with the CN Tower in the background.

Tall buildings like The One and One Bloor West have been added to the intersection’s skyline.

2009: Mill and Parliament Sts. in the Distillery District during construction.

2019: Mill and Parliament Sts. in the Distillery District, a decade later.

2009: Queen’s Quay and York St. You can hardly see any cyclists.

2019: Now, it’s a prime example of the waterfront revitalization.

2009: Remember Honest Ed’s, the bargaining store on Bathurst and Bloor?

2019: Honest Ed’s is now gone, and new construction is currently underway.