Bloordale Beach was a guerrilla art installation and an informal community hub in the west end of Toronto, and since it was landlocked, was once described as "Toronto's only waterless beach". Bloordale Beach was located north of the

Dufferin Mall Dufferin Mall is a shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the west side of Dufferin Street, south of the intersection of Bloor Street West, in the Brockton Village neighbourhood. It was first built as a shopping plaza in the ...

between Croatia Street and Brock Crescent, on a site that previously used to be

Brockton High School Brockton High School, established in 1870, is a high school located in Brockton, Massachusetts. It is a part of Brockton Public Schools. As of 2016 Brockton High School, with 4,029 students, is one of the largest high schools in the United State ...

. It covered 118,400 square-feet. The beach was located on property owned by the

Toronto District School Board The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franco ...

. The beach closed in 2021 to make way for the new

Bloor Collegiate Institute Bloor Collegiate Institute (Bloor CI, BCI , or Bloor, originally Davenport High School and Bloor High School) is a public secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Bloor Street and Dufferin Street, in th ...

Usage

Bloordale Beach was co-created by artist

Shari Kasman Shari Kasman is a multidisciplinary artist and writer based in her hometown, Toronto, Canada. She is the creator of the guerilla art installation ''Bloordale Beach''. Education Kasman has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music from York Uni ...

and an anonymous collaborator in order to reclaim unused space for the public, and opened 25 May 2020. Public facilities included a dog gymnasium (officially called the Barkour Area), a "sea turtle nesting area," Bloordale Lagoon (essentially a large puddle that would form after heavy rainfall, a community garden, and occasional temporary art installations. Bloordale Meadow was located on the neighbouring lot, and had been previously known as the field for

. Bloordale Beach was used as a community hub and a throughway to cut across the space. Toronto garage punk psych rock band Wine Lips recorded a their music video ''Live At Bloordale Beach'' at the beach. It was also the set for an improv performance by Martin Helmut Reis that was filmed an debuted at the 2020 Improvisation Festival and Martin Reis' performance art American Lifeguard.

Critical reception

Bloordale Beach was described in

The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

as Toronto's "newest hot summer destination" and was ranked as the 9th best beach in Toronto on Tripadvisor.Toronto has 11 public beaches

In popular culture

Bloordale Beach was featured in the short documentary ''Bloordale Beach'' by Beth Warrian where it was described as a vision for reclaiming public space. The beach was the subject of the 2021 song "Bloordale Beach" by

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

punk-pop Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

band Pop Plug, and the 2021 song also called "Bloordale Beach" by Catjam. Pete Moss also made a song called �
Bloordale Beach
” AUS!Funkt, Canadian art-rock band, paid homage to the beach in the video for their song "Set Yourself Free".

Footnotes

References

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External links

Shari Kasman official website
Guerilla art and hacking art Works by Canadian people Culture jamming Street art