Willowdale is a neighbourhood in the city of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada, located in the district of
North York
North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...
. It developed from three postal villages: Newtonbrook, Willowdale and Lansing.
Willowdale began as a
postal village A postal village or post-village (p.v., P.V., PV or p-v) is generally a settlement that has a post office.
Definition and abbreviation
In North American usage, the term "post village" refers to a small community (a village) which has a post office. ...
(originally Willow Dale) which covered the area from
Finch Avenue
Finch Avenue is an arterial thoroughfare that travels east–west in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The road continues west into the Regional Municipality of Peel as Regional Road 2 and east into the Regional Municipality of Durham as Regional ...
at the north to Elmwood Ave at the south and
Bathurst Street at the west to
Bayview Avenue
Bayview Avenue is a major north–south route in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario. North of Toronto, in York Region, Bayview is designated as York Regional Road 34.
History
Bayview Avenue follows the first concession line, laid east of Yong ...
at the east. The village of
Lansing
Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, makin ...
was from Elmwood Ave. at the north to approx. Hwy. 401 at the south and Bathurst St. at the west to Bayview Ave. at the east. (East of Bayview Ave. was the village of Oriole.) The north–south center line of both Lansing and Willowdale was
Yonge Street
Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes.
Once the southernmost leg of provincial Hi ...
. The postal village of Lansing remained in existence until the post office at Lansing corner (northwest corner of Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave.) was closed. When a new post office was built in Willowdale, the postal addresses of Lansing and Willowdale were combined as the new postal village of Willowdale, within the Township of North York.
North York City Centre
North York City Centre is a central business district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the administrative district of North York. It is located along Yonge Street, between just south of Sheppard Avenue northward to Finch Avenue with its focus aroun ...
is centred at the intersection of Yonge Street and Empress Avenue/Park Home Avenue and is commonly thought to be the core of Willowdale, as well as North York itself, though its high-rise residential and commercial development sets it apart from much of the rest of Willowdale. The Willowdale neighbourhood consists of single-family homes, condominium townhouses and high-rise condominium towers. High density development is restricted to along Yonge Street.
History
Willowdale was first settled by
Jacob Cummer (Jacob Kummer), who immigrated to Canada from the United States in 1797. Cummer was a mill owner on the nearby
Don River
The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire.
Its ...
, a proprietor of a tinsmith shop on Yonge Street and a self-trained doctor and veterinarian. Cummer was held in such high esteem by his neighbours they called the area "Kummer's Settlement". Cummer Avenue is named for Cummer.
David Gibson, a distinguished land surveyor, was another leader in this community. Like most of his neighbours, Gibson participated in the ill-fated
Upper Canada Rebellion
The Upper Canada Rebellion was an insurrection against the oligarchic government of the British colony of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) in December 1837. While public grievances had existed for years, it was the rebellion in Lower Canada (p ...
of 1837. He was thus charged with high treason and escaped to the United States, where he found employment as the First Assistant Engineer on the building of the
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
.
![Gibson House with trees side view](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Gibson_House_with_trees_side_view.jpg)
Gibson returned to his Yonge Street farm in 1851, after being pardoned for his role in the Rebellion. He then helped to establish the "Willow Dale" post office, named after the many willow trees that once graced this district. Members of the Gibson family were still living in
Gibson House
Gibson House is a historical museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Yonge Street, in the North York Centre neighbourhood of the former city of North York.
History
The property was first acquired by David Gibson, a Scottish immi ...
in the 1920s when the residential subdivision of Willowdale began to take place. The Gibson House, built in 1851 in the Georgian Rival style, still stands in its original location at 5172 Yonge Street, and is now a historic house museum.
Opened in 1948,
York Cemetery was located in the southwest of the neighbourhood. Several notable individuals are interred there, including the
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (russian: О́льга Алекса́ндровна; – 24 November 1960) was the youngest child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and younger sister of Emperor Nicholas II.
Olga was raised at the ...
, and
Tim Horton
Miles Gilbert "Tim" Horton (January 12, 1930 – February 21, 1974) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburg ...
. The single-family homes range in age from the original 1910 to 1950s construction (one- and two-storey pre-war houses and modest one-and-a-half-storey postwar houses).
![Willowdale homes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Willowdale_homes.JPG)
Beginning on a large scale in the 1990s, very large replacement two-storey luxury homes were constructed on lots originally occupied by smaller houses. It is in this neighbourhood that the term "monster homes" was first applied by Torontonians.
In 2018, the
Toronto van attack
A domestic terrorist vehicle-ramming attack occurred on April 23, 2018, when a rented van was driven along Yonge Street through the North York City Centre business district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The driver, Alek Minassian, targeted ped ...
, the deadliest
vehicle ramming attack in Canadian history, occurred in Willowdale.
Willowdale United Church
This church (Cummer Chapel) was built on the northeast corner at Church and Yonge St. In at least the early 1920s, the northwest corner was occupied by St George's Anglican Church. The first church in Willowdale was called the Cummer Chapel, located at the northwest corner of what is now Yonge and Churchill. This log meeting house was built in 1816 by Jacob Cummer on part of his farm. He and other early members of the church are buried in the cemetery which remains on the site, now on the east side of Yonge Street. The Cummers, who were the first German loyalists and farmers from Pennsylvania, had Lutheran roots. However, they readily mixed in with and married people with Methodist and other roots. Thus the chapel was designated as non-denominational.
![Willowdale United Church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Willowdale_United_Church.JPG)
A large, yellow, brick and stucco church with a tall spire replaced the log building in 1856. It was called the Methodist Episcopal Church, and became part of the new
United Church of Canada
The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...
in 1925. Between 1931 and 1932, Yonge Street was widened and the front end of the church, facing west, was removed. The front door was relocated to the south side of the building. Following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, many veterans and their families began to settle in Willowdale. In 1946, the Rev. Welburn Jones became the minister of
Willowdale United Church Willowdale may refer to:
Communities Canada
''Alphabetically by province''
*Willowdale Estates, Alberta, a locality
* Willowdale, Halifax, Nova Scotia, a subdivision
* Willowdale, Pictou, Nova Scotia, a community
*Willowdale, Toronto, Ontario, a n ...
(WUC) and initiated a building program. In 1954 a substantial building was built on nearby
Kenneth Avenue
Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a b ...
.
In 1966, his successor, the Rev. Lindsay G. King, completed the program. The Rev. King spent the rest of his ministry, 27 years, at WUC. While he was the minister of WUC, the Rev. King wrote a regular column for the community paper and he was frequently heard on radio and television, including the CTV and the CBC. Because of his lifelong interest in bringing psychology, religion and health together, in 1973 he initiated the founding of the Family Life Foundation (FLF) of Willowdale, a registered charity encouraging the development of healthy community and family life.
Demographics
The Willowdale ward population is 118,800 with growth of 8.3% from 2011 census, Willowdale is an ethnically diverse community, with 61% of all Willowdale residents being immigrants as of 2016. Major ethnic groups in Willowdale include:
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
: 10.8%,
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
: 9.8%, and
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
: 7.2%.
While English is the mother tongue for 31.4% of the population, other languages with large numbers of speakers include:
Chinese: 12.3%,
Persian: 11.1%, and
Korean: 8.9%.
Willowdale number of households stand 49,955 where 43% of houses are constructed between 2001 to 2016. 61% of residents are home owners and 39% renters. Majority of the dwellings equal to 61.2% are apartment building that has over 5 or more storeys and 24.5% single-detached houses.
Education
![EHSS Outside](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/EHSS_Outside.jpg)
Two
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
school board
A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution.
The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...
s operate schools in Willowdale, the
separate Toronto Catholic District School Board
The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 40 prior to 1999) is an English-language public-separate school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada, headquartered in North York. I ...
(TCDSB), and the
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
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 ...
(TDSB). The headquarters for both TCDSB, and TDSB is located in the neighbourhood.
Both TCDSB, and TDSB operate public
elementary
Elementary may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001
* ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007
* ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977
Other uses in arts, entertainment, an ...
and
middle school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
s in the neighbourhood. TCDSB and TDSB institutions that offer
primary education
Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...
include:
* Avondale Public School (TDSB)
* Churchill Public School (TDSB)
* Cardinal Carter Academy of Arts (TCDSB)
* Claude Watson School for the Arts (TDSB)
* Finch Public School (TDSB)
* Hollywood Public School (TDSB)
* McKee Public School (TDSB)
* St. Antoine Daniel Separate School (TCDSB)
* St. Cyril Separate School (TCDSB)
* St. Edward Separate School (TCDSB)
* St. Gabriel Catholic School (TCDSB)
* Willowdale Middle School (TDSB)
* Yorkview Public School (TDSB)
TDSB operates two
secondary schools
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
in the neighbourhood,
Earl Haig Secondary School
Earl Haig Secondary School (EHSS), formerly Earl Haig Collegiate Institute is a public high school with 2,048 students in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition to being a public secondary school, the school is also host to the Claude Watson Art ...
and
Drewry Secondary School
Drewry Secondary School (abbreviated Drewry SS, DSS, or Drewry); formerly known as Lewis S. Beattie Vocational School and Lewis S. Beattie Secondary School is a small specialized vocational secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is locat ...
. TCDSB operates a specialized arts focused school (grades 7-12) in the neighbourhood, with other TCDSB secondary school students residing in Willowdale attending institutions in adjacent neighbourhoods. The French-
first language
A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
public secular school board,
Conseil scolaire Viamonde
The Conseil scolaire Viamonde (CSV) is a public-secular French first language school board, and manages elementary and secondary schools in the Ontario Peninsula and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The school board operates 41 elementary schools and ...
, and it separate counterpart,
Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir
Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir ( en, My Future Catholic School Board) is a Roman Catholic French first language public- separate school board that manages elementary and secondary schools in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The school board op ...
also offer schooling to applicable residents of Willowdale. Monseigneur-de-Charbonnel is a French-Language Catholic school (Gr. 7-12) operated by Conseil Scholaire de District Catholique Centre Sud, located on Drewry Avenue. Others can attend CSCM/CSV schools situated in other neighbourhoods in Toronto.
Recreation
![Mel Lastman Square (40565573280)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Mel_Lastman_Square_%2840565573280%29.jpg)
The neighbourhood is home to several public parks, including Bathurst Park, Edithvale Park, Finch Avenue Hydro Corridor, and Sheppard East Park. Parks in Willowdale are managed by the
Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division
Toronto Parks, Forestry & Recreation (PFR) is the division of Toronto's municipal government responsible for maintaining the municipal park system and natural spaces, regulation of and provision of urban forestry services, and the delivery of recre ...
. In addition to municipal parks, the
City of Toronto government
The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a rec ...
also manages
North York Central Library
North York Central Library is a Toronto Public Library branch located in North York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the two libraries in Toronto considered to be "Research and Reference Libraries", the other being the Toronto Reference Lib ...
, a branch of the
Toronto Public Library
Toronto Public Library (TPL) (french: Bibliothèque publique de Toronto) is a public library system in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest public library system in Canada, and in 2008 had averaged a higher circulation per capita than any other pu ...
. Located on
Yonge Street
Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes.
Once the southernmost leg of provincial Hi ...
,
Mel Lastman Square
Mel Lastman Square is a public square at North York Civic Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is named for then North York mayor (and later Toronto mayor) Mel Lastman. It was officially opened on June 16, 1989 by Norman Jewison and Mel Lastma ...
is a public square that hosts a number of events. The square is situated next to
North York Civic Centre
The North York Civic Centre is a municipal government of Toronto, municipal government building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1979 as the city hall of the former city of North York. It is located in North York City Centre.
Designed by ...
, a building used by the municipal government.
Toronto Centre for the Arts
The Meridian Arts Centre is a performing arts venue in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened on October 16, 1993, as the North York Performing Arts Centre and was designed by Canadian architect Eberhard Zeidler for musi ...
is also located nearby.
In addition to public amenities, the neighbourhood is also home to
Empress Walk
Empress Walk is a large Canadian condominium and retail complex at the intersection of Yonge Street and Empress Avenue in the North York Centre area of North York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was developed by Canadian-developers Menkes Developmen ...
, a condominium and retail complex that includes an
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
cinema operated by
Cineplex Entertainment
Cineplex Inc. (formerly Cineplex Galaxy) is a Canadian movie theatre and family entertainment centre chain headquartered in Toronto.
The company was formed in 2003 via the acquisition of Loews Cineplex's Canadian operations (which included ...
.
Transport
Several major roadways are situated in the neighbourhood. Yonge Street is a major north–south roadway, and a major commercial thoroughfare in Toronto.
Bathurst Street serves as the neighbourhood's western boundary, whereas
Bayview Avenue
Bayview Avenue is a major north–south route in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario. North of Toronto, in York Region, Bayview is designated as York Regional Road 34.
History
Bayview Avenue follows the first concession line, laid east of Yong ...
serve as the neighbourhood's eastern boundary. The neighbourhood's northern boundary is the Finch Avenue Hydro Corridor, situated just north of
Finch Avenue
Finch Avenue is an arterial thoroughfare that travels east–west in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The road continues west into the Regional Municipality of Peel as Regional Road 2 and east into the Regional Municipality of Durham as Regional ...
. The southeastern part of the neighbourhood is bounded by
Highway 401
King's Highway 401, commonly referred to as Highway 401 and also known by its official name as the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway or colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one,
is a controlled-access 400-series highway in the Canadian provin ...
, a major east–west
controlled access highway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
that passes through
Greater Toronto
The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...
. Other major roadways in the neighbourhood include
Sheppard Avenue
Sheppard Avenue is an east–west principal arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street has two distinct branches near its eastern end, with the original route being a collector road leading to Pickering via a turnoff, and the main ro ...
, an east–west thoroughfare.
Public transportation
Public transportation
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
in Willowdale is served by the
GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...
, the
Toronto Transit Commission
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...
(TTC), and
York Region Transit
York Region Transit (YRT) is the public transit operator in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters are in Richmond Hill, at 50 High Tech Road.
YRT operates 65 full-time, rush hour and limited routes, 35 school services, and six Viva bus ...
(YRT). The TTC operates several transit services in the neighbourhood such as the
Toronto subway
The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It is a multimodal transport, multimodal rail network consisting of three Pa ...
. There are four subway stations situated in Willowdale,
Bayview,
Finch
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...
,
North York Centre
North York City Centre is a central business district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the administrative district of North York. It is located along Yonge Street, between just south of Sheppard Avenue northward to Finch Avenue with its focus aro ...
, and
Sheppard–Yonge station
Sheppard–Yonge (formerly Sheppard) is an interchange station on Line 1 Yonge–University and Line 4 Sheppard of the Toronto subway. The station is located at the southern end of North York City Centre. It is the fourth-busiest station in the ...
. Bayview station provides access to the
Line 4 Sheppard
Line 4 Sheppard is the newest and shortest subway line of the Toronto subway system, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It opened on November 22, 2002, and has five stations along of track, which is built without any open sectio ...
subway, whereas Finch, and North York Centre stations provide access to
Line 1 Yonge–University
Line 1 Yonge–University is a rapid transit line on the Toronto subway. It serves Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, has 38 stations and is in length, making it th ...
. Sheppard–Yonge station serves as a major interchange station for Line 1 and Line 4.
In addition to the subway, the TTC also operates
bus routes
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
in Willowdale. TTC buses may be accessed at subway stations, and
bus stop
A bus stop is a place where buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelters, seating, and possibly electronic passenger ...
s located throughout the neighbourhood. In addition to the TTC, bus routes operated by
GO Transit
GO Transit is a regional public transit system serving the Greater Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario, Canada. With its hub at Union Station in Toronto, GO Transit's green-and-white trains and buses serve a population of more than seven millio ...
and
York Region Transit
York Region Transit (YRT) is the public transit operator in York Region, Ontario, Canada. Its headquarters are in Richmond Hill, at 50 High Tech Road.
YRT operates 65 full-time, rush hour and limited routes, 35 school services, and six Viva bus ...
may be accessed at Finch, and Sheppard–Yonge station.
Notable people
*
Andy Borodow
Andrew Mark Borodow (born September 16, 1969) is retired male wrestler from Canada. An Olympian, he won both the Maccabiah Games championship and the Commonwealth Games championship, and a silver medal in the Pan American Games. He was inducte ...
(born 1969), Olympic wrestler
*
Joseph Boyden
Joseph Boyden (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Irish and Scottish descent. He also claims Indigenous descent, but this is widely disputed. Joseph Boyden is best known for writing about First Nations culture ...
, author
*
Dean and Dan Caten
Dean and Dan Caten (né Catenacci; born December 19, 1964) are Canadian fashion designers, radio personalities, and businessmen. They are identical twin brothers and the founders and owners of Dsquared², an Italian luxury fashion house based in ...
, luxury fashion designers, founders of Italian fashion house DSQUARED2
*
Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib; July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968, at the re ...
, bassist, keyboardist and lead singer of
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
band
Rush
Rush(es) may refer to:
Places
United States
* Rush, Colorado
* Rush, Kentucky
* Rush, New York
* Rush City, Minnesota
* Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois
* Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream
* Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...
*
Alex Lifeson
Aleksandar Živojinović, (born 27 August 1953), known professionally as Alex Lifeson (), is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Rush. In 1968, Lifeson co-founded the band that wo ...
, lead guitar player of
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
band
Rush
Rush(es) may refer to:
Places
United States
* Rush, Colorado
* Rush, Kentucky
* Rush, New York
* Rush City, Minnesota
* Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois
* Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream
* Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...
*
David Clayton-Thomas
David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett, 13 September 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducte ...
, singer for
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura Ny ...
*
Dream Warriors, hip hop group
*
Frog Fagan
Harold "Frog" Fagan (November 3, 1940 – August 6, 1993) was a NASCAR Winston Cup driver from the Toronto subdivision of Willowdale, Ontario, Canada.
History
Harold Fagan is the son of Mrs. Yvonne Fagan (who was the owner of the ''Northway Res ...
,
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
Winston Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...
driver
*
Corey Haim
Corey Ian Haim (December 23, 1971 – March 10, 2010) was a Canadian actor. He starred in a number of 1980s films, such as '' Lucas'', ''Silver Bullet'', ''Murphy's Romance'', ''License to Drive'' and '' Dream a Little Dream''. His role alongsi ...
, actor who starred in ''
The Lost Boys
''The Lost Boys'' is a 1987 American supernatural black comedy horror film directed by Joel Schumacher, produced by Harvey Bernhard with a screenplay written by Jeffrey Boam, Janice Fischer and James Jeremias, from a story by Fischer and Jerem ...
''
*
Jimenez Lai, architect, lived on Cummer Avenue
*
Henry Lau
Henry Lau (; ko, 헨리; born October 11, 1989), often mononymously referred to as Henry, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor based in South Korea and China. He debuted in 2008 as a member of Super Junior-M ...
, singer, musician, and actor
*
Howie Mandel
Howard Michael Mandel (born November 29, 1955) is a Canadian-American comedian, television personality, actor, and producer. Mandel voiced the character Gizmo in the 1984 film ''Gremlins'' and the 1990 sequel '' Gremlins 2: The New Batch''. I ...
, comedian, actor, television host, and voice actor
*
Kirk McLean
Kirk Alan McLean (born June 26, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers. ...
, ice hockey player
*
Mark Napier, ice hockey player
*
Lloyd Robertson
Lloyd Robertson (born January 19, 1934) is a Canadian journalist and former news anchor who is special correspondent on CTV's weekly magazine series, '' W5''. Robertson served as the chief anchor and senior editor of CTV's national evening new ...
,
O.C., Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor of
CTV Television Network
The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...
's nightly newscast, ''
CTV News with Lloyd Robertson''
*
Seymour Schulich
Seymour Schulich, Order of Canada, OC ( , born January 6, 1940) is a Canadian businessman, investor, author, and philanthropist.
Biography
Schulich was raised in a Canadian Jews, Jewish family in Montreal, Quebec.[Dick Shatto
Richard Darrell Shatto (February 5, 1933 – February 4, 2003) was a professional Canadian football player for the Canadian Football League Toronto Argonauts. Shatto also served as the Argonauts general manager after his playing days with the cl ...]
,
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
player
*
Steve Shutt
Stephen John Shutt (born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and NHL Hall of Famer who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), 12 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens and 1 season for the Los Angeles King ...
, ice hockey player
In popular culture
*The opening line of the song "
The Necromancer" by
Rush
Rush(es) may refer to:
Places
United States
* Rush, Colorado
* Rush, Kentucky
* Rush, New York
* Rush City, Minnesota
* Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois
* Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream
* Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...
is: "As grey traces of dawn tinge the eastern sky, the three travelers, men of Willowdale
r Willow Dale emerge from the forest shadow". Two of the three travelers is a reference to
Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib; July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968, at the re ...
and
Alex Lifeson
Aleksandar Živojinović, (born 27 August 1953), known professionally as Alex Lifeson (), is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Rush. In 1968, Lifeson co-founded the band that wo ...
, both of whom grew up in Willowdale.
See also
*
Willowdale (electoral district)
Willowdale is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. It is the riding with the biggest Korean Canadians, Korean com ...
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Neighbourhoods in Toronto
North York