City Park and the Church–Wellesley Village Commemorative plaque, 2021.
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Resource ID
8680
Access
Open
Address
31 Alexander St, Toronto, ON M4Y 1B2
Credit Line
Heritage Toronto
Date of Creation
2021
Historical Themes
Program Category
Time Period
Caption
City Park and the Church–Wellesley Village Commemorative plaque, 2021.
Description
The Church–Wellesley Village emerged as a centre of Toronto’s gay life, and later the wider LGBTQ2S+ community, after the Second World War.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Toronto’s gay culture was centred around bars and nightclubs, particularly on Queen and King Streets downtown. The Letros Tavern and the Saphire Tavern hosted popular drag shows and other live entertainment.
The focus of gay life began to move to Yonge Street in the 1950s. Opened in 1955, City Park replaced houses demolished after the completion of the Yonge subway in 1954. The complex had many studio and one-bedroom units that were affordable for single young people.
The three City Park buildings became known locally as the Queens’ Palaces, a reference to the number of gay residents. The St. Charles Tavern and the Westbury Hotel’s Red Lion Room (nicknamed the Pink Pussy) were popular with people from the emerging Church–Wellesley Village.
City Park and later large housing developments, such as Village Green to the north, contributed to the social, political, and cultural conditions that allowed the Church–Wellesley Village to form and eventually flourish.
Marker lat / long: 43.663207, -79.382268 (WGS84)