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Barrie, yes, for it exists on a lake and north of the dead zone. The dead zone being suburbia far from The Lake.
I don't go up there for any reason, have no friends in the northern suburbs, find it soul-crushing, and hate the odd contract we get up there. Call me melodramatic, but I swear, York Region suburbia is where people go to have their life's essence sucked out of them. *shudder*
York Region will be ground zero when the housing bubble pops. Full of people that are over leveraged. And they think they're on the level of Oakville, their not.

Well, is it not?
technically yes, but in this case it's not in the old city borders.
 
Not using a strictly east of Don definition, and with several "exceptions":

Although the west side also has its share of similar housing specifically built for the working class, there are streets and neighbourhoods which accommodated other social stratas. For example, Beverley Street (where the Art Gallery Of Ontario is located), Palmerston Boulevard, Crawford Street and Beaconsfield Avenue were affluent merchant class enclaves, ringed by The Annex, Dufferin Grove, Parkdale (in its day) and High Park. Because the geography of the Don Valley River served as a natural obstacle to urban growth, the west side expanded first and farther based on the housing needs of all markets, resulting in an impressive range of domestic architecture built from 1860 thru the 1920s. Except for Jarvis and Sherbourne Streets (originally extremely affluent), Prime Cabbagetown (also block busted in part by St James Town in the 1960s), Playter Estates and sections of Prime Riverdale, most east side land (specifically east of the Don) were cheaply developed to house the working class. Whereas the west side organically evolved over decades into a diverse urban fabric, larger areas of the east side rapidly developed into a domestic landscape that, on completion, was visually plain and economically homogeneous (albeit culturally vibrant with the life cycles of Greektown, Chinatown and Little India). As long as the economic homogeneity continued to perpetuate, the value of property would be hindered. It wouldn't be until gentrification took a firm hold of the east side with more middle class buyers shaping the social makeup that the east side would change, causing property values to rise.

http://www.urbaneer.com/blog/why_torontos_east_side_real_estate_has_historically_been_cheaper
 
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Christopher Hume, also using an east of Yonge definition, describes the east side as "red hot", but also notes that this development isn't at the expense of the west side:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/08/15/east_end_toronto_a_developers_dream_hume.html

I generally go with the commonly accepted old Toronto west of Bathurst definition for the west end and old Toronto east of the Don for the east end. Though I do sometimes distinguish between the eastern (i.e. Cabbagetown, St. Lawrence, Regent Park) and western parts (condoland, Entertainment Distirict, U of T) of downtown since they do have quite different feels. That being said, I don't think Yonge St. represents that much of a divide and it seems silly to think of say, Bay St., as the "west side."

One thing to note as well is that though east of the Don developed later than the west end did, the oldest part of the city (literally Old Town Toronto) is east of Yonge and the original city center (and parliament buildings) was around Parliament St. and then the city center shifted westward. Thus, the shift into the west end feels more gradual, while the shift into the east end is a sharper one.
 
This popped up on reddit this morning:

Chromolithograph of Toronto, 1893

Chromolithograph_of_City_of_Toronto_1883.JPG
 

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On a GTA perspective, I would think the Pickering nuclear power plant is a factor in influencing people to stay "west"
I live in the west side now but grew up on the east side. Will I consider moving back? Yes.
 
Has Queen West not been "the place" for at least 30 years now? (I'm 29, so I actually don't know. I know it was when I was 15)

Sure, but the definition of 'Queen West' is now a lot further west. Even in the '90s, the 'Shoe, Bamboo, maybe just west of Spadina bars were 'Queen West'. My wife worked on Dufferin below King and it sure as heck wasn't a trendy part of town -- it was cheap digs for a theatre troupe. Now, Trinity-Bellwoods or Roncy or Ossington are 'Queen West'.
 
Not using a strictly east of Don definition, and with several "exceptions":



http://www.urbaneer.com/blog/why_torontos_east_side_real_estate_has_historically_been_cheaper
What would you consider prime riverdale?
Christopher Hume, also using an east of Yonge definition, describes the east side as "red hot", but also notes that this development isn't at the expense of the west side:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/08/15/east_end_toronto_a_developers_dream_hume.html

I generally go with the commonly accepted old Toronto west of Bathurst definition for the west end and old Toronto east of the Don for the east end. Though I do sometimes distinguish between the eastern (i.e. Cabbagetown, St. Lawrence, Regent Park) and western parts (condoland, Entertainment Distirict, U of T) of downtown since they do have quite different feels. That being said, I don't think Yonge St. represents that much of a divide and it seems silly to think of say, Bay St., as the "west side."

One thing to note as well is that though east of the Don developed later than the west end did, the oldest part of the city (literally Old Town Toronto) is east of Yonge and the original city center (and parliament buildings) was around Parliament St. and then the city center shifted westward. Thus, the shift into the west end feels more gradual, while the shift into the east end is a sharper one.

Interesting points.
 
Sure, but the definition of 'Queen West' is now a lot further west. Even in the '90s, the 'Shoe, Bamboo, maybe just west of Spadina bars were 'Queen West'. My wife worked on Dufferin below King and it sure as heck wasn't a trendy part of town -- it was cheap digs for a theatre troupe. Now, Trinity-Bellwoods or Roncy or Ossington are 'Queen West'.

For my cohort, the "it place" was Queen from Spadina to Bathurst....as late as just three or so years ago. Though, it has always been a bit fluid. I live at almost-Parkdale, just south of Queen now and as hyped up as it is, it's a rather dull and overplayed version of what this all was as little as 5 years ago.
 
I posted some figures here earlier based on federal ridings and wards in the 1921 census. I have tallied up figures for these areas for the 1941 census as well (based on census tracts).

Using the 1911 census as a cutoff point, we can see that most of the east end, North Toronto and the northwest fringes of the Old City developed mostly after 1911. What we can call the "inner city" (Dovercourt to the Don River south of Bloor, more or less the city's boundaries from incorporation in 1834 until the 1880s) saw growth peter out after 1911. The area from the Parkdale and Brockton annexations was mostly built up by 1911 and growth petered out after 1921.

In contrast, the riding of York East (all of the city east of Pape and south of Danforth) had little population until after 1901 and saw its greatest population growth (in raw numbers) between 1911 and 1921 and continue to grow after 1921. North Toronto developed even later, mostly after 1921. The Junction is a bit earlier than either but also saw its greatest growth between 1911 and 1921.

Here are populations for selected areas, 1901, 1911, 1921 and 1941:

Riverdale 11,179; 24,387; 33,747; 44,297
Parkdale and Brockton 27,549; 67,954; 91,186; 94,591
York East 4,633; 28,151; 66,204; 85,835
Junction 6,091; 18,860; 34,938; 44,908
North Toronto (1911 and 1941) 5,362; 72,953

North Toronto was part of York South riding which also included everything north of the Danforth as well as the Earlscourt and Dovercourt annexation of 1910. The combined population of these areas was 2,883 in 1901, 13,631 in 1911, 44,907 in 1921 and 126,477 in 1941.
 
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Going back even further...

"The westward spread of York, which had left the original town so undeveloped, had come about because of several factors. Most obvious were the unhealthy swampy areas on the town's eastern margins around the outlets of the Don River, which was already known as Ashbridge's Bay. But there were also positive reasons for the spread of the town to the west. Old Fort York (then usually called the Garrison), situated on the western Military Reserve which extended west from Peter Street, exerted a pull which became stronger when the provincial legislative buildings were moved to the west end. Yonge Street, opened by Simcoe's Queen's Rangers in 1796, provided another reason for the shift westward. It became the main route north to Toronto's rich agricultural heartland, stretching up to Lake Simcoe and potentially beyond to Penetanguishene on Georgian Bay. Yet another factor in the town's westward expansion was the pleasant lakeshore running from the mouth of the Don River towards the Garrison. Paralleling this strand, Front Street, then edging the habour, rapidly became the preferred residential location of many of the most prominent citizens. Finally, as road conditions began to improve in the years immediately before incorporation, Queen (Lot) Street, which was then the road leading to Dundas Street and the west, began to exert a north-westerly pull away from the original town plot. Consequently, by 1834 the growth of the city had resulted in a fairly solidly built up area stretching along the east-west axis of King Street, from Simcoe's town to York Street. West of York Street, a series of semi-built up areas continued on to Peter Street and the Garrison."

- from Frederick A. Armstrong, A City in the Making (p. 17)
 

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