Where do you want to eat?
My friend Giles Orr and I have made a Google Map showing all the restaurants, eateries, and bars on or near the north Yonge Street strip between Highway 401 and Finch Avenue in North York (Toronto).
Why? It began as a practical project to explore what culinary treasures there were in our neighbourhood, and record short reviews and photos for future reference.
It grew. We shared it with friends. Added further classification. A historical layer to show where you could eat out 50 years ago in 1968 Willowdale. A “deceased restaurants” layer, to keep track of places no longer with us.
As of today, there are an astonishing 210 eateries, including 8 grocery stores and 9 opening soon.
As the Google Map only allows for one classification type per location point, we’ve given each place a category for our purposes (e.g. take away vs. restaurants with seating, which is useful to us to know). There are:
30 take away, 29 “other” restaurants, 22 Chinese, 20 Korean, 14 dessert, 11 fusion (serving some combination of Japanese / Chinese / Korean / Vietnamese / Thai / North American), 10 sushi, 9 pizza, 8 tea rooms, 8 bars, 7 ramen, 7 coffee, 5 Japanese, 4 burger places, 3 bakeries, 2 Vietnamese, 2 Middle Eastern, and 2 Mexican
- Click/tap the frame symbol at top right to enlarge the map to full-screen (highly recommended). The arrow at top left opens the legend. In the legend, the down arrow under the red check mark opens the list of restaurant names.
The map project is ongoing, continually updated, and may grow further. Stay tuned, click on all the restaurants, explore, and enjoy!
Resources:
Toronto directories via Toronto Public Library: Might’s Greater Toronto City Director 1969 (for 1968 listings)
Open Government Data: Toronto Business Licenses (for opening and closing dates)
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