History Lesson

East York was formed on January 1st, 1924 known as the Township of East York, starting with 19,849 residents it has grown to 112,054 by 2006. East York amalgamated as part of the "Megacity" of Toronto in 1998. East York was a borough and before being amalgamated was the only borough in Canada, The area that was considered East York is huge but the area I grew up in is what is considered Old East York and stretches from the Don River in the west to Victoria Park Ave in the east. 

Movin' On Up

So I came to Canada when I was a year old, we moved on a quiet street Cedarvale Ave and I spent around 6 years there. (My house is the one of the left and the Cadillac was my dad's)

Then we moved literally up the street to Cedarvale and Mortimer we lived right above the store on the corner. We lived there for 14 years before we moved to where we are now. (see where I'm going with this?)

And for the last 4 years (will be 5 in January) we have been living on Barrington Ave on the 16th floor, we moved to the east side to that apartment in the sky.

  

And of course I have my piece of the pie (Its sour cherry cheesecake, not really pie but hey the Jeffersons were black so really no need to focus on details, the point is I have a slice of this delicious cheesecake)

What Can You Do In East York?

Better question is what CAN'T you do in East York? Lets take a look at some of the things you can do to pass the time.

Like swimming? Kiwanis Outdoor Pool has you covered.

Maybe you like to play Hockey, or Figure Skate? East York Arena is right next to the pool.

Stan Wadlow Park is directly behind both the arena and the pool, they have 3 baseball diamonds and hold a Canada Day Festival every year, a parade comes down Woodbine Ave and ends at the park. They also hold a fireworks show to end off the celebration.

 

A Few years ago they also added a skate park in Stan Wadlow, great place to hang out, maybe have a few beers in the summers and if your so inclined even skate.

Then of course there is local food shops to eat at like Diamonds Pizza. We have been coming to this place for almost 12 years now, when we were in junior high a slice of pizza and a pop was 2 bucks at lunch time.

Got 99 Problems But My Hood Ain't One

East York is a fairly quiet neighborhood, there isn't a whole lot of things that go on and if they do its all done very quietly. We don't have a drug problem in the area, violence exists but not to the same degree it does in other places (like Scarborough or Malvern) but we have had a few moments that were kind of WTF.

One such moment involved Kevin Madden, he went to junior high with us, he would hang out with us after school, we would go to his house for his birthday, typical stuff. The kid was always a bit out there but hey who is really normal anymore right? Well in 2003 Kevin decided he would kill his younger brother. WTF right? he was convicted of first degree murder and is currently serving a 10 year sentence, he was recently denied an appeal on the ruling.

East York In The News

Recently there have been a few mentions of East York in the news, we had a Hit and Run up the street from my building the police are looking for a suspect now. Look familiar?

 
 
First of all this sketch just looks all kinds of ridiculous, nonetheless that is roughly who police are looking for. He hit a 14 year old girl on Doncaster Ave. She was sent to the hospital with serious but non life threatening injuries. This happened on Wednesday December 5th around 5:30 and the man fled the scene in a white GMC pickup truck. Let's hope they find him soon (I also want to see if he looks anything like the sketch)