Little Italy, Toronto
| Little Italy | |
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| Neighbourhood | |
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 Approximate Little Italy boundaries |
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| Coordinates: 43°39′18″N 79°24′47″W / 43.655°N 79.413°WCoordinates: 43°39′18″N 79°24′47″W / 43.655°N 79.413°W | |
| Country |
 Canada
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| Province |
 Ontario
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| City |
 Toronto
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Little Italy, sometimes referred to as College Street West, is a district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its numerous Italian Canadian restaurants and businesses. There is also a significant Latin-Canadian and Portuguese-Canadian community in the area. The district is centred on a restaurant/bar/shopping strip along College Street, centred at the intersection of College and Grace Streets and the adjacent residential area, but spreading out between Ossington Avenue and Dufferin Street. The exact borders of the district are imprecise. The area south of College to Dundas Street is almost always considered part of Little Italy. The area north of Harbord Street is known as Palmerston or Bickford Park.
College Street was fully laid out in the area by 1900 and the area was filled with buildings from the early 1900s. College Street is fronted by two- and three-storey buildings, with commercial uses on the ground floor and residential or storage uses on the upper floors.
From Manning Avenue to the east to Shaw Street to the west, there are numerous sidewalk cafes, including Cafe Diplomatico, Bitondos Pizza, Bar Italia, Riviera Bakery, and Sicilian Ice Cream. Two nightclubs have opened on the block between Shaw and Crawford, and there is a small plaza and supermarket on the south side of College between Shaw and Crawford Street. The curved street between Grace and Crawford was laid out with larger sidewalks. This section was laid out at a later date to cross Garrison Creek, which was eventually buried under Crawford. The wider sidewalks have allowed more extensive cafe patios in this area.
A tourist attraction of the area is the Italian Walk of Fame. Granite and brass stars line the sidewalk with the names of noteworthy Italian Canadians. At Clinton Street, on the north side, is the Royal repertory cinema, which was recently renovated and has an upgraded projection system as it is used for movie editing purposes during the day and repertory cinema in the evenings. While the commercial units are dominated by cafes and restaurants, there are numerous other small businesses serving the neighbourhood.
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Wikipedia