Eastern Avenue (Toronto)
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Eastern Avenue is an east-west street in Toronto, Canada. It runs from just east of Parliament Street in the downtown to just west of Coxwell Avenue, near the Beaches neighbourhood. The street was originally the eastern extension of King Street, but that street was realigned to run northeast and connect with Queen Street East. The King Street Bridge, which used to carry the street of the Don River was disconnected. Today, Eastern's east and west halves cross the Don River north of the old alignment via a large bridge which also forks out to form Richmond and Adelaide streets, and major entrance to downtown off of the Don Valley Parkway. As one of the oldest streets, Eastern does not conform to the city's grid system, and runs slightly northeasterly.
Eastern runs through what was once the heart of Toronto's most industrial area, the region just north of Toronto Harbour and the Portlands area. Today most of the factories have departed. Some do remain, notably the large Weston bakery. Several film studios have moved into the former industrial areas near Eastern and Carlaw, and this area is today billed as the Studio District. Eastern was also home to the headquarters of the Toronto chapter of the Hells Angels, until it was raided and confiscated by police in April 2007.[1]
The street was once the primary route to travel east out of Toronto. At its eastern terminus it now meets up at Kingston Road, once the main cross colonial route linking York to the other major Upper Canada settlement of Kingston.
Prior to 2000, however, Eastern Avenue did not meet up up directly with Kingston Road, but at a point a few hundred feet west of the intersection of Kingston Road and Queen Street. Only with the demolition of Greenwood Racetrack was Eastern Avenue extended to flow directly into Kingston Road.
The former terminus of Eastern Avenue still exists -- it is the small unnamed street that runs south off Queen Street between Coxwell and Orchard Park Avenues.
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