Mount Dennis
Portage Gardens Park
400 Sidney Belsey Crescent
The walk begins at this quaint park that has playground equipment and a trail that exits to a pathway along the Humber River, leading southward towards Eglinton Avenue.
Vedanta Society of Toronto
120 Emmett Avenue
This is a Toronto branch chapter of the Ramakrishna Order, one of the largest religious orders in India. The Toronto branch chapter was originally inaugurated in November 1968 by Swami Ranganathanadaji, as a way to satisfy the desires of many recent Hindu immigrants to Toronto to study and practice Vedanta. The Order has over 160 other centres located all over the globe.
Eglinton Flats
101 Emmett Avenue
Eglinton Flats is a large parkland located on what used to be land owned and farmed by the Scarlett Family in the mid 1800s. It was turned into parkland after the area was flooded by Hurricane Hazel in 1954. Today the park features six soccer fields, four field hockey pitches, a football field, tennis courts, and a community garden.
Pam Lostracco Artbox
Northeast Corner of Eglinton Avenue West and Emmett Avenue
Artist Pam Lostracco's playful utility box mural depicts the exact image of the park behind it, making the box look transparent from certain angles. The colourful stripes give the illusion of an entryway, inviting the viewer to walk through the artwork.
Gladhurst Park
2 Elhurst Court
A park featuring the local gem Topham Pond, which contains wetlands and natural fish habitats, as well as areas for fishing and sitting. The pond is home to many species of fish, including largemouth bass, black crappie, pumpkinseed, brown bullhead, common carp and northern pike.
Daniel Young and Christian Giroux 'Nyctophilia'
1038 Weston Road
'Nyctophilia' is an art installation by Daniel Young and Christian Giroux and consists of 10 utility poles with 36 attached street lights that extend out in different directions. It functions as a marker of the boundary for Mount Dennis, as a gathering place and as a neighbourhood safety feature, lighting up at night in rotating colours. The word nyctophilia describes a person who prefers night and darkness.
Nick Sweetman 'The Pollinators' Mural
1148 Weston Road
Designed and painted by artist Nick Sweetman on the exterior of a local coffee shop, the mural represents the Mount Dennis community's push to become an eco-friendly neighbourhood with depictions of bees pollinating a variety of flowers. The upper half of the mural portrays a skyline referencing the neighbourhood's urban environment.
Welcome to Mount Dennis Sign and Emanuel Ciobanica Mural
1156 Weston Road
On the north corner of Mount Dennis' busiest intersection, a metal banner reads Welcome to Mount Dennis with a small patch of sidewalk and seating behind it. Located on the wall behind the seating is a mural painted in 2014 by Emanuel Ciobanica, which depicts the nearby Humber River and other natural features of the area with children playing in the trees and flowers. Large rocks ornament the seating area and complement the imagery in the mural.
Alex 'Bacon' Lazich Mural
1162 Weston Road (mural viewable at back of building along Eglinton Avenue West)
This mural painted by local artist Alex 'Bacon' Lazich depicts a beautiful natural scene inspired by nearby Topham Pond. A local business owner, impressed by other murals in the neighbourhood, offered the back walls of the building for a mural, and the Mount Dennis BIA commissioned local artist Bacon to paint it. Bacon studied many of the local animals found along the Humber River, and incorporated an egret, an owl, and a red-winged black bird into his design along with some abstract floral elements.
UrbanArts
5 Bartonville Avenue East
UrbanArts is one of the City of Toronto's six Local Arts Service Organizations (LASO), and has been serving its local community for over 30 years. It provides artistic development, training and employment opportunities for local artists and community members of York. UrbanArts runs programs in a range of disciplines including culinary, digital, media and visual arts, as well as performance arts including theatre, dance and music. The organization focuses on building inclusive and engaged communities and enriching the lives of community members through arts and culture. UrbanArts operates two facilities. At their Mount Dennis facility, they run programs in their dance studio, media lab, music studio and full kitchen. UrbanArts also hosts a number of events, including the ThrowDown Dance Convention, CultureShock Community Arts Festival, Block Party and the semi-annual Beats Mind Movement.
Bala Avenue Community School
6 Bala Avenue
Built in 1913, Bala Avenue Community School was the second school in the Village of Mount Dennis. The original school includes beautiful decorative brickwork. Today, the school is part of a Provincial Collaborative Inquiry that focuses on infusing First Nations, Metis and Inuit perspectives into the curriculum - this includes teaching and providing instruction in Ojibwe for students from kindergarten to grade five. The school also offers extracurricular cooking classes for preparing traditional First Nations foods and clubs for learning traditional drumming. The school offers the International Languages Elementary Program on Saturdays to give students the opportunity to learn additional languages and appreciate other traditions, customs and cultures. The school is developing an Outdoor Learning Space, which will include a garden planted with traditional medicines.
Explore Mount Dennis
Now is the time for residents to experience all that tourists have been raving about for years. Discover shops, stops, places and spaces on city main streets. Stay curious, Toronto.
We want to hear from you! Click here to complete a short survey
Don't Miss
Explore FREE Public Art Across the City. Toronto's Year of Public Art 2021-2022 is a year-long celebration of Toronto's exceptional public art collection and the creative community behind it.
We hope that you enjoyed exploring this Toronto neighbourhood and found many other points of interest along the way. While StrollTO highlights some of the 'hidden gems' in the neighbourhood, there may be others that could be included in a future edition. Would you like to share a point of interest that you discovered in the neighbourhood? Email us at [email protected].
Neighbourhood Stroll
This stroll passes through the Mount Dennis BIA and explores large greenspaces like the Eglinton Flats and Gladhurst Park, a colourful mural at the corner of Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue West, and community landmarks like Bala Avenue Community School and UrbanArts.
- Portage Gardens Park
400 Sidney Belsey Crescent
The walk begins at this quaint park that has playground equipment and a trail that exits to a pathway along the Humber River, leading southward towards Eglinton Avenue.
- Vedanta Society of Toronto
120 Emmett Avenue
This is a Toronto branch chapter of the Ramakrishna Order, one of the largest religious orders in India. The Toronto branch chapter was originally inaugurated in November 1968 by Swami Ranganathanadaji, as a way to satisfy the desires of many recent Hindu immigrants to Toronto to study and practice Vedanta. The Order has over 160 other centres located all over the globe.
- Eglinton Flats
101 Emmett Avenue
Eglinton Flats is a large parkland located on what used to be land owned and farmed by the Scarlett Family in the mid 1800s. It was turned into parkland after the area was flooded by Hurricane Hazel in 1954. Today the park features six soccer fields, four field hockey pitches, a football field, tennis courts, and a community garden.
- Pam Lostracco Artbox
Northeast Corner of Eglinton Avenue West and Emmett Avenue
Artist Pam Lostracco's playful utility box mural depicts the exact image of the park behind it, making the box look transparent from certain angles. The colourful stripes give the illusion of an entryway, inviting the viewer to walk through the artwork.
- Gladhurst Park
2 Elhurst Court
A park featuring the local gem Topham Pond, which contains wetlands and natural fish habitats, as well as areas for fishing and sitting. The pond is home to many species of fish, including largemouth bass, black crappie, pumpkinseed, brown bullhead, common carp and northern pike.
- Daniel Young and Christian Giroux 'Nyctophilia'
1038 Weston Road
'Nyctophilia' is an art installation by Daniel Young and Christian Giroux and consists of 10 utility poles with 36 attached street lights that extend out in different directions. It functions as a marker of the boundary for Mount Dennis, as a gathering place and as a neighbourhood safety feature, lighting up at night in rotating colours. The word nyctophilia describes a person who prefers night and darkness.
- Nick Sweetman 'The Pollinators' Mural
1148 Weston Road
Designed and painted by artist Nick Sweetman on the exterior of a local coffee shop, the mural represents the Mount Dennis community's push to become an eco-friendly neighbourhood with depictions of bees pollinating a variety of flowers. The upper half of the mural portrays a skyline referencing the neighbourhood's urban environment.
- Welcome to Mount Dennis Sign and Emanuel Ciobanica Mural
1156 Weston Road
On the north corner of Mount Dennis' busiest intersection, a metal banner reads Welcome to Mount Dennis with a small patch of sidewalk and seating behind it. Located on the wall behind the seating is a mural painted in 2014 by Emanuel Ciobanica, which depicts the nearby Humber River and other natural features of the area with children playing in the trees and flowers. Large rocks ornament the seating area and complement the imagery in the mural.
- Alex 'Bacon' Lazich Mural
1162 Weston Road (mural viewable at back of building along Eglinton Avenue West)
This mural painted by local artist Alex 'Bacon' Lazich depicts a beautiful natural scene inspired by nearby Topham Pond. A local business owner, impressed by other murals in the neighbourhood, offered the back walls of the building for a mural, and the Mount Dennis BIA commissioned local artist Bacon to paint it. Bacon studied many of the local animals found along the Humber River, and incorporated an egret, an owl, and a red-winged black bird into his design along with some abstract floral elements.
- UrbanArts
5 Bartonville Avenue East
UrbanArts is one of the City of Toronto's six Local Arts Service Organizations (LASO), and has been serving its local community for over 30 years. It provides artistic development, training and employment opportunities for local artists and community members of York. UrbanArts runs programs in a range of disciplines including culinary, digital, media and visual arts, as well as performance arts including theatre, dance and music. The organization focuses on building inclusive and engaged communities and enriching the lives of community members through arts and culture. UrbanArts operates two facilities. At their Mount Dennis facility, they run programs in their dance studio, media lab, music studio and full kitchen. UrbanArts also hosts a number of events, including the ThrowDown Dance Convention, CultureShock Community Arts Festival, Block Party and the semi-annual Beats Mind Movement.
- Bala Avenue Community School
6 Bala Avenue
Built in 1913, Bala Avenue Community School was the second school in the Village of Mount Dennis. The original school includes beautiful decorative brickwork. Today, the school is part of a Provincial Collaborative Inquiry that focuses on infusing First Nations, Metis and Inuit perspectives into the curriculum - this includes teaching and providing instruction in Ojibwe for students from kindergarten to grade five. The school also offers extracurricular cooking classes for preparing traditional First Nations foods and clubs for learning traditional drumming. The school offers the International Languages Elementary Program on Saturdays to give students the opportunity to learn additional languages and appreciate other traditions, customs and cultures. The school is developing an Outdoor Learning Space, which will include a garden planted with traditional medicines.
Accessibility information: Most of this stroll takes place along streets and paved paths. However, there may be some unpaved paths and uneven surfaces along the Humber River trail from Portage Gardens Park, in Eglinton Flats, and in Gladhurst Park.
The StrollTO itineraries may follow routes that do not receive winter maintenance. Please review winter safety tips and for more information contact 311.
Soundtracks of the City
From global superstars to local favourites and ones to watch, the Soundtracks of the City playlists all feature artists who have called Toronto home. Whether it’s a lyric about the neighborhood, an artist representing a cultural community, or a tie-in to the StrollTO itinerary itself, all the music reflects connections to an individual ward or the City as a whole.
Music was chosen based on an artist’s Spotify presence and each song’s broad appeal, as well as its associations with the cultures, languages and ethnicities that reflect Toronto’s neighborhoods and diverse music scene. Soundtracks of the City combines 425 songs that feature more than 500 different local artists or acts, showcasing songs in 23 different languages.