King Street (Toronto)

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King Street and its intersection with Bay Street, the core of the Financial Business District of Toronto. The view is of the Toronto-Dominion Centre by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

This article is about the street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For other articles with the name King Street, see King Street.

King Street is a major east-west commercial thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street was named for King George III, the reigning British monarch at the time when the street was being built in early Toronto (then called the Town of York).

It runs from The Queensway, splitting off to the south-east from Queen Street West at Roncesvalles Avenue in the west, to the Don River where is merges and is absorbed by Queen St. in the east.

King Street is also served along its entire length by the Toronto Transit Commission's 504 King streetcar, the busiest line in the fleet with an average of 50,000 passengers per day. It connects with the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line at St. Andrew Station at University Avenue, and at King Station at Yonge Street. It connects with the Bloor-Danforth subway line at Dundas West and Broadview stations. The street is also served by the 508 Lakeshore car.

Popular attractions along King Street include:

• Roy Thomson Hall
• St. James' Cathedral (Toronto) (Anglican Church)
• St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
• Canada's Walk of Fame
• Princess of Wales Theatre - owned by theatre giant Ed and David Mirvish
• Royal Alexandra Theatre - owned by theatre giant Ed and David Mirvish
• Toronto Sun
• Le Meridian King Edward Hotel

Office towers on King:

• Toronto Stock Exchange
• Toronto-Dominion Centre
• First Canadian Place
• BCE Place
• Commerce Court, including the historic Commerce Court North

Neighbourhoods

• Parkdale (at Dunn)
• Liberty Village (at Dufferin)
• Trinity Niagara (at Bathurst)
• Entertainment District (at John)
• Fashion District (at Spadina)
• Financial District (at Bay)
• St. Lawrence (not actually on King but south of King at Jarvis)
• Old Town of York (at Parliament)
• Corktown (at Cherry)

Recently there have been a number of restaurants and clubs opening (such as West, Brant House, Lux, Old Yorke Pub and Grill, etc.) as King Street becomes more oriented to Toronto's nightlife crowd, and is near major attractions such as the Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome), Air Canada Centre, The Distillery District, Hockey Hall of Fame, Hummingbird Centre, and St. Lawrence Market.