Portugal Village, Toronto

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Portugal Village is a colourful inner city neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bounded by Bathurst Street, Dundas, and Queen Street West, and by Trinity Bellwoods Park, around which the community is centred. This is the heartland of Toronto's large Portuguese community (mostly originally from the Azores and Madeira islands), and many local Portuguese-Canadian businesses are located along Dundas Street West, continuing west into Little Portugal, this stretch further west along Dundas is fittingly known as Rua Açores.

Trinity Bellwoods Park was the original site of Trinity College, one of the colleges that now make up the University of Toronto. The college building, which was completed in 1852, stood roughly at the centre of the park, and remained there for just over 100 years. Today the only remaining artifacts of the school are its restored gates at the south end of the park.

By 1900, the college and its picturesque surroundings attracted residential development. Most of the surrounding streets were filled in with tall, narrow houses, which were popular at the time. Many of the former residents of the area were middle to upper-class, but as they moved on to more distant suburbs, the area's population was replaced by a burgeoning Portuguese population, many of whom arrived in the 1950s. Men would generally arrive first, obtain work, and would later bring their wives and children once they had established themselves. People were attracted to the area because of its abundance of affordable homes and its proximity to public transport and jobs.

Currently, this area is in the process of gentrification, following its surrounding neighbourhoods. Many of the Portuguese residents, as they become more affluent, are moving to the suburbs, and in their place a new, young generation are taking their place.

The businesses along Dundas Street reflect these changes, with sports bars and social clubs becoming trendy (if tiny) restaurants, bars and brunch places. These are an intriguing mix of intentionally down market shabby-chic and extensively renovated high design. It still remains to be seen if the area's recent popularity can be sustained in the long term.