Sunnyside Amusement Park

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Sunnyside Amusement Park was a popular amusement park located to the west of the Exhibition Grounds and along Lake Ontario in Toronto, Ontario, at the foot of Roncesvalles Avenue where it meets King Street and Queen Street. It operated from the early 1920s to 1950s and was demolished to facilitate the building of the Metro Toronto Gardiner Expressway project in 1958.

Its name originates in a local farm owned by John Howard, which was situated just to the north, on the location of the current St. Joseph's Medical Centre. Sunnyside Avenue runs north-south from that location north to Howard Park Avenue today. John Howard is also famous as the original landowner of High Park in Toronto.

The park was built on land created by the infill of Lake Ontario by the Toronto Harbour Commission. Soon after, concessions were requested and granted to operate amusements on the lands. Another park built at the time was the Scarborough Beach Amusement Park in Scarborough, Ontario, and Sunnyside became most popular after the removal of the amusement park on Toronto Island at Hanlan's Point.

The park was popular for its large roller coaster, several merry-go-rounds, including the Derby Racer and numerous smaller attractions. It also hosted several 'stunt events' including famous boat burnings in Lake Ontario and fireworks.

Other popular attractions included outdoor and indoor musical concerts, a night club, walking along the boardwalk, built in the 1930's as a Depression-era project and swimming in the 'Tank' as Sunnyside Pool was nicknamed at the time.

Prior to air conditioning, a trip to Sunnyside was a relief from summer's heat as the prevailing winds off the Lake keep the area several degrees cooler.

The 'Tank' was especially popular with children as special streetcar runs were made to take children to the Pool directly from around the City.

1 Demolition
2 Current Condition
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Demolition

The plans for the Gardiner Expressway were known since 1943, but it was not until several fires in 1957 that the Toronto Harbour Commission ordered the park's demolition, facilitating the building of the roadway. Lakeshore Boulevard was the scene of regular traffic jams and the park was seen to be impeding 'progress' to the development of Toronto.

Most rides were demolished, however, several amusements were moved to the C.N.E. (verify) and the carrousel to Disneyland where it was renamed the King Arthur Carrousel. Only the Sunnyside Pool and Bathing Pavilion and the Palais Royale hall survive as relics of that time.

[edit] Current Condition

The location of the park today is now criss-crossed by 12 lanes of traffic and 3 rail lines. The location at the foot of Roncesvalles has been measured as the "noisiest location in Ontario", recording very high decibel levels. This is due to the amount of road traffic, rail traffic and streetcar traffic concentrated there. However, to the south of the roadways, the beach and lakefront parkland are still popular.

The Sunnyside Pool and Pavilion was renovated in 1980, with a popular cafe, and hosts beach volleyball. It hosts regular multicultural events and a Canada Day celebration.

The Palais Royale is owned and operated by the City of Toronto on a special events rental basis and is still active, though not on the scale in its past. It recently hosted a special 'Rolling Stones' concert. The Palais is also famous for its dance floor which is specially constructed to flex according to the dancers.

A new board-walk, constructed of recycled plastic planks was built along the shore and the Martin Goodman Trail bicycle path was constructed, partially on the path of the old boardwalk.

The water at the beach was long considered too polluted for swimming, but is now open for swimming most of the summer and efforts are being made to reduce pollution further. The waters are popular for boating because of the breakwater and several canoe, rowing and dragon boating clubs exist.