From a 1918 anti-Greek riot downtown to Taste of the Danforth

Greektown, the Danforth

Toronto's Greek community started downtown, not on the Danforth — and moved east partly in the aftermath of a documented riot against Greek-owned businesses before becoming, by the 1980s, the largest Greektown in North America.

Street scene in Greektown on the Danforth, Toronto — Greektown, Toronto — Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons licensed

Toronto's Greek community did not begin on the Danforth. Early Greek immigrants settled downtown near Yonge, Jarvis and Dundas streets in the early 20th century, and this original settlement area was the site of the 1918 anti-Greek riot, a documented episode of mob violence against Greek-owned businesses, partly fuelled by WWI-era tensions and a false rumour. The community's centre of gravity shifted east to the Danforth after WWI.

Peak settlement and Taste of the Danforth

Greek immigration to Toronto swelled substantially in the 1950s to '70s. By the 1970s and '80s, the Danforth was widely described as the largest "Greektown" in North America. The Taste of the Danforth street festival began in 1993 and runs annually each August along Danforth Avenue, closing the strip to traffic for Greek food, music and vendors — described as one of Canada's largest street festivals.

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