A stretch of Bloor Street that grew from a handful of businesses into a commercial hub
Koreatown
Korean immigrants began settling along Bloor Street West near Christie Street in the 1970s, building a commercial strip of restaurants, grocers and karaoke bars that became Toronto's Koreatown.
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Korean immigration to Toronto grew significantly from the 1970s onward, following changes to Canadian immigration policy that opened the door to larger numbers of immigrants from Asia. Korean-owned businesses began concentrating along Bloor Street West near Christie Street, building a commercial strip of restaurants, grocery stores, karaoke bars and other businesses that gradually gave the area its Koreatown identity.
A community that outgrew its original strip
As Toronto's Korean population grew and dispersed further into the suburbs, particularly North York, the original Bloor Street Koreatown remained an important commercial and cultural anchor even as many community members no longer lived in the immediate neighbourhood, a pattern common to several of Toronto's named ethnic commercial strips. The strip continues to draw both the broader Korean community and other Torontonians for its restaurants and shops, functioning as much as a cultural touchstone as a residential neighbourhood at this point.
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