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Parkdale, which was annexed by Toronto in 1889, was once an elite residential suburb home to large Victorian mansions and views of Lake Ontario.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Parkdale's desirability stemmed from its proximity to Sunnyside Beach , a favourite day vacation for Torontonians. Cottage industries sprung up in the neighbourhood, creating a vital economic region. Theatres such as the Brighton , and hotels like the Edgewater flourished.

The Palais Royale sits at the eastern edge of Sunnyside Beach and was used for social gatherings. Many important big bands played there in the 1930s and the 1940s, and this attracted a large youth patronage. Many war generation Torontonians courted their future partners in this building.

In 1955, the city began work on the Gardiner Expressway, a limited access highway that separated Parkdale from Sunnyside Beach . The expressway effectively halved the amount of usable lakeside parkland. A reorganization of the area's residential streets and the demolition of a local amusement park were also necessary. Patronage of the beach declined rapidly.

Concurrently, Toronto was experiencing the urban white flight of the mid-twentieth century. As property values plumetted, great swaths of land were expropriated to erect social housing. Parkdale's businesses and wealthy residents now had no reason to stay.

Parkdale Village, the area of Parkdale closest to the beach, became one of the poorest areas in Toronto. It is bounded on the west by the intersection of King Street, Roncesvalles Avenue, and Queen Street West, on the north by Queen Street West, on the east by Dufferin Street, and on the south by the Gardiner Expressway, roughly half a square kilometre in area. Jameson Avenue is home to a series of unsightly tenements which contributed significantly to the unattractiveness of the area. A marijuana growing operation was found in a set of attached apartments in 2004.

In the mid 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn, the OntarioOntario ( In Detail) ( In Detail) Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Loyal she began, loyal she remains Capital Toronto Largest City Toronto Area Total % fresh water 4th largest(2nd lgst prov. 1 076 395 km² 14. 7% Population Total (2001) Density Rank Provincial Government decided to release thousands of long-term care mental illness patients from its Queen Street facility in a cost-cutting measure. The old Victorian mansions of Parkdale had long been converted to boarding houses, and were only a short distance east from the government facility. The inexpensive rental stock of Parkdale naturally became the recipient of the deluge. While this migration did not pose any real problems, its news drew greater attention to the area. By the late 1990s, "Parkdale" became synonymous with crime, homelessness, and the mentally ill.

Parkdale Village is still home to some soup kitchens and day centres for the homeless. A pilot programme for a needle exchangeA needle exchange programme is a controversial public service endorsed by some governments which give clean needles to intravenous drug addicts, in exchange for education of the drug user. They may require the exchange of a dirty (used) needle for the cle is new to the area. Nonetheless, local taverns have begun receiving a new patronage from artists and urbanites seeking refuge from the fashion boutiques further east on Queen Street. Many expect the same regentrification process to occur here that occurred twenty years ago in the east.

The area that extends northward along Roncesvalles Avenue, on the other hand, saw new life when PolishThe Republic of Poland a country in Central Europe, lies between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Russia (in the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave) t immigrants settled in the area in the mid 1960'sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around. Delis and restaurants are still the majority of storefronts that line the thoroughfare from Queen Street West to Howard Park Avenue. In recent years, young professionals have begun regentrifyingJersey City's historic downtown is quickly becoming gentrified. Is it hurting or helping the community Gentrification refers to the physical, social, economic, and cultural phenomenon whereby working-class and/or inner-city neighbourhoods are converted in the area and raising property values.