Gerrard Street is a street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It consists of two separate parts, historically referred to as Lower Gerrard and Upper Gerrard. The former stretches between University Avenue and Coxwell Avenue for 6 km, across Old Toronto. The latter portion starts 300 m north of Lower Gerrard's eastern terminus and runs between Coxwell Avenue and Clonmore Drive, between Victoria Park Avenue and Warden Avenue, in Scarborough for another 4 km.
Gerrard Street travels through a few important districts and neighbourhoods of Toronto, most notably Discovery District, East Chinatown, and Gerrard India Bazaar, Toronto's prime South Asian ethnic enclave.
History
Gerrard is named for Samuel Gerrard (1767-1857), an Anglo-Irish businessman in Lower Canada and a personal friend of the Honourable John McGill, member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada.
Upper Gerrard was originally a separate street called "Lake View Avenue", which was in the town of East Toronto. The name was changed after East Toronto was annexed by Toronto in 1908.
Gerrard Village
A short stretch of Gerrard Street West from Bay Street to LaPlante Avenue was referred to as Gerrard Village, a bohemian-Greenwich Village like area emerged in late 19th Century to 1920s and disappeared towards the end of the 1960s. A few buildings from the former neighbourhood still exists, but the residents and remaining business no longer hold ties to the past.
People who lived or are associated to it included famous writers, artists: (Gerrard and Queen were the only streets labelled with an "east" designation that entered directly into Scarborough from Toronto; both only continue for a few blocks into Scarborough before ending.)
Transit
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) serves Lower Gerrard with the Toronto streetcar route 506 Carlton, between Parliament Street and Coxwell Avenue. The route then travels along Coxwell Avenue and continues along Upper Gerrard until Main Street, where it turns and terminates at Main Street station. The remainder of Gerrard Street, east of Main Street, is served by the TTC bus route 135 Gerrard, which travels between Main Street station and Warden station.
Gerrard Street Bridge
A three-hinged ribbed deck steel arch bridge spans the Don River and (formerly railway tracks and now) the Don Valley Parkway below and was completed in 1923.
This single span replaced the previous bridge which consisted of a Warren pony truss span in the middle connected by a shorter riveted Warren deck truss spans to the east and west sides.