The east end from the driver's seat
Toronto's east end — the Beaches along the lake from Woodbine to Victoria Park, Leslieville and Riverside along Queen Street East, Riverdale and the Danforth north of them, Woodbine and Coxwell between — is a district of low streets, streetcar lines and one road to everywhere: Lake Shore Boulevard East and the Gardiner to the west, the Don Valley Parkway north. Pearson is 33 kilometres and 40 to 70 minutes away across the entire city; Billy Bishop is 20 to 30 minutes along the shore; a fixed fare makes the distance a known number.
The east end is where our chauffeurs say the pickups are easiest and the airport is farthest. The Beaches' streets are quiet and the houses have driveways; Leslieville's and Riverdale's are the same with a streetcar on Queen; the Danforth's is a strip of tavernas with side streets to stop on. But Pearson is on the other side of the city, and the route — Lake Shore to the Gardiner to the 427, or the DVP to the 401 — crosses every bottleneck Toronto has. This page is the east end's playbook: the neighbourhoods and their pickups, the two airport routes and when each wins, Billy Bishop along the shore, the boardwalk and the beach, the Danforth's nights, the venues and hospitals, and a summer weekend worked through.
The neighbourhoods and their pickups
The Beaches (Queen Street East from Woodbine to Victoria Park, and the streets down to the boardwalk): the houses on the streets sloping to the lake have driveways and the pickups are at the door; Queen Street's shops and cafés use the side streets (Lee, Kenilworth, Glen Manor, Beech) because Queen is a streetcar street with stopping restrictions; the boardwalk, Kew Gardens and the Balmy Beach Club are reached from Lee Avenue and Kew Beach Avenue; Woodbine Beach's parking lots off Lake Shore are the summer drop for the beach and the Ashbridge's Bay events. Leslieville and Riverside (Queen East from the Don to Coxwell): the converted industrial streets and the towers around Queen and Broadview, the cafés and restaurants of Queen East, with pickups on the side streets (Carlaw, Pape, Jones, Logan); the Riverside's Broadview Hotel's Queen Street door and the Broadview side. Riverdale (north of Queen to the Danforth, Broadview to Greenwood): the Victorian streets of Withrow Park and Riverdale Park, pickups at the door. The Danforth (from Broadview to Woodbine): Greektown's tavernas and the Danforth Music Hall, with the side streets (Logan, Carlaw, Pape, Jones) for pickups because the Danforth itself is four lanes of traffic with no stopping at the peaks. Woodbine, Coxwell and the Upper Beaches: residential streets, the Woodbine Beach parks and the Ashbridge's Bay marina. The Beaches and Leslieville guide has the street notes.
Two routes to Pearson
Lake Shore and the Gardiner. From the Beaches and Leslieville: Lake Shore Boulevard East west to the Gardiner at the Don, the Gardiner across the waterfront to the 427, north to the airport. 40 to 50 minutes off-peak, 60 to 80 at the peaks, and the route that fails on the Gardiner's closure weekends.
The DVP and the 401. From Riverdale and the Danforth: the DVP north to the 401 west, across North York to the 427. 45 to 55 minutes off-peak, 65 to 90 at the peaks, and the route that fails when the 401 fails, which is often. The chauffeur chooses by the live conditions; the Pearson page has the timing tables and the Gardiner closures guide the weekends. From the east end the Pearson buffer is the largest in the city, and our morning departures are assigned the evening before with a 4 a.m. text; the early-morning guide explains the routine.
Billy Bishop along the shore
Billy Bishop is the east end's good airport: Lake Shore Boulevard East to the Gardiner or Queens Quay, 20 to 30 minutes from the Beaches off-peak (30 to 45 at the peaks), 15 to 25 from Leslieville, and the flights to Ottawa, Montreal, Boston and Newark that Pearson would make a two-hour door-to-gate. The Billy Bishop page covers the Quay pickup; the Pearson vs Billy Bishop comparison is more lopsided from here than from anywhere downtown.
The boardwalk, the beach and the summer
The Beaches' three kilometres of boardwalk from Ashbridge's Bay to Balmy Beach, the Kew Gardens bandstand, the Leuty lifeguard station and Woodbine Beach's volleyball courts are the east end's summer, and its events — the Beaches International Jazz Festival in July, which closes Queen Street for the streetfest nights, the Woodbine Beach fireworks on Victoria Day and Canada Day, the Ashbridge's Bay events — change the pickups for a week at a time. Dispatch has the dates; the events calendar lists them. A beach day for visitors — an SUV drop at the Woodbine Beach lot at 10, a pickup at 4 at the Lee Avenue foot for the walk back along the boardwalk — is a summer booking the visitor guide recommends for a second day.
The Danforth's nights and the east end's dinners
The Danforth is Greektown's restaurant strip — the tavernas, the patios, the Taste of the Danforth festival in August that closes the avenue for a weekend — and the Danforth Music Hall's concerts let out onto it at 11 p.m.; pickups are on the side streets north and south of the avenue, agreed in advance, with the chauffeur watching the show. Leslieville's Queen East is the east end's other dining strip, with a different feel — the brunch cafés, the wine bars, the restaurants that opened in the last decade — and pickups on Carlaw and Logan. The concerts guide covers the Music Hall; the fine dining evening article includes the east end's rooms. Downtown for the evening is Lake Shore or Queen to the Financial District and King West (15 to 25 minutes off-peak) and the arena guide's pickups.
Hospitals, schools and the institutions
Michael Garron Hospital (formerly Toronto East General) on Coxwell is the east end's hospital, with an entrance loop on Coxwell and the standing-order pattern for older residents; Bridgepoint on Broadview is the rehabilitation hospital; the downtown hospitals are 20 to 30 minutes west along Queen or the Gardiner. The east end's schools — Malvern Collegiate, the Beaches' public schools, the private schools downtown that east-end families drive to — generate the school-run standing orders that the school runs article describes. The Ashbridge's Bay wastewater plant's neighbour, the Leslie Street Spit, is the east end's wild park, and Tommy Thompson Park's gates are a Sunday drop for cyclists and birders.
Woodbine and Coxwell to the Beaches' east
The Upper Beaches along Kingston Road, the Woodbine and Coxwell corridors and the streets toward Victoria Park share the Beaches' pickup logic and the same airport problem, with Kingston Road east to Scarborough's Bluffs fifteen minutes away and the Danforth's subway at Woodbine and Coxwell for the days the car is not the tool. The Toronto Hunt Club on Kingston Road is the east end's grand wedding and event venue; the venue notes cover its lakeside porte-cochère.
Film, television and the east end's studios
The Port Lands' film studios — Pinewood Toronto, the Cinespace facilities — are ten minutes from Leslieville along Lake Shore and Commissioners Street, and the east end is where a large part of Toronto's production workforce lives; the 5 a.m. calls to the studios and the airport runs for cast and department heads are a daily pattern for our east-end chauffeurs. The film production guide covers the industry's transport; Leslieville's own streets appear in productions most weeks and the location managers direct the vehicles.
A summer weekend in the east end, in cars
Saturday 5:30 a.m. — a sedan from a Beaches driveway to Terminal 1 via Lake Shore and the Gardiner, forty-two minutes, the sunrise over the lake in the mirror. 10:00 — an SUV from Riverdale to the Woodbine Beach lot for a family beach day; the chauffeur is released. 4:00 p.m. — the same chauffeur at the foot of Lee Avenue when the family has walked the boardwalk, home by 4:30. 7:00 — a premium sedan from Leslieville to a Danforth taverna for an anniversary, waiting on Logan Street, home at 10. Sunday 11:00 — a Sprinter from the Danforth to a Niagara winery lunch for a birthday group, hourly with the distance component, home by 7. Sunday 6:00 p.m. — a car to Billy Bishop for the Ottawa flight, twenty-two minutes along the shore. Every trip a fixed fare.
The east end to everywhere
| From the Beaches (Queen & Lee) to | Route | Off-peak | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pearson | Lake Shore → Gardiner → 427 | 40–50 min | 60–80 |
| Billy Bishop | Lake Shore east → Queens Quay | 20–30 | 30–45 |
| Financial District | Lake Shore or Queen west | 15–25 | 30–45 |
| Yorkville | Woodbine → Danforth → Bloor | 20–30 | 35–50 |
| Distillery District | Queen or Lake Shore west | 10–20 | 15–30 |
| The Danforth (Greektown) | Woodbine north → Danforth west | 8–12 | 12–20 |
| Scarborough Bluffs | Kingston Road east | 12–18 | 15–25 |
| Scotiabank Arena | Lake Shore → Gardiner | 15–25 | 30–50 |
Booking a car in the east end
The engine prices any east-end address; for Queen Street and the Danforth, put the restaurant in the notes and the chauffeur names the side street. Airport runs from here want the buffer, which the confirmation carries.
Riverdale, the Don and the bridges
Riverdale sits on the Don Valley's east slope, and its connection to the rest of the city runs over the Don — the Bloor Viaduct at the Danforth, the Gerrard and Queen Street bridges, the Dundas and Lake Shore crossings — and down the DVP. The Riverdale Park's hill above the valley is the neighbourhood's landmark and the best skyline view in the east end; Withrow Park and the Riverdale Farm are the family stops; the Broadview Hotel's rooftop is the neighbourhood's bar. Pickups on Riverdale's Victorian streets are at the door; the DVP's Bloor and Bayview ramps are the routes north and the Queen Street bridge the route downtown. The east end's chauffeurs know which bridge is open — the Queen Street bridge's and the Gerrard bridge's periodic closures for repair are on dispatch's notices.
Ashbridge's Bay, the Spit and the Port Lands
South of the Beaches and Leslieville, the Ashbridge's Bay park and marina, the Leslie Street Spit's Tommy Thompson Park (open to walkers and cyclists on weekends, with a gate on Leslie Street) and the Port Lands' redevelopment — the new Don mouth, the Villiers Island parks, the film studios on Commissioners Street — are the east end's waterfront. The Port Lands' construction changes Lake Shore Boulevard East's lanes and Cherry Street's alignment year by year, and the route from Leslieville to the Gardiner shifts with it; dispatch reads Waterfront Toronto's notices and the chauffeur's confirmation carries the current route. The Distillery guide covers the West Don Lands and the cruise terminal on the Port Lands' western edge.
The east end's corporate traffic
Leslieville's converted industrial buildings house design studios, agencies and the film industry's production offices; the Port Lands' studios and the Unilever site's redevelopment as East Harbour bring more; and the east end's professionals commute to the Financial District on the King streetcar and book black cars for what the streetcar cannot do. Corporate accounts for the east end's companies hold the studio's or office's pickup lane; the film production guide describes the industry's pattern, which the east end's chauffeurs run at dawn most weekdays.
Booking notes for the east end
Three small things. Airport runs from here want the buffer; take the pickup time the confirmation gives rather than the one you would have guessed. Queen East and the Danforth want a side street; name the restaurant and the chauffeur names the street. And Billy Bishop is closer than you think from anywhere south of the Danforth — check it before you book Pearson for an Ottawa or Montreal flight.
The east end's weekend markets and walks
The Leslieville and the Sorauren-style markets, the Beaches' Sunday market at Kew Gardens, the Tommy Thompson Park walk on the Spit, the Riverdale Farm's morning with children, the Distillery ten minutes west — an east-end Sunday by black car is an hourly booking that visitors on their second day and residents with visiting family both book, with the car waiting on a side street at each stop.
