What the Annex was like in the 1950s and 60s - blogTO (blog)
Not only do I admire the architectural character of the residential streets, such as Howland and Madison (to name only two), but I'm constantly drawn to the stretch of Bloor Street between Bathurst and Spadina on account of the fact that it houses... Jack Batten, in The Annex: The Story of a Toronto Neighbourhood , writes that the middle- and upper-middle class residents gradually began to move to more exclusive neighbourhoods, including Rosedale and Forest Hill. Other older suburbs, such as the ones mentioned above, offered them more land on which bigger houses could be built, whereas in the Annex, lots are close to each other, offering limited opportunities for structural expansion. The move of numerous fraternities to the residential core of the neighbourhood north of Bloor was also seen as a deteriorating factor. University of Toronto expropriated some fraternal residences on St. George Street in order to construct Innis College and other academic buildings. The fraternities posed a problem particularly to the residents of Madison Avenue, Lowther Avenue and the north section of St. George. Trade in illegal drugs began in the 1960s in the Annex, and the residents of Howland Avenue jokingly referred to their street as "speed alley" at that time. Source: www.blogto.com
