Toronto’s
Little India
It’s morning in Little India in Toronto’s east end. This mural, completed by mural artists Flips and Rowell Soller in 2024 at the neighbourhood’s main intersection of Coxwell Ave and Gerrard St, compliments the colourful area.
Every Wednesday the sidewalks fill for Nourish East End’s busy market-style food bank operating out of Glen Rhodes United Church.
Directly across the street from the church, the Black Pony offers baked goods, espresso drinks, and free wi-fi.
South-Asian businesses, mainly restaurants and clothing stores, were drawn to the area’s favourable commercial conditions in the 1980’s. Today, only a handful of the shops remain.
Locals give Little India its vibrancy. The self-described “Pigeon Lady”, a moniker given by delighted kids from Rhoden PS, feeds her flock every lunchtime.
Mikey, on his way to a doctor appointment, shows off his latest find: a vinyl copy of Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson’s A Star is Born Album.
Moments after finding an anniversary bouquet from Victory Gardens, Vito heads home to his wife Norma.
Little India is mostly quiet at night, with the exception of the 24/7 whirring of machines at Amazing Coin Laundry. Four blocks away, one of Toronto’s 12,000 homeless residents set up behind the Gerrard Ashdale Library.
Meanwhile, the 506 streetcar rumbles past Chandan Fashions, which re-opens at noon to serve their South-Asian wedding customers – just as it has for the past 30 years.
Adriano Sobretodo Jr. / 2025