A long, straight commercial street of two and three storey brick buildings, storefronts below and streetcar wires strung overhead the whole way.
What Queen Street West looks like
Queen Street West runs long and straight through downtown Toronto, two and three storey brick storefronts lining both sides with apartments above the shops and streetcar wires strung overhead the whole way. The 501 streetcar runs down the middle of the road every six minutes, continuing overnight on a slower schedule. At Palmerston Avenue the storefronts run three storeys unbroken from corner to corner.
Toward the street's eastern end, sits back from the sidewalk at 130 Queen Street West behind an iron fence, a sandstone building in the Palladian style with a colonnade of fluted columns and three arched entrances. Near Spadina Avenue, the Rivoli's brick front carries an oval sign over the door under arched windows, and a few doors west the anchors the corner, gold lettering over the door and neon beer signs in the windows.
At John Street, rises in terra cotta above its neighbours, its ground floor sliding open in glass partitions onto the sidewalk. The CN Tower shows above its roofline looking north from the street. West of Spadina Avenue the storefronts return to plain two and three storey brick, past Manning Avenue to Augusta Avenue, where the old Second Cup is now an Aroma Espresso Bar.
Farther west, runs along the street's north side, its stone gates facing Queen Street between white piers with a dog park just inside. South of the street between Spadina Avenue and Portland Street, Rush Lane, known locally as Graffiti Alley, carries murals across its walls for three blocks.
Shot in Queen Street West
Much of what has been filmed on Queen Street West involves the street's own broadcast and music history. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World also used the block, with a walking scene on Manning Avenue and a cafe scene at the former Second Cup on Augusta Avenue, since rebranded as an Aroma Espresso Bar.
Chicago, 2002
Osgoode Hall
Played a Chicago hospital
Osgoode Hall's exterior stood in for the hospital where the press mob Roxie Hart as she leaves with her newborn. The building has been the Law Society of Ontario's home since it was built in the Palladian style between 1829 and 1832. It also houses the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Mimic, 1997
Played a press conference location
The Great Library inside Osgoode Hall was used for the press conference where entomologist Dr. Peter Mann announces the discovery of the Judas breed. The same room also appears in The Time Traveler's Wife.
Nirvanna the Band the Show, 2017
Most episodes of the mockumentary sitcom were shot inside the Rivoli during its own business hours. Creators and stars Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol played fictionalized versions of themselves trying to book a gig at the venue, on Viceland for two seasons between February 2017 and February 2018. The Rivoli opened at this address in 1982, and the Kids in the Hall developed their sketch act here before Lorne Michaels saw them and hired two of them to write for Saturday Night Live.
Electric Circus, 1988
299 Queen Street West
Played MuchMusic and Citytv's headquarters
The live dance music program broadcast from the ground floor studio here, behind sliding glass partitions that opened straight onto the sidewalk at Queen and John Streets. Citytv owner Moses Znaimer created the show specifically to put the building on display, which CHUM Limited had bought in 1985 and reopened in 1987 as the new home of Citytv and MuchMusic.
Take This Waltz, 2011
Trinity Bellwoods Park
Played the dog park
Sarah Polley's film sets a drum circle scene in the dog park inside Trinity Bellwoods Park, on the north side of Queen Street West. The dog park sits just inside the stone gates at the park's Queen Street entrance.
What Queen Street West can double for
Smith Street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Two storey Victorian brick shopfronts line Smith Street, with the same kind of storefronts below and flats above found on Queen Street West. A tram runs down the middle of the road, so a walking shot down the block matches brick shopfronts under trams almost exactly as filmed here. Melbourne's cast iron verandas and narrower footpaths give the street away in a wide shot, and the trams stop in the middle of the road rather than at the kerb. Try searching brick shopfronts under trams now.
Girard Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Girard Avenue in Fishtown carries the same brick storefronts under trolley wires that Queen Street West does, two and three storeys with apartments over the shops. SEPTA's surface trolleys still run the route, so the overhead wire and the rail in the pavement are both real rather than added for the shot. Philadelphia's brick runs redder and the trolleys are less frequent than Toronto's streetcars, so a shot depending on a passing car needs more takes. Try searching brick storefronts under trolley wires now.
Milwaukee Avenue through Wicker Park and Bucktown has the same two and three storey brick storefronts with flats above that give Queen Street West its period look. The buildings along here date from around the same years, so a tight shot of a storefront row could pass for either street. Chicago's streetcars are long gone and the avenue runs at a diagonal rather than straight, so a wide shot needs to avoid both the angle and any overhead wire. Try searching brick storefronts with flats above now.
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