Categories: Lifestyle

Honest Ed’s iconic sign is lighting up this Toronto alleyway

Photo via Jack Landau

It’s been over eight years since the shining lights of Honest Ed’s dimmed for the last time at Toronto’s Bathurst and Bloor intersection, but the vintage kitsch of the lost bargain store just returned in a big (and bright) way.

A neon sign that once stood in Ed’s Alley — the laneway bisecting the former Honest Ed’s site — has been returned to its approximate original location, marking the first piece of the store’s spared signage to be reinstated following the store’s 2018 demolition.

And while signs go up in Toronto all the time, this addition represents the decades of history that predate the new Mirvish Village community, which now stands on the former Honest Ed’s site.

A first look at the vertical arrow-shaped sign was posted to Reddit over the weekend, showing the name “Honest Ed’s” spelled out in neon and surrounded by a marquee of incandescent lighting.

blogTO stopped by the new sign on Saturday night to get a glimpse of what had been generating all the buzz.

Photo via Jack Landau

The sign marks the first of what is expected to be many glowing signs and lanterns illuminating the reinstated Ed’s Alley running north-south between Bathurst and Markham streets.

Photo via Jack Landau

The Mirvish Village project from developer Peterson features five purpose-built rental buildings as tall as 26 storeys, designed by Vancouver-based Henriquez Partners Architects working alongside Toronto’s Diamond Schmitt Architects. All of this new density is being woven together with some standout public realm upgrades like Ed’s Alley.

Sign as it appeared in 2017, shortly before redevelopment. Photo: wyliepoon

Twenty-five micro-retail units will line this stretch to create a vibrant little pocket of shops and food vendors, adding even more life next to the already-thriving stretch of Markham Street, newly rejuvenated by the Mirvish Village community.

Rendering of Ed’s Alley showing the restored neon sign as it would appear among other signs. Image: Peterson.

According to the developer, the micro-retail units will serve as incubator spaces where businesses and entrepreneurs can showcase new products and concepts. The arrangement does not require deposits or long-term leases, meaning less risk is assumed for startups or businesses looking to branch out.

Interestingly, the sign now reinstated in Ed’s Alley is actually older than the glowing circus-themed signage the former Honest Ed’s is best known for. The main Bathurst and Bloor frontages were installed in 1984 as part of an expansion of the bargain superstore.

This smaller marquee, now brought back to life in Ed’s Alley, appears to predate that more recognizable signage by a few decades and is arguably a more important historical marker for the site.

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