Since its original survey in 1793 by Sir Alexander Aitkin, commissioned by Sir John Graves Simcoe, Queen Street has had many names. For its first sixty years, many sections were referred to as "Lot Street", but in 1851 it was rechristened "Queen Street" after Queen Victoria of England.

"Queen West" is local vernacular that refers vaguely to the collection of neighbourhoods that have coalesced around the thoroughfare. At one time, these were ethnically-based neighbourhoods, but re-gentrification over the past twenty years has forced immigrant populations to move to cheaper areas of the city.

The area between University and Spadina Avenues was home to a cultural nexus in the early 1980's. This area was once home to "greasy spoon" restaurants, decrepit bars and inexpensive housing, but was transformed by local students of The Ontario College of Art & Design and an active music scene. The pedigree of their activities attracted wealthier and wealthier people to the area. Since then, the name "Queen Street" has become synonymous with the words "trendy", "hip" and "cool". This gentrification ground zero is usually what Torontonians now refer to as "Queen West" when they speak the name.

A movement by local citizens to rename the area "Soho" after a side-street in the area has never been taken seriously by the municipal government. Many people compare the "Queen West" experience with that of New York's Soho.

As rents rose, artists began moving westward along the five kilometer thoroughfare. In the early nineties, the new vogue area became "West Queen West". This area was associated with the Goth revival that hit Toronto during the same timespan. Night clubs such as Sanctuary, Catacombs, Freak Show, Savage Garden, The Bovine Sex Club and The Velvet Underground catered to this group of individuals. Occupying the same area, between Spadina Avenue and Trinity Bellwoods Park is Toronto's Fashion District. Many individuals of the Goth subculture took advantage of the cheap textiles to make their own distinct style of clothing that was unavailable on the Toronto market. In the later nineties, high-priced clothing stores opened in the same area to capitalize on this clientel.

"West Queen West" has since stopped serving its mid-nineties Goth clientel and now caters mostly to up-market urbanites. "Wallpaper*"-styled fashion businesses, such as Coupe Bizzarre, Parallel, and EQ3 serve newly moneyed, fashionable young adults, sometimes referred to as Metrosexuals.

Between Trinity Bellwoods Park and Dufferin Street is the Gallery District. For this one kilometre stretch, every storefront is a gallery, almost without exception. Major players in the development of this phenomenon include Katherine Mulherin and DeLeon White. One of the causes of this gallery conglomeration was the conversion of an old building into Gallery 1313, with extensive financial assistance by The City of Toronto. This excess of gallery space allows Toronto artists of all ability to show their work at a low cost.

Unlike the boutique-oriented storefronts of the east, The Gallery District contains an abundance of space available for special events. The lack of shopping creates a void of daytime traffic, and brings an influx of gentry and money to the area only on weekends.

The Gladstone Hotel is one of few pre-existing fixtures in the area that has been able to capitalzie on this boon. The grand, old railroad-era hotel has over the years fallen into disrepair and barely maintainted itself renting boarding-house style accomodation. The tavern on the first floor is now home to a weekly "Art Bar", where locals from the art community converge to socialize.

Under the Queen Street Subway, (a railroad underpass,) of 1897, Queen Street West makes its way through what is called Parkdale Village. This still remains one of Toronto's poorest neighbourhoods, with an abundance of social housing on the south side of Queen Street, soup kitchens and day centres toward Sorauren Avenue.

The viability of the housing stock on the north side, however, has made it possible for young professionals to raise property values. Affordable, ethnically-oriented businesses have nonetheless managed to stave off regentrification. The constant influx of immigrants inhabiting the south side housing provides a clientel base that is not likely to move.

Of late, local taverns have been hired by members of Toronto's art community to hold their social events. The hipsters seen in these dilapidated windows of Parkdale Village are a reminder of the experience of the original "Queen West".