Newsletter #134 - 🦫
Welcome to Springbank Amusement Park
Happy Friday! Thanks for choosing the Southern Ontario Journal, and a different perspective on the region to begin your weekend.
Mid-London Corridor - Springbank Drive
Springbank Drive is an interesting road that runs close to the Thames River in West London. I’ve had many events in my life happen on Springbank from the mundane to the notable. A lot of them were hanging out in Springbank Park or Storybook Gardens.
Springbank Drive unceremoniously starts as a residential area at Wharncliffe Road. From here, a very steep hill has several cul-de-sacs (culs de sac?) shooting off of it. The soccer field to the north is called Springbank Flats. This section ends at a road where Horton ends and turns into Springbank Drive.
Along the north side of the road is a lot of parkland, where the Thames Valley Parkway cuts through. That section of the trail takes the honorific nickname of “Terry Fox Parkway”.
Just at the start of another hill, (now a four-lane road) goes over one of the ponds of The Coves, part one of my favourite wooded areas in the city. And just west of that is one of the two mobile home/trailer parks in London. Now I’m craving zesty mordant dressed all over chips. (Iykyk)
Several independent businesses line Springbank, including the strip plaza at Kernohan Parkway. I’ve been to Fatty Patty’s on a number of occasions, and I’ve been meaning to try the taqueria.
After the plaza, a mix of things line the south side of Springbank including apartment buildings, a medical office tower, and an elementary school. Woodland Cemetery is on the north side of Springbank.
Around Berkshire Drive, there’s another strip plaza with an odd mix of businesses, with an office building just ahead at Wonderland Road. After Wonderland, Springbank narrows to two lanes for the rest of the route.
Along the north side, just west of Wonderland, is the start of interconnecting parklands. From east to west, there is the Civic Gardens, with Springbank officially beginning at the 700 block. On the south side, there are residential neighborhoods which look more like gated communities.
After the east gates of Springbank Park, the road enters a leafy tunnel with no exits other than Westmount Drive, which has a very wonky intersection. This road is at the foot of Reservoir Hill, and which is home to a controversial apartment building at 940 Springbank.
Springbank Drive ends here. And it turns into Byron Baseline Road. An unrelated side street in the Byron neighbourhood is called Springbank Avenue which runs for a few blocks just off of Boler Road.
Springbank Park continues along Commissioners Road, and is my favourite park in the west end of London. As it’s intertwined with the Thames Valley Parkway, it’s hard to see where it ends in the east, but it ends in the west at Boler Road.
I enjoyed going to Storybook Gardens as a kid, and once got to skate on their icy trail that they have during the colder months. My old coworker from my barista days has a partner who works for the city and I got into it as part of a Family & Friends Event. Oh, the connections I have…
Springbank Park also has had quite the storied history as a summer resort (here’s some further reading) and a waterworks centre for London. For the latter thing, to that end, Springbank was called Pipe Line Road until around World War II. The beautiful (at least from the outside) pumphouse now has a retrofitted public washroom. It’s a wonderful washroom and has provided salvation to me on those long crosstown bike rides. And the former dam, I think about it quite a lot. Sometimes, it’s just best to leave well alone.
It’s always important to never lose sight about what we have had and what we still do have.
The Region Visualized - Springbank Drive
The Region In Sound
Each week, I recommend this song from an artist from the region. Enjoy!
Flashback Friday - September 27, 2024
The freedom to achieve freedom.
Scattered debris
I’ve been thinking about joy recently, and how certain things and people and places can bring us joy. This was one of my favorite reads in the last little while, in light of Juneteenth.
NEXT FRIDAY: The final Mid-London Corridor installment
ik. Decent!