Christie Pits
Christie Pits Park, originally Willowvale Park, is a Toronto public recreational area located at 750 Bloor Street West at Christie Street, just west from the TTC Christie subway station.
The park is 21.9 acres (89,000 m²), about half of which are grassed picnic areas, the rest being various sports fields. Sports facilities on the site include three baseball diamonds (one full-sized and fenced), basketball courts, bocce field, a soccer/rugby/football field, ice rink, splash pad and pool. The sides of the pits are highly sloped, and are used in winter for tobogganing and related activities. Garrison Creek runs under "the pits", and can be clearly seen in winter. It is home to the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, which plays in the Intercounty Baseball League.
The park was named after the Christie Sand Pits which were on the location until the early 1900s. The sand pits had been named after Christie Street, which was named after William Mellis Christie, co-founder of the Christie & Brown Cookie Company, now known simply as Mr. Christie.
1933 riot
On August 16, 1933, Christie Pits was the scene of a six-hour riot, mostly between the Anglo-Canadian anti-Semitic Pit Gang (also called the Swastika-Club) and the predominantly Jewish Spadina Avenue Gang which also included many Italian members. One of the baseball diamonds was being used for a series of softball games between two local amateur teams, one of which predominately consisted of Jewish players. Two nights earlier, at the first game of the series, there had been a display of a swastika and police were warned that there could be trouble at the second game. Those warnings were ignored, and after the second game, a blanket with a large swastika painted on it was displayed by members of the Pit Gang. The Spadina Avenue Gang at the game responded to the display, and a riot ensued. Both sides had come prepared for a clash and armed themselves with baseball bats, steel pipes, and other clubs. After about an hour, police arrived. Most of the fighting was broken up within a couple of hours, but there were intermittent incidents until 2 a.m. as both sides brought in reinforcements. Only one person was charged with a crime, for carrying a lead pipe.