Go back to Home page and map

Nominated name: PERLY FAMILY LANE

Nominated by:
Brian Shaughnessy, Seaton resident and James Perly

Suggested Location: City Lane Number: #1201
Described Location: Bound by: Yarmouth Rd., Clinton St., Follis Ave. and Manning Ave. Runs north-south between Follis Ave. and Yarmouth Rd.

At Follis Ave. looking north At Yarmouth Rd. looking south
Rationale and References:

Submitted by James Perly, Grandson of founder:

"Perly Maps, Toronto"

Inside the Perly name is the story of modern Toronto, the mapping of the city at a time when it was growing, expanding to become a modern Metropolis. To many Torontonians the word 'Perly' and the word 'Map' are synonymous.

"I'm lost, I need a Perly's,"--- a classic sentence of the city. "I need a map; I need a Perly's."

The story of the Perly family creating maps so that Torontonians could more easily get around their city is, in fact, the story of Toronto expanding from the 1950's onward to become the modern metropolis it is today.

Allan M. Perly and his wife Belle Perly began Perly's Maps in the late 1940s, creating the Perly's Bluemap Atlas of Toronto.

Imagine your city mapped neighbourhood by neighbourhood, all the schools, churches, synagogues, fire stations, parks, cemeteries, blown up in beautiful indigo maps. It became an essential map picture of the city.

Al Perly then created the now-legendary Perly's Guide, a handy small format book which became the go-to item, the essential companion for delivery services, hospitals, police, taxi drivers, and any Torontonian needing to get around Metro, as the city blossomed in the 50's and the 60's. The Perlys were the mapmakers of Toronto.

Their son, Gary Perly carried on the business when they retired in the 1970's. His son, James Perly, took the helm when Gary died in 1997.

"Perly Maps, Toronto"

Now that these words have come to be associated so closely in the city's collective mind, it seems logical and fitting that the Perly name would be honoured by placing it on a typical much beloved passageway of Metro: the lane.

There has to be a Perly Lane.

The Perly name has been vital to the organizing of the streets, avenues, cul-de-sacs, one-way roads, townships, and neighbourhoods, vital to guiding us around, by vehicle, bicycle, ambulance, delivery truck, by foot.

Seaton Village has a great legitimate claim to the Perly name. Calling one of the Seaton Village lanes PERLY LANE would honour the legendary map family, but it would also pay homage to the fact that Perly family members have lived in the Village for more than half a century.

Gary Perly was born at Mt Sinai Hospital in downtown Toronto on December 25, 1943. His first home was at 180 Major Street, just north of Harbord St., not too far from Seaton Village. He grew up on Eglinton Avenue West, not far from Bathurst, above the Perly's Map store, a legend in itself.

From the age of 20 until his death in 1997, at the age of 53, Gary lived in Seaton Village. He lived his entire adult life in Seaton Village. It was his true turf.

When Gary took over Perly's Maps, he became the second generation to give the city a way to know itself, to get around the ever-expanding GTA, to see itself as the great multicultural hub it was becoming.

Gary Perly lived at 84 Follis Avenue, a five-apartment brick building right at the axis of Euclid and Follis Avenues, for more than a decade, with his wife Caroline Walker. It is fitting that 84 Follis is right at the epicentre, map-wise, of Seaton Village. Gary loved the neighbourhood, it was his place. His adult formation, his foundation as a young man was right at the compass heart of Seaton Village.

Gary Perly lived in Seaton Village at the volatile time of the early 1960s, he lived in the cozy close low key neighbourhood of the semi-detached brick houses during the time the area was concerned with growth, with keeping the village character, with its richness of teachers, musicians, professional workers, working class immigrants, gardeners, young children, the safety of its parks, the public services, Gary was part of it all.

He moved from 84 Follis Ave two blocks east and one a half blocks south to 709 Markham, where he rented an apartment, then he bought 711 Markham where he lived until he died. He was married in Seaton Village, he brought his first and only son James into the world in Seaton Village, and he was a parent sharing custody at his home in Seaton Village. Seven months before he died, he remarried at his Markham Street home.

His sister Susan, a radio producer and writer, moved into Seaton Village in 1984, and has lived in the neighbourhood for 28 years, with her husband Dennis Lee.

The Perlys have lived in the city of Toronto for more than a century, 109 years or so. The city was in Allan Perly's veins and he put those veins in grids, the Perly maps were his gift to his fellow citizens. Gary Perly and his son James improved and updated that gift, into the 21st century.

The Perly family have acted for more than 52 years as the mapmakers of Metro. They bushwhacked a way through the urban bush, voyageurs of the metro roadways, laying out paths for the citizenry to follow.

How fitting it would be to see one of the back laneways, ---much beloved, much walked by the family itself in Seaton Village, ---named PERLY LANE.

Further Information:

The suggested name, Perly Lane is unique to Toronto. Approved as Perly Family Lane.