Graffiti Alley in Toronto: Visit This Free Street Art Gallery

Graffiti Alley in Toronto is one of the best displays of public art in the city. It’s open 24 hours a day and it’s completely free to visit. Since it’s street art, Graffiti Alley is constantly changing and evolving. I have visited multiple times and have admired new art every time I visit.

If you’re lucky, you might even get to see some art in the making. I’ve seen graffiti artists spray painting on the walls before my eyes. This is one of the most popular places in Toronto to take photos and selfies, so don’t forget your camera.

There are a couple of ways to visit Toronto’s Graffiti Alley. There are very inexpensive walking tours to discover Graffiti Alley with a guide. I suggest doing this tour to learn more about street art in Toronto.

Of course, it’s always possible to visit anytime on your own. I recommend going on your own if you plan to take tons of photos for Instagram or simply to capture memories with your friends.

Short Video of Graffiti Alley in Toronto

Here’s a video of Graffiti Alley in Toronto that details some of the works I discovered there. It might look completely different when you visit as this alley is continually changing and evolving with new street art. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel – we release new videos every week.

How to Take a Tour of Graffiti Alley in Toronto

“Do you think of graffiti as public art or vandalism?”. At the start of our graffiti tour in Toronto, our tour guide, Jason asked this question.

People raised their hands for one choice or the other, or hovered somewhere in between. Regardless, everyone was interested in discovering Toronto street art.

This graffiti tour of Toronto is nearly free, and it’s offered through Tour Guys. There’s only a small online booking fee and then you can tip your guide what you’d like. I took this tour in the summer, and it’s offered on weekends from the start of May to the end of October.

It’s one of the best tours in Toronto whether you’re a local or you’re visiting the city. Though I have seen some fantastic works of public art scattered throughout the city, I was really interested in uncovering some new graffiti on the tour.

Why is there Street Art in Toronto?

Jason taught us all about how the city of Toronto approaches graffiti, street art, and vandalism. There is a program called StreetARToronto that aims to:

“develop, support, promote and increase awareness of street art and its indispensable role in adding beauty and character to neighbourhoods across Toronto, while counteracting graffiti vandalism and its harmful effect on communities.”

If a particular work of street art is painted on the side of a building, the owner can apply to have it recognized by the city as street art. If the art is deemed as artistic by the city, it becomes protected and will not have to be cleaned away even if someone complains.

Furthermore, a property owner can commission a street artist to paint their building with funding from the city through the StreetARToronto project.

Why does the city have this program? Well, street art and murals can add beauty and character to Toronto. However, it actually reduces the amount of vandalism to buildings.

There is a certain code of respect amongst graffiti artists. They will not tag or paint over another artist’s work. So, if you have a beautiful artistic mural across your building, it is unlikely that someone will vandalize your building.

Touring Rush Lane, aka Graffiti Alley

We walked south on Spadina to Rush Lane, one street south of Queen Street West. Rush Lane is otherwise known as Graffiti Alley.

Graffiti Alley extends from Spadina to Portland St. There’s a massive collection of graffiti, street art, and murals covering every inch of wall space. If you’re looking for graffiti in Toronto, it’s definitely the best place to start.

There are works of art by some renowned Toronto street artists, including Uber5000, Elicser, Poser, Skam, Spud, and many others.

One of the wonderful things about Graffiti Alley and street art is that it’s constantly changing. One mural or piece that might exist one year could be gone the next.

Artists are constantly painting over their old works with new creations. Let me take you on a tour down Graffiti Alley, showing you some of the amazing street art that Toronto has to offer.

Painting Over Graffiti

Here is a prime example of an graffiti artist dissing another artist. Do you see that small head above the green writing? That’s Rob Ford’s head, the former Toronto city mayor. There used to be a painting of Rob Ford sitting on top of a tree branch that “cracked”. I’ll let you put two and two together there.

Another artist has painted over top of the Rob Ford image. This was the ultimate diss as the artist didn’t paint over the entire image – he left just the head remaining to remind everyone of the old art piece. Typically, an artist won’t touch another artist’s work without their permission, or the artist will paint over their own work only.

Don’t Miss This Area of Graffiti Alley

This street corner features a couple of works by Uber5000. There’s one taking up the entire side of a building showcasing singer/songwriter, Nellie McKay with lyrics to her song.

And then there was this impressive painted building with a coral seascape wrapping around the whole building, showing images of fish and sea life in various comical settings. This one is probably the most famous work in Graffiti Alley.

Here’s one not within Graffiti Alley itself, but behind a building at the corner of Queen and Augusta. It was also commissioned by Uber and he used the bars and pipes on the building to his advantage. The birds are now jailbirds behind bars, and the cat is perched up on the pipes.

Self-Guided Tour of Graffiti Alley in Toronto

It’s really easy to visit Toronto’s Graffiti Alley on your own. Since my guided tour of Toronto’s street art, I’ve since returned to Graffiti Alley on numerous other occasions. Anytime I’m in downtown Toronto in the Queen and Spadina area, I’ll take a little detour down Rush Lane.

I’ll share some photos from a more recent visit. I’m sure you will see even newer works of art when you visit. It’s all part of the fun and discovery, you never know what you’ll see.

Is Graffiti Alley Safe?

Like most of Toronto, it’s completely safe to visit during the day, even if you’re by yourself. As a female, I felt perfectly safe and comfortable walking around Graffiti Alley on my own.

Graffiti Alley is a pretty high traffic location in Toronto. Chances are that there will be tons of other people around when you go there, especially if you visit on the weekend.

However, I wouldn’t walk around here at night on your own. Like most alleys in any major city, I wouldn’t be wandering around on my own at night. Plus, it’s not the best time to see the graffiti anyway.