Your block

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by giallo

That's awesome, guys. I'm happy I was able to give you an intimate look at a Shanghai neighbourhood. I agree, it can be tough to gauge the 'feel' of a neighbourhood by just pictures alone.

I really like watching these kinds of videos, and honestly, I kind of enjoyed playing virtual tour guide here. Maybe I'll make a thread in the Canada section where people can post their original video tours of their favourite (or least favourite) parts of their city.

Oh, you should. That'd be awesome. It's so cool to get views of other cities that are... well, when it's done for SSP, it almost feels like it's done for you personally.

[niwell]

I live in the College / Bathurst area of Toronto, on Palmerston Avenue. This isn't to be confused with the well-known Palmerston Blvd, which exists between College and Bloor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmerston_Boulevard

I'm just south of College where the character changes from mansions built between 1906-1910 to pretty standard 1890s residential fare. It's a long block between College and Dundas with no cross-streets. Residential streets being all one-way. My block is bounded by College, Palmerston, Dundas and Markham: http://goo.gl/maps/OIKoJ

Here's the north side of College, which is the primary commercial street in the area. Just west of here it narrows and becomes Little Italy, but this area is kind of a transition one. You have some older storefronts but also large brick and beam warehouses. One of my favourite restaurants in the older buildings (La Carnita) with two new ones to open soon that have reputations preceding them (Gwai-Lo popup and an offshoot of Bar Isabel):




My street with the typical type of houses you'd find in this part of Toronto. Generally 2 or 3 storeys and built around 1895. This wouldn't be strictly working class back in the day, but not much higher (merchant class??). If you go out a bit further more of the houses are 3 storey:




You also have a few larger scale buildings. In true Toronto fashion, you have to disguise the apartment building as a house:




Dundas street in the south is a bit in transition. It's not really a full commercial street in this area (it becomes one west of Ossington), but there are plenty of businesses. Recently tons of new restaurants, bars and galleries have been opening and it's getting a lot livelier. The place on the left with windows papered up is a great restaurant / cocktail bar called Hudson Kitchen:




Markham Street, which is basically like mine. This is what you see looking down a typical street in the neighbourhood. I should have taken pictures as street view kind of distorts things and makes them look wider, but oh well:

[SignalHillHiker]

Wow, that's lovely!

[giallo]

Yeah. Great-looking neighbourhood, niwell.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Yeah, everyone I know who has moved to Alberta bought a truck there. Most, though, did it because they were terrified of dying on the highways. ("Have you seen what happens to car drivers in Alberta when they get into an accident? It's guaranteed death. Everyone is driving a... a U Haul.")

And everyone I know sold it before returning home.

But, really... how many people actually FROM St. John's are there in Alberta? You could probably fit them in one car. It's mostly rural.

It was a while ago, but I worked with lots of people from St. John's in Calgary and most of them seemed to have all sorts of high school friends and extended family in Calgary. That was in the 90's and early 2000's, before the boom.

I suspect many of those trucks were bought in Alberta to avoid PST. I'm not sure how old the vehicles need be to avoid paying PST when registering in another province.

[wg_flamip]

Originally Posted by niwell

I'm just south of College where the character changes from mansions built between 1906-1910 to pretty standard 1890s residential fare. It's a long block between College and Dundas with no cross-streets. Residential streets being all one-way.

I live a bit West of you (Lansdowne, between Bloor and College). The houses are about 15-20 years younger, but the character of the side streets is fairly similar. The lack of E-W cross-streets must be one of the worst planning mistakes made in the "shoulder areas" - my block is 850m long!

[niwell]

^I think Margueretta St and St Clarens are the longest blocks in the city. Around 850m like you said. I've always wondered what the laneway parking situation must be like.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Sounds like the section of Williamsville north of Princess, or maybe the Fruit Belt area.

Yep, Williamsville north of Princess. I live near the Memorial Centre.

Part of my house (a duplex) is built out of stone, other parts of it have aluminum siding on the outside. This neighbourhood has quite a few houses that appear to have been built in the mid-1900s among much older houses; I suspect these were replacements for the low-quality wooden homes. I've read that there were quite a few low-quality houses that were torn down around here in the 1950s and replaced with better quality homes.

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

The Artillery Park area is very mixed bag; I've got students (both Queen's and RMC), young families with kids, a few wealthy doctors & lawyers, retired couples, and working class people all living near me.

My area is a mix of students, young couples and young professionals, a few families, and a lot of people on welfare. I sublet rooms in my house and over 80% of the inquiries I get are from people on welfare.

[niccanning]

Thought I would join in, as I'll be leaving my hood shortly and will miss it. I've been living in the Annex for the past three years. I absolutely love the area. Arguably a little bland in terms of the culture and diversity other Toronto neighbourhoods offer, but it’s chiched with beautiful homes and the stretch of Bloor as everything. Some info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Annex


The homestead


Cool neighbourhood fire station


Bloor/ plug for an awesome yoga studio


Honest Eds... iconic Toronto discount store... technically not in the Annex I guess, as it's on the other side of Bathurst


Bloor

[SignalHillHiker]

Are you coming back home or moving somewhere else in TO?

Beautiful neighbourhood, BTW. Looks like a bigger, more diverse St. John's.

[niccanning]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Are you coming back home or moving somewhere else in TO?

Beautiful neighbourhood, BTW. Looks like a bigger, more diverse St. John's.

Back home!

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh, awesome. Congratulations!

[1overcosc]

After months of couchsurfing & living with assorted relatives I finally have a place of my own in Ottawa. It's in the inner city Sandy Hill neighbourhood, a 20 minute walk from Parliament Hill I'm hoping my new digs will make me feel happier about Ottawa, I've been fairly gloomy since I had to leave Kingston.

[Docere]

I'm on Borden Street which is in Harbord Village (formerly Sussex-Ulster):

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6577...vTPi3CDzdg!2e0

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6594...EQGZh9bHcA!2e0

Harbord Village - which is Bloor to College, Spadina to Bathurst, was built up in the 1880s but there is also some later infill development, in the early 20th century and some from the 1930s. Started out as a sort of upper working class or lower middle class area, though there are grander homes on Brunswick Ave. (from College to Ulster)

It was predominantly Jewish from WWI until the 1960s, part of the Jewish community centered around Spadina. There are still 2 synagogues in the area, the First Naraveyer on Brunswick and another one Markham St. and Ulster (just on the other side of Bathurst).

The area became more multicultural with many Portuguese moving in in the 1960s and 1970s and Chinese a bit later. Until around 1980 or so it was a pretty working class area, with many of the houses split up. The Portuguese moved westward along Dundas and the Chinese community seems to have shifted a bit south and west. Gentrification was already evident in the 1970s with many academics from U of T and other professionals moving into the area (beginning more in the north of Harbord part and closer to Spadina, such as on Robert St.) Now it's definitely a mostly upper middle class, professional area. I'm Jewish myself (though not at all religious) and interestingly, I noticed that many Jews are among the professionals living in this area, probably 10% or so of the community's population. Ironic given that so many of their parents and grandparents worked to escape from the area and now it's very desirable! I would guess the Chinese and Portuguese communities are also about 10% each, the Portuguese a bit under and the Chinese a bit over.

While quite gentrified at this point, it's not quite as "pristine" as Cabbagetown as there are still older working class holdouts. As a general rule, it's a bit more gentrified further east. Houses on Robert St. sell for a bit more than the other north-south streets, while Lippincott is a bit more "patchy" and the most "affordable" (sic.)

The Harbord Village Residents Association has been very active with the Bloor-Borden Farmers Market as well as historic preservation and oral histories of area residents going back to the 1930s. Lower Brunswick and all of Robert St. are historically designated I believe.

[Docere]

Some nearby residential streets, all between College and Harbord:

Robert St.: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6606...zzDnlWqC9Q!2e0

First block of Brunswick Ave.: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6590...kdH4aJYvLQ!2e0

Next block of Brunswick Ave.: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6614...d6u5HUb2wg!2e0

Markham St.: https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6593...kvuBcydoZA!2e0