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vaneramosIn the mid 1970s my eldest brother and his first wife lived in a house on the last, dead-end block of Wellesley Street. Thus began my long familiarity with Toronto's Old Cabbagetown.
It earned its name during World War II as a low-income, immigrant neighbourhood, when the air was filled with the smell of boiled cabbage. It's fortunes changed when Hippies began moving into the narrow row houses, renovating during the 1970s and turning into Yuppies. My brother arrived on the tail end of that movement but only stayed a couple years. He also had a couple gay friends when he lived in the neighbourhood, a foreshadowing of Cabbagetown's future.
The neighbourhood now contains some of the most sought-after real estate in Toronto. It also lies on the immediate Eastern boundary of the Gay Village, and is densely populated with Family. I have become reacquainted with Cabbagetown since 1996. My close friends Martin and Daniel rented two floors of a house on Seaton Street until 2002, when they bought a house in Lesleyville, a similar upcoming area two boroughs east.
Riverdale Park and the Toronto Necropolis are enclosed between Cabbagetown and the Don Valley, so Danny and I had occasion to pass through the neighbourhood en route to his knitting engagement on Saturday. Riverdale Park was Toronto's zoo until the 1970s when the Don Valley Parkway was built. So was the Metro Zoo, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this August.
Riverdale still houses a variety of farm animals, a wildlife sanctuary closed to the public, facilities for all kinds of classes, and some traditional gardens.
The first and the last two images in this tour come from Riverdale Farm. The other five offer some impressions of Cabbagetown. On Amelia Street I noticed someone had placed a large urn of potted flowers on the front porch aside of the door, and all the neighbours had followed suit. The flowers often matched the colour of the door.
Give me a little cottage with nothing more than a magnolia in the middle of the yard and some lilacs by the fence, and I'll be in paradise each spring. I don't know which I love better.
One of my friends said he likes portals and colour. These next two are for him.
Thank you Danny for inviting me along last weekend. I can't wait to get my hands on you on Friday.
It earned its name during World War II as a low-income, immigrant neighbourhood, when the air was filled with the smell of boiled cabbage. It's fortunes changed when Hippies began moving into the narrow row houses, renovating during the 1970s and turning into Yuppies. My brother arrived on the tail end of that movement but only stayed a couple years. He also had a couple gay friends when he lived in the neighbourhood, a foreshadowing of Cabbagetown's future.
The neighbourhood now contains some of the most sought-after real estate in Toronto. It also lies on the immediate Eastern boundary of the Gay Village, and is densely populated with Family. I have become reacquainted with Cabbagetown since 1996. My close friends Martin and Daniel rented two floors of a house on Seaton Street until 2002, when they bought a house in Lesleyville, a similar upcoming area two boroughs east.
Riverdale Park and the Toronto Necropolis are enclosed between Cabbagetown and the Don Valley, so Danny and I had occasion to pass through the neighbourhood en route to his knitting engagement on Saturday. Riverdale Park was Toronto's zoo until the 1970s when the Don Valley Parkway was built. So was the Metro Zoo, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this August.
Riverdale still houses a variety of farm animals, a wildlife sanctuary closed to the public, facilities for all kinds of classes, and some traditional gardens.
The first and the last two images in this tour come from Riverdale Farm. The other five offer some impressions of Cabbagetown. On Amelia Street I noticed someone had placed a large urn of potted flowers on the front porch aside of the door, and all the neighbours had followed suit. The flowers often matched the colour of the door.
Give me a little cottage with nothing more than a magnolia in the middle of the yard and some lilacs by the fence, and I'll be in paradise each spring. I don't know which I love better.
One of my friends said he likes portals and colour. These next two are for him.
Thank you Danny for inviting me along last weekend. I can't wait to get my hands on you on Friday.
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Date: 2004-05-05 02:08 pm (UTC)I thought of you last Sat. when I sat deep in the woods with my clothes off feeling the sun warm my skin. Hope you have the chance to get out in Nature again, too.
That's such a cute portrait of Danny at the Riverdale Farm.
Seems as if every major city has some formerly-run-down neighborhood that winds up becoming the acme of trendy and hot because queens moved in and transformed it.
hugs, Shimmer
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Date: 2004-05-06 08:07 am (UTC)I plan to go for a walk out into the countryside in a few minutes, after I put my laundry in the dryer. The main purpose is to see how many migrant birds have returned. Unfortunatly the day is a little too cool for getting naked and rolling around in a high and solitary meadow, but who knows.
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Date: 2004-05-06 08:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-05 09:38 pm (UTC)very incredbile pics V
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Date: 2004-05-06 08:34 am (UTC)Cheers,
Van