chickenfeet

Cabbagetown was once the quintessential working class neighbourhood of Toronto. It was the first home for generations of new immigrants starting with the Irish, then Eastern Europeans and, more recently, South Asian and East African families. Old Cabbagetown had its slums and was notorious in the mid 19th century for cholera outbreaks. Post WW2, a fair amount of not especially nice public housing was built (Regent's Park) and the neighbourhood became one of the sketchier parts of the city. More recently there has been a massive amount of gentrification, especially on the quiet side streets and houses sell for, by Toronto standards, very high prices. Most recently parts of Regent's Park have been demolished and are being replaced by pretty boring condos. It looks as though no attempt is going to be made to create the kind of fairly integrated mixed income community that makes the St. Lawrence neighbourhood so great.



Typical of the gentrified side streets; looking east along Wellesley from Parliament.

Not so gentrified; looking south down Parliament from Wellesley

Evidence of Indian influence

Indian influence of a different sort

Some of the remaining public housing at Regent's Park

And finally, a few metres south, what's replacing the demolished public housing blocks