Comment 53148

By mrjanitor (registered) | Posted December 15, 2010 at 10:16:54

When I was a teenager in Toronto in the late 70's and early 80's one did not venture down Queen St. West past Spadina unless one was looking for a little 'trouble'. I think Queen West is the best reference point in this region to view Gentrification. The Cameron House was one of the main seeds of the revitalization phase of Queen, it set up there simply because it was the cheapest place downtown. Slowly artists and musicians congregated and made the surrounding area a place they wanted to live and work in, taking advantage of the relatively low rents. Queen W became a vibrant and exciting place to be up until the last 3 years or so. Queen W got the attention of the developer class and in my opinion has started to get very bland. Further West the old ethos of the Parkdale neighborhood has now also been displaced by hipster cool. There are still remnants of the old Parkdale off the main street but that will be changing soon as well. Having exhausted Queen West, Queen East has been undergoing a transformation by the many creative folks in Toronto.

Will James North become Hamilton's Gentrified Queen West or a Vibrant Queen West? I think it's a life cycle as mentioned in this thread. James is just beginning to blossom, I don't think it's even hit it's awkward adolescent phase yet. It's re-birth is still very, very young so we can expect James to make some mistakes and get some bumps and bruises along it's way while it surprises and delights us like all of our youth do.

I am the love child of Karl Marx and Ayn Rand

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