Good afternoon Bitcoinland.
I see we're still over $7k... currently $7340USD/$10322CAD (Bitcoinaverage).
Bouncy bouncy.
You lived right in the heart of TO - Eaton's Center, Maple Leaf Gardens, The St. Lawrence Market, Nathan Phillips, Massey Hall, Sam the Record Man... So many old memories of TO are flooding back. I'm going to have to take the family there for a few days this summer to look around. I haven't explored the downtown in ages and I'm sure I wont recognize it.
Yeah. It's constantly changing. Back then Yonge St. was where it was happening. By the 1980s it had moved to Queen St.W. Now the action's south of King St.
Everything has turned upside down. St. James Town went from being a desirable address for successful young professionals to being a subsidized-rent high-rise welfare slum. What were semi-abandoned low-rent warehouses full of artists and musicians are now overpriced "loft" condominiums. In another couple of decades they'll probably be slums too. Of course I don't mean nasty crime-infested slums like they have in the suburbs like Scarboro-ugh or Jane & Finch, but not up to the standards of the inner city.
Parkdale morphed from crackwhores and pimps to art galleries, antique shops and boutiques. Kensington Market is no longer a place for immigrants to buy cheap food and clothing. Gentrification has raised the rents so high that most of the cheap butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers have been replaced by high-end specialty butchers and exotic food shops and restaurants. The artists, musicians and writers are still hanging in though. Residential rent controls have allowed them to stay.
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I've always been a downtowner. I find the suburbs incredibly boring. I hate lawns, malls, identical houses, trimmed hedges and all the other trappings of restriction, conformity and normalcy. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with that stuff for other people but it ain't for me. We downtowners talk about getting nosebleeds north of Bloor St.
I also love the wilderness. Give me the forest or jungle. I dislike small towns almost as much as the burbs. I'm a dual citizen... country slicker and city bumpkin. Most of my life I've split my time between both. I love huge crowds and I love solitude. I love access to world-class arts, entertainment, sports, goods and activities. I also love the fauna and flora of nature.
I hate boredom.