Hi all

Anyone know/live in Cabbagetown? What's it like to live in for someone in their late 20s/early 30s who likes a quiet home life but doesn't want to be too far away from downtown?

I've tried to find out about house prices on mls.ca but can't figure out what area I need to be searching in

Any help would be appreciated!

Suze

I live in the beach and work near the hooker Harvey's at Jarvis and Gerrard so I go through Cabbagetown every day. It's C8 on mls then use mapquest to see if the property displayed is near the necropolis. It's certainly convenient to downtown and there's a big B&B there which you could stay at on a short trip to get the feel of the place:

http://toronto.ibegin.com/hotels/amsterdam-guesthouse

Be aware that that is a rough area. I've given up walking the dog in Allen Gardens because of the number of needles and because he disturbs the vast number of people who sleep there.

There are some expensive houses with nice trim and it is borderline gentrified but it's still more Kilburn than Hampstead. There's a lot of street level prostitution and drug dealing in the area as well as a large "centre for harm reduction". Filmore's, the large and notorious strip joint, is on the fringe of Cabbagetown. The adjacent area to the north, Saint Jamestown, has the highest population density in the city and is flat out scary. The area to the south, Regents Park, is a housing project used in many films as a stand in for US gang neighborhoods. One of my daughters worked there as a lifeguard; the pool had a metal detector. The project is being redeveloped but not necessarily improved. There's a Women's Health Centre in Cabbagetown so there's the constant bother of right to life protestors waving placards and harassing people, if I'm driving I make a point of splashing them on the way by.

All that said, when the streetcar gets to Cabbagetown, white people get on, so there's more money there than at any of the stops to the east. It's very much a gay positive neighborhood without the patios being such markets as on Church St. If you're comfortable in, say, Camden Town it'd work.

Oh, you just missed having a shot at buying Avril Lavigne's Cabbagetown house. Shame really, she's world famous in Canada.

Very informative dbd.

Dear OP,Cabbagetown is t he very nexus of the contradictions which make up Toronto. You'll love it or you'll regret the day you searched C8 on mls.

Be brave, be bold, be cool, or be very, very sorry you left Surrey or wherever.

Check out Geoff Pimblett at Pimblett's B &B

http://www.pimblett.ca/

How did Cabbagetown get its name?

(real question, honest)

Cabbagetown's name derives from the Irish immigrants who moved to the neighbourhood beginning in the late 1840s, said to have been so poor that they grew cabbage in their front yards.

Blimey. Doesn't sound like a salubrious neighbourhood. Mind you, where *is* these days. I do love the name though...Cabbagetown....wicked

Question is with a name like that does it smell?

That place looks closed to me. The Mk II Jag that used to be outside is gone. JudyInCalgary would phone to check but I'm not that commited.

Something surprising about that area is the number of francophones. My kids commuted to a nearby French language school for which the local catchment are included Cabbagetown, Regents Park and St. Jamestown. The school had very many students (and some teachers) who spoke only French. There were some Algerians but they mostly came from the Cote D'Ivoire or the Belgian Congo. Of course, there were also a few Quebecois, the children of Maple Leafs. They were much mocked for their joual.

Hi Suzey

The following link might be useful....

http://www.oldcabbagetown.com/

Thanks - I'll bear that in mind. Just had a look and all they really had was condos, so I'll keep looking.

Hmmm...

Hmmm. I'm not too bothered about gentrification - what I'm really after is a nice property which is a bit older (which is why I was thinking about Cabbagetown). It's not feasible for me to go to TO to do some fact finding in the near future, so could anyone give me some pointers as to which areas are the cheaper ones in TO and have period properties? I'm not remotely interested in a condo, they bore me.

From what you've said, that sounds like a pretty close comparison. Thanks for the info!

I don't live in Surrey - but I appreciate what you're saying

Suze

Thanks!

Suze

I generally agree with the opinions of neighbourhoods expressed here:

http://www.boldts.net/Toronto.shtml