Posts Tagged ‘Parkdale’

Here at Shopgirls we believe a good cup of joe is key. I, myself, argue (with myself) about it – isn’t that how addictions work?
Self: “Caffeine is not a drug, it is a vitamin!”
Smart Self: “That’s bullshit.”

Regardless, our (myself and I) new addiction is The Mascot located across the street from us at 1267 Queen Street West. We love more than a couple of perks to this café. The vintage espresso machine (where you pull levers down to start the process – neat!); the snacks brought in by OMG Bakery; the amazing selection of global style and culture magazines; the overall take-a-minute-to-take-it-in vibe; and who doesn’t love the free WiFi?

But what we freakin’ love the most are the gentlemen that serve up this brew every day. Their “we take cash or I owe you’s” approach, witty conversation always to be had, and their clear love for Parkdale (support of the arts and bi-monthly charity events) makes us Shopgirls more than willing to argue for our daily dose of vitamin C-appuccino.

Open 7am-7pm weekdays
8am-7pm Saturdays
9am-7pm Sundays

(photo credit goes to BlogTO – http://www.blogto.com/cafes/mascot-toronto)

Thanks to BlogTO for the awesome post full of ancient photos of Toronto! It’s amazing to see the city in its early years, and to see parts of Parkdale as they once were.

1. Queen Street West, looking east towards Dufferin Street (you can see the Gladstone Hotel on the left). That brick retaining wall on each side of the road is gone now.
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2. The South Parkdale Rail Station was located at Jameson Avenue and Springhurst Avenue. Those big houses in the background are probably still there, split up for rentals by now.
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As I was searching around for old photos and trying to identify Parkdale’s train stations, I came across a neat site for train enthusiasts, Old Time Trains. Here is a photo of the tracks and bit of the neighbourhood around Dufferin and Queen.
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Click here for some general history of Parkdale. You can also check out a series of posts about Old Parkdale here.

Shopgirls is so thrilled to have partnered with newish Parkdale business Coriander Girl to bring beautiful fresh blooms into the shop every other week!

Shop owner Alison Westlake is a sweet pea and her space is filled with beautiful blooms, locally-made crafts and botanical lotions, and good vibes. Once in a while, you’ll even catch her dancing off her stress to groovy tunes in the middle of the shop! Awesome. We love her and fully encourage you to check out her shop and all the beautiful things it has to offer!

Shopgirls was thrilled to read recently that Parkdale has been found to be one of ten neighbourhoods in Canada with a high concentration of artists in the local workforce. Awesome!

Click here for the full article, where you can actually read about neighbourhoods with decreasing artist populations, mean salaries for artists by neighbourhood and even stats for female artists in certain area. And of course, here’s a snippet of the article, along with a list of the other neighbourhoods:

This study, prepared for the City of Vancouver, the City of Calgary, the City of Toronto, the City of Ottawa and the Ville de Montréal, shows that, collectively, the 53,500 artists in these five large cities represent 38% of all artists in Canada, a proportion that is much higher than the five cities’ share of the overall Canadian labour force (21%).

The report provides an analysis of artists residing in various postal regions – “neighbourhoods” – in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver in 2006. The report provides lists of the ten neighbourhoods with the highest concentration of artists in each city. Nearly 22,000 artists live in the 50 neighbourhoods in the five cities’ top ten lists. This represents 41% of the artists in the five cities and 16% of all artists in Canada.

Each of the five cities has areas with above-average concentrations of artists. However, among all Canadian neighbourhoods, certain Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver neighbourhoods have the highest concentration of artists.

1. Montreal’s H2T neighbourhood has 7.8% of the local labour force in the arts. H2T extends northward from avenue du Mont-Royal to avenue Van Horne (and the railway tracks) between St-Denis and Jeanne-Mance. This is the “most artistic neighbourhood” in Canada, with an artistic concentration that is nearly ten times the Canadian average (0.8%).
2. Montreal’s H2W neighbourhood, directly south of H2T, has an artistic concentration of 7.5%.
T3. Toronto’s M6R neighbourhood (Parkdale west to Parkside Drive) has 6.0% of its labour force in arts occupations.
T3. Montreal’s H2Y neighbourhood (the Old Montreal and Old Port areas) also has an artistic concentration of 6.0%.
5. Toronto’s M6J neighbourhood (West Queen West, centered on Trinity-Bellwoods Park) has 5.5% of its labour force in arts occupations.
T6. Toronto’s M6G neighbourhood (north of M6J, extending from College Avenue to St. Clair between Bathurst and Ossington) has 5.3% of the local labour force in arts occupations.
T6. Montreal’s H2J neighbourhood, which extends east of H2T (from St-Denis to Papineau between the railway tracks and Rachel) has an artistic concentration of 5.3%.
T8. Montreal’s H2V neighbourhood (Outremont) has 5.2% of its labour force in the nine arts occupations.
T8. Toronto’s M5R neighbourhood (the Annex and Yorkville areas) has 835 artists out of 15,910 total workers, for an artistic concentration of 5.2%.
10. Vancouver’s V5L neighbourhood (centered on Commercial Drive and extending from Burrard Inlet to East 1st Avenue between Clark Drive and Nanaimo Street) has 5.1% of the local labour force in arts occupations.

Below: Ten Toronto Neighbourhoods with the highest concentration of artists, 2006.

Shopgirls has been waiting patiently since we moved into Parkdale for some big changes, specifically a reconfiguration of the Dufferin Jog. We have found in the last few years that local residents love us, but it’s been tough to get Queen West shoppers to walk past the bridge. With the current changes underway, that whole area is going to be one big invitation into Parkdale, and it’ll be that much easier to get to Shopgirls! Public art, green space, bike and walking paths – we’re so thrilled about this project. And finally we have pictures!

Torontoist details the history and development of the project here.