Richard Silver

Neighborhoods Category

Neighborhoods: Bloor West Village

Once considered staid and conservative, this thriving village now boasts a hot European-style shopping district. You can find anything and anyone walking the high street, enjoying the bakeries, restaurants, gyms, shops and community events.   Founded in the early 1900s, the housing stock is detached homes on larger lots with big gardens, similar to the Beach (and equidistant from Yonge St). Some multi-family homes exist as part of a European extended family tradition. You’d best be handy with a rake and...Continue Reading...

Attention Cabbagetown Runners….

This looks like a great event to be held on September 26th, 2010. Get out those running shoes for a great cause!! If you cannot make it, a donation would be much appreciated! Come and cheer the runners on and support the Cabbagetown Youth Centre! Continue Reading...

Why George Smitherman should be Mayor of Toronto!

Disclosure: Let me begin by saying that I have known George Smitherman  for years and have been involved in the sale and purchase of his last properties. While he was in the Liberal Government we disagreed completely on the Government's desire to make Home Energy Audits Mandatory within the Agreement of Purchase and Sale and as a member of the Toronto Real Estate Board  of Directors we had some heated arguments on the topic. We often agree to disagree... Also, these are my own...Continue Reading...

Toronto Neighbourhoods: Parkdale.

Years ago, when I was starting my real estate career and you were not even born (yes, that long ago) the “up-and-coming” neighbourhood talked about as the next Cabbagetown  was Parkdale . I checked Parkdale out at the time, loved the great Victorian houses, liked the reasonable prices and saw great potential as a neighbourhood. I showed those houses, sold some of them, and have been waiting for years for the area to really soar. I’m still waiting. Entry to the Parkdale market...Continue Reading...

Cabbagetown: Rick McCarthy is Coming to the JetFuel Cafe’

Rick McCarthy was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1941. A 7th-Dan Black Belt in Shotokan Karate, McCarthy has trained for 25 years with both Kancho Takemasa Okuyama and Renshi Shah Franco at their Toronto dojos. While working with the renowned Franco, McCarthy discovered a correlation between Brazilian Ju-Jitsu and the evolution of his own half-century career as an artist. “I see my painting and my fighting as being one and the same,” McCarthy says, “a struggle for existence.” Rick McCarthy www.rickmccarthytheartist.com Rick...Continue Reading...

Neighbourhoods: Cabbagetown Is Going To The Dogs!!!

I decided many years ago, and am now convinced, that in my next life I plan to come back as a dog.  Now that major life decision has been made, I also would like to live that next life in the Cabbagetown Neighbourhood  of  Toronto. I would have lots of friends close by to hang with and when I get tired of smelling their butts, I would have some children to play ball with.... My owners would be able to take me to...Continue Reading...

Toronto Real Estate: Neighbourhood in focus: the Beach

Beach, The Beaches or The Beach? To locals in the Queen and Woodbine area, it is The Beach. Only the uninitiated call it The Beaches. And that is only a part of the east-end snobbery that other Torontonians can only dream of. Among locals, one MUST live west of Woodbine. And God forbid if you live north of Gerrard. Shorts and T-shirts on fabulous bodies abound but so do beer bellies and strollers. The old watering holes and pubs are being replaced by...Continue Reading...

Today’s Rant: In Praise of Term Limits

For a good part of my life I have been involved in volunteer organizations. From an early age volunteerism was encouraged by my family. It is something that has given me a lot of joy as well as a huge education in what is the potential of the human spirit. I was lucky enough to work with June Callwood  or as we used to call her, Saint June. She was responsible for many of the community services that support Torontonians. I...Continue Reading...

The Cabbagetown Forsythia Festival….

It has been such a crazy time the past few months that I finally went in to my Vado HD Video Camera and realized that I had taken these videos of the Cabbagetown Forsythia Festival. This is a great event in early May in Downtown Toronto and one of my favourite times to see the kids and their parents emerging from their warm winter accomodations and start to deal with the first signs of Spring. However this year, the Forsythia were...Continue Reading...

Toronto Neighborhoods: Liberty Village

One of the coolest areas for urban exploration these days is Liberty Village  (southeast of King and Dufferin). Its host of Victorian factories used to turn out everything from toys and billiard tables to bowling alley floors. The neighbourhood’s slow but steady development is getting ready to burst at the seams with new residential projects, restaurants and shops. Townhouses, lofts and apartments abound, but the community would not make it without the great watering holes and meeting places like The Academy...Continue Reading...