Rick McCarthy www.rickmccarthytheartist.com

Rick McCarthy has lived on Wellesley Street for years and here is your chance to collect some great art from a famous neighborhood artist. See you at the JetFuel!

Make sure you ask him for his C.V. or visit his web site. You will be impressed!

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 chic bakeries, Starbucks, all-day breakfasts and Laura Ashley-like gift stores.

Negatives: During the hot summer weather, your space will be taken over by throngs of tourists; while in winter, breezes off Lake Ontario are merciless.
Positives: No need to travel to beach destinations, you will be living there.
Imperatives: Dogs are a must, especially ones that can read signs — leash, no leash, leash, no leash.

If you are not exhausted or intimidated by all this posturing and want to live in a great area that feels like another country, one that has access to loads of parks, beaches, restaurants, bluffs, boating, swimming, canoeing, a thriving outdoor lifestyle at a casual pace, then The Beach is for you. However, be prepared to pay top dollar to be able to enjoy this carefree but simultaneously somewhat structured lifestyle.

Townhouses, lofts and apartments abound, but the community would not make it without the great watering holes and meeting places like The Academy of Spherical Arts  (1 Snooker St) and The Liberty Village Market  (65 Jefferson Ave) to name but two. Check out the Liberty Village BIA  site at lvbia.com.

Not only a great place to live but should be a great investment.

POINTS TO CONSIDER There’s an attitude here. You might feel pressured to be “cool.” And the neighbourhood is very, very urban; not that many parks and areas to just chill.

RIGHT FIT Young techno-savvy arts types who want to live close to where they work and play. ■

Reprinted from INToronto Magazine.

Then Realtors began speaking of a hot new area they liked to call “Cabbagetown II ,” with Victorian homes in poor repair being gentrified. If you could not afford the real thing, then number two was not too bad.

Leslieville’s  old factories and warehouses have now been reborn as lofts; there are new restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, infill housing and stylish renovations everywhere. It’s certainly popular with gay and lesbian homeowners. But what used to be a bargain is now slipping out of reach.

The odd bargain (non-real estate) still exists among the antique shops, stores like Here and Now Clothing Co  and Carbon Computing  and cafés like Bonjour Brioche  — my personal favourites. However, walk along Queen and it won’t take long to damage your credit card with some excellent retail therapy.

Benefits: Close proximity to downtown, great shopping and restaurants, 24-hour streetcars and easy access to the Beach.

Disadvantages: Mixed housing, concerns over tainted soil because of the number of factories originally in the area, and termites (always a concern south of St Clair Ave).

Leslieville has not taken second place for years.

Reprinted from INTorontomag.ca

More Neighborhoods at http://torontoism.com/2010/07/02/toronto-neighborhoods-kensington-market/

Tour the alleys,dim sum restaurants and the incredible cultural diversity that has existed in Kensington Market  for years. You cannot beat the prices for clothes, food and those soon-to-be “family heirlooms” that you may be selling at next year’s yard sale.

If you have visitors in from out of town stop dragging them to the CN Tower  and spend the afternoon walking Kensington Market. The market area is open seven days a week including holidays (www.kensington-market.ca). If it catches your interest, there are tons of housing options close by. It is really the beating heart of Toronto.

Converted buildings like the Kensington Market Lofts  are usually more reasonable per square foot than new condos (but keep an eye on those maintenance fees). Multiple-generation living abounds on nearby streets, perennial centre of new immigrant communities of Jews, Italians, Portuguese and Chinese. Many homes have summer kitchens in the basement and parents’ flats on the second and third floors. Houses here are valued in terms of the number of bedrooms rather than the amount of renovations.

Streets to the north of College  have got some narrow but cheaper Victorian semis and attached homes. For the growing number of same-sex “kiddy couples” the area schools and diversity are huge bonuses.

If order and cleanliness is your thing, Kensington Market is not for you. Confusion reigns and a good sense of humour is a must.

Reprinted from INToronto Magazine 

More Neighborhoods at http://torontoism.com/2010/07/02/downtown-toronto-neighborhoods-leslieville/

It has been a while since I drove the length of St. Clair Avenue West from Yonge Street to Christie Avenue without construction…and now we could truly experience the finished product of the past three years, including special lanes for the TTC Trolleys….

Sadly, on a Saturday night at 6:30 PM (early eaters are we)…the street was vacant of any life. The St. Clair Avenue West BIA or Toronto City Council that proposed the rebuild of this vibrant area have really blown it. There used to be life on the Street, people sitting in sidewalk Cafes, shopping, strolling, etc.

I really hope that life will come back to the St. Clair Avenue West shopping area and it is just a timing issue for the neighborhood, especially since it seems that Eglinton Avenue West is next on the political  agenda…

Your thoughts on this are appreciated. Check out the changes on the street and at the same time…check out Acquolina Ristorante…

Produced by the Riverdale Farm Advisory Council, the Riverdale Farm 2010 Calendar features fabulous photographs of the Farm’s buildings, gardens and animals throughout the year and includes not-to-be-missed dates of events in the community.

The Council is very grateful to all the local merchants who kindly sponsored the calendar and to all the visitors to the Farm who allowed us to use their photos.  Joel Rotstein and Associates Inc. volunteered their great design and layout services and added some extra colour and whimsy this year.

Calendars are NOW on sale for only $10 at the Riverdale Farm Shop and the Meeting House, the Riverdale Farm Farmers’ Market every Tuesday from 3 – 7 p.m. until October and also at the Cabbagetown BIA Office, 237 Carlton Street.  Look for the calendar on sale at various locations during the Cabbagetown Festival on September 12 and 13. This is a great gift or souvenir for your friends, family, neighbours, guests and hosts.  All proceeds from this fundraising activity will be used to enhance the Farm.

 Related Posts:

Toronto’s Wake Up Call:”What Week Is This?”

For Real Estate, This Year’s Colour is “GREEN”.

Toronto Boulevard / Front Yard Parking Information

Homezilla has all the neighborhood details that home shoppers are looking for:

• Local transit information
• Day care services
• Restaurants & pubs
• Grocery Stores
• Fitness centres and gyms
• Schools

It also has information about the Demographics, Election Boundaries, and other interesting information for the real estate client or just for a snoopy neighbor. Check out the Homezilla Web Blog on Homezilla.ca for even more information by local participants.

Using Homezilla.ca in combination with REALTOR.ca should give you a more complete picture and your local Realtor can give you even more of the lowdown in the “hood” as well as recent sales and the state of the local Real Estate Market.

Homezilla.ca is a great tool for your home-shopping toolbelt.

Related Posts:

The Importance of Open Houses in Selling Your Home!

The Importance of Pricing in Today’s Buyer’s Market!

Toronto Real Estate: Closing Costs for Sellers!

Toronto Real Estate: Closing Costs For Buyers!

The “Thing” about Cabbagetown is it’s a small town in a big City. It has its own Shopping Area, Park, Schools and everyone knows their neighbor. The Riverdale Park is the centre of everything with a Market each Tuesday during the warmer months, the Forsythia Festival in early Spring, a Craft Festival at the time of the Cabbagetown Festival in September and a year-round working/teaching farm. One must, of course, have children or dogs to become a true Cabbagetowner, either will suffice but are mandatory accessories these days.

Cabbagetowners try to be supportive of the shops on Parliament Street but with the exception of a few there is a strong turnover. Restaurants are plentiful as well as ethnic diversity in food. Some of my local favorites are the HOP (House on Parliament), a great Pub, Gingers for Vietnamese Pho and few can compare to Devil Chicken at Raashna on Wellesley at Parliament.

Coffee abounds but a favourite place to be abused is the Jet Fuel Cafe’. Daniel et Daniel in the neighborhood means you will never have to cook again…but if you do, you can grab a slice of real life at the “No Frills Grocery Store” at the corner of Spruce and Parliament Street.

Schools have always been an issue to young Cabbagetown parents but with the involvement of more parents in the School activities the levels seem to be improving. What better way to educate your children then to school them in a diverse classroom made up of new Canadians from all over the World? What better way to prepare a child for the future.

The sense of Community, its’ proximity to Downtown Toronto, its’ walk-ability, its’ diversity and downright friendliness make Cabbagetown one of the top places in Toronto to live. Check it out or contact me and I will be proud to show you around.