Queen Street

SaintGiff

I don't get down there very often, but has any one else noticed how much it's changed in the last three or five years? I'm talking about the Queen / Yonge to Bathurst or so area. When I first came to TO about 8 ( 10? ) years ago that area was very bohemian. Now it's just all Gap-type retailers. Kind of a bummer, really.

amandakev88

yeah i was walking around there the other day and thought the same thing.

lynn1982

If by "bohemian" you mean hipster, just go further west...

But yeah, neighbourhoods change as generations move on, etc.

eddiesmith1

It's changed massively since I started hanging out (and living) downtown - Queen around parliament was where a lot of what built queen west started - the first punk shop was at queen parliament, and the best record shop was queen and jarvis (as was City TV)
when we all started moving west the Queen west area was deserted at night and all warehouse spaces. It's been in a constant state of flux, sadly though it's hit the corporate stages of gentrification over the last decade and is filling up with the same crappy chain stores that populate malls everywhere. Further west it improves, but reality is the core of the city is getting too expensive for the artist community that were responsible for the queen west revitalization
Happens everywhere. start with a run down industrial area with cheap rents, artists move in and the area starts coming to life, people open smal businesses supporting whats happening, things are cool for a while, then it get's Hip, hipsters move in and prices start to climb but there is still lots of good cool stuff, then it starts to condo-ize Nimbys buy the condos then ***** and whine about the noise from the restaurants and nightlife that drew them there in the first place prices continue to rise, corporate faceless bland business takes over and the artists have fled for cheaper areas and the cycle repeats. that's my 37 year view anyway (I moved downtown in the late 70's when the first gen of punk was taking off)

enchantedgardener

Yes, it certainly has changed a lot. I used to spend a lot of time on Queen West back in my early 20s (1999-2004) between shopping, eating at restaurants, checking out clubs, attending shows. Now, not so much. But whenever I do head that way, I always notice another storefront that is now a boring mass retailer. It sucks in a way, but it's inevitable I guess.