Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Gentrification and Embourgeoisement
When I was a kid I used to live in Parkdale (think roughly Queen West centre around Dufferin and Lansdowne). It was the kind of neighbourhood where my dad was offered heroine on the way home from buying a chicken, crack dens were raided a few doors down and hookers would show up at our door making housecalls. Now, it's still pretty sketch, but it's trendy. Indy.
I started thinking about how its changed and it reminded me of our whole talk about embourgeoisement. Some may call it gentrification, but in my opinion it's pretty much the same thing. It started off relatively innocently. Instead of the mom and pop video store on the corner we used to rent Sega games at, a Blockbuster now provides your video-gaming services. Most of the convenience stores have closed in place of a Grocery Store (IGA or Loblaws or Price Chopper or something). There's even a Starbucks that has opened up nearby - far surpassing the original Coffee Time in extravagance.
Two more examples of the changing face of Parkdale has been the renovation of the Gladstone Hotel and the Drake Hotel. They are now both home to exclusive art shows, chic bars, jazz nights and function as clubs some nights of the week. Due to the low rental costs of many of the commercial properties in the area, independent art, clothing and furniture stores have descended on the area. However, although the businesses have changed, the population in the area has, to a great extent, not.
Nevertheless I believe that the influx of these "high culture" and "tasteful" institutions (pretentious art galleries...Starbucks) are in their own way changing the way that the neighbourhood's denizens are experiencing their world. They are being introduced to and are accepting these new and "classier" establishments and even welcoming them. I am hesitant, though, in saying that this is a good thing or a bad thing. It's just an example of how cultural hegemonization is occurring in a neighbourhood close to my heart.
Whadda ya think?
I started thinking about how its changed and it reminded me of our whole talk about embourgeoisement. Some may call it gentrification, but in my opinion it's pretty much the same thing. It started off relatively innocently. Instead of the mom and pop video store on the corner we used to rent Sega games at, a Blockbuster now provides your video-gaming services. Most of the convenience stores have closed in place of a Grocery Store (IGA or Loblaws or Price Chopper or something). There's even a Starbucks that has opened up nearby - far surpassing the original Coffee Time in extravagance.
Two more examples of the changing face of Parkdale has been the renovation of the Gladstone Hotel and the Drake Hotel. They are now both home to exclusive art shows, chic bars, jazz nights and function as clubs some nights of the week. Due to the low rental costs of many of the commercial properties in the area, independent art, clothing and furniture stores have descended on the area. However, although the businesses have changed, the population in the area has, to a great extent, not.
Nevertheless I believe that the influx of these "high culture" and "tasteful" institutions (pretentious art galleries...Starbucks) are in their own way changing the way that the neighbourhood's denizens are experiencing their world. They are being introduced to and are accepting these new and "classier" establishments and even welcoming them. I am hesitant, though, in saying that this is a good thing or a bad thing. It's just an example of how cultural hegemonization is occurring in a neighbourhood close to my heart.
Whadda ya think?
# posted by Danny @ 4:13 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
I never knew parkdale was a "ghetto" of sorts...in passing the area when going to the Drake Hotel, I've always found the area to be "hippie chic". With all of its eccentric people and trendy little boutiques..very weird..!
Hey Danny,
Just some musings.
Although this is an interesting example of a neighbourhood being gentrified, I wonder if it is indeed an example of hegemony? I dont know if Starbucks coming to town quite fits, because it sounds like popular culture arrived where before there wasn't much to identify with. Sounds like Parkdale was kind of waiting for something to take hold? Perhaps that is coming from a narrow, modern perspective, which kind of denies the possibility of a rundown neighbourhood having a cultural identity. I suppose I would offer the suggestion that the neighbourhood couldn't last because it wasn't sufficiently commercial, and we live in a city, where pretty much everything eventually needs to gets bought and sold. So I guess that is an example of hegemony, where capitalism and commercialisation are the rule of the day, the dominant worldview.
I'd be interested to look even further back. What was Parkdale before it was a rough neighbourhood? What was there that could not survive and got rundown? That might give us an even broader understanding of how popular culture is changing the places we live.
Just some musings.
Although this is an interesting example of a neighbourhood being gentrified, I wonder if it is indeed an example of hegemony? I dont know if Starbucks coming to town quite fits, because it sounds like popular culture arrived where before there wasn't much to identify with. Sounds like Parkdale was kind of waiting for something to take hold? Perhaps that is coming from a narrow, modern perspective, which kind of denies the possibility of a rundown neighbourhood having a cultural identity. I suppose I would offer the suggestion that the neighbourhood couldn't last because it wasn't sufficiently commercial, and we live in a city, where pretty much everything eventually needs to gets bought and sold. So I guess that is an example of hegemony, where capitalism and commercialisation are the rule of the day, the dominant worldview.
I'd be interested to look even further back. What was Parkdale before it was a rough neighbourhood? What was there that could not survive and got rundown? That might give us an even broader understanding of how popular culture is changing the places we live.
Passing through Parkdale, I always feel a strange sense of sadness for the older buildings. The architecture is really breathtaking if you take the time to look at it, but a lot of it is hidden by boarded-up windows and general disrepair. However, you can still tell that at one point in time Parkdale must have been pretty exclusive, and if I'm not mistaken it was one of the wealthier Toronto neighbourhoods prior to the Gardiner being built (which cut off resident's access to the lake and subsequently drove property values down).
I think many of the grand old houses in the area were bought by people who split them up into low rent apartments, which attracted more "lower-class" families (and as a result, drove away existing "upper-class" families) and from there it was a chain reaction. The neighbourhood eventually became plagued with the usual problems that poverty brings: petty crime, drugs, and prostitution in particular.
As a lover of architecture, I feel a sense of relief that the area is finally getting some attention and that many of the gorgeous old buildings are being restored. However, as a social anthropology student, I recognize the problems with the gentrification of the neighbourhood - the issues of crime, drugs, and prostitution haven't been solved - they're likely just being hidden behind the bright lights of the 10 new Starbucks on the block! ;)
I think many of the grand old houses in the area were bought by people who split them up into low rent apartments, which attracted more "lower-class" families (and as a result, drove away existing "upper-class" families) and from there it was a chain reaction. The neighbourhood eventually became plagued with the usual problems that poverty brings: petty crime, drugs, and prostitution in particular.
As a lover of architecture, I feel a sense of relief that the area is finally getting some attention and that many of the gorgeous old buildings are being restored. However, as a social anthropology student, I recognize the problems with the gentrification of the neighbourhood - the issues of crime, drugs, and prostitution haven't been solved - they're likely just being hidden behind the bright lights of the 10 new Starbucks on the block! ;)
speaking of housing and gentrification...
this is an interesting blog/activist group centered around 'reclaiming' abandoned housing in toronto:
http://abandonment-issues.blogspot.com/
On Monday, October 29, 2007, there will be 'a panel discussion about the proposed bylaw and affordable housing in Toronto, as well as an exhibition of maps and photos of the sites in question. This will be going down at the Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre (1499 Queen Street West), from 7:00-9:00 p.m.'
Post a Comment
this is an interesting blog/activist group centered around 'reclaiming' abandoned housing in toronto:
http://abandonment-issues.blogspot.com/
On Monday, October 29, 2007, there will be 'a panel discussion about the proposed bylaw and affordable housing in Toronto, as well as an exhibition of maps and photos of the sites in question. This will be going down at the Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre (1499 Queen Street West), from 7:00-9:00 p.m.'
<< Home
