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East Danforth

Hipster Duck

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I took a walk on Danforth yesterday evening between Pape and Vic Park and I was blown away. The area around Donlands, in particular, has really turned a corner in the last three years.
 
Dentonia Park area is nice, close to the subway, good parks, decent retail, more affordable than other central areas plus without the pretension that comes with some other nabes.
 
Last night I took a walk along the Danny, east from Pape, and - other than the mosque under construction - I thought the area around Donlands looked like it was tipping into poverty. There were a couple of abandoned cars in a small parking lot that appeared to have been there for years, empty storefronts, and cracked windows.
 
I live at Donlands and Danforth and love the area. Far cheaper than the homes in Riverdale and the Browning/Fulton corridor north of the Danforth near Chester.

There is a vibrant Middle Eastern pocket from Jones to about Greenwood, with some great Halal pizza shops and butchers, as well as two mosques. I find the Danforth from Jones to Woodbine fairly walkable... a bit less so until Main... and quite dreary east towards Vic Park.

My local watering hole, The Only Cafe at Donlands, is a must stop for a pint on a Thursday night.
 
When is it "vibrant"? The Only Cafe was the only place with anyone in it, for quite a few blocks around, on Friday evening.
 
Walk along the streets in mid afternoon after Mosque prayers on Thursday and Friday... vendors back up their trucks to the sidewalks (quite illegal) and storefronts sell kebabs outside... might not be Riverdale Carrot Common vibrant, but still pretty damn exciting.

The Greek Orthodox church just north of Donlands Station is packed on the weekends, and they often organize events in the parking lot, as well as being a start off point for the annual Greek Independence Parade.

The pedestrian traffic from Eastern Commerce, Danforth CI and Monarch Park CI and St. Patricks also keeps the area busy in the day time.
 
Walk along the streets in mid afternoon after Mosque prayers on Thursday and Friday... vendors back up their trucks to the sidewalks (quite illegal) and storefronts sell kebabs outside... might not be Riverdale Carrot Common vibrant, but still pretty damn exciting.

After numerous complaints from businesses and residents, many of those vendors, especially the ones selling produce, were told to stop. This is not Kabul or Lahore and they need to respect the rules around here.
 
We need to be a bit less anal with the rules.

Rules surrounding produce and meat sales are there to protect people. The cops nailed one guy last fall selling rabbit and poultry he was breeding at home. What about produce recalled due to salmonella and e-coli? How do you stop one of these vendors who just got a great deal of recalled tomatoes selling them on the street?
 
I don't know what you guys are talking about...

...I've lived, more or less, in this area for my entire life of almost 29 years, and it's a shit-hole.

Pape to Greenwood --> mini-Islamic state.

Greenwood to Woodbine --> OK, I'll admit, it's getting nicer...there are a few nice shops around, like the Renaissance Cafe, and I have a particular affection for the 12th Fret just east of Woodbine.

Woodbine to VP --> disgusting, particularly at Main. I take a bus from Main St. station very often, and there is no progress...just the potential for a mugging. Just the other week, I saw some gangster looking white guy with a blue bandanna hanging out of his pocket, a tear-drop tattoo under his eye and a tattoo on his neck - "DRC". Hmm...I wonder what he could be about...oh, yeah right...a Dawes Road Crips member! Then we have a mini-Bengali/Bangladesh area from Dawes to VP.

Progress? I must be missing something.
 
"Woodbine to VP --> disgusting, particularly at Main. I take a bus from Main St. station very often, and there is no progress...just the potential for a mugging. Just the other week, I saw:

1) some gangster looking white guy with a blue bandanna hanging out of his pocket, a tear-drop tattoo under his eye and a tattoo on his neck - "DRC". Hmm...I wonder what he could be about...oh, yeah right...a Dawes Road Crips member!

2) Then we have a mini-Bengali/Bangladesh area from Dawes to VP."


So wanna-be gang members are being equated with immigrants? Which is worse from your perspective?
 

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