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Birch Cliff (Kingston/Warden)

O

Outerbeach

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I am thinking of investing in the Birch Ciff neighbourhood. Does anyone out there have any idea of the types of businesses that might do well along that strip? What does the area need? How is the neighbourhood developing? Your ideas would be of great assistance to me.
 
I just read this again. It's been awhile since the op posted. I'm surprised at the lack of replies. This is a nabe that I driven through in the past to get to the Variety Village complex. It seems like a nice enough area with no need to travel far to get services.
 
I ride my bike along here sometimes and it has a frozen in time feel to it right now, but I'd suspect it's an excellent area to invest in. I haven't paid a ton of attention to the retail, but a decent bar/coffee shop may be a good place to start.

FYI...the alley behind the TD Canada Trust may go on record as the most badly paved alley anywhere in T.O.
 
Too far to the subway or highways. One of the few areas of the city that has stagnated but it's not so bad that it has attracted the city's revitalization efforts. So, nothing changes.
 
notyouagain said:
Too far to the subway or highways. One of the few areas of the city that has stagnated but it's not so bad that it has attracted the city's revitalization efforts. So, nothing changes.
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This probably sums it up. There's nothing at all 'hip' about the area. And, you'll need a car.
 
It's been forty years since this area was a "great" neighbourhood. Back then there was the Birchcliffe theatre. It was beautiful. The mantinees were memorable.
One of the first Canadian Tire stores was here.
Scarborough Bluff Park was a short bike ride away, and there were lots cool dark ravines to play 'army', 'hide and seek' and build tree forts.
The swimming pool at Kingston and Birchcliff was outdoor and unheated. It was jammed with kids in the summer who had the dime admission. In the winter you would find those kids on the hills behind, tobaganning or skating at the arena next door.
You were always welcome at the local fire station just north of the swimming pool. Sometimes on a hot humid summer afternoon the firemen would let you help them wash the fire truck.
Truly a great place for a kid to grow to up.
I drive through this old neighbourhood once in a while, but not too often. It saddens me to see what has become of it. Oh well, there is always hope for the future, isn't there.
 
Granny said:
It's been forty years since this area was a "great" neighbourhood. Back then there was the Birchcliffe theatre. It was beautiful. The mantinees were memorable.
One of the first Canadian Tire stores was here.
Scarborough Bluff Park was a short bike ride away, and there were lots cool dark ravines to play 'army', 'hide and seek' and build tree forts.
The swimming pool at Kingston and Birchcliff was outdoor and unheated. It was jammed with kids in the summer who had the dime admission. In the winter you would find those kids on the hills behind, tobaganning or skating at the arena next door.
You were always welcome at the local fire station just north of the swimming pool. Sometimes on a hot humid summer afternoon the firemen would let you help them wash the fire truck.
Truly a great place for a kid to grow to up.
I drive through this old neighbourhood once in a while, but not too often. It saddens me to see what has become of it. Oh well, there is always hope for the future, isn't there.
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My nabe was north Toronto. It wasn't the yuppie place it was now. Neighbours were a policeman, a machinist and a taxi driver. Retail workers at Simpsons owned homes here; went to work in suits. Women wore those 60s style shoes with high heels and pointy toes; even the working girls who shared rooms here. And those fitted dresses like they wear in 'Mad Men'.

The local park was Eglinton Park. The older folks called it Pears park after the brick factory that was located there in the 20s. We tobboganed there but some anal persons have planted trees to prevent this activity. I will cut them down in the middle of the night some day. I have gray hair and I call BS whenever I see it. :) The rougher kids would rob the smaller richer kids - I'm imagining this happening at the corner of Broadway and Yonge today.

The matinees at the Capital were 35 cents. The played a lot of the 'Carry On' movies. You could sit all afternoon and enter in the middle of a movie. The home my parents paid $13,000 for is worth about $1,000,000 right now. Now everyone sizes up everyone else (my parents still live there). The second question after introductions is: " .. and what do you do?" :(
 
Mustapha said:
This probably sums it up. There's nothing at all 'hip' about the area. And, you'll need a car.
Click to expand...

But it does have continuity w/the so-called Upper Beach going for it--and more integral, in that light, than Mimico/New Toronto/Long Branch are to the westernmost reaches of Bloor West or Swansea or High Park or Parkdale or wherever...

And relative to Scarborough these days, it's still pretty "white".
 
adma said:
But it does have continuity w/the so-called Upper Beach going for it--and more integral, in that light, than Mimico/New Toronto/Long Branch are to the westernmost reaches of Bloor West or Swansea or High Park or Parkdale or wherever...

And relative to Scarborough these days, it's still pretty "white".
Click to expand...

........still pretty white???????

Well it has something good going for it huh? Where is the KKK meeting hall? LOL!

My my Adma! It seems like behind all that pseudo pretend intellectual babble you seem to rattle off your keyboard so glibly, you actually might possibly be just a good old fashioned redneck bigot?
 
And don't think I'm *not* consciously transmitting some veiled message about urban gentrification there. (I'm sure I've referred to the Beach as "white town" before.)
 
Thanks for all the replies! Just so you know, in the meantime, I went ahead and bought the small commercial property I was looking at. I am hoping this strip picks up within the next 5 years. I will be looking for an entrepreneurial person with a bit of vision to make something of my little storefront. The area does seem to be frozen and neglected. Considering how close it is to the newly named Kingston Road Village I am hoping it is just a matter of time before things move further east. It is not less accessible to the subway than that area (both require 1 bus or streetcar). An interesting coffee shop, café or gallery would be a nice addition to the neighbourhood. There are already tiny signs that the strip is turning over. Wish me luck!
 
I'd say that the areas is ripe for gentrification and development.

Scar'lem does have some nice places despite its reputation. My parents live at the bottom of Meadowcliffe Dr in Scarborough near the lake and it's a wonderful place with old trees, kids playing out front watched by foreign nannies, nice houses with high end cars in the driveways, lots of parks and trophy wives. It's only a matter of time until the area around Birchcliff is developed for the growing class of folks with money who don't want to live in outside Toronto.
 
Scarcity...

There is alot of nice places in Scarboro, I just think the media should do a better job on how they report crimes in Scarboro. Instead of stating in the papers or on the news that the crime happened in Scarborough, tell the public the exact location of the crime, like that main intersections. When a crime happens in Jane and Finch, they say Jane and Finch. When a crime happens in, just say Kennedy and Eglinton, the media automatically says Scarborough instead of the actual intersection. Scarborough is big place, don't let a couple of crimes that happen here ruin the whole reputation of scarborough!
 
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