Off topic I know, but I'm curious in your opinion UD, why the retail stretch from Dundas to Keele is so sleezy still. Despite the appeal of the area and the emergence of the Roncy scene, that strip still appears to be rundown and lacks any real positive momentum.
Am I mistaken? Has it improved since I last visited it?
Obviously it's no Bloor West Village or anything, but I've been visiting the area regularly over the past few months, and every time I go it seems like things are getting nicer. New restaurants are opening up, galleries, cool shops, etc...
Now magazine recently named the Junction as the "Best Up and coming Retail Strip in Toronto", in their November "Best of Toronto" issue.
I posted this article in the Junction forum on this site (it goes into detail about one of the businesses in the area and about how the area has changed recently):
http://www.thestar.com/article/286723
Article:
Forever Interiors' attitude: Reuse, recycle, rejoice
Andrew Wallace / toronto star
Forever Interiors’ Martin Scott is so green, says Rita Zekas, that he rivals Shrek. His Dundas St. W. store has been open for just over two years. Email story
Dec 22, 2007 04:30 AM
Rita Zekas
Living reporter
We hadn't been to The Junction, that outback at Dundas and Keele, since 2001, when we visited the set of the musical film Call Me Irrepressible starring Jason Priestley, whom we dubbed a "song-and-pants man" because of his inflated, draping, vintage trousers.
Film-location people tend to gravitate to The Junction for its seedy, somewhat disreputable vibe. Now it's going the way of Parkdale and getting gentrified.
Shops like Forever Interiors at 2903 Dundas St. W., headquarters for recycled furniture, decor and antiques, and Cornerstone at 2884 Dundas St. W., 40,000 square feet of fine furniture and antiques, are springing up among the quickie cash-your-cheques places.
Throw in a Starbucks and Whole Foods and watch the yup-and-comers congregate.
Forever Interiors' owner Martin Scott bases his business on reclaimed wood. Harvest tables are made from recycled wood, including old structural beams and ultra-wide roof boards. Custom-designed cabinets evolve out of a combination of salvaged furniture and reclaimed wood.
He's almost Shrek green.
We are captivated by a school of whimsical wooden fish in a variety of colours and species on the walls. "I cut them out and local artists paint them," Scott says. "...I get old tin that I use for the fish (fins) from a demolition guy in a truck."
At $34.99, they are irresistible and ideal for last-minute gift giving. "Somebody from a film wanted to rent 10 fish for a trailer park," Scott recalls, offended, "and I said, `No way.'"
Designers, movie-location scouts, movie people and regular folk make their way to Scott's shop.
"I get spillover," he says.
Rachel McAdams, who was in the area filming Time Traveler's Wife, bought one of his popular shelves with the vintage coat hooks priced from $39 to $99 and made from old roof boards.
McAdams is also tapping him for furnishings for her T.O. home.
Scott depends on "bike guys," pickers on bicycles who ride around the area sifting through the garbage for broken items that he makes into new furniture.
The bike guys are not kids.
"Chester shocked the life out of me," Scott recalls. "He said he'd be 60 years old in a week. He spends 12 hours every day on a bike and supplies me and other people."
Scott took a huge old door and made it into a hallway bench on which to sit while taking off your shoes. It's all found wood, with the door on one side, floorboards on the other and storage underneath. All that for $249.99.
He'll take old five-foot-high mirrors that are refuse from apartment buildings or renos, attach them to old floor boards from century homes and price them at $195 to $395.
Scott sells church pews from the neighbouring Victorian Presbyterian church for $350. "The church was converted (no pun intended) into lofts," he says.
There is a magnificent armoire with a "sold" sticker marked at $4,900. "A moving company called me up (offering it)," Scott says. "It's not old – only 15 years old – but it costs $17,245 regularly."
What is totally gob-smacking is a coffee table top made from a bowling alley floor that Scott obtained in collaboration with The Post and Beam Reclamation Ltd., several stores down at 2869 Dundas W. The Post and Beamers deal in reclaimed architectural materials and have been known to go all the way to Argentina to buy a church door, but the door is such a work of art, it's almost a religious experience.
"They said, `C'mon, let's grab the wood' (from the bowling alley) and I helped them," Scott recalls. "They sell the raw material, I sell the finished products. If I'm lucky, maybe one of those bike guys will come by with a base for the table."
Forever Interiors has been open for just over two years. Before that, Scott worked in marketing for a mid-sized software company. He was downsized.
He is not necessarily artsy-craftsy, he demurs. "I learned right here," he explains. "My brother is a real estate agent and we reno'd houses. I sold my house and it became my stock. Then my brother bought a house under construction and it all ended up being in the store."
A 100-year-old trunk priced at $195 bears a sign proclaiming, "Been to China and back." A trunk underneath it says, "Don't know where it's been" and sells for $65.
Scott's price points are moderate: A pair of wooden candleholders is $7.50; a baker's table, metal with enamel paint, is $149; a great vintage floor ashtray is $65; a wonderful hobby horse is $58; lamps and chandeliers go from $27 to $87; a charming birdhouse is $35; and picture frames are $12 and up.
"Art dealers come in and clean me out of frames," Scott says. "There is an art school around the corner."
To replenish stock, Scott goes to garage sales, content sales and auctions. "And people call me up now," he adds.
His client base includes some of the people in the 'hood, though they tend to stay put after dark. It is still somewhat dodgy, after all, and it gets dark before 5 p.m., when most people are still at their primary work stations, though Scott can be found toiling away in his shop renovating.
"This is a very professional neighbourhood," Scott explains. "The problem is, they (customers) don't come to the street. We need coffee shops and produce stores. We need comfy, cozy places to hang out in the evenings."
His philosophy is to steadfastly stay forever old.
"The only thing new is the idea," he says. "It's as simple as one, two, three. One: nails. Two: screws. Three: glue."
Edit/Delete Message
); imagine living on Dundas St and that much further away--not High Park at all.
