The Old Neighborhood in Downtown Toronto
Driving through the downtown area beside a TTC streetcar and other cars, we made another left turn to a not so famous area known as Parliament Street. Here the buildings start to look a bit different and more like an old part of downtown where the ordinary folks lived and worked. That’s what this post is all about. The ‘old neighborhood in downtown Toronto’ where I used to live and later on we moved to the suburbs.
There are the old buildings in the parts of downtown that we never learned to forget. Old ones that will probably be replaced by towering condos and quaint townhouses to be built all over the downtown areas. Most downtown streets and avenues are only two lanes plus the turning lane in the middle, that’s why these buildings are constructed so close to each other.
Some Heritage buildings are bought by big companies and banks, then later renovated for their businesses. Some old buildings owned privately are converted to small stores and restaurants at the lower level and the upper level used as residence. Nowadays, they have new by-laws where the business buildings can be constructed in certain areas whereas there are also designated residential areas mostly outside the downtown core or even uptown Toronto and in other parts of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
In the old neighborhood where I used to live is that first tall condo/apt building I called my first residence. It overlooks the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) beside the Don River across from the Bayview Avenue Extension Road. From our balcony you can see the Toronto Skyline with the view of the CN Tower and the best sunset view in the city proper. Then later on we moved to another apartment building, now we all have our own homes and condo/apt. in the suburbs.
Living in downtown Toronto was a great experience especially if you work downtown. You can always take the bus, streetcar or subway trains, it’s so economical and convenient compared to driving in downtown Toronto.
