Historicist: Life in Wartime
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
There was an article in April 18th's Globe and Mail that began by labelling Kensington Market "the site of the next big battle for gentrification" in Toronto. The central figure in that article was realtor Phil Pick, of Esbin Realty, whose "for lease" signs hang or have until recently hung in the windows of five Kensington storefronts this spring, by our last informal count. One Phil Pick property on Augusta Avenue has already been leased for some time to the owners of Good Egg, a gourmet kitchen implements store. Two more storefronts have Esbin Realty signs without Phil Pick's nameplate attached. Of the seven total Esbin properties not yet fully occupied, three are now leased and undergoing renovation. One of them, though still unfinished, is already selling, of all things, scooters.
There are two major reasons Pick's activities in the historic downtown neighbourhood are causing gentrification anxiety. First, there's the unsettling prospect of so many properties being subject to the business whims of a single person. With so many storefronts under his management, Pick is in a position of immense influence over Kensington's business community. Since, according to the Globe article, Pick is only acting as a representative of one of Kensington's "major landlords," a family that has owned significant property in the area for years, the mere fact of concentrated management in itself wouldn't be unusually worrying—wouldn't, that is, were it not for major reason number two, which is that Pick has a history of wielding his influence in a calculating way.
Pick tends to rent his clients' properties to tenants who cater to a more urbane customer base than the small food sellers, housewares shops, and low-key hangouts that make up the neighbourhood's commercial old-guard. He's perhaps most notorious for trying, last year, to lure a Starbucks into a location once occupied by a small green grocer, at the corner of Nassau Street and Augusta Avenue. The incident is summarized in this entry from our 2008 Heroes and Villains feature and is treated in some depth in this article (referenced in the "villains" article) from NOW Magazine.
Gentrification is an issue that has vexed Kensington Market for decades. The earliest use of the term in relation to the neighbourhood to turn up during our (quick, dirty) research was in a Toronto Star article published in 1988, titled "The Changing Face of Kensington Market." The writer bemoans rising property values in the Market, calls them "unmistakable signs of gentrification," and, in an eerie foreshadowing of last year's Starbucks drama, makes reference to the looming presence of a since-closed corporate coffee shop (a Second Cup, actually), which at the time of the article's publication had recently opened at the corner of Kensington Avenue and Baldwin Street. The location is now occupied by an independent coffee shop called Kensingtons.
The word "gentrification" shows up in dozens more articles on Kensington Market and surrounding areas in subsequent years. The biggest spike in sheer frequency of the term's usage occurs in mid-2004, to coincide with the controversial grand opening of Freshmart, a grocery store, which, because of its buying contract with Loblaws, incited fear of corporate intrusion into Kensington's economy when it opened its doors on the neighbourhood's Augusta Avenue strip. Freshmart remains open for business.
And now we have Phil Pick and his disturbingly uniform "for lease" signs (lower case 'e' for Esbin Reality in orange negative-space; NOW LEASING in bold black caps; Pick's name affixed to the top or bottom on a separate piece of corrugated plastic), come to help Kensington Market carry on its proud tradition of worrying about the state of its soul. The signs might be a kind of Rorschach blot for the people who live and spend time in the neighbourhood. Some might look at them and see a brighter, cleaner future. Others might see a harbinger of the end of the Market's proud eclecticism.
In that spirit (the spirit of the Rorschach blot), Torontoist paid a visit, on Saturday, to Bellevue Square Park, Kensington's most fiercely eclectic public space, to talk through some of these issues with whoever would talk to us. Our aim was to gauge the perceptions of those outside the neighbourhood's business community, for whom Kensington Market is not a business opportunity, but a treasured hangout.
Before we get into the actual events that transpired during our short, disastrous visit to the park, a little context. We had been waiting all week for nice weather so we could do these interviews. We had wanted to spend a minimum of one hour in the park, talking to as representative a sample of Kensington's populace as we could possibly assemble on the spot.
The entire day had been beautiful—one of those spring days that makes winter seem totally unthinkable. We had loads of sunshine. It was warm enough to go out in a T-shirt. By the time we were almost ready to go to work, the park was packed with people dancing, banging drums, sitting around, and so on.
The minute—no, the exact second we set foot in the park, the greyest, most sodden, angriest looking clouds we'd seen in ages began sweeping down from the northern skies. God had reviewed our investigative agenda, and he'd said, "Nope."
We decided to work quickly.
The first person we interviewed was a man we found painting on the grass. Eric Euler.
Torontoist: What's your relationship to the Market?
Eric: I come here fairly often... [lists some hangouts, too quickly to write down]. It's a big part of my lifestyle, I guess.
[We chat a little about gentrification.]
Eric: Definitely gentrification is happening in Kensington Market. [He tells us about a student-run gallery called XPACE that existed on Augusta Avenue about two years ago but was forced to close due to increased rent.]
Torontoist: Have you noticed the Esbin Realty signs that have been popping up around the Market? The Phil Pick ones?
[He hadn't.]
Torontoist: And what does gentrification mean to you? Because it seems like everyone has their own personal interpretation of the term.
Eric: It's like... if there's a cool part of town or something, and I guess big companies want to make a profit off that. [Or] people wanting to make a profit off of other people's lifestyles.
Then we approached a tall man with dreadlocks, holding a guitar.
Torontoist: Hi! My name is Steve Kupferman. I'm a staff writer with Torontoist dot com and I'm trying to interview people about gentrification in Kensington Market.
Dredlocked Man's eyes widen, and he turns to the photographer: Does he actually talk like this?
Torontoist: Uh... yes! Um...
Photographer: Have you heard of Torontoist.com? The website? He's trying to interview people for an article.
Dredlocked Man: ...
Torontoist: Would it be okay if I asked you some questions about gentrification?
Dredlocked Man: What is that?
[awkward silence]
Torontoist: Well. Ah. The Oxford English Dictionary definition is: "The process by which an area becomes middle class."
Dredlocked Man: Middle class?
Torontoist: Yeah!
Dredlocked Man: Rich people?
Torontoist: Yeah!
Dredlocked Man amused: I don't know anything about rich people. [Walks off.]
And that's about when the thunderstorm began.
There's not much we can conclude from this little experiment, though being snubbed by our dredlocked friend was sufficiently humbling to make us realize one thing: guys like Phil Pick may be the most visible agents in the transformation of neighbourhoods like Kensington Market, but they're not the only ones. Everyone with a wallet participates in the change. The interest of "rich people" in these places is what makes it happen.
Standing in Bellevue Square Park, we'd just quoted the Oxford English Dictionary. If gentrification is indeed a battle, that's a pretty good indication we're fighting for the offense. Maybe you are, too.
Photos of "for lease" signs by Steve Kupferman/Torontoist.
All other photos by Nick Kozak/Torontoist.
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Either Mr. Dreadlock is himself rich or does not live in Kensington.
Same goes for artist guy wearing 900 dollar eye glasses.
What a letdown of an article. Why didn't you just come back when you had an opportunity to interview more people?
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I live in Kensington and I was in around the park on Saturday too. With friends. Friends who know what gentrification means and who are pissed about what is happening to our community.
Perhaps when interviewing people about the area you are in one should look out for locals - not the fair-weather hippies who congregate in the park on sunny Saturdays to play hackey sack and peddle 905 weed.
Open your eyes, Torontoist. This reads like an unfinished high school essay.
Well, it was funny at least. But a follow-up would be nice.
And good god, Toronto does not need another upscale shopping district. This Sunday, I did a long bike trip around town, through Mt. Pleasant village, the Yonge and Lawrence area, Rosedale, and Avenue Road through Yorkville. Nice areas, but it all gets to be a bit colourless after a while. Coming back to the Market was a wonderful balm. The day Toronto's core turns into a giant Queen West/Yorkville is the day I'm out of here.
The nabe'll change in years to come, no doubt, but there's good change and bad change. Mr. Pick seems to represent the latter.
Maybe the anti-gentrification police can enlighten us as to what types of businesses ARE acceptable in their precious neighbourhood.
How dare Good Egg sell $100 dollar cook books. That doesn't fit the Kensington business model of stores all offering the same straw hats, sunglasses and army pants. There are far too many stores that offer absolutely nothing of value (and clearly don't sell anything all day) but hey - they help Augusta turn into a steel garage bowling alley after dark. That is so awesome and inviting.
Phil Pick did not "put me (Good Egg)" in my store, for the record - he was and is useless to work with. I worked instead with Brian Doty, a prolific property manager in the Market. He helped me get a lease. Dave, I don't know who you are, but you're pretty hilarious and (I think) I couldn"t agree with you more. Bohoism, Anarchism, Creativism (now I'm just making up words) - these things can be and are represented in a number of ways, fancy-ass cookbooks among them. I'd enjoy a debate on value versus price, and perhaps another on authenticity in action versus self-righteous stagnation.
Trendy area becomes too trendy, might become trendy area for people with a bit more disposable income. Tragedy discussed in popular, well written blog that occasionally resorts to the cliche "anti-gentrification" article.
Cities change. Neighborhoods change, people change. If you don't like it, move. Find they new, cheap trendy area. How about Hamilton? Oh, too many working class people there, or not enough bike lanes?
If the people in Kensington want a Starbucks or can keep a Starbucks in business then it's already "too late".
The middle class is rich? WOOHOO I'M RICH BEEOTCH!
This just in: Neighbourhoods evolve and change! Film at 11.
Just to quickly address the complaint that this is "unfinished": ever since Steve and Nick got rained out this past weekend before they could interview as many people as they wanted, a follow-up article has been in the works. I still think this stands alone well, and we can't conclusively promise anything yet, but that might help frame the end of the article a bit better.
(I, too, was pleasantly surprised to find out that my middle-class parents are rich! Thanks dredlocked man.)
Oh, the old cities change argument... come off it. Of course they change, but we as citizens have every right to direct that change--and maybe our vision doesn't jibe with the vision of the handful of property owners who control the deck.
If a city becomes a demographic monoculture (i.e., all poor, all rich, all white-collar, all working-class), it loses the intellectual and entrepreneurial ferment the excluded groups might bring in. Kensington is a place of great creativity and vitality. For it to become a middle-class shopping district and nothing more would be a net loss to the Toronto's creative potential. Think I'm being dramatic? Go over to Yorkville, or even Queen West between Spadina and University and see how many scrappy, unique businesses or artist-types are setting up shop there. Not many, I'd bet. Yes, Kensington has lots of run-down army surplus stores, but it also has cheap, accessible studio space for small-time recording artists at 6 Nassau. It has one of the best bookstores in Canada. And it has relatively affordable housing.
Also, the "change is inevitable" argument is easy to make, until you're the one being threatened with eviction/foreclosure because you're rent/taxes are too high.
>And it has relatively affordable housing
Kensington? We're talking about the same Kensington in Toronto, Canada, North America right?
Dry Brain: No doubt the citizenry has a say in the matter. When it comes to businesses, they have a direct say through their dollars. As has been said before, if enough people don't like a business, and don't frequent it, it will go out of business. In fact, if only getting rid of annoying neighbours was that easy.
Well, it's affordable relative to the surrounding neighbourhoods. Anyway, Torontonians have this weird idea that Toronto is some crazily expensive place. Really, we don't even have the highest average rent/home prices in Canada, let alone compared to many American/European cities.
And if those middle-aged, by-all-appearances-unemployed crusty punks permanently installed at the corner of St. Andrew's St. and Kensington Ave. can afford it, then damn, it can't be that pricey.
(At risk of being super-negative, the notion that not patronizing shops will send them packing is in most cases a fallacy. Most people don't shop politically, and tourists definitely don't, and non-neighbourhood shoppers are what keep places like Good Egg and Blue Banana alive... not that I'm hating on them, just sayin'. The same will be true of whatever upscale shos Mr. Pick brings in to replace neighbourhood businesses.)
>Well, it's affordable relative to the surrounding neighbourhoods. Anyway, Torontonians have this weird idea that Toronto is some crazily expensive place. Really, we don't even have the highest average rent/home prices in Canada, let alone compared to many American/European cities.
You're wrong again. Toronto is one of the most expensive cities in North America to live in. In fact as of July 2008, Toronto ranked 2nd most expensive city to live in North America, "vaulting over L.A. and Miami"
And the surrounding area(s)? China town is MUCH more affordable then Kensignton, as is Dundas West. In fact, with Kensington's average for a 1 bedroom being about $1200/month (and China town brings that average WAY down). In the market area itself (excluding chinatown) it's hard to find a decent living space for under 1500/month.
I'm positive at this point that you have never actually looked at rent/housing prices in the Market, otherwise you would (probably) know better.
it is rather appaling that a usually thorough e-rag like torontoist treated a heavy subject like this with such a random and unthoughtful article.
earlier the same saturday, in the same park, there were a dozen residents and merchants participating in a community clean-up which started as a bunch of undercover cops (coincidentally) finished a drug bust. at a meeting of the local kensington market action committee to elect its board on may 5th, some of these samaritans will talk about how adam vaughan was canvassing the neighbourhood to guage interest in a BIA - to fight the forces of gentrification which include city bureaucrats, corrupt media, realty fatcats and greedy landlords.
these are all excellent sources to begin piecing together the intricate issues around the forces of change in kensington market.
queen west at spadina took about 30 years to gentrify...west queen west at dufferin about 10...ossington between queen and dundas about 3 weeks...many layers of complexity and history have kept the market original and independent for a hundred years and its not about to cave anytime soon - but there are some insipid forces at work
i do hope you follow up on this bottomless topic with a little more than this kind of "dog ate my homework" journalism
shamez
I was really liking the article until the interviews. I hear what you're saying, David, but I think this could have waited one more week before pubishing. "unfinished high school essay" is right.
I like the photo of the Kiever Synagogue (which currently has Carlebach-style services every other Friday evening for Jews of all ages and has an aging population there on Saturdays) covered in rain clouds except for the poor framing and distracting blob on the right. The grey clouds work with the blue on the synagogue but the blob should have been cropped out, or a better photo taken and used.
This article had so much potential and could have reached it with more time and work. Nick and Steve could have done better.
I live in the Market, as do many of my friends, so I know quite well. It's cheaper than Little Italy, Queen West, the Annex, and plenty of others areas.
Those Mercer cost of living surveys are meaningless for locals. Unfortunately, they're reported on without context. They're about the cost of living for expats and foreign business-types. The reason Toronto "vaulted" is not because we became more expensive, but because our dollar strenghthened, and the U.S. dollar declined when the survey was being done.
Anyway, no interest in getting into a pissing match. Toronto is a relatively cheap city by world standards, and Kensington is still a reasonably affordable neighbourhood.
Over and out.
>I live in the Market, as do many of my friends, so I know quite well. It's cheaper than Little Italy, Queen West, the Annex, and plenty of others areas.
Yup, cheaper than the Bridle Path too, what is your point? Cheaper than the Annex ≠ relatively affordable housing
>Those Mercer cost of living surveys are meaningless for locals. Unfortunately, they're reported on without context. They're about the cost of living for expats and foreign business-types. The reason Toronto "vaulted" is not because we became more expensive, but because our dollar strenghthened, and the U.S. dollar declined when the survey was being done.
Hrmmm....
"The survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked 143 cities around the world, measuring the comparative cost of goods and services such as housing, transportation and food. The findings are designed to help multinational employers determine compensation for their expatriate workers."
You must be confused with your opinion again.
Apologies if this gets multiple posted... server problems on my end.
From Mercer's website: "The index is based on cost of living expressed in US dollars. Therefore, if the dollar weakens against the local currency of a city, the city becomes more expensive and moves up the index, even if prices expressed in local currency remain the same or even go down."
It's number-wrangling that means little (unless you're HR director of a multinational company.)
Toronto is currently #54 on the list--a list that includes many third world cities, and that doesn't include most North American cities. Saying we're the "second most expensive in NA" is a great headline, but misleading at best, especially when the average two-bedroom rent here is less than Chicago, Calgary, L.A., Vancouver, etc...
And, my rent for a very nice place in the nabe is damn cheap by city-wide standards.
Anyway, done, for real.
The dollar hasn't weakened against the local economy as our local economy has relatively weakened as well.
That's what you're missing, the quote you're posting from Mercer's web site is only relevant when one economy dips while another stays either stable or on the rise.
Either way, it's a relatively close index of cost of living within (major international) cities. Too dismiss it on the notion that "Vancouver has higher rents" (it's actually almost on-par with Toronto) is not very bright.
Anyhow, it's clear your opinion outweighs any factual evidence put forward to you. Then again 'affordable rent' is probably a relative term to you as well. You're simply unable to use the proper and accepted expressions to get your point across it seems.
Phil Pick is pissing into the wind. The Market has the wrong kind of footfall for boutique-type stores, and no buildings whatsoever that would work for larger chains. And now the recession's in full bloom, nobody in their right mind is going to take chances - if they expand it'll be in an established area.
As for rents, they are more expensive than the surrounding area, though not by much. And my cost of living is much less overall, as I can walk to work and have no excuse not to cook. So it was worth it for me when I was renting there (my gf and I have since bought a place, so now I *have* to cook in).
Argh. The quote I cite is only meaningful when "one economy dips while another stays either stable or is on the rise"?
Good thing those Mercer numbers predate the recession. (They're from last year, when the Canadian dollar was above the U.S. dollar.) When the U.S. was dipping, and we were on the rise, in other words.
All I'm saying is that Toronto, while expensive for Canada (though not terribly so), is very affordable by international standards. And in real terms, it is not the second most expensive city in NA. (Try living in L.A. or Miami, cities you imply are cheaper than Toronto, without a car).
And Kensington is cheaper than any other neighbourhood around it, except for the ones to the west. Look at the most recent Statscan census data if you don't believe me.
Sigh.
>Good thing those Mercer numbers predate the recession. (They're from last year, when the Canadian dollar was above the U.S. dollar.) When the U.S. was dipping, and we were on the rise, in other words.
Just b/c the numbers were released in July 2008, doesn't mean they were gathered on July 2008. This data would have been gathered probably around July 2007.
I think you conceded any of your points when you claimed Kensington was 'affordable' to live in.
p.s. I've lived in Miami, it's a VERY affordable place to live.
"The average single-family house in Miami-Dade County costs about $260000" -- Yet I made more 20k more there, then here.
I can't buy a closet here for that, sorry again.
Just to clarify, and then I'm leaving this alone for all time--the data was collected in the first two quarters of 08. (Even if it had been from earlier, it wouldn't invalidate anything.) And fine, Miami is cheaper price-wise. My point was about vehicle ownership. San Fran, D.C., L.A., Chicago, Vancouver, Calgary, and probably many others have similar or higher rents/home prices than we do. We're not the 2nd priciest in NA, by a longshot. That's all I'm sayin'.
I don't know why you're so invested in proving that Toronto/Kensington are ultra-expensive, but they're not. They're solidly mid-range, and my point is proven well beyond my satisfaction. To belabour this any further would be even more childish than we've already been. G'night.
>And fine, Miami is cheaper price-wise.
...But you previously said it wasn't. (???)
>My point was about vehicle ownership.
huh? Where does vehicle ownership come into this?
>They're solidly mid-range, and my point is proven well beyond my satisfaction
But your point this whole debate is that it's "affordable housing"
solidly mid-range ≠ affordable housing
Perhaps we should have started this whole conversation with a solid definition of affordable housing?
http://www.google.ca/search?q=definition%2Baffordable+housing&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a
Generally I think of affordable housing as no more than 30% of my overall net income.
I think you're getting frustrated cause you have not validated anything you are saying and yet you keep throwing irrelevant information into the mix. Calling this debate childish is an AWESOME Red Herring btw. I fail to see that as well.
I'm not saying Kensington is 'ultra expensive' (can you quote me where I said that?), I'm simply saying it's not 'relatively affordable housing' (relative to what? Yorkville?) which was your initial point.
You don't seem to know whether you're coming our going on this, so g'night indeed!