fourONEsixSTYLE

Well before the condo signs started popping up on Queen West, modern furniture boutique stylegarage had made its mark on the artsy neighbourhood. From its wrap-around windows lined with eye-catching lighting, the shop, on a quiet corner of Shaw, exudes muted and sleek sophistication. It was enough to draw me in. I’d been on a hunt for a wide and low television stand with large industrial wheels for awhile and decided to browse the boutique to see if I could find it.

Inside the design store, each modern line blended fluidly with the next, allowing their most stunning showpieces - made of grained walnut, oak, maple and douglas fir - to get full attention. Whether it’s their leather sofas characterized by topstitching you’ll love or chunky Canadian wood coffee tables it’s obvious they design furniture to last a lifetime.

Since I’ve always lived in old Toronto houses with little built-in lighting I get especially excited for modern lamps of any kind. One brushed stainless-steel wall-mounted piece caught my eye. The simple style mixed with a clear vintage bulb and exposed filaments (also sold at stylegarage) would look fantastic in any pseudo-industrial space.

Though I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for, friendly staff reassured me they could custom make most things. Seems they have a very close partnership with Toronto design manufacturer Gus Modern, the company that supplied the loft furniture for Martha Stewart’s prime-time show The Apprentice. While Martha’s run might be over you can still catch the design items at the Queen Street store or at the upcoming Interior Design Show - February 22nd to the 25th.

Parkdale residents and politicos assembled Monday night to debate the question “Where Goes The Neighborhood?” The idea was to tackle the hot topic of gentrification. I’d attended hoping that, somehow, we could all band together to create a vision for the wayward community, but hope was not to be found. With widely respected panelists such as Spacing’s Matthew Blackett and the brain behind 401 Richmond, Margaret Zeidler, I’d hoped we’d do more than establish affordable housing as a priority and bash the former Harris government. Area MPP Cheri DiNovo stood up for comment too, saying she’s asked for 20,000 units of affordable housing to be built in this part of TO. I’m not sure where she intends to put it though, maybe that should have been on the debate agenda instead.

As it stands amongst other Toronto communities, Parkdale currently has a large percentage of renters and, Councilor Gord Perks pointed out, is one of only a few communities that still has legal rooming houses. Perhaps Parkdale is already doing its fair share to support those in the city with lower incomes and it may not have the infrastructure in place to help the resource dependant community. Parkdale is like Kensington was years ago, a place where newcomers to Toronto settle and try to build a future. Many young families are moving in as well, renovating homes and taking pride in their new neighborhood. No one wants any displacement of current residents however, so what it needs is a plan for growth and a way to ensure that rent and property taxes don’t skyrocket.

Businesses in the area are also seeing a shift. There is a much smaller percentage of variety and grocery stores, while home decor and reno stores are gaining popularity. However, commercial vacancy currently sits at 13%, making me think that gentrification isn’t the real problem. I can think of a few new cafes and bars in Parkdale too but nothing too chichi or chic that it’s going to get condo-dwellers buying into the “dream” of living right in the middle of the action. Ultimately it’s the high-rise condos that will anchor Queen Street West, in Parkdale’s neighboring ward just east of the tracks, that frighten Parkdale residents. Though, it could bring more focus westward and Parkdale could begin to see some necessary improvements. Perhaps it’ll start with a few new facades, some new parks, a community centre, then a renovated building or two. There’s so much promise in Parkdale, all that’s needed is a plan and a way to ensure it includes all kinds of people. That’s the only way Parkdale will retain its unique charm and character.

Read what people have to say about it at blogTO, so far there are 19 comments making it one of the top posts of the month.

image: avp17

For those who get totally stressed-out Christmas shopping I have one piece of advice - go local and stay out of the malls. Over the course of two rainy days I’ve found nearly everything I need in Bloor West, Parkdale and West Queen West, granted I’ve been buying for people who love design as much as I do and it’s always easier to find unique gifts away from the dreaded mall.

Relatively new to the block is blue igloo in Parkdale, a small shop with a bit of everything for the home. Every time I go in I leave with something for my flat, but this time the silver teardrop lamp I picked up had someone else’s name on it. At Jolanta Interiors on Bloor every kitchen accessory you could dream up is somewhere on its shelves. Smallish brandy glasses were a nightmare to find anywhere else - they were out, too pricey or not the right shape - but they were a quick find at this established shop in the village. Wish I’d bought the ramekins for creme brulee for $1.50 a piece at Jolanta’s instead of at Williams Sonoma at $11 a pop, though WS did wrap them up extra pretty.

Of all the places I’d been Studio Brillantine at Dovercourt and Queen is my fav. Whenever I’m lost for gift ideas SB is where I end up. I spent an hour looking at every piece in the store - Stelton’s stainless steel coffee set by Arne Jacobsen, Shiseido candies from Ginza, Toyko and minimal digital watches by Philippe Stark. It’s the kind of stuff that wins design awards and gets noticed - conversation pieces - the kind of pieces people usually don’t buy for themselves but would love to own and probably don’t already have. I left with a great bag of goodies, easily finding something for the home-office guy, the entertainer and the traveler too all in one simple spot.

Studio Brillantine @ 1082 Queen Street West. Ph: 416.536.6521
Jolanta Interiors @ 2368 Bloor St. W. Ph: 416.762.9638
Blue Igloo - now online only.

Welcome to the Neighborhood
Originally uploaded by steffiejupe.

Heard a great Parkdale story last night: a guy was giving his wife grocery money in the car and got arrested since the cops thought he was a john. Great neighborhood, if you can contend with crack users at 9 in the morning. Still, some people get upset when neighborhoods go through “gentrification”. What would you rather live in, a community that’s rebuilding or an abandoned one like parts of Detroit with no momentum unless its crime related?

Parkdale’s feeling some pressure now that the lovely little stretch of Toronto called West Queen West is seeing a rivival. Charming galleries and shops line the streets. The Drake and Gladstone Hotel (which opened last night) have tried their best too to make something that the artsy neighborhood would appreciate. But now here comes Starbucks and everyone freaks out. This picture was published in Now and eye magazines this week to further their social commentary about the nasty beast called gentrification.

Sure, there’ll always be those that suffer as things change. People won’t always be happy. But The Stardust Motel, which is now The Drake, did nothing to make this city sparkle, and to be honest I can’t even remember what was on this corner of Dovercourt previously.

On the opposite side of the street there is now a big sign and a very unusual structure which looks like a climbing wall with mirrors, but it’s actually a condo office for Westside Lofts. That should make the neighbors happy, or crazy, depending what side of the tracks they’re on. A recent article in the Toronto Star featured the lofts at 48 Abell, where my boyfriend Craig used to live. Seems these lofts will be torn down since it can’t be brought up to code. So these tenants, who’ve had great rent and some of the best true lofts in the city will now have to find a new place. I do feel for them, but they’ve had a great ride.

It’s a fantastic new location and I couldn’t help put my name “on the list” for the new condo’s marketing campaign, as stupid as their message was. Go to the site for westsidelofts to see it for yourself. Girl and guy line up outside a club, but they’re “not on the list”. “Get yourself on the list” it says. Pretty gay, but condo advertising usually is. I didn’t know much about these condos when I signed up but I heard that plans might be to build two towers, one a low income building “with a mind to the art crowd” the paper says, and one tower with “snappy condominiums [for] hipsters that can afford real estate”. I think I’m out. Towers in this neighborhood are a bad idea and anyone who thinks they can market condos to wanna-be “hipsters” needs to be a bit more dialed in to this neighborhood’s personality.

the drake hotel toronto
Originally uploaded by 416style.

Back in the day, Queen West was the place to go, to eat and to shop, but the big boys and big brands moved in, and though it still has some charm and style, cool had to move further west. It did, and West Queen West was born. More great boutiques and eateries, including Susur Lee’s designer fish and chip shop.

This became the new trendy part of Queen, now near Trinity Park, but it too has lost its original boho charm. So let’s go further west, out near the Queen Street Mental Health monolith. Welcome. Until recently, the rundown area didn’t see too much action, but it’s come alive, and it is the new cool. Now galleries and subdued cafes easily mix with greasy spoons and vintage clothing shops.

I’d long meant to see what the area had to offer. Today was the perfect opportunity, I’d drank too much at The Drake Hotel last night and had to go back for my car this morning. So this is where my stroll began, at The Drake’s Beaconsfield Street. 18 galleries I counted, on a 6 block stretch to Shaw.

I hadn’t even noticed the largest of them before, the MOCCA (Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art). Its student art show didn’t impress me the same way the smaller galleries work did, where works of art, design and science hung and were projected onto spaces gutted to the reveal the guts and bones of an original 1800’s building.

The Deleon White gallery with it’s massive ceilings took me in. I nodded to the fantastic little man working away on his mac G4 laptop. Upstairs, the Emmersive gallery showed me what a water drop looks like magnified and made luminescent by a laser beam. The Spin Gallery had its homo-moderne twist of New York 70s body art.

A few blocks further down, at the Clint Roenisch Gallery, I realized that gallery owners whiling away at their G4’s is a bit of a cliché. I enjoyed the artist’s printing techniques while coyly smiling in his direction.

Katherine Mulherin’s Contemporary Art Projects space was most impressive (see link). Strewn across the walls were small frames of needlework showing little Japanese space girls partying with polar bears, something I’m sure Bjork would love to see. There were futuristic robot dolls and also a map of the world etched out of several old layers of paint on an antique piece of wood. I liked that the space contained a variety of media and artists’ work.

How charming this street is, I thought as I looked up to the sign for Camera Bar, a swank and original little space used for screening movies. This, I thought, had to be filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s new venture. It was indeed. The filmmaker sat at the edge of its communal table, while people poured out into the street, no doubt reflecting on the latest kudos received at Cannes.

So cool can be found, but not always where you’d think. Because if everybody already knows about it no doubt it’s already lost some originality, and isn’t that what cool is all about.

Explore a little farther down the street next time and see where it takes you.