Thursday, November 30, 2017

A Hippie Village No More

A walk through the Yorkville Village neighbourhood recently certainly drove home to me how times have changed. In the 1960s this was home to many coffee houses and funky stores and was the heart of the hippie movement in Toronto. People like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young lived and sang here and you could always find fun of some kind along the street . Today most of the old buildings are gone and gentrification has totally changed the area. It was nice to see this old cottage surviving and I did enjoy the wonderful red which is fitting for it is a Christian Louboutin store now. Chanel is across the street.

21 comments:

  1. I love that red cottage! I could see it in a movie scene!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sure not much of 60s and 70s culture is anywhere except Willie Nelson concerts

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my, not only has the area gentrified, it has gentrified on the high end scale especially if the residents can afford $1000.00 shoes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hoity Toity! I'd also like to know what happened to the hippies? And I don't think I'd find it fun shopping in that area...It's just a bit too pricey! This house is beautiful and unique and fun to look at. I see there's a couple of bike racks in front.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello, it is a lovely red cottage. Times are changing, not always for the better. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh ya... I used to visit those coffee houses in the 60s.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think I'd have liked it better in the hippie days. Louboutin and Chanel are super-gentrified!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so out of it that I had to look up to see what Christian Louboutin was all about. I am not about to start buying $1,000 shoes or anything from Chanel. There is a common life cycle neighborhoods go through from inexpensive, rundown areas to residents and studios of artists to hip areas to gentrification. The trick is to know what areas might go through this process and buy real estate early on. It is one way to make a fortune.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The red building is cute and a survivor of the times.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Joni and Neil both my favorites, how wonderful that must have been. The times they are a changing but the little red cottage is still quite lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I remember visiting that locale one drunken night when I was (ostensibly) at a convention in your great city. I was in a small cafe when a motorcycle gang(?) came in, ate, and left. I was sitting at a counter right near the cash register and asked one of the big brutes if they were "like the Hell's Angels in the States." Apparently he was offended because he responded with a litany of mostly profanity, which I didn't understand, before storming out. Escaped with my life, I did.

    ReplyDelete
  12. My aunt had a flower shop on Yorkville Ave in the late 1950's! Ancient history now.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ok I wouldn't be paying that for shoes but I'm sooo happy the old building has survived and is being used Pat, there must be more than enough nutty people out there to keep them going 😀

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think I would have appreciated the '60's scene a teeny bit more!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a great building! I couldn't discern if you miss the hippy scene or prefer today.

    ReplyDelete