Originally Posted by
frymaster
i know *exactly* what you're talking about. in the eighties my parents basically forbade me from going down to cabbagetown. they billed it as, basically, the harlem of canada. they wouldn't even drive through it. so, being a teen, of course i went. and was amazed at two things: 1. poverty. growing up white and middle class i'd never seen it before outside of tv. it was kind of a shock, especially since the canadian middle class likes to tell themselves the comfortable lie that urban poverty is a uniquely american problem. 2. no one killed me. or even threatened me.
Actually, I think it improved since the 80's, as in "some rich people moved in". But poor people didn't move out. It's a strange, strange place. I like it.
And it's true, no one ever threatened me in any way there - whether I was on foot or on a bike. Heck, I walk and ride a lot on the southern edge of Regent Park which has to be the baddest 'hood in downtown Toronto. No trouble of any kind (knocks on wood).