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Leslieville vs. Trinity Bellwoods
Riverdale vs. Roncesvalles
Danforth vs. Little Italy
Beaches vs. High Park
King-Spadina vs. St. Lawrence/Old Town
Bedford Park vs. Bloor West Village
The Kingsway vs. Leaside
Housing stock, commercial vibrancy, parks, demographics, schools or whatever else.
Does High Park refer to the neighbourhood around Pacific Ave (High Park North)?
I would say Leslieville over Trinity-Bellwoods, more trees in Leslieville plus more varied historic housing stock.
Riverdale over Roncesvales, I would say Riverdale has a bit more commercial vibrancy + closer to downtown.
Little Italy over Danforth, Little Italy is more vibrant, more in the middle of it all, and more historic housing stock. Parts of the Danforth can be too high-speed traffic and my impression (could be remembering wrong) is fewer sidewalk patios.
Beaches over High Park North, because there's of the beach, some interesting architecture and a kind of quiet secluded feel with nice parks while still having more commercial vibrancy than High Park North imo which outweighs the benefits of being next to High Park.
King-Spadina over St Lawrence/Old Town. I really like the Esplanade, and King-Spadina doesn't have anything like that, but otherwise the two are pretty similar except King-Spadina is more bustling and more happening. Perhaps St Lawrence has the potential to be better than King-Spadina in my view but it isn't there yet.
Bloor West Village over Bedford Park. They're both upscale neighbourhoods near the subway, but Bloor West Village has better commercial vibrancy imo and it has the Humber River parks and High Park close-by. Avenue Road (and to a lesser extent, Yonge) has to much fast traffic.
Kingsway vs Leaside. Tough call but I'll go with Leaside. Kingsway has nicer homes although they're nice in both neighbourhoods, but Leaside but the Bayview commercial strip beats Bloor. I would say Leaside has a bit of an edge for parks and has Yonge and Eglinton nearby which is better than Etobicoke Centre, plus it'll have the Crosstown soon. I guess there's also more big box stores if you're into that.
To me, some pretty obvious (like King-Spadina vs St. Lawrence/Old Town, or Kingsway vs. Leaside) but some are a bit of a stretch.
For example, Little Italy and the Danforth/Greektown are pretty different in a lot of ways: Little Italy is a closer-in Victorian rowhouse neighborhood while the Danforth is a 1910s/1920s streetcar suburb. But they're both yuppie "ethnic theme parks." In urban form, the Danforth resembles Corso Italia, but Corso Italian is much more working class and "ethnic" and feels more removed from the core (the Fords won ward 17 for example). I would say "Greektown" feels more Greek than Little Italy feels Italian though.
I picked the Beaches and High Park as a comparison as they are both old middle class neighbrhoods near "natural" attractions. Perhaps the best comparison is High Park-Swansea (i.e. west of Roncesvalles). High Park, especially if north of Bloor is included, seems a bit more mixed (more renters, many eastern European nationalities represented), while the Beaches seems more homogeneously upper middle class and might be the most "WASP" neighborhood in Toronto.
Roncesvalles seems a bit like a more "up and coming" Riverdale to me. Though in some ways North Riverdale may be more like the Annex and Seaton Village too, in that they're both known for being home to the so-called "chattering classes."
These areas you have mentioned are all old news now. They have been around, are getting significantly over rated now and crazy expensive to get in to. You pay a fortune to get a little tiny congested run down property or you have to have mortgage > a million to buy a stand house that has been updated. Anyone have any other then the obvious areas to discuss? Ex something that is not already on everyone's radar? As much as I do like all of the areas mentioned if I was looking to invest the idea would be to tap in to an area that has raw potential. There is an area just north of Bloor West Village and High Park that I am hoping to explore more around Dundas West and West of Keele. I was walking around and I noticed I lot of really interesting stores and restaurants. When I was a teenager the area was run down and dumpy... but now there seems to be a lot on energy. I would have my eyes on area like this. Better to get while something is up and coming then after it already becomes very popular and pay a fortune. I was dying of laughter when seeing some of the house prices on homes just north of Bloor West Village. Some of these houses are totally beat up and run down and infested with mice, small, very little land and selling in the $700 000 range. As much as a like some of these older neighbour hoods in Toronto there are none of them I am really dying to living in. I visit all of them and go back to my area very contently. That is the joy of living in this type of city. You can enjoy urban living and get back to your calmer neighbour to relax in less then 30 minutes. It can be a pretty nice balance. I am curious to see if anyone know or can think of any up and coming neighbours in Toronto no directly in the downtown core.
OK "up and coming" isn't quite right for Roncesvalles, though it isn't as "established" as Riverdale. But it ain't "the poor man's Riverdale" anymore.
In terms of outer Toronto neighborhoods, the Etobicoke lakeshore strikes me as an area that has a lot of potential. And Corso Italia is probably the last "affordable" (by TO standards) neighborhood in the old city.
Etobicoke Lakeshore vs. Birch Cliff/Cliffside/Guildwood, Scarborough
I am bias as I live in South Scarborough. Etobicoke Lakeshore feel like it leads to more actions ex. Sherway gardens, there are some night clubs, appears to be more established restaurants.
South Scarborough needs to catch up. This area is really going to be changing over the next 10 years as the population is growing so more business will hopefully get needed traffic to say alive. I can say as a person living in South Scarborough we have a very pretty scenic environment, but we need to be more then just Toronto's former cottage country type stop ex the bluffs and a place to take wedding picture (Guildwood). I can not wait to see those Norman Bates style motels on Kingston Road demolished. I am pretty sure that Scarborough south has more burial grounds ..... certainly some of the most quiet neighbors you will ever have. This could be because I have more experience venturing in Mississauga then Ajax/Pickering I am feeling the Etobicoke Lakeshore connects to a bit more excitement then Scarborough south right now... up this could all be changing really soon in Scarborough south.
I am not really sure many people realize this ... I did not until accidently getting lost while looking for a house. South of Kingston Road has a tone of Mansions just tucked nicely away. It is so funny because you would never suspect anything worth seeing would be down there, but wow turn the wrong corner and bam!!! So in terms of population in this area of Scarborough as most of the area is divided in to homes, lake, historical old site/ parks, burial areas...if you grab an old house you are likely never going to feel like a sardine compared to down town.
I think the neighbourhoods kind of northwest of Downtown from Parkdale to Eglinton West will become more desirable, although I would not expect them to become as expensive and well-to-do as The Beaches, Riverdale or Bloor West Village, maybe more like Old East York or south Riverdale/Leslieville.
I can see South Scarborough as well as adjacent areas west of Victoria Park, South Etobicoke, West Etobicoke, Richview, Westmount, Maple Leaf, Glen Park, Yorkdale/Lawrence Heights/Lawrence Manor, Pelmo Park, Humberlea, Amesbury, Wilson Heights, Winston Park, Newtonbrook, Lakeview, Old Brampton becoming more desirable. Maybe even Downsview and Sentinel Rd area, Kipling Heights, Thistletown, Applewood, Erindale, Clarkson, Park Royal and Tam O'Shanter-Sullivan. Those are most of the areas I can see becoming more desirable, potentially, but probably only some of them will. Which ones specifically is hard to say.
Some of those are more suburban, so it might be more like what you're seeing in the Queensway or Princess Ann Manor areas, others are more urban with pedestrian oriented commercial strips and would be more similar to the Danforth or Old East York. I'd expect the area from Lambton to the Stockyards to Mt Dennis to remain pretty working class but maybe a bit less poor. It's not very walkable though and kind of isolated, so that's why I'd expect it to be slow to change.
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Now your talking
