More on the decline of Mile End
Metro follows Le Devoir with a similar piece about the decline of commercial life in the Mile End. I’m puzzled by the person who says “il se passe la même chose ici qu’à Griffintown” because to me the two situations are nothing alike.
Joey 09:28 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Yeah, hard to tell if they are referring to gentification in Griffintown that has displaced a lot of the (admittedly relatvely few) pre-2005 residents or just the homogeneous commercial culture that has sprung up there.
Kate 09:33 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Griffintown was absolutely moribund. There was no lively commercial or residential presence there before 2005. The collapse of the area was a historic progression – the abandonment of the canal as a commercial artery, the feud between Jean Drapeau and Frank Hanley, the decline in industrial production in Canada generally, all kinds of things. Which isn’t to say that nobody lived there or did business there, but it would never have been considered a fun place to be – contrary to Mile End before the recent decline.
Urban churn happens gradually, but there’s usually a tipping point that makes people realize an area is on the skids.
Joey 09:36 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Agreed, though there were a handful of occupied residential streets pre-2005 (stretches of de la Montaigne, the horse palace), but the development that has happened there was almost entirely, AFAIK, the conversion of abandoned buildings and parking lots to dense housing. I lived there from 2005-2010. When I moved in there was *nobody* around on the weekends and a handful of unusal businesses. I think there was one spot you could maybe get a coffee. The arrival of the Metro Plus on Notre-Dame was big news. Nothing happening on Peel, Wellington was very quiet, etc. Night and day from what’s emerged in the last decade.
DeWolf 11:31 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
Griffintown has become a bogeyman for anyone who doesn’t like how their neighbourhood is changing.
As Kate noted, Griffintown was virtually uninhabited when redevelopment started. About 200 people lived there.
CE 18:25 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
@Joey, we must have been neighbours for a couple years. I considered it pretty fun to be in Griffintown at that time because you could do pretty much anything you wanted, there was hardly anyone around to care. There weren’t many people but there was a community feeling among those who did live there. Not having a grocery store (or any other services other than the worst dep imaginable) and spotty transit made it tough to live there though. I’m still amazed when I walk around and see what it has become.
Kate 19:59 on 2021-03-31 Permalink
I remember going with a friend to hang out with some guys she knew who had sorted out a decent living space inside an old warehouse in G-town. There was a lot of extra unused space, partly empty, partly filled with random postindustrial junk. I don’t remember their names or anything, and I have no idea whether they had any legal claim on the building, or were squatting.
Later I also checked out New City Gas because a friend of a friend knew the owner, when it too was also mostly empty. It’s an amazing building, but I’ve never been inside it since it was turned into a club.
MarcG 11:41 on 2021-04-01 Permalink
My wife and I went to see some bands play at Friendship Cove in 2007. It was an old car garage I think, or related to one anyhow, that some artists were living and hosting shows in. Kids were hanging off the exposed pipes in the ceiling – hot water? gas? scary! Hey I actually found a review of the exact show http://lucabears.blogspot.com/2007/10/friday-oct-26th-2007-japanther-ddmmyyyy.html, and here’s the not surprising street view of the address: https://goo.gl/maps/ccp8gJcQp7G5F8BH9.