Welcome To Cedarvale

Earlier this year, I visited a nice part of the city for a dinner party. I had planned to return to get a better look in the summer but with the pandemic, it slipped my mind. With probably the last warm Saturday of the year, I went back to have a bit of a stroll.

Claxton Boulevard was even prettier in the daylight with a gate at one end and a roundabout at the other. But now I realized that the tree-lined median separated two social classes. On one side, the houses and a few buildings were more worn and sub-divided into apartment units. On the other side, they were large single family residences, well-maintained or in the process of a rebuild. Connaught Circle led me to the Glen Cedar pedestrian bridge that spanned a wooded ravine just starting to fill in with Fall colours.

Across the bridge, streets like Glen Cedar and Strathearn were lined with huge, stately homes. There was lots of indoor space, lawn, and backyard here for social distancing so it seemed almost unfair that they also backed onto even more green space. Just off Ava, a path marked the start of Cedarvale Park. It was likely almost as large as Trinity Bellwoods Park downtown and included a dog park, sports fields, tennis courts, and even an arena. But instead of young folks packed cheek-to-jowl, there was plenty of room for older couples, families with kids, and nannies pushing strollers. If the 1% lived around Macpherson, then we're getting into gradations in these parts.

I started walking down the trail that would lead me through Cedarvale Ravine to the even fancier Forest Hill neighbourhood. But some threatening clouds stopped me near the bottom of the bridge. I climbed back up to retrace my footsteps and took a detour onto Vaughan Road. What a difference a block made. Low-rises crowded the streets with people either moving in or moving out. Tiny houses filled in the gaps between the buildings.

I finally found myself on busy St. Clair Avenue. Originally, I was going to sit down at a restaurant for lunch. But with Toronto back in a modified lock-down, I hopped onto a streetcar to head home.