To BE, or Not To BE?

Once a factory, then home for dozens of artists, 48 Abell is being demolished this week—condos will be built on top of it. This great thesis [PDF], by Michelle Van Eyk, is worth reading for anyone interested in the property, West Queen West, the Drake, or how Toronto gentrifies. From it, I’ve learned that in 1912, Toronto city council banned apartment buildings, because they were “breeders of slums.” And that 1990 (or so) was the West Queen West tipping point, when artistic uses of buildings overtook industrial ones. And that before Parkdale was part of Toronto, it and five railway companies financed the building of the Dufferin underpass without the City’s help, which “contributed greatly to…[its] debt.”

Probably best of all, though, was learning that among the original promotional materials for that butt-ugly Bohemian Embassy development along Queen near Gladstone was a poem.

This is how it went:

How to BE
Wear a beret.
Be the only employee of your own company.
Play the bongos.
Write poetry. And don’t be afraid to read it out loud.
Don’t wear a beret.
Start an art gallery.
Wear vintage clothing.
Own a cool car. But take the subway.
Know the names of all the street musicians on Queen West.
Live at the Bohemian Embassy.

It is very, very hard to think of anything less authentic or bohemian than “Own a cool car. But take the subway.”