On a different topic: something that I have always found off-putting on Parliament Street is how Peter's Cajun has one of those heave corrugated steel roller shutters they put down to cover the storefront every night. I believe there is one store around the corner on Gerrard that does it too, but I can't think of anywhere else in all of downtown Toronto I have seen it (maybe in Chinatown?). Those metal covers just scream "crime-ridden neighbourhood," like the owners expect their store will be smashed and robbed on any night. But it's a pizza place. Why do they need that? I'm sure they keep some cash on-site, but so does every other business in the neighbourhood, and they don't get their windows smashed and robbed.
I remember on a visit to Buenos Aires many years ago I discovered that all the streets lined with beautiful historic buildings housing cafes and boutiques did the same thing after about 7 pm. It was eerie, and a bit scary, walking down the same streets which hours earlier were bustling with life, but were now literally shuttered and totally desolate. It was like walking through a self-storage business, or a shipping container yard at 3am. Buenos Aires has a history of frequent and occasionally violent riots. That's not happening on Parliament. So why shutter your business each night?
