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Lenser: I live in the Pocket and I assure you, there's no movement to change the name. I'm pretty sure at least one of us would set straight any real estate agent who tried to label the neighbourhood as East Riverdale. We're damn proud of our little nook in the city. Plus, if the name were to change, I would no longer be able to call the Greenwood TTC yard the "Pocket Rocket" :)

One Real Estate trend in the US that seemed to spread in various cities as neighbourhoods gentrified yet didn't seem to catch on in Canada was the local takes on SoHo, New York. In Boston, there is an area now known as SoWa (South of Washington). There's SoBe for South Beach, in Miami. Another gem from Boston was an attempt to label the gritty-yet-improving area of East Boston as EaBo. That one (thankfully) didn't catch on.
 
Hey, erikyow... glad to hear it. We have a friend who lives in the Pocket and we ourselves are down further south, in east Leslieville... the Pocket is a very cool little zone, no doubt. It would be a shame if your 'hood was called "East Riverdale"... so much less personality (and thematic vibe) than "the Pocket."

We toured through your 'hood on Sunday, just for the sake of inspecting what people were doing with their houses. Must have gone up pretty much every street. It's a little gem of a place, tucked away - and very much separate from - Riverdale, Leslieville and the Danforth. Long may it stay that way.
 
erikyow said:
Lenser: I live in the Pocket and I assure you, there's no movement to change the name. I'm pretty sure at least one of us would set straight any real estate agent who tried to label the neighbourhood as East Riverdale. We're damn proud of our little nook in the city. Plus, if the name were to change, I would no longer be able to call the Greenwood TTC yard the "Pocket Rocket" :)
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As a fellow Pocket dweller, I too haven't heard of any movement to rebrand the area. So far none of the zillion-a-week real estate fliers that come in the mail have tried to use the brand "East Riverdale". And when a house comes on the market in the pocket, almost all MLS ads have one of the same often used blurbs referring to the pocket - "in Sought After Prime Location The Pocket" or "in Desirable Neighbourhood “”The Pocket”"". But some do try to link the pocket and riverdale together, such as: "'In Highly Sought After Riverdale Neighbourhood The Pocket" or "Bright Open Concept Home In Riverdale (The Pocket)" or "In Prime Location: The Pocket – Riverdale".

Still, some like to go a bit over board "Nestled In An Oasis Of Green In The Pocket" or "In The Pocket A Wonderful Neighbourhood!"... I cant' really deny that last one.
 
"Oasis" does indeed seem over the top. On the other hand, it is a nabe marked by a mature tree canopy and a feeling of being pleasantly off the beaten track... in the city yet somehow insulated from it.
 
erikyow said:
Lenser: I live in the Pocket and I assure you, there's no movement to change the name. I'm pretty sure at least one of us would set straight any real estate agent who tried to label the neighbourhood as East Riverdale. We're damn proud of our little nook in the city. Plus, if the name were to change, I would no longer be able to call the Greenwood TTC yard the "Pocket Rocket" :)

One Real Estate trend in the US that seemed to spread in various cities as neighbourhoods gentrified yet didn't seem to catch on in Canada was the local takes on SoHo, New York. In Boston, there is an area now known as SoWa (South of Washington). There's SoBe for South Beach, in Miami. Another gem from Boston was an attempt to label the gritty-yet-improving area of East Boston as EaBo. That one (thankfully) didn't catch on.
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what are the borders of 'the pocket'?

from what ppl here have mentioned, it seems to be what was originally called 'old riverdale'
 
Jones to the west; the railway tracks above Gerrard to the south; Greenwood yards to the east; the Danforth to the north, I suppose.
 
Lenser said:
Jones to the west; the railway tracks above Gerrard to the south; Greenwood yards to the east; the Danforth to the north, I suppose.
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That's pretty much it. Some include the area west of Greenwood, north of the tracks between Jones and Greenwood (Bryon St, Chatham) but the biggest part of the pocket is the little geographic nook that looks like a pocket: Boultbee/Seymour/Queen Victoria/Ravina/Jones enclosure.

The fireworks are great. But so are the block parties, dog friendly side walk salt, neighbourhood newsletter, million children playing in the street, minimal car traffic due to no all the deadends, and Phin Park.
 
Strolling the Danny a few hours ago I noticed that a rather old ( '40s? '50s? '60s? ) hand painted ( in an Honest Ed's sort of way ) store sign at 373 Danforth had been uncovered as part of the renovations going on there.
 
Here it is:

353372431644229.jpg


Based on the alphanumeric telephone exchange, if this site is to be believed, the sign must have been painted between 1957 and 1966.
 
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Tulse said:
I live a few blocks north of Danforth between Broadview and Pape, and I never hear folks call this area "Riverdale" -- it is always "The Danforth", or more rarely "Greektown". (And the food festival that brings in the throngs of people isn't called "Taste of Riverdale"...)
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I read sometime in the last year or so that the few blocks north of Danforth, between Broadview and Donlands, south of the old East York boundary, was known as Chester Village when it was annexed by Toronto in 1909.

Today, if one ignores the names given by real estate agents, that area doesn't really have a well-established name, except for the Playter Estates portion. People call it the Danforth, but that's not a particularly precise name.
 
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Though the name "Chester" still vestigially defines it, thanks to the subway station. (And funny how the B-D's most seemingly nondescript subway location--and the only one without bus service whatsoever--has turned out to be reasonably "nodal" anyway, with an assist from Carrot Common.)
 
Sadly, I see that the former Albany Medical Clinic building is no more. And does anyone know what's happening at the south west corner of Logan and Danforth, now that the fruit and vegetable place, and the store next to it, are closed?
 
Urban Shocker said:
Sadly, I see that the former Albany Medical Clinic building is no more. And does anyone know what's happening at the south west corner of Logan and Danforth, now that the fruit and vegetable place, and the store next to it, are closed?
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well the former AMC is the new LCBO but obviously construction has been delayed. it was supposed to be open this spring.

don't know anything about the fruit and veggie place, but if the building next door you're talking about is the old looking blue and white thing, it's supposed to be reno'd
 
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