Jesse in Toronto Neighbourhoods
This past weekend, Toronto was home to the Canadian National Scrabble Championship. As I am an avid player of the crossword-themed game, I could not help but contrast it to the neighbourhood of Lawrence Manor (check out Realosophy’s Neighbourhood Profile for local housing and school stats).
Within the southern portion of this particular community, residential streets form concentric circles around Prince Charles Park - the antithesis of its northern counterpart which resembles the gridded pattern of a Scrabble board.
A cow patch until the 1960s, Lawrence Plaza, located at the intersection of Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West, held the title of Toronto’s largest shopping centre when it opened. It continues to be a very busy hub that services the surrounding neighbourhoods of Caribou Park, Lawrence Heights and Glen Park as well as Lawrence Manor of which it is a part. Passengers riding the TTC routes of #7 Bathurst and #52 Lawrence Avenue West can transfer between the two at this junction further adding to the activity within Lawrence Manor.
Along Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West, low-rise and high-rise apartment buildings can be found - a housing style that continues on to Neptune Drive. Within the majority of Lawrence Manor, bungalows, side-splits and back-splits dominate the streets, some which are currently undergoing renovations and some which were remodeled years ago. More often than not, hedge lines act as fences instead of man-made wood or metal varieties - a characteristic that adds to the neighbourly feel of the area, but greatly reduces privacy from lot to lot.
Reflective of the diversity among residents, Catholic, Jewish and public schools, including an arts-based curriculum at Faywood, provide educational choice for this family-oriented, multicultural community.
Jesse Fleming is a freelance writer based in Toronto. Email Jesse
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April 8, 2008
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