Cabbagetown: Toronto

Cabbagetown falls to the east of Toronto's downtown core and has become a real estate haven for the city's liberally-minded investors. Actors, artists, musicians and professors dominate the professional population, and a number of young families are choosing to put down roots in Toronto's burgeoning east side.

A concentration of beautifully refurbished Victorian homes (the largest in North America) and low-income housing projects characterize the neighbourhood.  Its socially and aesthetically nuanced landscape offers a visceral document of its history and development since the large-scale arrival of Irish immigrants in the 1840s.  Blending boutique and low-budget options, Cabbagetown's legacy as a poor, working class neighbourhood has not been entirely lost to the gentrification process. The tale goes that Cabbagetown derived its name from its new immigrants' practice of growing cabbages in their front lawns in the face of severe poverty.

Today, Cabbagetown is recognized and protected a Heritage Conservation District. Beautifully preserved destinations in the area include the Riverdale Park and Farm, the St. James Cemetery and Necropolis Cemetery. Arts and cultural festivals pass through the neighbourhood, and it is home to important cultural centres like the Danny Grossman Dance Company and the Toronto Dance Theatre.

Cabbagetown's food options range from health food stores to take-out, to specialty restaurants and fine dining. A number of B&Bs offer an alternative to large-scale hotel accommodation and allow visitors settle into neighbourhood culture.

Cabbagetown runs north-south between Gerrard and Wellesley streets and east-west between Sherbourne Street and the Don River. The neighbourhood is a great spot to explore by bike or on foot (walking tours are available), and is accessible by the Carlton Street streetcar (from the College subway station on the Yonge line) or the No. 65 bus (from the Castle Frank subway station on the Bloor line).

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