Author: Ara (Page 36 of 41)

“I love this neighbourhood and the sense of community. It’s a sense of belonging. It has character. It’s home.
I’ve been to different Kensingtons: New York, Toronto… This Kensington is the best. It’s a nice place, lots of space, not crowded, the people are nice. Yeah, it’s home.

This is my friend Sammy. He’s like a brother to me. Come sit with us! Ha ha ha!” Petros

“I live in this neighbourhood, my brother and his family live in this neighbourhood, I’ve got listings in this neighbourhood… Yeah, I guess you can say that I love Hillhurst. Once you move here, it’s really hard to move out. It’s such a nice community – I love the idea that I can help people find a home here.” Shannon MacLeod, Realtor.

“This has always been a community that I’ve been drawn to and inspired by. The unique hangouts, the people, the location, the people that are drawn here – it’s always been a place that I’ve been attracted to, even back in college.

I spent some time travelling around the world and checking out different food movements. I wanted to bring back those inspirations and share them with this community.” Jenn Silver, Owner & Operator of Wild & Raw Superfood + Juice Bar.

“We’ve been in business for a year and half. The Kensington Art Supply store was moving, so it seemed like the right thing to do: to open a store.

Sunnyside feels like a small village. We feel like we don’t need to leave the neighbourhood for anything – we truly live and work in the community. We’ve become celebrities and I think most local business owners feel that way. We’re greeted by people on the street and Pat will lean over to me and ask, “Who was that again?”

We’re happy to be here. Our employees are art students, we have comrades and colleagues in the industry – it’s good for everybody.” Shirl & Patrick Rowsome, owners and founders of Sunnyside Art Supply.

“This is actually the fourth structure on this site. St. Barnabas Church was first built in the late 1800’s, I’m guessing where Pushing Petals and Framed on 5th are at now.

The original wood structured church was built in 1906 and featured members of the Riley family in the congregation. That was knocked down and the first stone church was built in 1912. There’s a lot of history in these walls, especially considering that the church suffered a fire in 1957. The stain glass and woodwork behind the altar survived and were incorporated into the current church.

Thomas Riley and his wife Georgiana Hounsfield are interred in a tomb in the memorial garden out back. Ezra Riley’s daughter is also buried along side the tomb, she died at a year old.

We could spend a week going through all the dedications and guests that this building has had over the last century.” Gloria McCracken, Staff Administrator of St. Barnabas Anglican Church

“What do I like about this neighbourhood? It’s home. I immigrated here in the 1970’s from Britain and there were so many houses for sale… People were moving to new neighbourhoods like Silver Springs but all along, it’s felt like home. We’ve seen all kinds of changes to the community over the years, but the trend I like the most is seeing people working in their own gardens and green spaces.” Kate

“When I first got here, I moved around to a few different neighbourhoods and eventually I settled in Sunnyside. It’s troubling to see the neighbourhood be bought up by real estate speculators – it makes it difficult for younger families to move here. We used to have all kinds of events like the outdoor movie in the park over there (pointing to the TRUCK/CSIF Bike-in Cinema). I’m not sure why we stopped doing them, but it sure is nice to see it happening again.” Ken

“Her name is Strawberry. She gave birth to a litter of 14 puppies at a really young age, but 7 of them were still-births. There were so many that she needed to have a c-section. At that point, the breeder decided that she didn’t need to be put through any more trauma, so I got her. Now she’s 8 years old and the best lap dog ever.”