if these houses could talk

At one time, this neighbourhood was one of the poorest, populated by Irish immigrants who grew cabbages in the front gardens so they wouldn't starve through the harsh winters in their adopted land. It became known as Cabbagetown and it's reputation continued to slide when the working class there suffered even more hardship years later during the Depression.

Ironically enough, this area has seen both "gentrification" and great efforts at preservation in recent decades, making it now one of the most desirable real estate areas in Toronto... and one could easily imagine the growing of urban organic veggies in front yard plots once again becoming a trademark of the area (although it's a stone's throw away from two luscious urban markets -- St. Lawrence and Kensington, so possibly not worth the effort).

It was a drizzly day when I took these photos, but I've tried to make them look a little ghostly as an homage to their historical roots... I can imagine the spirits that might roam here on dreary, dark evenings. Oh the stories they could tell!