The strip is gentrifying and I'm happy to see the sidewalks thronging with ever-larger groups of people. In a way it reminds me of Queen West in the late 70s, particularly what the stretch between Spadina and Bathurst and beyond used to look like, feel like... it was a place brimming with latent potential and the giddy surge of accelerating change, far more than the vibe of a fully-realized strip already having arrived. In any case, what Queen East feels like now is a welcome change from what it was throughout the 80s and 90s and earlier in the new millenium... it's been a long time coming.
That said, there isn't the profusion of high-rise condo towers that you find in the west end. Queen St, in both Riverside and Leslieville, is definitely more vital, but the seething hordes of people just aren't there - not yet, anyway. I can sense it coming, though. The startling changes along the Don, the recent news re Jilly's, the verticality and added density along Carlaw (especially at Dundas), the promise of the simply humongous Lever Ponds site, the coming developments along under-populated Eastern Avenue... yeah, it's happening. In another five to ten years it's going to be a completely different place - mostly for the better. Then there's the notion of a downtown relief line making an appearance at Pape or Carlaw... oh yeah, the hordes are coming. Bring it on, I say.
Meantime, over the short term, it's a coagulated, dusty, frustrating mess. Once the TTC gets its tracks down along Leslie and the new facility at Lakeshore is finished, things ought to get better.
