Cabbagetown
Story: A history that changes yet remains-Michael Booth
I do not live in Cabbagetown. It is one of the few neighbourhoods between the Don and the Humber I have not lived in. However, my roots are here. This building (now home to an interior design company) was my great-grandfather Percival Booth\'s butcher shop until his death in 1930. I always imagined it to be at the heart of this community much as my own local butcher shop at Ossington and Bloor is today. My grandfather, who is still alive and turns 90 this year, remembers the meat hanging from the ceiling in their apartment above the store. He would grow up an orphan on the tough streets of this neighbourhood, in its boxing arenas and burlesque houses. So different from today\'s Cabbagetown but just as alive. Those days are gone and Cabbagetown has changed but it is still Toronto\'s small local businesses that are the core of our wonderful nieghbourhoods. Hard working people who are just trying to build a life for themselves and their kids - whether they arrived here 175 years ago or last week. I feel so lucky to know that this building is still here and will alway be a part of me and my story in Toronto. When I go to my local butcher and hear my neighbours talking and the Gasparo family joking with their regulars I know that the bonds that hold our city and its people together are as strong as they were 100 years ago when my great-grandfather was behind the counter, part of his neighbourhood and his city.
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