(12-14-2020, 10:29 AM)panamaniac Wrote: I think of Belmont Village as being an integral part of Old Westmount, even though it was (intentionally) built on the edge of the community.  Not my idea of a "very working class area", although I suppose it depends which side of Glasgow and Belmont you're looking at.

(12-14-2020, 10:42 AM)jwilliamson Wrote: Everyone is describing Belmont Village as a home to fancy, expensive restaurants, but it's also home to places like Checkerboard, Big John's and Thai Bistro.

(12-14-2020, 06:10 PM)GarthDanlor Wrote:

(12-14-2020, 10:42 AM)jwilliamson Wrote: Everyone is describing Belmont Village as a home to fancy, expensive restaurants, but it's also home to places like Checkerboard, Big John's and Thai Bistro.

Yeah it was never a well heeled shopping area in the past, just an ordinary and quite busy commercial area at one time.  I vaguely recall a  busy little grocery store where the drug store now is and a Donut Queen (across the street from where Tim Horton's now is) in addition to all the little restaurants, flower shops, banks, beer store, gas station etc.  Also used to be a lot of Doctor's offices but many of those migrated to the medical centers further down the street by Gage when those eventually opened.  Marketing Belmont Village as upscale is definitely of more recent vintage.

(12-14-2020, 10:26 AM)panamaniac Wrote: Belmont Village a "working class area"?  I don't think I've ever heard of Old Westmount described that way.  There's a reason upscale restaurants and other businesses are located there.

(12-15-2020, 08:30 AM)kitborn Wrote:

(12-14-2020, 10:26 AM)panamaniac Wrote: Belmont Village a "working class area"?  I don't think I've ever heard of Old Westmount described that way.  There's a reason upscale restaurants and other businesses are located there.

I would point out that there are two area adjacent to Belmont Village. One north of the IHT would be considered working class (that's where I grew up as a kid). The other area is south of Belmont is known as Westmount. The Westmount area has some very upscale and larger homes that it's counterpart to the north.

(12-15-2020, 08:30 AM)kitborn Wrote:

(12-14-2020, 10:26 AM)panamaniac Wrote: Belmont Village a "working class area"?  I don't think I've ever heard of Old Westmount described that way.  There's a reason upscale restaurants and other businesses are located there.

I would point out that there are two area adjacent to Belmont Village. One north of the IHT would be considered working class (that's where I grew up as a kid). The other area is south of Belmont is known as Westmount. The Westmount area has some very upscale and larger homes that it's counterpart to the north.

(12-15-2020, 12:05 PM)ac3r Wrote:

(12-15-2020, 08:30 AM)kitborn Wrote: I would point out that there are two area adjacent to Belmont Village. One north of the IHT would be considered working class (that's where I grew up as a kid). The other area is south of Belmont is known as Westmount. The Westmount area has some very upscale and larger homes that it's counterpart to the north.

Yeah you got it. It's not the street actual of Belmont that I'd describe as working class, but a lot of the area surrounding it - anything within a 10-15 minute walk, which I consider to be in the neighbourhood. There are a lot of low income apartments/complexes nearby to the south: Brybeck is a short walk away (I grew up there for a bit and we'd always walk down to Belmont to shop), Westmount has a fair amount of low income housing, there is quite a bit near Belmont/Patricia. A lot of the single family homes around there are owned by working class people too.

Dominion Tire Plant (what operates there - do they still make tires?), whatever used to be at he Catalyst, GRH and quite a lot of smaller industries nearby on streets like Gage provided hundreds upon hundreds of people of traditional employment. It's once you go north of Glasgow that you find really wealthy home owners, especially towards Westmount. I used to always joke I lived on the wrong side of the tracks when I lived on Brybeck because everything between the tracks and Highland has always been considered bad, although in reality it isn't. These working class demographics in the area still persist today.