Hintonburg Resident Gentrifies Self

Hintonburg - Long-time Hintonburg resident Fred Silvers recently gentrified himself in an attempt to keep up with his swiftly changing neighbourhood. Once homeless and on the streets of Hintonburg, Silvers had been in trouble with the police on numerous occasions. After his 19th arrest, Silvers made a conscious decision to “gentrify” himself in much the same manner as his beloved neighbourhood, which included grooming himself and shaving off his spray-paint covered beard.

After Silvers saw his favourite pawn shop turned into a gourmet wood-burning pizza bistro earlier this year, Silvers decided it was time to make a change in his own life. “I saw the Dawn of Pawn turn into a trendy new pizza joint, and thought maybe I should clean up myself too.” Silvers reminisces. “I knew it was time to join the neighbourhood in getting a hipper, more vibrant appearance and become something.” remarked Silvers, now 29 and dating a four foot Asian girl named Esther.

Once Silvers took the initial first steps in changing his outward appearance, he knew he also had to find a market for himself. “I wanted to start a business where I knew I could make a living and also enjoy myself.” explains Silvers, who started up his hipster line of apparel called “UrbanHobo” which specializes in creating unique apparel items for young, trend-setting, urban twenty-somethings. Items Silvers developed include over-sized, plastic rimmed glasses, Rubik’s Cube themed accessories, and Afghani style urban neck scarves. UrbanHobo now supplies all major urban centres with his unique brand of hipster wear that has made himself a vast fortune and also listed him in the Fortune 500 list of companies for 2011.

Now residing in a Westboro penthouse loft condo, Silvers hopes to inspire others who may be thinking of gentrifying themselves into something new and trendy. Taking examples from the vast changes happening in the once sketchy and rough parts of the city that are now being turned into appealing, boutique and bistro ridden pockets of urban renewal, Silvers explains his transition. “Two years ago I was huffing on Giant Tiger shopping bags of metallic spray paint, now I’m trying to decide what metallic paint I want for my BMW.” Silvers credits his success on gentrification, a word he describes as “taking something that’s in a state of decay, and branding it as hip and trendy.”

Fred Silvers will be launching his latest UrbanHobo accessories at “Scruffy Beard” a new clothing and accessories store opening in the old Scott’s Chicken Villa Kentucky Fried Chicken on Wellington Street this September.